Recent Comments

1. over 6 years ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   I notice that absolutely everybody at Phoebe’s school uses the double-handed hammer. Phoebe, separate your fists and introduce them to the slicer. I dominated fourth and fifth grade with it, and it works in foursquare, too!

2. almost 7 years ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   It may never die, but that doesn’t mean it will come back. Jazz didn’t. Ragtime didn’t. Classical is still around, still makes plenty of money, albeit mostly as movie soundtracks, but it’s not like the old days.

3. almost 7 years ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   Of course! She’s wearing T-shorts!

4. almost 7 years ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   Odd how? I don’t know a single unicorn who doesn’t have these amenities; do you?

5. almost 7 years ago on Phoebe and Her Unicorn

   The relevant ancestors of “cough” and “laugh” in my OED don’t seem much more different at the ME/OE stage than their modern forms (cogh-, cowh-en, *cohhian vs. hlæhhan, hlehhan, hliehhan), so I suppose there’s still the question of why the forms diverged later. Perhaps “laughter” is just a more useful word than “coughter” would have been. Anyway, when language tries to become consistent and logical it turns into legalese.