Stan Carey

@stancarey.bsky.social

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Editor, writer, lapsed biologist in the west of Ireland

Copy-editing, writing 📝 https://stancarey.com
Language 🐦‍ https://stancarey.wordpress.com
Swearing 🤬 https://stronglang.wordpress.com
🎞 https://letterboxd.com/stancarey
🦣 @[email protected]

Posts Replies Media Lists

Interesting post on Irish eggcorns, such as "*ceoltas" for "comhaltas". I added one in a comment: languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=65014 #speirGorm 🐦🐦

Language Log » Irish eggcornslanguagelog.ldc.upenn.edu

Reposted by

Stan Carey

Just a wonderful deep dive on this, Stan (so deep that the replies on the website eventually get squished down to one or two characters wide!). I now tend to use whatever term is apt in the situation — peevers, sticklers, traditionalists — but have pretty much given up on finding the perfect word.

Or, ickiest of all, "grammar nazi". I once wrote that the tribe of self-identifying grammar cops probably want to indicate that they take the "rules" of language seriously, abhor what they perceive as its abuse, and would prefer if others did and felt likewise stancarey.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/w...

What should we call ‘Grammar Nazis’?stancarey.wordpress.com For some people the answer is in the question. Certainly Grammar Nazi is a popular and catchy phrase for referring to people who decry errors of grammar – or what they think are errors, or grammar – a...

Thank you, Jan! Yes, I don't think any one term is going to suit all needs and situations. But I found it useful to analyse and compare the different ones in use and to assess the potential of some newcomers!

Reposted by

Stan Carey

Oh! I didn't know it could do that! That's not great! www.cnn.com/2024/07/15/c...

Climate change is messing with time more than previously thought, scientists find | CNNwww.cnn.com The impacts of human-caused climate change are so overwhelming they’re actually messing with time, according to new research.

Interviewer: What do you think happens when you die? Me: www.theguardian.com/books/pictur... 💙📚

Reply to

Bren Kübler

That's often so. Most people aren't open to changing their minds, at least not immediately. On my blog, a few readers or commenters have told me when I've changed how they look at something, but I imagine that's a vanishingly small proportion of potential cases.

Reply to

Alex West

I'm always surprised when someone willingly identifies as a grammar cop or grammando — someone who criticizes someone else's language (when that's not their role and it's not requested). It's like identifying as "rude." Weird choice.

Reply to

Matt Gordon (not that one though)

It should!

found this treasure while unpacking at last i can log on to the information superhighway

Reposted by

Stan Carey

I enjoy the Caribbean pronunciation, "fuck'ry"

Amy Winehouse, E.L. James, and Stephen King are all fans of "fuckery". At @stronglang.bsky.social I looked at the word's history, meanings, and use: stronglang.wordpress.com/2024/06/30/w... #langsky #fuckery

What kind of “fuckery” is this?stronglang.wordpress.com If there’s one place you’ll find fuckery, it’s in a fuckery. In fact, you’d probably find all sorts of fuckery in a fuckery, including: —treachery, ill treatment or behaviour —nonsense, foolishness, b...

If you like a good etymological mystery, here are 5, including "bird" and "dog": theconversation.com/five-common-... #etymology

Five common English words we don’t know the origins of – including ‘boy’ and ‘dog’theconversation.com The origins of these words could tell us a lot about our ancestors and the cognitive strategies they used to name the things around them.

Reply to

Simon McGarr

"There is no money in making the Internet terrible for us users and kids especially." Allow me to introduce "Facebook" and "YouTube"

Reposted by

Stan Carey

One for the syntax folk 🐦🐦

Jane Schoenbrun's "I Saw the TV Glow" is thrillingly good, beautifully made, and so rich in ideas. Days later I'm still thinking about it a lot. Reading people's reviews & analyses, I especially liked this keen, optimistic interpretation by @emilystjams.bsky.social: www.vulture.com/article/the-...

I Saw the TV Glow’s Ending Is Full of Hopewww.vulture.com There’s a way to read the end of Jane Schoenbrun’s masterful new movie as grim, even nihilistic. But you must actively choose to see it that way.

Reply to

Paul Duane

The pilot is an amazing piece of work. Last time I rewatched FWWM I tried a fan edit that integrates the deleted scenes. (I liked it.) There are a few version on the Internet Archive.

Overview of current evidence on swearing for the reduction of pain: www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy... 🐦🐦

Frontiers | F@#$ pain! A mini-review of the hypoalgesic effects of swearingwww.frontiersin.org Swearing, or the use of taboo language, has been repeatedly shown to induce hypoalgesia. While reliable hypoalgesic effects have been observed across studies...

Reposted by

Stan Carey

My theory about the utility of "jawn" as a catchall noun is it's only helpful if you have a "cot"/"caught" distinction. No one is going to make a habit of saying things like "Hey can you hand me that Jon?"

Reply to

Nat Guest

You can do this at your local pollen station

Reposted by

Stan Carey

"That’s some polysemous fuckery."

What kind of "fuckery" is this? New post for @stronglang.bsky.social on a word for our times: stronglang.wordpress.com/2024/06/30/w... #langsky #swearsky

Years since I read Penelope Fitzgerald. Enjoying this one.

Climate: *changes* Earth: *blushes*

Reposted by

Stan Carey

Please don't make me read the phrase "mixed-weight relationship" another time as though it is a real concept that we are giving any credence to, fuck ME.

Reply to

Lev Petrovitch

Yes, among other things. Chris Knight's book "Decoding Chomsky" is good on this

Celebrated getting my brain back from Covid by writing 1,000 words about the word "fuckery"

What kind of "fuckery" is this? New post for @stronglang.bsky.social on a word for our times: stronglang.wordpress.com/2024/06/30/w... #langsky #swearsky

Reply to

Paul Duane

Seriously. And not only can they not distinguish the two, they often don't even know that PRs are a big portion of what they read. They're surprised when you tell them, then they promptly forget, because it suits them to.

Imagine if Chomsky the political analyst was taught like Chomsky the linguist is

I was talking to someone yesterday about how, if media literacy was taught in schools, we would have a far better chance of the electorate making informed decisions, which might be why media literacy isn’t taught in schools

Reposted by

Stan Carey

See, some might say it's NOT a John le Carré Novel, given John le Carré didn't write it.

"If you look at any favorite novelist, the best novels are often number four, five, six. After that it tends to go into slow decline." Interesting theory. Barry's first novel is my favourite of his so far, though short stories may suit him better. Looking forward to his new "western and love story"

“I was so pleased to finally get it out, I was seriously tempted to dedicate the book to myself.” I went to Kevin Barry's house for The Washington Post and saw his yoga mat:

With a western romance, Kevin Barry keeps himself from getting boredwww.washingtonpost.com “I’m wary of repeating myself,” the Irish writer says about his fourth novel, “The Heart in Winter,” set in 1890s America.