Monthly Archives: May 2004

Speaking of usage errors!

Here’s one I just committed myself: maelstorm. There’s no such word. It’s maelstrom, the name of a whirlpool in Norway, also known as Moskenstraumen, and as the reference points out, brought to us primarily by Jules Verne and Edgar Allen … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Other encouraging news…

Fox News leads CNN in ratings, but is having trouble charging as much for ads as its rival, according to yesterday’s WSJ. This partially has to do with Fox’s strategy of undercutting on price when it was started, and with … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

“Piggy-eyed wonder”

Conservative columnist (and novelist) Mark Helprin continued The Wall Street Journal’s hammering on the Bush administratin’s conduct of the war with a genuinely thoughtful column on Monday, saying that the present mess is “the consequence of a fiscal policy that … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

Further Persnicketing

In support of Silvertide’s language campaign, I’d like to howl for a moment about “uninterested” and “disinterested.” I saw this in yesterday’s New York Times (it’s a quote, so the Times is not necessarily culpable): Fox is completely disinterested in … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Hybrid Hype?

Between the fact that they can turn your rescuers into additional victims, and some evidence that they don’t get the mileage that’s claimed for them, I’m beginning to be glad I never bought a Civic Hybrid or one of its … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Things ain’t like they used to be…

I finally got Peter Tosh’s two best solo albums on CD, and listening to his first one (unfairly remembered nowadays only for its pro-drug title track, “Legalize It,”) I found myself missing him. Released in the early 70s, the album … Continue reading

Posted in Music, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Further comment unnecessary…

“Who in fact handles public relations for the Bush administration? Michael Jackson?” —Daniel Henninger in today’s The Wall Street Journal.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 3 Comments