ČAPEK’S ROBOTS
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is a controversial topic these days. Will its advancement be to mankind’s good or detriment? Czech author Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R. predicted the latter in 1920, though, in … Continue reading
COMPARATIVE MENDACITY 101
THE ENGLISH language is so amply endowed that there’s comparative mendacity. I never thought of this scale of dishonesty until I looked up “to equivocate,” the next in my ever-expanding … Continue reading
DECEPTION, TO DECEIVE, TO BE DECEPTIVE
TODAY I add the word “deceptive” to my etymological thoughts on useful political descriptors. Recent pronouncements concerning Charlottesville, tax reform, dreamers, not to forget continuing компромат, bring the word “deceptive”and … Continue reading
CLIMATE CHANGE, LANGUAGEWISE
THE TERM climate change has been all but eliminated from the Trump administration’s nomenclature. Thus, I guess, to some this means it doesn’t exist. As an example of this thinking, … Continue reading
ELEMENTAL HAIKU
A HAIKU, as is familiarly known, is a Japanese poem of a particular length and structure. It consists of three lines, the first and last having five sound units, the … Continue reading
THE CLASSICS WITH DAFFY, BUGS, AND ELMER
THE TERM “cartoon classics” has at least two meanings: There are the Warner Bros and Disney cartoons, timeless in their humor, exquisite in their production values. And there is the … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY CONTINUED: DEMAGOGUE
FOR ONCE in my continuing Etymology for Today series (see chaos, mendacity, and the like), I’ve come upon a difference in my two primary sources, one dated 1971 and the … Continue reading
GOT MENDACITY?
IN MY continuing series of Etymology for Today, I offer the word “mendacity,” as practiced regularly by our president. Given that it’s a long word, and perhaps unfamiliar to some, … Continue reading
CHAOS, IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, PART 2
SOMEHOW, STUDYING the etymology of the word “chaos” makes current events seem less disruptive to rational thought. Yesterday was a start; today, we celebrate three forms of the word, spelled … Continue reading
CHAOS, IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, PART 1
ETYMOLOGY CAN offer good fun as well as therapeutic distraction in times of unease. Consider the word “chaos.” Come to think of it, in a Russell’s Paradox sort of way, … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 