The two sexes have suddenly given rise to a gender explosion — the big bang of the sexual universe. Well, that’s what the gender mongers would have us think. However, everything is the same as always. There aren’t any new genders, only new definitions for old words. Words are the atoms of thought so when definitions get mangled, everything gets confused.…Continue reading The Gender Explosion
Category: Linguistics
Having to do with the study of words, their origins, meanings, uses and abuses.
How My Insights Come at Me
A few nights each month, some distant thought comes to the shore of my consciousness like a huge wave approaching from far out at sea. As my sleep shallows, the wave rises up in a great breaker and crashes down in a rushing, jumble of thoughts and I have to run to my desk and capture them for if I…Continue reading How My Insights Come at Me
Abstraction: a Legislative Trap
One of the interesting things the human mind can do is to use abstractions. We can think and talk of carrots and crops. Carrots are real physical things. You can eat one. The word “Crops”, on the other hand, means plants grown to be harvested.”Crops” is an abstract idea that covers all kinds of things. But you can’t eat an…Continue reading Abstraction: a Legislative Trap
The Space Between Words and Their Meaning
There is a space between words and their meaning: Poetry and politicians frolic in that space. Puns reveal it. Truth seekers explore it with reverent interest. Bigotry and hate corrupt it. Evil abuses it. Love cherishes it. Librarians worry about it. Lexicographers live on it. Lazy thinkers crash and burn in it. As humans, our minds give us a space…Continue reading The Space Between Words and Their Meaning
Believer – Nonbeliever: The False Dichotomy
One of the tragedies of our time is a flawed perception of a chasm between believer and nonbeliever. The fact is we are all brothers in the same boat. Neither believer nor nonbeliever can prove his opinion is the right one and that makes us all equals and brothers. In that context we are all believers because our opinions are…Continue reading Believer – Nonbeliever: The False Dichotomy