Latest Doings
I'm teaching (some of) the writers of tomorrow in my English 101 course. We have a class weblog up at
http://weblogs.calvin.edu/weblogs?/engl101

I hope to have announcements soon about a weblog for the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, where I'm newly employed...

... and the return of Inflections.

In the meantime, enjoy the redesigned website for CICW: www.calvin.edu/worship.

My latest Tribune column:
On the new book Word Origins and How We Know Them.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0503160148mar16,1,3402114.story

Quote I heard and need to retrieve: Kierkegaard said we "tranquilize ourselves with the trivial."

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I felt wimpy earlier this week when a driver wearing a Mennonite bonnet passed me on the highway. I guess I had always equated pacifism with passivity ...

My latest Tribune column:
On the Chipaya, a remote tribe in Bolivia that speaks a unique language.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0503010280mar02,1,6224749.story

(Chipaya is near Oruro, south of LaPaz.)

My latest Tribune column:On a new study that shows that Latin American immigrants to the U.S. prefer English.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0502160039feb16,1,643716.story

More on this study.

This week in my B&C blog:
January news and book review roundup. LINK/ARCHIVE

With this I close the curtain on my B&C blog after two years.

On to Calvin.

My latest Tribune language column:
On the fascinating history of Latin.
temp link/perm.preview

This week in my B&C blog:
Why the United States is mostly purple. Plus: desperate house-husbands, the first World Trade Center terrorist attack, death and the med student, and more ... LINK/ARCHIVE

My latest Tribune language column:
Why "he or she" and "hir" are inferior solutions to the problem of epicene singular pronouns.
temp link/perm.preview

• From Commentary:

To be sure, George W. Bush was hated. He had been the object of a startling amount of contumely during his first term of office, a phenomenon that had already occasioned much comment in the public prints.

M-W:Etymology: Middle English contumelie, from Middle French, from Latin contumelia
: harsh language or treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt; also : an instance of such language or treatment