I’ve started listening to the “Tech Won’t Save Us” podcast, expertly hosted by Canadian tech critic Paris Marx, who’s joined each week by an expert who critically examines “the tech industry, the powerful people who helm it, and the products and services it unleashes on the world.” Separating tech from politics, says Marx, “has consequences for us all, especially the most vulnerable.” I’m looking forward to reading books by two recent guests, Malcolm Harris (Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World), and Edward Niedermeyer (Ludicrous: The Unvarnished History of Tesla Motors). Niedermeyer introduced me to the useful word autonowashing, “the practice of making unverified or misleading claims which misrepresent the appropriate level of human supervision required by a partially or semi-autonomous product, service or technology.” (More -washing compounds here.)
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Who knew the article the could cause so much outrage and mockery? The Associated Press Stylebook brought it on with a late-January tweet that earnestly opined: “We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing ‘the’ labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college educated.” Needless to say, the French were not amused. (Neither, I suspect, were many of the college educated.) The contretemps, wrote New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, “underscores the ongoing project to revise terminology in ways that are meant to be more inclusive — but which I fear are counterproductive and end up inviting mockery and empowering the right.” (Gift link)
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More about “the French” on Language Log.
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Related: Stanford University retracted its Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative (EHLI), “which sought to address potentially ‘harmful language’ on Stanford websites and code advice.” The EHLI, which was intended for Stanford’s information-technology community, had advised against using white paper (because white “assigns value connotations based on color (white = good),” American (because it implies “that the U.S. is the most important country in the Americas”) and brave (because it promotes the “noble courageous savage” stereotype). “The 13-page guide has drawn an overwhelming amount of backlash since it went live on a dedicated website last month,” Yahoo News reported in early January. The entire EHLI site was subsequently taken down.
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Also related: “An office within the University of Southern California's School of Social Work says it is removing the term ‘field’ from its curriculum because it may have racist connotations related to slavery.” (NPR)
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Have you read my latest stories for Medium? I wrote recently about a Wall Street Journal headline that missed the mark, about the origins and evolution of Galentine’s Day, and about a new slogan for De Beers, the global diamond company. You can see all of my Medium stories here.
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Did “lorem ipsum,” the faux-Latin placeholder text, originate in the Renaissance? Or was it developed much more recently? (Tim Carmody for Kottke)
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“Whereas a period at the end of a sentence comes across as a demonstration of sarcasm, one lonely, unhinged exclamation point runs the risk of being interpreted as a manifestation of lukewarm affection. If it shows up in pairs, it is to indicate incredulity; three is proof of eagerness; four of fervor; five of out-of-control fondness; and more, stratospheric bewilderment.” – Ilan Stavans on America’s love affair with exclamation points (Time magazine). I reviewed Stavans’s new anthology, The People’s Tongue, last week.
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Three recent posts on the Strong Language blog:
- Michael Adams on the late Madeline Kripke, a collector of dictionaries and language books who specialized in slang and profanity (her business card declared her to be a “lexicunt”), Be sure to follow the link to the Kripke Collection at Indiana University.
- James Harbeck on Trump, you cat donkey dog, or words to that effect
- And me on enshittify and enshittification
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The best rebrands of 2022. (Divad Sanders for Medium)
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The newest American Girl historical dolls weren’t even born when the company launched, in 1986. That’s because they’re 9-year-old twins living in 1999 Seattle. Yes, the 1990s now qualify as history. From Mashable: “While Isabel is a preppy, pop girlie, Nicki is a skater who's also into Seattle's infamous alt-rock scene. … If you take a close look at the twins'’bedroom you'll see relics of technology's past: a dial-up computer, a home phone, an alarm clock, floppy discs, a portable CD player, and a Tamagotchi.” My favorite bit of American Girl lore is this: The dolls were introduced by Pleasant Company, which became a subsidiary of Mattel in 1998. Pleasant Company was named for its founder, Pleasant Rowland.
A friend just informed me that the newest American Girl doll makes zines. I have become a historical artifact. pic.twitter.com/UQ3ZbFPvAA
— S. Mirk (@sarahmirk) February 22, 2023
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This isn’t new-news, but it was news to me: The writer Augusten Burroughs (Running with Scissors) changed his name on his 18th birthday, following an impeccably geeky logic. (Nancy’s Baby Names)
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Some truly awful/hilarious mistranslations in signage, advertising, and packaging. (Language Log)
Eek!
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