Posts tagged as "language" - Chris Hardie

In June, a delegation from Summersault attended the YAPC::NA Perl Conference in Columbus, Ohio for a few days.  My second YAPC conference, it was an interesting experience full of inside jokes, engaging discussions, more inside jokes, and good food. I was only scheduled to give one presentation ("How to talk, or not talk, to your clients about Perl") but after hearing some of the opening remarks at the conference that spent too much time and energy, IMHO, declaring that "Perl is not dead!" I signed...

It was frustrating but not surprising to see today that CNN has joined the list of mainstream media outlets who have adopted the harmful framing offered up in the debate about the U.S. borders, by beginning to use the label of "illegals" in their reporting. It may seem like a relatively small difference between that and other commonly used terms, but I find it to be a particularly dehumanizing one. When we group a whole bunch of people together into a single ambiguously defined but broadly used...

Even though it's apparently technically legitimate, one of my biggest pet peeves is the use of the word "itch" as a verb, as in "he itched the bug bite". Blech. I double over and cringe in disgust. You scratch a bug bite, or an itch, or anything similar. You don't itch it. The itch is what you scratch. If you can just follow that one simple request, we'll get along fine.

I use more words than I should More than I mean to I wish I could just mumble and be understood Just smile quietly And ignite a connection. Words have meaning But meaning is life force And it's a shame to use it all up just getting acquainted When the real joy Lies ahead In the unsaid