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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 297

April 13, 2023

"Fall down seven times, get up eight."

—Japanese proverb

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 296

April 12, 2023

"To know the road ahead, ask those coming back."

—Chinese proverb

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 295

April 11, 2023

"Change is hard but irrelevance is harder."

—Dr. Steve Buchholz

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 294

April 2, 2023

"Some people change their ways when they see the light, others when they feel the heat."

—Caroline Schoeder

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 293

April 1, 2023

Things do not change; we change.”

—Henry David Thoreau

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 292

March 31, 2023

“Behold the turtle! He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out."

—Attributed in 1949 (by Harvard University President James B. Conant) to an anonymous Manhattan Project scientist, engineer, or manager 

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 291

March 28, 2023

"Taking control of uncertainty and successfully steering your organization through frequent bends in the road is the fundamental leadership challenge of our time. And it will call for a distinctly different type of leadership than the one you were trained for and are likely currently exercising. The advantage now goes to those who don’t just learn to live with change, but who create change. I call these people catalysts."

—Ram Charan

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 290

March 26, 2023

“I tried to learn TikTok over the pandemic. My nieces love it, but they’re 13 and they're like, 'We'll show you, Aunt Kath,’ and they show me their phones and I watch them. If you've never seen TikTok, it's just a barrage of videos. And I put them down and they're like, 'You didn't like it, did you?' I go, 'Well, here's what I'll say about it: I feel like I just sat next to someone who did an eight ball! Nope. I'm a drinker, not a drugger, so nope.' And they go, like, 'Oh, are you saying it's, like, too much?' I go, 'Yeah, it's WAY too much. I...I can't process it.' They go, 'Yeah, but just because our videos are mostly dance and music and stuff. Like, you could build your own and it won't be as crazy.' I said, 'All right,' so I signed up, and I don't know how it decides what your first batch of videos is gonna be, but my first batch, all of my people were in hospice.

I like Instagram 'cause it's passive, pleasant, there's nothin' bad. People are nice on Instagram. It's beagles, puppies eating ice cream cones, and that kinda stuff.

Now, Twitter, I like that one, but it's aggressive. You better be ready! It's like walkin' into a bar at midnight and everybody's had shots except you: 'Well, well, look what the cat dragged in with a little opinion about nothin'!'

Facebook, I don't love it. I have it, for work, but I don't like Mark Zuckerberg. Yeah, because I feel like he stole all our information. He sold it 17 times around the globe and he never paid a price for that. My parents like it, but they're 80. They get up in the morning, they drink coffee, and then they troll the entire family, every second cousin, third cousin, people we lived by when I was five. That's their morning entertainment. That's why I told my nieces and nephews, ‘Uh, heads up. If I were you guys, I would NOT friend Grandpa. Or Grandma for that matter. They look innocent and seem nice, but they're spies. They're gonna go through your whole feed, they're gonna read everything, and then they're gonna report back and tell your parents.”

Kathleen Madigan: Hunting Bigfoot (2023 at 00:32:35, available on Amazon Prime)

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 289

March 24, 2023

"Friendship means little when it's convenient."

—Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada), John Wick: Chapter 4

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 288

March 17, 2023

"Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become."

—James Clear, Atomic Habits

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 287

March 16, 2023

"Only the forgotten are ever really gone," so, if one loves others boundlessly, memories of her will reverberate throughout the ages and she shall prove immortal."

—Idea

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 286

March 13, 2023

"Innovation needs space to dream, and maybe more important, space to make mistakes. Detours and complications create a deeper knowledge and understanding of your topic. If you only repeat what was successful before, you will probably never create something truly unique." 

—Joachim Sauter (1959-2021), Founder of ART+COM, creator of TerraVision (now known as Google Earth)

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 285

March 12, 2023

"No matter where you plant them, people are emotional orchards that always bear fruit. The question is, 'What kind?'"

—Idea

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 284

March 11, 2023

“The right thing to do is simple to see: Among all the options, it's the difficult one!”

—Idea

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 283

March 1, 2023

"Reputation is a foreshadowing of our character for those who've yet to meet us."

—Idea

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 282

February 9, 2023

"Tell me your habits and I'll tell you your future."

"Trust is the degree to which I believe you are for me."

"Everything we are doing we are becoming."

"Just as marriage further forms us, so too does our work."

 

—Walter Nusbaum, Faith at Work luncheon, RockPointe Church, February 8, 2023

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 281

February 3, 2023

"Oh, look at that snaggletooth! My goodness, you could eat corn through a fence!"

—Betty (Sally Field) in 80 for Brady

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 280

February 2, 2023

 

SNAKE RULES:

Rule #1: If you see a snake, shoot it.

Rule #2: Don’t play with dead snakes.

Rule #3: Everything looks like a snake at first.

 

About Rule #1:

The key is snake-killin’. What’s dangerous must die. End of story. Don’t set up a snake committee. Don’t listen to snake user groups. Don’t write snake essays or send snake memos. Don’t have conference calls about the snake. Don’t leave voice mails about the snake. Don’t have meetings about the snake. Just kill the damn snake already. If you perceive a mortal threat, waste no time. Attack it before it attacks you. You may find that getting rid of a snake can sometimes be a greater problem than the snake itself. People within a company LOVE to write memos about the snake. Don’t let ’em! Just kill, kill, kill, and kill again! It’s kill or be killed.

 

About Rule #2:

Keep going even if you’ve attacked the wrong threat or solved the wrong problem. That’s life. That’s learning. And after the snake is officially dead, don’t revisit it. Some people may insist that the snake is still around. They’re usually the same people who lost the argument and were overruled.

 

About Rule #3:

Most opportunities start out looking like a snake. If a threatening snake turns out not to be a problem, turn from attacking it to using it!

—James Barksdale (former CEO of Netscape, COO of FedEx, and Board Member of Time Warner)

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 279

January 18, 2023

"Barksdaleisms"

 

“In a fight between a bear and an alligator, it’s the terrain that determines who wins.”   

 

“Life is simpler when you plow around the stumps.” 

 

“Never mistake a clear view for a short distance.” 

 

“Nobody that I know can predict the next two pings of the pinball.”

 

“He squeezes a quarter so tight the eagle screams.”

 

“He’s tighter than a bull’s ass at fly time.”

 

“Now, I’m the President around here, so if I say a chicken can pull a tractor trailer, your job is to hitch ’em up.” 

 

“If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.” 

 

“Your job is to run as fast as you can toward the cliff. My job is to move the cliff.” 

 

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” (Relentless focus on “the main thing” is a universal attribute of great operators. As an example of implementing this idea in a nonprofit context, Jim Barksdale has said: “…whatever they say to us about what’s going on here or there, our question is always, ‘But are the children learning to read?’ And we want to just stay focused on that.”)

—James Barksdale (former CEO of Netscape, COO of FedEx, and Board Member of Time Warner)

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 278

January 1, 2023

Are our exclamation points out of hand?

See for yourself!

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 277

August 29, 2022

Charlie Ireland (agricultural consultant): “How's it feel?”

Jeremy Clarkson: “Well, I'll let you know in a minute, 'cause you're going to tell me the figures. You're going to give me the moment of truth. It hasn't been a great year for for farming, generally. I read in The Times yesterday [that] it's [been] the worst year for farmers since 1976. Dry summer.”

Ireland: “So, we're just gonna look at these top boxes. Look at the blue. And now I'm gonna frighten you. Last year, we made £226,000 from crop sales. That's before any costs. And this year's £137,000, so, £90,000 lower from the same area. That is £90,000 down.”

Clarkson: “It’s enormous.”

Ireland: “40% lower.”

Clarkson: “And £90,000 gone because of the weather. So, where are the costs, because how much?”

Ireland: “We spent £14,000 on seed, £34,000 on fertilizer, and £20,000 on sprays. So, £68,601. And then there's £68,457 of other costs: Kaleb, plus machinery. So, you've made £144 profit from the arable farm.”

Clarkson [incredulous]: “So, the fact of the matter is this: Farming seven days a week for a year, on a 1,000-acre farm, has generated an income of £144. Correct?

Ireland: “Correct.”

Clarkson: “Well, fortunately, at the moment, we have this subsidy. When that goes, what are farmers going to do? I mean, honestly, what are they going to do? The ones who don't have Amazon film crews following them around and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? To top up the income? I mean, what do you do when the subsidy starts to go down?”

Ireland: “There will be… there's gonna be a sea change to the, rurally, you know, the countryside. There'll be 30% fewer farmers, probably, but that's where we are with farming in this day and age.”

Clarkson: “So, the next time a farmer moans about the weather, put your arm ‘round him and buy him a pint, because he's not moaning about it ‘cause it's a bit miserable working in the rain; he's moaning about it ‘cause it's crucifying. I've worked bloody hard all year and my reward is £144. Even with the grants and subsidies added in, I'd have been far better off selling up, putting the money in the bank, and living off the interest.”

—Dialogue courtesy of Clarkson's Farm (episode 8 / season finale, Amazon Prime 2021), when Jeremy Clarkson takes stock of that year's profit (or lack thereof)

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 276

August 17, 2022

[Harry Edwards:] "He would call me up and say, 'Harry, I was just thinking' and I would say, 'What do you want? What's goin' on?' or 'What do we got to talk about?' and, after a while, I came to respect his disposition."

[Arthur Ashe:] "You grow up Black in the American South, you have no control. Your life is proscribed. And then in the '60s, then you had Black ideologues trying to tell me what to do. All the time, I am saying to myself Hey, when do I get to decide what I want to do? and so I've always been fiercely protective with anyone wanting to control my life."

[Harry Edwards:] "Arthur was the fist person to really push me to understand that Black orthodoxy is not an acceptable substitute for institutionalized White racism... that it has to be about people having the freedom to make their OWN decisions in terms of how they approach this struggle. Otherwise, what are we fighting for?"

—Recollections by [Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley] Dr. Edwards and [then tennis champion, author, activist] Ashe (from HBO Max's Citizen Ashe) regarding the latter's approach to social justice

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 275

May 24, 2022

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see."

—Arthur Schopenhauer

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 274

April 20, 2022

"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum."

—Roddy Piper in John Carpenter's They Live (1988)

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 273

April 9, 2022

“Isn’t it amazing how far decent people will go when they’re sure they’re right.”

—Sam Waterston as George Shultz in 2022's The Dropout on Hulu

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 272

February 23, 2022

The person across from you has survived the unsurvivable, is wandering in the wilderness now, or is rapidly approaching violent waterfalls and unseen yet all-consuming plunge pools. In time, everyone drinks from the cup of sorrows.

AND WHEN THEY DO   — AND WHEN THEY DO —   may they also find in abundance there our spirits of patience, kindness, empathy, understanding, and love.

—Idea

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 270

February 11, 2022

"Life has taught me one thing, Miss Scott: If you don’t want to be disappointed, only help those who help themselves."

—Agnes Van Rhijn, Season 1, Episode 2, The Gilded Age

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 271

February 9, 2022

"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."

—James Clear, Atomic Habits

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 269

January 15, 2022

“Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.”

—Plato

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 268

January 2, 2022

“The artist will move future generations when the bones of kings have long since mouldered away.”

—Franz Alexander von Kleist, Dresden, 1792 (one year following Mozart’s death)

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 267

January 1, 2022

“Mozart is too easy for children, but too difficult for professionals.”

—Arthur Schnabel 

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 266

December 28, 2021

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

—Gautama Buddha

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 264

November 1, 2021

"You're pushing on an open door, Colin."

Manhunt, Season 2: The Night Stalker, Episode 3 (said to Martin Clunes' DCI Colin Sutton)

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 265

November 1, 2021

"Best way's a long way gone now."

—Tony Curran's Logan McClay in Calibre as he brainstorms alternatives for burying a body

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 263

September 11, 2021

“Multilevel marketing is the village where everything is possible. The flip side of that is if everything is possible, nothing is true.”

——Robert FitzPatrick, LuLaRich

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 262

June 14, 2021

"Appalachia is a wound, and a joy, and a poem.

A knot of complication.

But you cannot know a place without loving it, hating it,

and feeling everything in between.

You cannot understand the complex people by only looking at the way

they have been portrayed on the television and movie screens.

 

One must go to the mountains to drive these winding roads

One must sit and jaw for a while with folks on their front porches

Must attend weddings and high school graduations.

One must study the history of the place and come to understand it

Must sit at a wake and look at the lines on the faces of the people

and the callouses on their hands and understand the

Gestational and generational complexities

Of poverty and pride and culture.

 

Something inside you has to crack to let in the light so

your eyes and brains and heart can adjust properly."

—Silas House, from 2018's stirring documentary, Hillbilly

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 261

January 12, 2021

"I believe that how you sell is a free sample of how you solve."

—Joe Brouillette

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 260

December 27, 2020

"Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die."

—Saint Augustine

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 259

December 1, 2020

“Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.”

—William Makepeace Thackeray

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 258

November 29, 2020

“They say the definition of an optimist is someone who believes the future is uncertain, and a pessimist is always right but they derive no satisfaction.”

Robert Downey Jr. on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman (10/20/2020)

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 257

November 28, 2020

“I was drifting, like most people do when they come out of university. I thought acting would last about a year. Here we are, 35 years [later]. There was a sort of excursion in those early years where I was also writing my own material with a couple of writing partners. Those were very happy days. I remember feeling the most satisfied and like a human being at the end of those days, more than any day on any film set ever. You know this: Any kind of primary creativity where you actually turn a blank page into something hits a very profound spot and one that is deeply satisfying.”

—Hugh Grant, 11/27/2020

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 256

November 23, 2020

"They say no one's gonna save you

You've gotta make it on your own

But I called from the dark

And you picked up the phone

On my back in the raging blue

I looked up, and you cut right through

 

And when I came back empty-handed

You met me in the road

And you fell on my neck

And you took me back home

After all that I took from you

After all that I put you through

Here I am"

Fire in Bone by Stuart David Price, Brandon Flowers, and Ronnie Jr. Vannucci

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 255

November 12, 2020

As a world waits in impotent frustration,

The Sovereign God of the universe laughs, whistles

And rules from His throne.

The Alpha and Omega determines the end from the beginning.

He raises and deposes kings.

God's designed pauses give opportunities to remember it is not by might,

Nor by power

But by His Spirit

That details of all time are orchestrated.

With God on the throne, I have nothing to fear.

 

Sovereign Lord, give me peace while I wait—and pray—in your pause.

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 254

October 21, 2020

“America needs Thanksgiving now more than ever. It’s inevitable, due to our battered psyche. This is a nation that’s in pain.”

—Dr. Oz

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 253

October 19, 2020

"We don't use the people to get the work done, we use the work to get the people done."

—Bill McCready, Lead Pastor, LifePoint Church

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 252

September 9, 2020

“There’s nothing older than the idea that this is new.”

—Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 251

September 3, 2020

“And especially, you don’t want to go to a college where the professors think that students are there to provide them with an audience for indoctrination.”

—Thomas Sowell

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 250

August 24, 2020

"Is she an only?"

"Au contraire, she's not our only...she’s our everything."

—Mom & Dad

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 249

August 22, 2020

“Music is liquid architecture; Architecture is frozen music.”

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 248

July 29, 2020

“John Prine was, without a doubt, one of the greatest songwriters this world will ever know. Many people more qualified than me have written about why that is. And many more will follow. Greatest or not, here’s what it comes down to for me and here’s why he rests on my heart’s mountain top: Because he cared enough to look—at me, you, all of us—until he saw what was noble and then he wrapped us up in melodies and sung us back to ourselves. 

That was the miracle of John Prine. And it was enough.”

—Iris Dement, 04/10/2020

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 247

July 10, 2020

“I can only coach the person in front of me.”

—Idea

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 246

May 8, 2020

"Isn't it interesting how life's boomerangs often bring us home?"

—Idea

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 245

April 20, 2020

"Mankind will never see an end of trouble until lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power become lovers of wisdom."

—Plato

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 244

March 14, 2020

“There are only two forces that unite men—fear and interest.”

—Napoleon Bonaparte

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 243

March 13, 2020

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” 

—Marie Curie

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 242

March 1, 2020

“After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, love, and so on—have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear—what remains? Nature remains.

Walt Whitman, Specimen Days and Collect, 1881

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 241

January 27, 2020

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Hamlet to Horatio in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1.5.167-8)

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 240

January 20, 2020

"We recommend coming with a good attitude and a tape measure."

—Orr-Reed Wrecking Co.

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 239

January 19, 2020

"Booze can be a good servant, but it’s a lousy master."

—DI Fred Thursday, Endeavor, Season 2, Episode 1, Trove

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 238

January 8, 2020

“Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne,

He travels the fastest who travels alone.”

1917's General Erinmore (portrayed by Colin Firth) quoting The Winners by Rudyard Kipling.

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 237

January 4, 2020

"When one can see no future, all one can do is the next right thing."

—Grand Pabbie (troll chief), Frozen II 

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 236

January 1, 2020

“If you look at the world you'll be distressed. If you look within you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest.”

—Cornelia Arnolda Johanna ten Boom

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 235

December 23, 2019

"I can save the day, but you can save the world."

—Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) to Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in Wonder Woman 1984

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 234

December 15, 2019

“All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.”

—Pa Bailey, It's A Wonderful Life

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 233

December 2, 2019

"Beware, children, you can leave yourself behind. You won't even know when it happened. All children grow up, but some—the wild ones, the ones with the light in their eye—escape."

—2020's Wendy (screenplay by Benh Zeitlin and Eliza Zeitlin)

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 232

September 29, 2019

"I really found what I like to eat by the time I was six. I've saved a lot of experimenting since then, continuing to put a lot of salt on hamburgers and go to it."

—Warren Buffett with his billionaire-bud, Bill (at 00:32:30, Episode 2 of Netflix's Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates), liberally shaking the salt and diving into the perfect meal.

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 231

September 14, 2019

The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors; that which it loves, and also that which it fears. Circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.

 

Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself. Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves.

—James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 230

August 28, 2019

"If his IQ slips any lower we'll have to water him twice a day."

Molly Ivins (1944-2007) when describing the late, great Jim Collins (U.S. Representative, R-Dallas)

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 229

August 4, 2019

“She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It’s good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.”

—Sixo (on why he loves the Thirty-Mile Woman) in Beloved, by Toni Morrison (February 18, 1931 - August 5, 2019)

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 228

August 3, 2019

“You can buy a man's time, you can buy a man's physical presence at a certain place, you can even buy a measured number of skilled muscular motions per hour or day. But you cannot buy enthusiasm, you cannot buy initiative, you cannot buy loyalty; you cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds, and souls. You have to earn these things.”

—Clarence Francis

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 227

July 12, 2019

“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

—Roald Dahl, The Twits

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 226

July 11, 2019

“Power without love is reckless and abusive. Love without power is sentimental and anemic.”

—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 225

July 9, 2019

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

 

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

 

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

 

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

—“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, 1923

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 224

June 23, 2019

“It’s all about trying to ‘help somebody cross.’ While everybody else is fighting for a seat at the table, talking about ‘#OscarsSoWhite, #OscarsSoWhite,’ I said, ‘Y’all go ahead and do that. While you’re fighting for a seat at the table, I’ll be down in Atlanta building my own.’ Because what I know for sure is that if I could just build this table, God will prepare it for me in the presence of my enemies.”

Tyler Perry (acceptance speech for BET Awards’ Ultimate Icon Award)

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 223

June 12, 2019

"Now we rise

and we are everywhere."

Pink Moon by Nick Drake (1948-1974)

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 222

June 1, 2019

Scott: "Garlic bread is my favorite food. I could honestly eat it for every meal. Or just eat it all the time without even stopping." 

 

Ramona: "You'd get fat." 

 

Scott: "Why would I get fat?" 

 

Ramona: "Bread makes you fat." 

 

Scott: "Bread makes you fat?"

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 221

May 7, 2019

“Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.”

—Voltaire, Candide

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 220

May 5, 2019

A demonym is any name derived from a place that helps describe people who live there. Californians are people who live in California. Frenchmen live in France. And so on. But what about the demonyms that are seemingly random?

 

How the heck did people from the Netherlands become the Dutch, for example?

 

Before we dig into this demonym, there are three terms we need to define: Holland, the Netherlands, and Dutch. In Old English dutch simply meant “people or nation.” (This also explains why Germany is called Deutschland in German.)

 

Over time, English-speaking people used the word Dutch to describe people from both the Netherlands and Germany. (At that point in time, in the early 1500s, the Netherlands and parts of Germany, along with Belgium and Luxembourg, were all part of the Holy Roman Empire.) Specifically the phrase “High Dutch” referred to people from the mountainous area of what is now southern Germany. “Low Dutch” referred to people from the flatlands in what is now the Netherlands.

 

Within the Holy Roman Empire, the word “Netherlands” was used to describe people from the low-lying (nether) region (land). The term was so widely used that when they became a formal, separate country in 1815, they became the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The word “Holland” literally meant “wood-land” in Old English and originally referred to people from the northern region of the Netherlands. Over time, it came to apply to the entire country. Got all that?

 

In some cases, the demonym preceded the place name. For example, Finland is the place where the Finns live, just as Germany is the place where the Germans live. The people came before the official government and place name. (Parts of what we call Germany was called Prussia until 1932.)

 

In English we denote place of origin by suffixes. The most common suffixes that denote place are: -(a)n (Chicagoan), -er (New Yorker), -ese (Chinese), -ian (Norwegian), and -ish (English). Where did these suffixes come form? Latin, of course. -ish actually comes from Old English, which is why citizens of the British Isles have -ish demonyms: Scottish, Welsh, English, etc. The other suffixes came from Latin, though they each convey slightly different senses. -ese most directly meant “belonging to or originating in a place.” -(a)n and -ian are variations on the same suffix meaning “belonging to.” -er was used principally in the sense of “one having to do with a thing,” as in lawyer or villager. As with most vocabulary in English, they all now coexist and serve the same purpose.

 

It’s also important not to confuse demonyms with adjectives. You can listen to an Argentinian song, but it is sung by an Argentine.

 

Here are a few of our other favorite exceptions to the rule:

Kiwi

Neapolitan

Liverpudlian

Cypriot

Czech

Turk

Buckeye

Hoosier

Spaniard

Greek

Swiss

Swede

Uzbek

—dictionary.com

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 219

March 17, 2019

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."

—President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation for "A Day Of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer in the United States of America" on April 30, 1863

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 218

March 13, 2019

“Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and uninterruptible concentration. I try to learn certain areas of computer science exhaustively; then I try to digest that knowledge into a form that is accessible to people who don't have time for such study.”

Donald E. Knuth

Computer Science Department

Stanford University

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 217

February 15, 2019

"A gift must never favor the giver."

—idea

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 216

February 13, 2019

"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better."

—Abraham Lincoln

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 215

February 12, 2019

“Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.”

—Mark Twain

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 214

November 26, 2018

"Unbow your head, sister."

—Ernestine Rivers, in James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 213

November 22, 2018

“O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good; because his mercy endureth for ever.”

Psalm 118:1

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 212

November 19, 2018

“Thanksgiving Day is a jewel to set in the hearts of honest men, but be careful that you do not take the day and leave out the gratitude.”

E.P. Powell

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 211

November 13, 2018

"We were together.

I forget the rest."

Walt Whitman

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 210

November 5, 2018

"The first to apologize is the bravest.

 

The first to forgive is the strongest.

 

The first to forget is the happiest."

 

—idea

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 209

October 29, 2018

“This is my fault, Honey. If I hadn't...this wouldn't have happened. I’m so sorry.”

 

“You’re not that powerful, Dad. Eat your food.”

Ally (Lady Gaga), to her grieving father, Lorenzo (Andrew Dice Clay), after her husband, Jack (Bradley Cooper), dies by suicide in 2018's A Star Is Born

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 208

October 23, 2018

“We each fall short, yet we are each enough.”

—idea

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 206

October 20, 2018

“Laughter is what gives me forward motion. We are the only creatures that both laugh and weep. I think it’s because we are the only creatures that see the difference between the way things are and the way they might be. Tears bring relief. Laughter brings release.

 

Some years ago I came across a phrase in Greek—asbestos gelos—inextinguishable, unquenchable laughter. I traced it to Homer’s Iliad, where it was used to describe the laughter of the gods. That's my kind of laughter. And he who laughs, lasts.

 

Good night. Sleep loose.”

 

—Robert Fulghum, It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 207

October 20, 2018

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,

As I foretold you, were all spirits, and

Are melted into air, into thin air:

And like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,

And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on; and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.

—Prospero, in The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1, 148–158, by William Shakespeare, written 1610-1611

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 204

October 19, 2018

“Oft expectation fails and most oft there

Where most it promises, and oft it hits

Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.”

—William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, Act II, Scene 1, Line 145

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 205

October 19, 2018

“To be sure I must; and therefore I may assume that your silence gives consent.”

—Plato

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 201

October 17, 2018

"Woe the barren world, the world without compliment or apology."

—idea

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 203

October 10, 2018

“The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.” 

—Leonard Hand

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 202

October 5, 2018

“I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.”

—Oliver Cromwell

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 200

September 29, 2018

“It is time for you to go home. You have been a thirsty man looking for a drink and all the while standing knee-deep in a flowing stream.

 

There is really nothing you must be. And there is nothing you must do. There is really nothing you must have. And there is nothing you must know. There is nothing you must become.

 

However, it helps to understand that fire burns and that when it rains, the earth gets wet.

 

Whatever, there are consequences. No body is exempt.”

Adapted from Manabu Kohara

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 199

September 21, 2018

“I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world—into the black places in the hearts of men—and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life.”

Alexandros Papaderos

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 198

September 19, 2018

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”

Preface, “It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It” by Robert Fulghum 

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 197

August 20, 2018

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

—Voltaire

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 195

August 17, 2018

"Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch and a kick just a kick.

After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick no longer a kick.

Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick."

—Bruce Lee

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 192

August 12, 2018

"Sociology is psychology at scale."

—idea

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 193

August 12, 2018

"I made very few promisesand kept them all."

—Teddy Roosevelt when asked, "To what do you attribute the success of your presidency?"

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 191

August 4, 2018

“Don’t sacrifice your career for your job.”

—Habit #6 from How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job by Sally Helgesen

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 196

July 15, 2018

"If some is good, more must be better."

—Reynolds' Supposition

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 194

June 29, 2018

"I have a hypothesis, though that's all it is: The most common root cause of disappointment in life is missed expectations."

—idea

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 190

June 15, 2018

“The world needs fewer gurus and more scholars. Gurus preach from intuition; scholars teach from evidence. Gurus promote themselves; scholars promote ideas. Gurus make promises; scholars ask questions.”

—Adam Grant

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 188

May 14, 2018

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 189

May 13, 2018

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

 
Courage to change the things I can,
 
and wisdom to know the difference.”

“The Serenity Prayer” (1934) by Reinhold Niebuhr

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 187

April 9, 2018

"Much of this testimony reveals that while technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies."

—Representative Tom Lantos, a California Democrat and chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on 11/07/2007, lecturing Yahoo and General Counsel Michael Callahan regarding Yahoo's role in the arrest of journalist Shi Tao.

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For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 186

March 14, 2018

"In places like Abilene, Kansas, the big sins, left unchallenged, would have had very practical and disastrous effects. Sloth could lead to the failure of a family farm; gluttony and inebriation to the destruction of a family; lust to the ruination of a young man or woman; vanity to excessive spending, debt, and bankruptcy.

In places like that, people had an awareness not only of sin but of the different kinds of sins and the different remedies for each. Some sins, such as anger and lust, are like wild beasts. They have to be fought through habits of restraint. Other sins, such as mockery and disrespect, are like stains. They can be expunged only by absolution, by apology, remorse, restitution, and cleansing. Still others, such as stealing, are like a debt. They can be rectified only by repaying what you owe to society. Sins such as adultery, bribery, and betrayal are more like treason than like crime; they damage the social order. Social harmony can be rewoven only by slowly recommitting to relationship and rebuilding trust. The sins of arrogance and pride arise from a perverse desire for status and superiority. They only remedy for them is to humble oneself before others.

In other words, people in earlier times inherited a vast moral vocabulary and set of moral tools, developed over centuries and handed down from generation to generation. This was a practical inheritance, like learning how to speak a certain language, which people could use to engage their own moral struggles."

—David Brooks, The Road to Character

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 185

January 16, 2018

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances...to choose one's own way."

Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 184

November 22, 2017

“We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.

 

The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.

 

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity—in all this vastness—there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

Cornell University lecture by Dr. Carl Sagan, October 13, 1994, regarding a photographic image captured by Voyager 1 in 1990. Known as “Reflections on a Mote of Dust,” Dr. Sagan expanded on these ideas in his 1996 book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 183

October 29, 2017

“Now, I’m nobody, but I think I was able to meet the challenge. I did what I had to—when I had to—and I was lucky to be able to do it.”

Adolfo Kaminsky (92), former member of the French Resistance in World War II, whose identification documents’ forgeries afforded safe passage to Jews within, across, and out of Nazi-occupied France. He and his colleagues are credited with saving the lives of no fewer than 3,000 French Jews, and perhaps as many as 14,000.

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 182

September 27, 2017

“How do we get ahead of crazy if we don’t know how crazy thinks?“

—Agent Bill Tench, Mindhunter

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 181

September 18, 2017

"The privately educated Englishman is the greatest dissembler on earth… Was, is now, and ever shall be, for as long as our disgraceful school system remains intact. Nobody will charm you so glibly, disguise his feelings from you better, cover his tracks more skillfully, or find it harder to confess to you that he's been a damn fool. Nobody acts braver when he's frightened stiff, or happier when he's miserable; nobody can flatter you better when he hates you than your extrovert Englishman or woman."

George Smiley, in The Secret Pilgrim, by John le Carré

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 180

September 15, 2017

"I smell like sleep. I need to take a shower at your place. Worst case, I need to wash my bangs in the sink."

—Overheard on a train

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 179

August 25, 2017

"You're a kite dancing in a hurricane, Mr. Bond."

—Mr. White, Spectre

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 178

August 24, 2017

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”

—Marcus Tullius Cicero

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 177

August 22, 2017

"Carve every word before you let it fall."

—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 176

August 8, 2017

"I feel excited and lucky to be working on this project for Netflix. Here's what I have learned, if you retire to spend more time with your family, check with your family first. Thanks for watching, drive safely."

David Letterman (who retired two years ago after 33 years and 6,000 interviews) announcing a pre-recorded 6-episode longform conversation program set to debut in 2018

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 175

August 7, 2017

“Don’t look too long at the door that closes, or you won’t see the door that opens. The ancient Egyptian myth claims that every 500 years the phoenix bird would fly into a fire of its own origin and burn to ashes, only to rise again full of vigor.”

Miguel Martinez, founder of El Fenix

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 174

August 6, 2017

“I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.

I aim with my eye.

 

I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.

I shoot with my mind.

 

I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.

I kill with my heart.” 

—Gunslinger's Creed, The Dark Tower, by Stephen King

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 173

August 1, 2017

"I still have faith, but I don't know why. Maybe it's the fire in my little girl's eyes."

—Jason Isbell

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 172

July 11, 2017

"Walked out this morning, I don't believe what I saw—

A hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore.
Seems I'm not alone in being alone,
A hundred billion castaways... looking for a home.”

Message in a Bottle, The Police, 1979

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 171

June 23, 2017

"I thought it would last my time— 

The sense that, beyond the town, 

There would always be fields and farms, 

Where the village louts could climb 

Such trees as were not cut down; 

I knew there’d be false alarms

 

In the papers about old streets 

And split level shopping, but some 

Have always been left so far; 

And when the old part retreats 

As the bleak high-risers come 

We can always escape in the car.

 

Things are tougher than we are, just 

As earth will always respond 

However we mess it about; 

Chuck filth in the sea, if you must: 

The tides will be clean beyond. 

—But what do I feel now? Doubt?

 

Or age, simply? The crowd 

Is young in the M1 cafe; 

Their kids are screaming for more— 

More houses, more parking allowed, 

More caravan sites, more pay. 

On the Business Page, a score

 

Of spectacled grins approve 

Some takeover bid that entails 

Five per cent profit (and ten 

Per cent more in the estuaries): move 

Your works to the unspoilt dales 

(Grey area grants)! And when

 

You try to get near the sea 

In summer . . . 

        It seems, just now, 

To be happening so very fast; 

Despite all the land left free 

For the first time I feel somehow 

That it isn’t going to last,

 

That before I snuff it, the whole 

Boiling will be bricked in 

Except for the tourist parts— 

First slum of Europe: a role 

It won’t be hard to win, 

With a cast of crooks and tarts.

 

And that will be England gone, 

The shadows, the meadows, the lanes, 

The guildhalls, the carved choirs. 

There’ll be books; it will linger on 

In galleries; but all that remains 

For us will be concrete and tyres.

 

Most things are never meant. 

This won’t be, most likely; but greeds 

And garbage are too thick-strewn 

To be swept up now, or invent 

Excuses that make them all needs. 

I just think it will happen, soon."

Going, Going by Philip Larkin, age 49 in 1972, seeing his world in decay

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 169

June 20, 2017

"I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.

So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:

Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely.

Crowned with lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

 

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.

Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.

A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,

A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

 

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—

They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses.

Elegant and curled is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.

More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

 

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave.

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;

Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.

I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned."

Dirge Without Music by Edna  St. Vincent Millay, 1917

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LANGUAGE HOUND with EAR & SNOUT

For the Love of Language (published sporadically, as moved) No. 170