by Brandy Cross | May 8, 2026 | Blog
A few years ago, I was reading a book (highly unusual of course) and I lost whatever bit of paper I was using as a bookmark. Before you lambast me for littering, which I surely did, because I was on a train, there’s a story there. Because I looked at my...
by Brandy Cross | May 3, 2026 | Blog
Normally when I talk about Frankenstein, the book, I talk about how Frankenstein’s monster is an analogy for postpartum depression. How a teenager gave birth to a child which died, and was revolted – and wondered if that lack of a...
by Brandy Cross | Apr 22, 2026 | Blog
Or the phenomenon of things that are only real in language Most of us have at some point seen some variation of the phrase tomatoes are fruit. “Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a vegetable. Wisdom...
by Brandy Cross | May 13, 2025 | Blog
On Leisure and Doing Nothing In early capitalism, a working day of 10-14 hours, 6 days per week was the norm for the working class. Today, in most Western countries, those hours are limited to 8 hours per day with an average of 5 working days. ...
by Brandy Cross | Apr 18, 2025 | Blog
English is full of words that don’t quite make sense, at least at first glance. Take George Carlin’s famous comedy bit: “Why do we park on a driveway but drive on a parkway?” _ George Carlin I’ll give you a moment to laugh, it is funny. The...
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by Brandy Cross | Oct 31, 2024 | Blog
Most English speakers are so accustomed to the fact that we split animal names from the food products made from their flesh that they don’t notice unless it’s brought to their attention. Think: Cow – Beef Calf – Veal Pig – Pork Sheep –...
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by Brandy Cross | Jul 17, 2024 | Blog
Any case of language contact will almost certainly result in change to both languages. That’s more pressing in situations where an invading language takes a position of power. E.g., the Norman French invasion of England resulted in almost half of our 1000 most...
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by Brandy Cross | Mar 29, 2024 | Blog
On the Monster in Western Society The word monster, coming from the Latin root monstrum, meaning a divine omen or a portent, first makes its appearance (to my knowledge) in the written English language in Chaucer’s Monk’s Tale, “Was neuere wight sith that this...
by Brandy Cross | Oct 17, 2023 | Blog
I’m going to ask for a little bit more of your time for this one, because I’d like you sit through a couple of videos. And if you can’t, you’re not going to get very much out of this blog. In which case, I’d like you to skip it. I want to ask you to feel...
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by Brandy Cross | Sep 27, 2023 | Blog
In April of 1651, a 63-year-old white man published a book that would go on to influence the rise and fall of governments, societies, nations. Thomas Hobbe’s Leviathan detailed the theory of the social contract, the idea that in a society, people give up the power of...
