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Wouldn’t everyone just watch TV all the time? 

Wouldn’t everyone just watch TV all the time? 

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.  ...
The Meaning of Words Isn’t Always What It Seems 

The Meaning of Words Isn’t Always What It Seems 

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...
Why Do We Raise a Cow but Eat Beef?  

Why Do We Raise a Cow but Eat Beef?  

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 –...
Why Do We Raise a Cow but Eat Beef?  

Monsters & Metaphors Made Flesh  

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...

Poetry is about feeling  

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...
Why Do We Raise a Cow but Eat Beef?  

Sandman and the Enchanted Universe  

The the transition of the old gods to the new  *this contains spoilers for the comic Sandman and for the comic Lucifer. If you’d like to read those works without insight into the plot, do come back later.   In Neil Gaiman’s Sandman (published 1989-1993) the...
Why Do We Raise a Cow but Eat Beef?  

Cocks and Weathervanes

On the convoluted origin of words   Sometimes things are not what they seem.   That’s true with a lot of things, but with words in the English language, it’s more common than not that a word might be so convoluted in origin as to be bordering on the...