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Sandman and the Enchanted Universe  

Sandman and the Enchanted Universe  

by | Jul 3, 2023

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...
Cocks and Weathervanes

Cocks and Weathervanes

by | Apr 14, 2023

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...
Tautology or repetition in the English language  

Tautology or repetition in the English language  

by | Jan 25, 2023

Most of us have, by dint of a slip of the tongue or while over explaining something or other, managed to say something that ended up being ridiculously repetitive or tautological. Think of phrases like “fortified fort“. You say it, take a second, and realize how...
Words and Pragmatics

Words and Pragmatics

by | Aug 22, 2022

Or why what you think you’re saying means more than what you’re saying In colloquial usage, pragmatic means to be practical, to deal with things sensibly and realistically with all practical concerns taken into consideration. While I rather love this form...
Everything is Derivative ( and so is your face)

Everything is Derivative ( and so is your face)

by | Aug 15, 2022

Edward Elmer Smith is a (contemporarily) mostly completely unknown science-fiction writer, his claim to fame being over 200 short-ish stories and novellas published in the iconic Sci-Fi magazines of the 1915s and 20s, namely IF Worlds of Science Fiction and Amazing...