If you aren't already signed up for the "A Word A Day" mailing, you should sign up immediately. It's a great service for increasing your vocabulary, and it's got lots of fun and interesting words. Visit Link to get on the mailing list. The word of the day for today was: philodox (FIL-uh-doks) noun Someone who loves his or her own opinion; a dogmatic person. [From Greek philodoxos, from philo- (love) + doxa (glory, opinion). Ultimately from Indo-European root dek- (to tak...
I am a nitpicky person by nature; I like things to be exactly correct. This is somewhat of a curse when reading stuff written by less persnickety authors who don't have professional editors or proofreaders. Having been involved in online communities for somewhere around 20 years, I have learned to ignore most minor errors. However, there are a few common writing faults that still really irritate me: 1) the overcorrectional "I", or as I like to yell at the screen, "Nominative vs. Objective...
"No persons are more frequently wrong than those who will not admit they are wrong." --Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
A long time ago I was pondering the nature of "cute", probably in response to some woman asking me why guys don't generally like things that women call cute. (As opposed to cute women, which we generally like quite a bit.) I came up with five key characteristics of cuteness: 1) Short or Small. 2) Round. 3) Fuzzy or Soft. 4) Large-eyed. 5) High-pitched voice. Now you can still be cute without having ALL of these characteristics, but having the opposite of a characteristic will...
Generally speaking I've noticed that people will listen to someone else just long enough to hear what is being talked about. At that point, one of four basic reactions kicks in: 1) I agree with the speaker Then I will listen to him for as long as it takes to reinforce my own beliefs. 2) I disagree with the speaker Then I will dismiss him as a crank of some sort. If I am feeling generous, I may listen just long enough to hear something that I can find fault with. 3) I have no opin...