Michael Erard - Hometag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://22008-07-15T15:05:18ZMichael Erard - BlogMovable Type 3.31Texas Observer: Follow That Bliss!tag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4382008-07-15T14:56:12Z2008-07-15T15:05:18ZMy essay, about life and leaving Texas, appears in the books issue of The Texas Observer. It's also the last issue for my friend and editor, Jake Bernstein, who moves on from the Observer, where he did great things, to...Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
essay, about life and leaving Texas, appears in the books issue of The Texas Observer. It's also the last issue for my friend and editor, Jake Bernstein, who moves on from the Observer, where he did great things, to ProPublica, where he'll do great things, I'm sure.
I've been a contributing writer for the Observer since 1999 through four waves of editors and massive changes in my own life; it's one of the constants, a rock. How fitting that a publication, less so a place, would be a pivot point for me. ]]>
English becomes Chinesetag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4352008-06-25T13:46:36Z2008-06-25T13:53:56ZMy essay on the future of English in China is in the July issue of Wired. What if examples of Chinglish ("please omnivorously put the waste in garbage can") aren't really bad English? What if they are evidence that the...Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
My essay on the future of English in China is in the July issue of Wired. What if examples of Chinglish ("please omnivorously put the waste in garbage can") aren't really bad English? What if they are evidence that the English language is happily leading a secret life without us? (For some reason Wired editors changed "secret life" to "alternative lifestyle" -- maybe a California thing?)
And the erotic photo (to a bibliophile, anyway) that accompanied the essay:
]]>
Rides Againtag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4342008-06-16T04:24:14Z2008-06-16T04:26:33ZMichael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
]]>
Um... in the Wildtag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4332008-05-29T19:41:19Z2008-05-29T19:43:31Z (snapped by my friend Deb)...Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
(snapped by my friend Deb)]]>
Ultimate Language Secrets is Fraudulenttag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4322008-05-28T21:17:40Z2008-05-29T17:26:43ZI recently purchased a copy of "Ultimate Language Secrets," an e-book published by a guy named Owen Lee (whose real name is Owen Xia Yin) who lives in Singapore. I hesitate to write anything about this, but I don't see...Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
Here is Wikipedia's intellectual property policy, and the reusers' guide is here. To copy material verbatim,
You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.
You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.
Owen Lee has put his own copyright on his book, including the material from Wikipedia, which is clearly a violation.
Here's the other problem with fixing the text from Wikipedia and calling it authoritative: Wikipedia pages change. One appendix of "Ultimate Language Secrets" is lifted from the Wikipedia entry on memory, an area in which there's a lot of research being done. Those advances may or may not ever make it to Wikipedia, but if they did, wouldn't you want to know about it?
]]>
Start & Stop Radiotag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4312008-05-22T14:11:33Z2008-05-22T14:15:21ZFrom Romenesko: "Fresh Air" host Terry Gross tells Columbia students: "Before we start taping, I tell my guests that if they figure out what they really mean to say in the middle of saying it -- that is, if they...Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
"Fresh Air" host Terry Gross tells Columbia students: "Before we start taping, I tell my guests that if they figure out what they really mean to say in the middle of saying it -- that is, if they figure out a clearer, more concise way of making their point -- they can go back to an earlier part of the answer and do it over. This sounds like sacrilege, I know -- it risks giving an interviewee an opportunity not only to rephrase a point but possibly retract it. But I really do want to give my guests a chance to say what they have to say as clearly as possible. Sometimes Im even the one suggesting they try it again."
From my experience doing radio interviews for Um... last year, this never happens. If anyone gets to stop and start over, it's the host, not the guest. I tried to stop and start over with one show -- it was my first interview, I'd quickly learn doing a number of live shows that forward, forward, forward was the direction of choice, which was something of a challenge for me, as I'm a reviser and a planner, an ummer, not a sentence restarter -- and my assuming the host's prerogative didn't go over well. That, and it made for some hell for the guy who edited it.
]]>
Boundtag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4302008-05-20T04:19:46Z2008-05-20T04:20:27ZThe press release....Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
The press release. ]]>
How I Found Out About My Writing Fellowshiptag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4292008-05-01T15:44:04Z2008-05-01T16:15:24ZOn Saturday we went for a hike: With our dog: In the mountains: On the way home, we stopped at the World's Tallest Snowwoman, in Bethel, Maine: Where I made a call on my phone: And found out that from...Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
With our dog:
In the mountains:
On the way home, we stopped at the World's Tallest Snowwoman, in Bethel, Maine:
Where I made a call on my phone:
And found out that from September to December Misty and I are going to live here:
I'm the recipient of the Ralph A. Johnston Writing Fellowship, given by the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Institute of Letters.
]]>
Bow Emoticontag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4282008-04-30T23:07:12Z2008-04-30T23:09:48ZI need an emoticon that means, I bow respectfully to you. Blogger friend says his mother's just died. I don't want to send words. Oh, words. Words, you words. I need gestures, postures....Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
I need an emoticon that means, I bow respectfully to you. Blogger friend says his mother's just died. I don't want to send words. Oh, words. Words, you words. I need gestures, postures.
Before "Happy Birthday'tag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4272008-04-29T21:46:05Z2008-04-29T21:49:20ZThe pressing question is, what did people sing on birthdays before the Happy Birthday song was written? The answer: nothing. According to scholar Elizabeth Pleck, birthday parties did not become common even among wealthy Americans until the late 1830s; modern...Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
According to scholar Elizabeth Pleck, birthday parties did not become common even among wealthy Americans until the late 1830s; modern birthday cakes emerged after 1850; and peer-culture birthday parties, involving children of the same age as the child whose birthday was being celebrated, emerged between 1870 and 1920, after American urban public schools became age-graded. Thus, the prerequisites for the development of a standard birthday song – the proliferation of birthday celebrations that involved a dramatic moment at which a group of invitees, often children, addressed the honoree -- may not have been in place until shortly before “Happy Birthday to You” started to become popular.
From an interesting article about the copyright history of the Happy Birthday song. ]]>
Slip of the Daytag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4262008-04-25T19:58:37Z2008-04-25T20:05:53ZMisty, meaning to say "rural or urban," instead saying "url and -- " and stopping short of "url and burban."...Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
Misty, meaning to say "rural or urban," instead saying "url and -- " and stopping short of "url and burban."
You and the Two Letter Wordstag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4142008-04-25T14:28:57Z2008-04-25T20:07:42ZMy essay on "so" for April's Seed just came online. But do see the print version if you can: the graphics, a spill of 70's style loop-de-loops in black and white, is gorgeous....Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
essay on "so" for April's Seed just came online. But do see the print version if you can: the graphics, a spill of 70's style loop-de-loops in black and white, is gorgeous. ]]>
Long Live the Subjunctivetag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4132008-04-18T16:38:53Z2008-04-25T20:09:10Z“If I was a fish and there was bisphenol-a in the water, I’d be concerned,” he said. “If I was a fetus and my mother was using a plastic water bottle, I wouldn’t be bothered.” Don't panic....Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
“If I was a fish and there was bisphenol-a in the water, I’d be concerned,” he said. “If I was a fetus and my mother was using a plastic water bottle, I wouldn’t be bothered.”
Don't panic. ]]>
Harry Um Pottertag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4122008-04-16T21:13:23Z2008-04-25T20:10:26ZI am obliged to quote from today's NYT report from the Harry Potter lexicon trial: It was an emotional culmination to three hours of testimony in which Mr. Vander Ark gushed over Ms. Rowling and her work like the devoted...Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
It was an emotional culmination to three hours of testimony in which Mr. Vander Ark gushed over Ms. Rowling and her work like the devoted fan that he claimed to be, and disarmingly preceded almost every answer to a question with an “Um.”
Thanks for plugging my book, Steven! The check's in the mail. ]]>
Um the Book IS All Thattag:www.michaelerard.com,2008://2.4102008-04-16T14:24:34Z2008-04-25T20:11:25ZYes, yes, yes: Um... has the answers (and more!), if you're asking questions about these topics: born malapropisms 1844 william spooner brain lesions what do they mean bush bloopers speach only a mother would give Bush's verbal and grammatical lapses...Michael Erardhttp://michaelerard.com
Um... has the answers (and more!), if you're asking questions about these topics:
born malapropisms 1844 william spooner
brain lesions what do they mean
bush bloopers speach only a mother would give
Bush's verbal and grammatical lapses 2001
calvin coolidge speaking mannerism
calvin coolidge speech impediment
calvin coolidge verbal
biography of rev. dr. william archibald spooner
biography of reverend william spooner
biography of william a spooner
biography rev w a spooner teacher
blair french language blunder
bloopers born 1844
blubters
blunders
blunders by tv commentators
average verbal fillers used a day attitudes towards filled pauses
anxiety disorder saying um
abnormal use of the word "um"
1844 born spoken bloopers
"um" and other verbal miscues
"self-repair" "slips of the tongue
reverend william spooner
speaking voice ronald reagan
spoken bloopers
the um book
william archibald spooner
"public speaking" misspeaking
why we use um speaking
why do speech slips happen?
words instead of um
weird psycholinguistics phenomena
what causes a rambling verbal style in an interview
what do slips of the tongue mean
what do you call misspeaking, switching first letters of two words
use of the word um when nervous
verbal blundering is integral to language
verbal filler
verbal fillers
verbal leakage and speech codes
verbal placeholders and do you know what i mean
verbal reversals consonant mixup
vocabulary bloopers president bush
um well uh are examples of linguistics
the psychology and power of silence in communication
sources about verbal fillers
speakers chooses the wrong word
speech blunders and the brain
speech errors linguistic transcript
speech listen um
signs of redundancy and verbal clutter
public speaking blunders
public speaking speech cognitive load
my husband says i verbally attack him out of the blue but i can't see it
how to avoid like and um when speaking
how to avoid verbal gaffes
how to stop using words such as "like" and "you know" and "um"
how to transcribe stuttering sentence
how to write ums in verbatim transcription interview
i keep mixing up my words is this early alzheimer's spoonerisms
hesitations, tip-of-the-tongue
history of the english language and using verbal fillers
feldman mannerisms etiquette
elocution lessons in massachusetts
disfluency by deborah tannen
disfluency disorders
download tracy chapman "london 1988"
dubya's linguistic blunders
eliminating the word "um" in speech exercises
(culled from the search terms by which people have arrived at umthebook.com. ]]>
]]>
In the mountains:
On the way home, we stopped at the World's Tallest Snowwoman, in Bethel, Maine:
Where I made a call on my phone:
And found out that from September to December Misty and I are going to live here:
I'm the recipient of the Ralph A. Johnston Writing Fellowship, given by the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Institute of Letters.
]]>