http://www.michaelerard.com/current/ michael erard - current en Copyright 2008 Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:31:32 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss It's the nouns and verbs that catch our ears first. The complex words, the sediments of Greek and Latin affixes, the long noun phrases, the passive verbs. The surnames of researchers rising and fallen. The journal titles, the acronyms. You can also hear, in that perpetual dance with certainty, the hedges that soften claims ("it was reported that") or strengthen them ("though inconclusive, the data suggests..."). The language of science, with its specialized vocabulary and clipped rhythm, has a distinctive architecture. The functional elegance of this rarefied speak is uniquely captured in one of its most inconspicuous words: "so." Read the rest here. The orginal is here. ]]> http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/04/so_the_anatomy_of_a_scientific.html http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/04/so_the_anatomy_of_a_scientific.html Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:31:32 -0600 This is the fourth piece I've published since 1996 about Joe, a friend I made during the summer I lived in Alpine, Texas. It begins like this: Remember Joe, my old friend from Alpine? He would be 80 years old this year, but he’s long gone. Survived cancer long enough to see the truth of God—he’d finally asked to see a priest after a lifetime of avowed atheism—and watch the twin towers fall. A month later I was driving to Midland for a burial in a place he never wanted. But Joe haunts me still. Especially when the economic news gets bad. I can hear his voice: Do you know what a derivative is, Michael? A liquidity put? Phantom envelopes mailed from Alpine arrived filled with clipped newspaper articles and forecasts of human greed highlighted with yellow marker. The words in my ears: Michael, you need a gun, and cash, small bills.]]> http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/04/remembering_joe_texas_observer.html http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/04/remembering_joe_texas_observer.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:16:00 -0600 here. ]]> http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/04/words_from_farflung_tribes_glo.html http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/04/words_from_farflung_tribes_glo.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:13:59 -0600 Safire's Political Dictionary starts like this: Words are the most familiar part of language, because it's words we're most conscious of learning and forgetting. Only certain words, though. Your word-of-the-day calendar will never list "the" or "but." You boast about knowing French numbers, not the pronouns. What draws our fascination is the words for things, actions, properties and the other stuff of the world, not archaic prepositions. Read the rest here. The original is here. ]]> http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/04/lost_in_translation_chicago_tr.html http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/04/lost_in_translation_chicago_tr.html Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:05:00 -0600 here. Original is here. ]]> http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/03/walking_the_talk_nyt_book_revi.html http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/03/walking_the_talk_nyt_book_revi.html Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:06:28 -0600 ]]> http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/03/english_of_the_future.html http://www.michaelerard.com/current/2008/03/english_of_the_future.html Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:48:30 -0600