How important is a slogan during a global health crisis like the one we're experiencing with COVID-19? More important than you might think.  Continue reading...

Finding comfort and distractions in euphemisms from the letter H.  Continue reading...

The stay-at-home orders of recent months have meant a lot more time to deep-dive into etymologies, and this has led me to reflect on a thing I hadn't noticed as much before: English has a surfeit of expressions for the idea 1 + 1.  Continue reading...

A case recently argued before the US Supreme Court — by telephone! — teaches us a lot about trademarks, generic terms, and domain names.  Continue reading...

Even in horrible times, you can always count on euphemisms. Evasive language never takes a day off.  Continue reading...

Do the profound insights made by J. L. Austin and Paul Grice have any application to "conversations" in which the traffic in words is by definition all or nearly all one-way?  Continue reading...