Word: englishes
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Humorist Roy Blount Jr. is one of America's most prolific authors and a regular panelist on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. His latest book, Alphabet Juice is quasi dictionary/glossary of the English language, peppered with literary references, cultural oddities and hilarious musings on why we choose the words we do. TIME talked to Blount about the most literary band in America, why he advises investing $20,000 in mass transit and what Sarah Palin might mean for the future of politics...
...speak any foreign languages? I studied French in high school and German in college and I once took a 24-hour Italian crash course. English has by far the most words in it of any other language. Our money might not be worth anything anymore, but the language is. With everything else American going to pot, it's nice to know we've got a wonderfully rich language...
...love to rip apart English professor James Wood’s distilled volume of literary wisdom with a series of detached, postmodern, snarling riffs. But I can’t. “How Fiction Works” is just too pleasant a read. With a soft, avuncular tone, Wood sets out to investigate a fundamental question—how authors utilize both verisimilitude and artifice to invoke the real—by surveying a series of writing fundamentals. He weaves in and out of novels and ideas through a series of thought-stanzas until reaching his goal: a satisfying...
...began this film of witchcraft, torture, and rampant sexual urges in 17th-century England. In lieu of a plot summary, which would—trust me—be absolutely pointless, allow me to mention some choice moments from the film that emphasize its key aspects.The dialogue, dubbed in English from its original French, included choice lines like “A woman’s weeping is like a melodious modulation,” spoken by the royal Lord Jeffries while a female character is tortured. Later, the maniacal and (of course!) secretly lesbian Lady DeWinter proclaims that...
...Frederick’s horror and Filippo’s delighted surprise, during the short ride to the museum. “To better appreciate the paintings,” she had said.Filippo–in reality Oliver J. Swindleton, accomplice to The Stable Boy and visitor of English prostitutes–had been prattling on all the while. “Ina di Uffizi,” he said, “You willa not believe how many of da antiques you cana see. Da statues, da paintings: da Vinci, Duccio, Angelico, Dante! All there inna single room...