An Irishman's blog about the English language.
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6.3.2025 19:53Comment on Werner Herzog on the OED: ‘the book of books’ by Werner Herzog on the OED: ‘the book of books’ - 3 Quarks Daily[…] Sacks, peering into windows until he recognises him thanks to the dictionary they both adored. Oliver Sacks considered the OED ‘the most coveted and desirable book in the […]
5.3.2025 10:34Comment on ‘The most coveted and desirable book in the world’ by Werner Herzog on the OED: ‘the book of books’ | Sentence first[…] my last post, about filmmaker and author Werner Herzog’s voice and its mimics, I promised an anecdote about the Oxford English Dictionary. That appears below with two shorter […]
5.3.2025 10:34Comment on Werner Herzog on his voice and its mimics by Werner Herzog on the OED: ‘the book of books’ | Sentence firstIn my last post, about filmmaker and author Werner Herzog’s voice and its mimics, I promised an anecdote about the Oxford English Dictionary. That appears below with two shorter bits from Herzog’s recent memoir, Every Man for Himself and God Against All. The publisher’s page for the book, I forgot to say before, has an […]
5.3.2025 10:34Werner Herzog on the OED: ‘the book of books’[…] Red Hand, a posthumous collection of work by Peter Temple, includes a glossary (‘Tradies Wear Sunnies and Blunnies’) written for American […]
5.3.2025 08:48Comment on The electrifying moment: Peter Temple on writing by Australian clippings in Peter Temple’s ‘Truth’ | Sentence firstIn reply to <a href="https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2025/02/25/werner-herzog-on-his-voice-and-its-mimics/#comment-381325">Claire Stokes</a>. <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I love (some) jazz! Will check that out, thank you.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->
28.2.2025 07:11Comment on Werner Herzog on his voice and its mimics by Stan CareyIn reply to <a href="https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2025/02/25/werner-herzog-on-his-voice-and-its-mimics/#comment-381318">Stan Carey</a>. <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>'m-kay, your work concentration is much more intense than mine, which constantly fluctuates. For my close-by sounds, I have <a href="https://www.jazz88.fm" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.jazz88.fm</a> which I recommend if you're also a jazz fiend to any degree!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->
27.2.2025 16:37Comment on Werner Herzog on his voice and its mimics by Claire StokesIn reply to <a href="https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2025/02/25/werner-herzog-on-his-voice-and-its-mimics/#comment-381321">Stan Carey</a>. <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thanks for clarifying the German words. And you're right – I'm overthinking it. Occupational hazard! I don't interpret his utterances that way either; I just regret the use of that word, because it's so often used in a hateful way.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->
25.2.2025 21:17Comment on Werner Herzog on his voice and its mimics by Stan CareyFew voices in film are as distinctive and cherished as Werner Herzog’s. That applies to voice in both literal and figurative senses, but my focus here is on the singular instrument with which he narrates many of his documentaries. In case you’re not familiar with Herzog’s speaking style, or would like to listen to it […]
25.2.2025 09:34Werner Herzog on his voice and its mimicsMyths have serious sticking power. This is true not just of the myths of antiquity but also of more modern and niche types, like the myths of English usage. It seems that nothing will ever stop people peeving pointlessly about split infinitives, double negatives, passive voice, singular they, &c. One thing that makes usage myths […]
22.1.2025 17:46The Strunk cost fallacyBooks, especially novels, often quote song lyrics – typically as an epigraph and sometimes in the body text. If, that is, the author or publisher can afford it. But what of novels that quote songs accidentally, or ‘accidentally’? This is the kind of thing I mean, in Joe R. Lansdale’s A Fine Dark Line: ‘I […]
22.12.2024 10:17When books make you sing: a record of accidental song lyricsUrsula K. Le Guin’s essay collection The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction has a lot of interesting material on language use and politics. Well, it has interesting material on all sorts of things, but this is a blog about language, so I’m being selective. The book was first published in […]
16.10.2024 19:36‘How to see one’s own world’: Ursula K. Le Guin on writing styleMy last book spine poem was made last winter, on a seasonal theme.* With autumn slipping in and the evenings becoming short here in Ireland, a new book spine poem (aka bookmash) suggested itself. * Sleep the Big Sleep When the lights go down One by one in the darkness, Teach yourself to Sleep the […]
30.9.2024 17:33Book spine poem: Sleep the Big SleepI was sad to hear that Edna O’Brien had died. She lived a remarkable life and leaves an amazing body of work: she was, in Eimear McBride’s description, ‘one of the last great lights of the golden age of Irish literature’. The controversy over O’Brien’s taboo-breaking early books – starting with The Country Girls (1960), […]
16.8.2024 18:10Birth of the coolth