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Sarah Booth
https://www.goodreads.com/boothacus
The temptation would have been too great, like a former alcoholic going to a free bar.
Petra X and 1 other person liked this
“We think of English as a fortress to be defended, but a better analogy is to think of English as a child. We love and nurture it into being, and once it gains gross motor skills, it starts going exactly where we don't want it to go: it heads right for the goddamned electrical sockets. We dress it in fancy clothes and tell it to behave, and it comes home with its underwear on its head and wearing someone else's socks. As English grows, it lives its own life, and this is right and healthy. Sometimes English does exactly what we think it should; sometimes it goes places we don't like and thrives there in spite of all our worrying. We can tell it to clean itself up and act more like Latin; we can throw tantrums and start learning French instead. But we will never really be the boss of it. And that's why it flourishes.”
― Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
― Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
“Life never guarantees you a square deal, but you can be a good, realistic dealer in an unfairly chaotic marketplace if you assume that no one necessarily sees things the way you do, no matter how obvious the truth appears, and that getting what you deserve is a lucky event, not a right. You”
― F*ck Feelings: One Shrink's Practical Advice for Managing All Life's Impossible Problems
― F*ck Feelings: One Shrink's Practical Advice for Managing All Life's Impossible Problems
“When a lexicographer says “unless…” in the middle of defining, you should turn out the lights and go home, first making sure you’ve left them a supply of water and enough nonperishable food to last several days. “Unless…” almost always marks the beginning of a wild lexical goose chase.”
― Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
― Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
“What liberals must conserve is the middle class: the stable family who can afford to enjoy music and theater and take the kids to Europe someday and put money in the collection plate and save for college and keep up the home and be secure against catastrophe. This family has taken big hits in payroll taxes and loss of buying power and a certain suppressed panic about job security.”
― Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America
― Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America
“English has a lot of synonyms for “fool” or “idiot.” Perhaps you take this to mean that English speakers are mean-spirited; I simply reply that necessity is the mother of invention.”
― Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
― Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
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