Continue Reading Persuading In the mid 1980s I worked as an RA for Leon Festinger, one of the giants in the field of social psychology,…
Continue Reading Warning Saturday’s stroll along the waterfront confirmed my suspicion: we have entered peak traffic light season. Red, yellow and green wherever you look. And…
Continue Reading Kvetching The yiddish word to kvetch refers to whining or complaining. A fun book by Michael Wex gives a good introduction: Born to Kvetch:…
Continue Reading Jauchzet, Frohlocket There are limits, but also advantages, to being a moderately educated music lover – like yours truly – rather than a professionally…
Continue Reading Famous last words Should you be able to visit me at my deathbed in the far, far, far away future, please remind me that I…
Continue Reading Chosen Words Apparently some things can’t make it into dictionaries… For those which do, however, there is always that end-of-the-year competition of being chosen as…
Continue Reading Big Words Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly is the title of a decade-old Princeton study…
Continue Reading Happy Words So many happy words. Here are the ones rated most highly in order of reflection of happiness: Laughter, happiness, love, happy, laughed, laugh,…
Continue Reading Language Lesson Yesterday was one of those days where my brain was too tired to engage in critical analysis of – really of anything….
Continue Reading Hanukkah behind Bars This week’s blog was geared towards imaginary travel, to explore places or meet people of interest. I could, theoretically, transform those fantasies…
