Monthly Archives: May 2009

The Seven Plots of All Literature (Plus Two)

I was recently reading a fascinating book called The Art Instinct by Denis Dutton.  The books tries to show that much of our sense of art and artistic judgment is influenced by our genetics – that is, something that we … Continue reading

Posted in Television and Movies | 15 Comments

The Best One-Liners of All Time

I’m not sure these are, in fact, the best one-liners (short jokes or funny/clever remarks), but I thought these were pretty good when I saw them recently in a magazine. ~ Lucy ….. “If you can’t say something good about … Continue reading

Posted in Jokes and Humor | 17 Comments

Eat up!

When someone says to a child, “Eat up!” they mean “Hurry up and eat!”  This may happen if the child is taking a long time to eat or is playing instead of eating the way he or she should.  I … Continue reading

Posted in Life in the United States | 18 Comments

Capitalizing Words in Titles

QUESTION: Benjamin in France wants to know what the rules are for capitalizing words in titles. ANSWER: This is not an easy question to answer because the major style guides (written rules for using a language) disagree. First, it may … Continue reading

Posted in Language & Terms | 5 Comments

Doodling

To doodle is to draw shapes and lines on a piece of paper for no particular purpose.  Students in class will often doodle on their notebooks and papers while the teacher is talking, perhaps because they are bored or uninterested.   … Continue reading

Posted in Language & Terms, Life in the United States | 24 Comments