Semantics “We are living in humbling times. People are humbled all over the place” Author Drew Kaplan Date 1 February 2017 We are living in humbling times. People are humbled all over the place. Lately...
Races in America, Semantics “’Racism’ spent the first half of the 20th century in competition with another word, ‘racialism’, though neither featured prominently in our national conversation” Author Drew Kaplan Date 25 August 2016 The first cited use of “racism” in The Oxford English Dictionary comes from 1902,...
Semantics “The right-wing rhetoric around ‘P.C.’ has always made use of martial metaphors…with a sly wink” Author Drew Kaplan Date 4 August 2016 The right-wing rhetoric around “P.C.” has always made use of martial metaphors — the...
Semantics, Technology “The word” smart “is flattering to both the objects and their users, even as it threatens to become a hazy banality” Author Drew Kaplan Date 4 July 2016 In the land rush to digitize the world, the home is the new frontier....
Semantics “Language not only captures experience, it conditions it” Author Drew Kaplan Date 30 June 2016 Language not only captures experience, it conditions it. It sets expectations for experience and...
Semantics “The vogue for ‘smart’ traces at least as far back as the ‘smart bomb,’ precision-guided munitions made to be more accurate than the dumb bombs of wars past…” Author Drew Kaplan Date 23 June 2016 The vogue for “smart” traces at least as far back as the “smart bomb,”...
Semantics “‘A thing’…corresponds to a real need we have, to catalog and group together the items of cultural experience, while keeping them at a sufficient distance…” Author Drew Kaplan Date 21 June 2016 Clearly, cultural phenomena have long existed and been called “fads,” “trends,” “rages” or have...
Semantics “It’s…odd that ‘bro’ has become a culturally white designation” Author Drew Kaplan Date 19 April 2016 It’s…odd that “bro” has become a culturally white designation. The word has roots both...
Semantics “Today ’empowerment’ invokes power while signifying the lack of it” Author Drew Kaplan Date 18 April 2016 Sneakily, empowerment had turned into a theory that applied to the needy while describing...
Jobs/Professions, Semantics “Jargon acts not only to euphemize, but to license, setting insiders against outsiders…” Author Drew Kaplan Date 4 April 2016 Professional jargon—on Wall Street, in humanities departments, in government offices—can be a fence raised...