Semantics “In the old days, bullies were tough guys who picked on wimpy guys, a predictable, archetypal clash that inevitably led to a heroic outcome” Author Drew Kaplan Date 15 May 2016 In the old days, bullies were tough guys who picked on wimpy guys, a...
Politics in America “Sometimes, it seems, ‘populism’ is just a synonym for widespread unhappiness with the status quo” Author Drew Kaplan Date 1 May 2016 There was a time when “populist” meant something more specific. The word originated with...
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...
Modern Orthodoxy, Semantics “…it is the modernist project that Rabbi Willig further fears will ‘lead to a schism within Orthodoxy…'” Author Drew Kaplan Date 2 September 2015 …it is the modernist project that Rabbi Willig further fears will “lead to a...
Semantics “…the shine has come off this hardy, once-helpful word” (privilege) Author Drew Kaplan Date 2 August 2015 …the shine has come off this hardy, once-helpful word. It looks a little worn,...
Politics in America, Semantics “…’folks’ serves as a softener of rhetorical edges. It suggests a mode of kinship and self-conscious informality that politicians increasingly default to, perhaps as an overcorrective to the inflated wealth of those same politicians” Author Drew Kaplan Date 3 July 2015 …“folks” serves as a softener of rhetorical edges. It suggests a mode of kinship...
Semantics “So what are we really talking about when we talk about natural? It depends…” Author Drew Kaplan Date 31 May 2015 So what are we really talking about when we talk about natural? It depends;...
Semantics “…the term “whore” does not necessarily have to be misogynist, but it was in the context…” Author Drew Kaplan Date 27 May 2015 I should not have just called a whore. She’s a loathsome and awful...