Atkins

Today I drove by a Carl's Jr. and did a double take when I saw that their sign said "Agnus Dei."

Sometimes there is a good reason for a double take. The sign really advertised an "Angus Diet."

Irritable rant about grammar

I have started reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves and am already annoyed with it. There are a lot of people who think that the English language needs to be protected from the people who use it, and they're just wrong. I loathe the slimy and manipulative way she snuggles up to the reader and implies that we are all part of this elite layer of society that understands what no one else understands. It is ironic that she wrote her book for what she thought was such a narrow audience and then it became a mad success. Everyone likes to think they're included in this mysterious secret tribe of sneering grammarians. I'm very curious what she's going to actually do in the book, because the introduction is not promising. I know I should wait until I've finished it before I comment.

self-disclosure

I doubt anyone will feel like reading this whole article (and it's a behemoth of an article), but it is really interesting. It deals with a lot of things I've been thinking about, like the inadequacy of obituaries, and things that I've talked about with some of you, like the audiences we write for, the desire to be known, and the fear of being known. Plus it is enormously relevant to blogging. So here it is.