http://wordminer.us Words Are Gold! Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:59:15 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Ever since I started keeping http://wordminer.us/?p=54 If you know all too well what the title is talking about, just skip to the last section of this article for the main point. If you don't know but you're interested in a really efficient research and bibliography management system, read on for a little background. BibDesk: iTunes for Researchers When ... http://wordminer.us/?p=53 A while back I was in the children's section of our local public library with some of my siblings, and a certain book caught my eye. It was Michael Rosen's Sad Book, written by Michael rose and illustrated by Quentin Blake (Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2004). Michael Rosen is a popular ... http://wordminer.us/?p=52 In my Chaucer class today I learned something amazing—where the word "can" comes from. In the Canterbury Tales you often see phrases like this one: What ladyes fairest been or best daunsynge, Or which of hem kan dauncen best and synge where "kan" means "know how." (The word "dauncen" is in the infinitive ... http://wordminer.us/?p=51 You probably have noticed how few posts I've published on Word Miner lately. To tell the truth, I just ran out of motivation to keep writing here. So Word Miner is going to retire. Retiring, of course, is not the same as dying or even hibernating. I will post occasionally (probably ... http://wordminer.us/?p=50 I was just reading an article in Time about George Clooney, which quotes him as saying "I know what pisses people off about fame. It's when famous people whine about it." The phrase "when famous people whine about it" can be interpreted either as adverbial or substantive. That is, it ... http://wordminer.us/?p=49 Let me assure you that conversationalism is quite different from Republicanism, Libertarianism, Democratism, or Obama-ism. It's the one thing you can't vote for this November. Although, if you're politically minded, the art of conversation can help you in your local caucus. I remember the day I discovered that conversation actually is ... http://wordminer.us/?p=47 Do you do the Library Thing? My uncle told me once, after giving me a generous birthday gift in cash, "Don't spend it on books. You can get those from the library." A good impulse, but I am more prone to follow the example of Chaucer's clerk: But al that he ... http://wordminer.us/?p=46 Every time I talk with my boss, there's an exchange something like this: "Hi Matthew, how are you doing?" "Good, how are you?" "I'm doing well!" There was a time when someone would ask me how I was doing and I would answer simply "well." That was a few years ago, and I was ... http://wordminer.us/?p=45 Whence did the wondrous mystic art arise Of painting speech and speaking to the eyes? ~William Massey I was trying to write a letter calligraphically today, and for some reason I used little embellishments on my Es, like this: After showing the sample to my mom, who wasn't to sure about the Es, ... http://wordminer.us/?p=31