Category: Language
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What does “Advisor” mean in Toadland ?
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Semantics – the study of words and their meanings – is an important subject, after all. I used to hang back from it as being peripheral, academic, finickity, pedantic. But now, especially in this era when the Lie is so greatly in the ascendant, I see more clearly that being alert to how words are…
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High Noon is Nearly Upon Us. Where’s the Sheriff ?
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Around the world, the hoodlums and outlaws are running amok, in their suits of armour made of lies. By contrast, the sheriffs seem downcast, overwhelmed and on the run. I feel downcast and overwhelmed, too. Might it mean that I’m a sheriff, in disguise ? But there is no star in my cupboard. The picture…
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What is a Hyphen to do in 2020 ?
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There’s A and there’s B, but that’s not all. There’s also the connection between them. What is it ? They are sharing more than just the air. They were born to share more than just opposite sides of the same wall. A hyphen-line, a connecting scratch on the page, a fragile raft of some sort…
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Poems for Public Display
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I never stop yearning for good poetry to reach past its traditional catchment areas – those shelves in the bookshop marked “Poetry,” the university literature department, the dedicated arts festival, the shy, solitary and possibly eccentric brain – and find a valid place for itself in the public square, the waiting room where we all…
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The Parrot Seeks Respite from the Flood
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Last week “Prime Minister” Johnson tried to take political advantage of the terrorist attack in London. This despite the appeals of the father of one of the victims, expressly not to do so. But how could Mr Johnson resist ? He’d lose one vote, no doubt, but might well have gained rather more than one.…
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At Last the Toad Reveals Himself
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The other night, in Sheffield, there was a BBC Question-Time session, in which the audience was able to question four UK political leaders in turn, only one of whom is a worthy leader, the one not eligible to be the Prime Minister. Nicola Sturgeon’s presence there was puzzling but useful as a reminder of true…
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The Parrot from on High Speaks of Democracy
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As our General Election continues, and in the light of much of its content, we might ask this question : what is the difference between an election and an auction ? Answer 1 : at an auction, cheats need to be more careful than at an election, as we punters get a better chance to…
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The Parrot Views the Earth from Afar
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The UK General Election presently in progress begs the question whether there is any difference in quality of democratic process between a Referendum and an Election. Both seem to involve a lot of lying at high volume, a lot of propaganda ditto, and various other forms of manipulation and trickery – whatever their perpetrators can…