I just discovered Language Log and so enjoyed the first few posts I read that I decided it was worth not only a blogroll link but its own post, as well. I happened on this blog after I noticed that the local military base’s web site announced the base was closed due to INCLIMATE WEATHER. This kind of thing just sort of, I don’t know…jerks my spine up through the base of my skull. Language Log has an old post about “inclimate,” which it describes as an eggcorn. This phenomenon is similar to how a woman I used to know in Minnesota called the wind chill the “windshield.” It’s just painful, since we have schools and all that.
A couple of nuggets from Language Log include Estimative Intelligence, a post that references this article about the vague language in the new Iraq NIE (or any other intelligence estimate); The Butt-Crack of Dawn; and It’s Always Silly Season in the BBC Science Section. If you’re picky about language or you wonder how some of our words and phrases came about, I’m sure you’ll find something that amuses you. If you’re completely obsessive about it, the blogroll has at least 50 other language blogs to keep you busy for about a year.
Filed under: Humor, daily life, miscellaneous
