Humanity can be characterized as a tool-using and tool-creating species. The tools we create or borrow can obviously give us enormous power, for good or ill: they will, however, always do so at a cost. We sometimes mark that cost ahead of time and choose to pay it; at other times, we don’t fully appreciate… Continue reading Words and Things
Category: Language
Names
They are one of the first repeated sounds that a baby hears and learns – and arguably the one vocalization that you hear more than any other in life. Names are central to how we think of ourselves – that’s the underlying import of the verse in the Revelation to Saint John that God will… Continue reading Names
A Rhetorical Superhero
I’ve learned many useful things from my students through the years. Last fall, Peter Jackson from my Senior English class drew my attention to the the term “Steel Man”. I’d understood the concept it represented, but not encountered the term; as often, however, having a name for something makes it easier to handle and promote.… Continue reading A Rhetorical Superhero