My Billings Gazette

Our good friend John McIntyre cited this a while ago, and it's only because of my own sloth that I'm so late in picking it up. Nonetheless, time's passage has not diminished its brilliance.

What is it, you ask? A language smackdown by the esteemed Geoffrey Pullum on Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer.

The item is so short and devastating, like a well-thrown uppercut, that excerpting can't do it justice. Here's a little taste: "Don't lurk behind a putative linguistic observation because you think it will sound more like someone who went to college." Now, run along and read the whole thing.

Here's something else that demands your attention: Wordnik. The interface is so simple and so abundantly cool that it requires no preamble. Just click and have it. (Also, drop in the juvenile words, if you must. I did.)

I have given you joy and a toy. What more could you want?