Entries with tag "language"

I'm easily entertained, and so I probably don't make a very good writing critic. But sometimes you find an author that manages to consistently weave intriguing, thought-provoking narratives with believable characters, and tells you about those characters in a way that is itself entertaining. When you read such writers' work, it's immediately apparent that they are a "virtuoso", a class apart. Like a non-guitarist hearing Steve Vai play, you don't have to be aware of the technical details to be impressed by the performance.

Robert A. Heinlein is one of those writers. I read "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" several years ago, and liked it so much that I've reread it at least twice since then. I read Starship Troopers last year, which is almost entirely unrelated to the movie and is much better. Last week I picked up my third Heinlein book, "Stranger In A Strange Land", and as I'm working my way through it at a feverish pace I'm remembering once again what captivating stories he writes.

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In a reply to a previous entry of mine about a big list of obscure English words, Bryan said, "This is precisely what's wrong with the english language. It's getting rediculous. Take a hint from XHTML; Simple and clean is better." My reply got reasonably long, so I figured I'd post it as a new entry.

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I just discovered this very complete list of Adjectives of Relation. It lists 750 adjectives that describe a relation to some concept, such as eupeptic (pertaining to good digestion; cheerful), or morsal (pertaining to the cutting edge of a knife). Here's a few other interesting ones:

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