Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: “This work-in-progress is a comprehensive quotation-based dictionary of the language of science fiction. The HD/SF is an offshoot of a project begun by the Oxford English Dictionary (though it is no longer formally affiliated with it).”
Links
Stuff I find around the web that interests or amuses me.
The Complete List of Trump’s Twitter Insults (2015-2021): “This list documents the verbal attacks Mr. Trump posted on Twitter, from when he declared his candidacy in June 2015 to Jan. 8, when Twitter permanently barred him.”
Photos: The Inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.: “Gathered below are scenes from a unique moment in American history.”
What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol: “A collection of more than 500 videos [that] provide one of the most comprehensive records of a dark event in American history through the eyes of those who took part.”
On the Singular They
From Discover Magazine’s article People Have Used They/Them as Singular Pronouns for Hundreds of Years:
Battles of grammar, for the most part, play out in English classrooms and in the pages of style guides. Rarely do arguments over split infinitives and Oxford commas venture beyond the walls of academia.
My first thought at this point was that whoever wrote this article definitely doesn’t have my circle of online friends. Oxford commas in particular are a regular source of entertainment, especially the amusing images produced when the Oxford comma isn’t used. And while there certainly are academics among my friends, such posts definitely aren’t limited to that group.
But one linguistic phenomenon lands in the limelight every so often, and it’s a word you know well: the pronoun “they” — along with its derivatives “them” and “their.”
I don’t really expect that I have many–if any–regular contacts who are still prescriptivist about singular “they”; in my circles, it seems to be at or near universal acceptance. But this was still an interesting look into its history and usage.
Kirby Conrod, a linguistics professor at the University of Washington whose own personal pronouns are they/them, polls students each semester to assess their feelings about this specific usage of the word. Most have no objection; some, especially those who grew up using singular “they” with nonbinary friends, are simply confused — why would the professor ask about such a mundane word? “It’s really already hit the threshold of this critical mass,” Conrod says. “It’s part of the language enough that I don’t think you could squash it if you tried.”
An Ursula K. Le Guin Short Story Inspired The Big Mystery For ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 3 – TrekMovie.com: ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’ is one of Ursula K. Le Guin’s most famous stories and often used in classrooms discussing ethics in literature.
Historians Contextualizing the Capitol Insurrection: A Roundup: A list of their publications is below, in alphabetical order by author’s last name. This is a dynamic document, and will change as historians publish more pieces.
Twitter permanently suspends President Donald Trump: citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.”
2019-2020 Tech company donations to Republicans who voted to overturn the election: Google Docs spreadsheet, found via Kottke.
The 432-year-old manual on social distancing: “In this spookily prescient booklet, people are advised to keep six feet apart, avoid shaking hands and only send one person per household out to do the shopping.”