Prescriptivism Must Die!
@mgrammar.bsky.social
Psycholinguist, and the guy who used to write Motivated Grammar. He/him.
Erstwhile blogger: https://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com
Prosecute ICE and send Homan to the Hague.
Erstwhile blogger: https://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com
Prosecute ICE and send Homan to the Hague.
My closing thought is the same as it's been for years: companies want to make LLMs into liability avoidance devices. Someone at IBM figured this out in 1979 and put this in a presentation, and it's only become more accurate over time: blog.apaonline.org/2023/04/13/r...
November 26, 2025 at 5:45 AM
My closing thought is the same as it's been for years: companies want to make LLMs into liability avoidance devices. Someone at IBM figured this out in 1979 and put this in a presentation, and it's only become more accurate over time: blog.apaonline.org/2023/04/13/r...
This is the guy who's complaining about *other people* not being able to do challenging physical work. Yeah, okay, buddy. *We're* the problem.
November 17, 2025 at 3:43 AM
This is the guy who's complaining about *other people* not being able to do challenging physical work. Yeah, okay, buddy. *We're* the problem.
In a rotten world, you have to take your victories where you can. It's gotta feel great for the staff of the Harvard Crimson to be threatened by Larry Summers on November 10 and then get to publish an expose on his emails to Jeffrey Epstein three days later.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 14, 2025 at 5:27 PM
In a rotten world, you have to take your victories where you can. It's gotta feel great for the staff of the Harvard Crimson to be threatened by Larry Summers on November 10 and then get to publish an expose on his emails to Jeffrey Epstein three days later.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
I know I'm being unfair (judging a book by its cover and all that) but I struggle to imagine any aspect of Trump's destruction of a part of the White House that concerns me less than "so where's Melania's new office?"
October 25, 2025 at 12:04 AM
I know I'm being unfair (judging a book by its cover and all that) but I struggle to imagine any aspect of Trump's destruction of a part of the White House that concerns me less than "so where's Melania's new office?"
I know it's a reference that's been run into the ground, but I don't know if I've ever seen a more appropriate real-life example. (Of course, with the caveat that I don't think Mamdani is a Sideshow Bob)
October 17, 2025 at 5:26 AM
I know it's a reference that's been run into the ground, but I don't know if I've ever seen a more appropriate real-life example. (Of course, with the caveat that I don't think Mamdani is a Sideshow Bob)
My go-to example of this is Pete Hegseth as a College Republican. I went to college with him, and he was an unlikeable sexist regressive dude back then, but even he felt he had to pay lip service to diversity in his horrible conservative magazine:
![Notes from the Publisher (Pete Hegseth '03 as an undergrad at Princeton):
[I'm skipping to the relevant part:] All this talk of "diversity" has diverted Princeton from its original academic focus: Western civilization and the curious combination of Socrates and Christ, strength and humility, democracy and piety, Athens and Jerusalem. Diversity is a note-worthy discussion topic, yet highly overvalued at this University.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:s7eizrixhsqvnshk4urr6zyt/bafkreigualrlh6t5jqosfimidf42zc6bozg5auf726zai46fxfqd5t6cja@jpeg)
October 15, 2025 at 6:37 PM
My go-to example of this is Pete Hegseth as a College Republican. I went to college with him, and he was an unlikeable sexist regressive dude back then, but even he felt he had to pay lip service to diversity in his horrible conservative magazine:
Earlier today I saw this meme and chuckled that "2010s kids" were already claiming that "2020s kids" are soft. The cycle just constantly repeats, faster and faster.
I look forward to the variant of 2010s kids speaking right and 2020s kids speaking incorrectly.
I look forward to the variant of 2010s kids speaking right and 2020s kids speaking incorrectly.
October 14, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Earlier today I saw this meme and chuckled that "2010s kids" were already claiming that "2020s kids" are soft. The cycle just constantly repeats, faster and faster.
I look forward to the variant of 2010s kids speaking right and 2020s kids speaking incorrectly.
I look forward to the variant of 2010s kids speaking right and 2020s kids speaking incorrectly.
Ah, yes, the common emotion of "hole".
(I didn't realize this is the official Unicode designation for the hole emoji 🕳️)
(I didn't realize this is the official Unicode designation for the hole emoji 🕳️)
October 12, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Ah, yes, the common emotion of "hole".
(I didn't realize this is the official Unicode designation for the hole emoji 🕳️)
(I didn't realize this is the official Unicode designation for the hole emoji 🕳️)
I fell in love with this sentence as soon as I read it. It's such a good example of a sentence that is syntactically ambiguous but pragmatically unambiguous. I know what it means, but I also get to pretend it means that this person has never met their newborn. What a delight!
October 9, 2025 at 3:18 PM
I fell in love with this sentence as soon as I read it. It's such a good example of a sentence that is syntactically ambiguous but pragmatically unambiguous. I know what it means, but I also get to pretend it means that this person has never met their newborn. What a delight!
He and his ilk have paid lip service that "diversity" is good, but that every effort ever undertaken to do anything to encourage it is poorly implemented or overvalued. It's only recently that they've been confident enough to be explicitly anti-diversity. Here's a 2000s quote from Hegseth:
![Notes from the Publisher (Pete Hegseth '03 as an undergrad at Princeton):
[I'm skipping to the relevant part:] All this talk of "diversity" has diverted Princeton from its original academic focus: Western civilization and the curious combination of Socrates and Christ, strength and humility, democracy and piety, Athens and Jerusalem. Diversity is a note-worthy discussion topic, yet highly overvalued at this University.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:s7eizrixhsqvnshk4urr6zyt/bafkreia7xq3qzhgxzvsvvf7pgqgezmr6lvcta5jldqdclxo6iq4i23ztji@jpeg)
October 7, 2025 at 9:16 PM
He and his ilk have paid lip service that "diversity" is good, but that every effort ever undertaken to do anything to encourage it is poorly implemented or overvalued. It's only recently that they've been confident enough to be explicitly anti-diversity. Here's a 2000s quote from Hegseth:
#grammar 🧵: I'm toying with a new thought about grammar rules from an interesting article about Christian Zionism and their obsession with the red heifer. The author, a rabbi, points out that this red heifer business doesn't really make any sense; it's a single reference in the Book of Numbers.
October 1, 2025 at 7:50 PM
#grammar 🧵: I'm toying with a new thought about grammar rules from an interesting article about Christian Zionism and their obsession with the red heifer. The author, a rabbi, points out that this red heifer business doesn't really make any sense; it's a single reference in the Book of Numbers.
Scootch is mad at me because she can't tell time. She thinks that it is 10am already and that I am being negligent in my one important job: feeding her.
I don't enjoy being told *I'm* wrong by someone who is wrong. But at least she has the decency to look cutely outraged at my uselessness.
I don't enjoy being told *I'm* wrong by someone who is wrong. But at least she has the decency to look cutely outraged at my uselessness.
September 23, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Scootch is mad at me because she can't tell time. She thinks that it is 10am already and that I am being negligent in my one important job: feeding her.
I don't enjoy being told *I'm* wrong by someone who is wrong. But at least she has the decency to look cutely outraged at my uselessness.
I don't enjoy being told *I'm* wrong by someone who is wrong. But at least she has the decency to look cutely outraged at my uselessness.
It's this classic photograph, but in reverse. I look forward to us getting it going in the right direction again.
September 21, 2025 at 3:47 AM
It's this classic photograph, but in reverse. I look forward to us getting it going in the right direction again.
This wasn't an old book. It was published in 2016. Its final chapter was "Opinions on the Characteristics of the
Chinese, Japanese and English", and that was barely racist compared to the rest. I've added two examples of his writing; the first to show the racism, the second to show the nonsense.
Chinese, Japanese and English", and that was barely racist compared to the rest. I've added two examples of his writing; the first to show the racism, the second to show the nonsense.
September 15, 2025 at 7:11 PM
This wasn't an old book. It was published in 2016. Its final chapter was "Opinions on the Characteristics of the
Chinese, Japanese and English", and that was barely racist compared to the rest. I've added two examples of his writing; the first to show the racism, the second to show the nonsense.
Chinese, Japanese and English", and that was barely racist compared to the rest. I've added two examples of his writing; the first to show the racism, the second to show the nonsense.
@michaelhobbes.bsky.social posted this snippet from a new York Times opinion piece, and it triggers some longform thoughts for me that I figured I'd share. 🧵
The key point is the question he highlighted: "Is expressing sadness or sympathy for Mr. Kirk [...] a de facto endorsement of his views?"
The key point is the question he highlighted: "Is expressing sadness or sympathy for Mr. Kirk [...] a de facto endorsement of his views?"
September 14, 2025 at 3:33 PM
@michaelhobbes.bsky.social posted this snippet from a new York Times opinion piece, and it triggers some longform thoughts for me that I figured I'd share. 🧵
The key point is the question he highlighted: "Is expressing sadness or sympathy for Mr. Kirk [...] a de facto endorsement of his views?"
The key point is the question he highlighted: "Is expressing sadness or sympathy for Mr. Kirk [...] a de facto endorsement of his views?"
I've never even seen the sketch this is from, but I could not think of anything other than this costume seeing his half-dead grimacing pose
September 13, 2025 at 12:11 AM
I've never even seen the sketch this is from, but I could not think of anything other than this costume seeing his half-dead grimacing pose
It's trite to reply to things with dril tweets, but geez, it's like JS is plagiarizing this one
December 10, 2024 at 3:46 PM
It's trite to reply to things with dril tweets, but geez, it's like JS is plagiarizing this one
Good evening from Scootch, who's noticed some fascinating shadows being cast by my desk!
December 3, 2024 at 6:02 AM
Good evening from Scootch, who's noticed some fascinating shadows being cast by my desk!
"Students are woke!!" essays are a dime a dozen, but there's an interesting point here: the gender bias in how the author structures their trans panic.
They subtly(?) imply that new gender dynamics hurt only women (more specifically, AFABs).
They subtly(?) imply that new gender dynamics hurt only women (more specifically, AFABs).
November 26, 2024 at 5:19 PM
"Students are woke!!" essays are a dime a dozen, but there's an interesting point here: the gender bias in how the author structures their trans panic.
They subtly(?) imply that new gender dynamics hurt only women (more specifically, AFABs).
They subtly(?) imply that new gender dynamics hurt only women (more specifically, AFABs).
A fun thing in my Language & Computers class is talking about the diversity of writing systems, and how to render them on computers. I get to look at a lot of non-alphabetic writing systems, and that means lots of cool new characters. I like the Vai syllabary, which has characters like these
November 24, 2024 at 7:06 PM
A fun thing in my Language & Computers class is talking about the diversity of writing systems, and how to render them on computers. I get to look at a lot of non-alphabetic writing systems, and that means lots of cool new characters. I like the Vai syllabary, which has characters like these
You know Pete Hegseth, the Trump pick for Secretary of Defense? He sucks more than you already know. I forgot that he and I went to college together, where he published the "Princeton Tory", the abrasive troll conservative magazine. I started going back through its archives & found gems like this:
![Notes from the Publisher (Pete Hegseth '03) in the Princeton Tory. Quoted material, next to a headshot of the man himself: "I’ve come to the earnest conclusion that the most cherished word of the Tilghman [Princeton's president] administration, and the University in general, is DIVERSITY. Whether we are told to “reflect” on our ethnicity, participate in a task force on “cross-cultural encounters,” or engage in “dialogues” about race, diversity is in perpetual focus. All this talk of “diversity” has diverted Princeton from its original academic focus: Western civilization and the curious combination of Socrates and Christ, strength and humility, democracy and piety, Athens and Jerusalem. Diversity is a noteworthy discussion topic, yet highly overvalued at this University.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:s7eizrixhsqvnshk4urr6zyt/bafkreia5l3jkrc5mktvnzr4mifivewx5jnttbrulvzd72pfrougu6ntrye@jpeg)
November 23, 2024 at 2:05 AM
You know Pete Hegseth, the Trump pick for Secretary of Defense? He sucks more than you already know. I forgot that he and I went to college together, where he published the "Princeton Tory", the abrasive troll conservative magazine. I started going back through its archives & found gems like this: