english
Will Faught
July 2009
It was 105 degrees today in Seattle! It’s almost midnight, and it’s eighty-three degrees now. No one in Washington has air conditioning. These people are completely unprepared for the elements. This place is known for a single element—rain—and people don’t use umbrellas. I’m sitting on my bed, under my only ceiling fan, with my only desk fan two feet away and pointed straight at me. I meant to actually do something with my time tonight, but it was just too hot.
english epitamy epitome heat led zeppelin life seattle stairway to heaven stories
1 minute
September 2008
Every word in a title should be capitalized. It’s an acceptable form of capitalization and it’s super easy to remember. I don’t understand why most people don’t do it that way. Otherwise you have to memorize all these exceptions for which words can and can’t be capitalized. Who can remember all of that? What about “in,” “to,” or “on?” It’s just not obvious. It’s like putting a comma after the second-to-last item in a list.
capitalization commas english life lists reflections titles
1 minute
June 2008
I’ve started learning a theorem proving tool to help me with my thesis. It’s called Coq, which has got to be the most unfortunate name I can think of. I think the creators are French, and coq means cock, as in rooster, in French. Why rooster? I have no idea. Why does anyone name anything what they do? I wonder which seemingly-innocent English words mean something equally awkward in other languages?
coq english french life reflections thesis
1 minute
September 2007
bind -> bound find -> found wind -> wound Shouldn’t it be mind -> mound?
english life mind mound reflections
1 minute
August 2007
It strikes me as ironic that some have argued that the growing prevalence of Spanish in America, or at least the west and southern states, threaten American culture while there is little effort to teach immigrants English. NPR was reporting a little while ago that in New York City, it’s almost impossible to enroll in an English class because they’re so impacted. I believe they said conditions were similar in many other places.
america classes english immigrants life new york city npr reflections spanish
1 minute
If invalid, informal, and injustice are the opposites of valid, formal, and justice, then why does inflammable mean the same as flammable? Since English is my first language, I obviously prefer it to any other language, but damn, English sucks. One thing I’ve always appreciated about Spanish is that you can look at any word and know immediately how to pronounce it correctly.
definitions english flammable inflammable life reflections
1 minute