Aileen Lorberg
FeaturesDecember 20, 1995
LEND ME YOUR EAR: CHRISTMAS A QUARTER-CENTURY AGO REMEMBERED IN A LETTERWhen I was 15, I fell in love with my high school history teacher, Miss Naomi Pott, and we spoke of going to Europe together some day. Miss Naomi died before we could make it, and by then, circumstances indicated I would never get there either. Years later, my all-...FeaturesDecember 7, 1995
LEND ME YOUR EAR: WE FROWN UPON `DOING ANY WRONGDOING'As our readers know, English has been taking a back seat in classrooms the country over for decades. For more than 10 years, teachers of subjects other than English have been required to assign essays relating to their own subject matter. Even so, basic English con...FeaturesNovember 23, 1995
LEND ME YOUR EAR: HUMOROUS IS AS HUMOR DOESSome years ago this newspaper published as essay of mine called "How many selves do you have?" A reader applauded me for having the courage to include my own incredible selves in the host I attributed to others. I thought of this on reading Paul Greenberg's recent ...FeaturesNovember 8, 1995
LEND ME YOUR EAR: OUT OT PASTURE BUT NOT OVER THE HILLAll this drive for a multicultural language in America is sheer nonsense. American English IS multicultural. Our ancestors made and kept it so. Today, however, we have the pleasure of reviewing a book written in English that all elderlies can relate to, and almost ...FeaturesOctober 25, 1995
LEND ME YOUR EAR: ONE ANSWER TO QUESTION OF UNIVERSAL LANGUAGEFirst, an explanation of the mixed metaphor perpetrated last time around. My reference to the horse latitudes of educationese, a friendly reader reminded me, was out of sync with a protest against "kids." True, but it was O.J. Simpson's fault. I had just abandoned ...FeaturesOctober 11, 1995
LEND ME YOUR EAR: `TORMENDOUS' EFFORT TO CHANGE FACE OF ENGLISHTime to congratulate teachers in our vicinity again for respecting their charges enough not to refer to them as "kids." One would assume that our nation's educators and educationists who place self-esteem first would realize that "kids" is a self-effacing term. Res...FeaturesSeptember 27, 1995
LEND ME YOUR EAR: NO CURE FOR THE OLDEST DIESEASE OF MANKINDMany word coinages have nothing to do with the changes wrought by tech terminology. Word play never fails to catch the eye and ear, and creations not likely to reach official status may amuse us if only briefly. Some time ago, Buick declared a limited period of "Bu...FeaturesSeptember 13, 1995
LEND ME YOUR EAR: IF NOTHING WORKS BETTER, THEN LET NOTHING DO THE WORKUnusual words and questionable usage go hand in hand. A networker recently announced that Dr. Kevorkian has "just assisted in a 20-tooth suicide." Granted that "20-tooth" for "20-second" is an unusual creation, questionable usage is the front runner in the examples...FeaturesAugust 30, 1995
LEND ME YOUR EAR: THE PRINTED PAGE IS STILL OUR THINKING TOOLThe title of a small collection of essays proved so irresistible to me, I succumbed to Quality Paperback's offer without considering that books on language are already stacked three-deep behind a chair in a corner of my living room. THE GUTENBERG ELEGIES, subtitled...FeaturesAugust 16, 1995
LEND ME YOUR EAR: PLAYING WITH WORDS HAS GONE ON FO REVERAnyone out there ever hear of heteronyms? Wordmaster James Kilpatrick tossed this out-of-town concoction my way recently as if it were an everyday word. All other nyms have long been familiar to me, but "heteronym" was as foreign to me as a tune in what passes for ...Advertisement
Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!
