(no subject)

I hadn't heard Geoff Pullum's ringing endorsement of singular "they" before. I'm a fan of singular "they," personally, but it's very convincing in how awful some of the alternatives sound:

A journalist can’t be so shy that he or she can’t bring himself or herself to go up to a stranger he or she sees and ask him or her to give him or her his or her opinion.’

Oh? 'He' is gender-neutral? Well--


‘Was it your father or your mother who hurt himself?’

Good enough for Jane Austen and W.H. Auden is good enough for me.

(no subject)

Because my dad is a wine person, any dinner with him will inevitably include a good wine and raving about said wine. Now--I am about 98% certain that wine is a migraine trigger for me. And yet, whenever this comes up, I think
(a) If the wine is that good, I should try it!
(b) Last time, my headache was caused by environmental or psychosomatic factors!
(c) Adults drink wine. Silly young girls drink fruity sugary cocktails.
And I have a teensy tiny sip.
And then I have a migraine.

And so I swear off wine for the tenth time. After all, the real silly young girl is the one who ignores persistent evidence even though she doesn't really like wine that much.
(I will say that tonight's wine was good, as wines go, in my terms, because it wasn't nearly so punch-you-in-the-face. Still not worth it).