The Last Time

04 Dec 2013

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1 Min

By: William Shunn

Table of Content

I wrote this poem to read at last night's Tuesday Funk—the 64th episode in the series, and my final night as host.

Bless the English language
for its charming, maddening
ambiguity.

Will I look back on this night
as the last time I was here
or the last time I was here?

It matters to me.
Does it matter to you?

English Language Nostalgia Poems Tuesday Funk

Author

William Shunn

Hugo and Nebula Award nominee. Creator of Proper Manuscript Format, Spelling Bee Solver, Tylogram, and more. Banned in Canada.

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Books

The Future of English (As of 1904)

Here's the last of the excerpts I'll bring you from the book I've just finished reading, 1904's The Making of English by Henry Bradley. This is the passage that closes the book, and I found it particularly hopeful in light of the

27 Feb 2013

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2 Min

By: William Shunn

Predictions

How the Prediction Transpired

Last week I told you a bit about my recent bedtime reading, The Making of English by Henry Bradley. The book was published in 1904, and one of the peculiar delights of reading it more than a century later is seeing Bradley hold forth about "modern" words that

21 Feb 2013

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1 Min

By: William Shunn

Language

Riddle Me This

My light bedtime reading lately has been from a fascinating little book called The Making of English, by Henry Bradley. Bradley was a mostly self-taught linguist and lexicographer who would eventually become editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. The Making of English, published in 1904, is a compact, elegant distillation

15 Feb 2013

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1 Min

By: William Shunn

The Last Time

Author

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The Future of English (As of 1904)

How the Prediction Transpired

Riddle Me This

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