Language – Page 2 of 2

Herb Caen: Master of the Three Dots

Posted May 21, 2025May 18, 2009 in Away From Work, Editorial, Language, Trivia, True Business48 Comments

This story is what got me started on remembering Herb Caen — it’s from True’s 17 May 2009 issue:

Tardwit

Posted November 14, 2025March 22, 2009 in Language, Obliviots/Idiots, Photo, Trivia113 Comments

Important Update Below
—
Sundays are writing day around here: it’s the day I write This is True each week. This week, I had the usual line-up of stories about stupid people doing stupid things (or, as the case may be, smart people doing stupid things!) when I came across the story of Mark Rimkufski from the weirdest state in the union, which is of course Florida.

Weird News Video #28 — Christmas Traditions

Posted November 2, 2025December 22, 2008 in Holidays, Language, Video6 Comments

Episode #28: “You Think Your State is Weird?”, from True’s 14 December 2008 issue.

Weird News Video #18 — Artificial Education

Posted October 23, 2025October 5, 2008 in Education, Language, VideoLeave a comment

Episode #18: “Artificial Education”, from True’s 5 October 2008 issue.

Weird News Video #14 — Clbuttic Mistake

Posted October 20, 2025September 7, 2008 in Language, Online Life, Technology, Video4 Comments

Episode #14: “How Embarrbutting!”, from True’s 7 August 2008 issue.

Higher Education

Posted September 26, 2025January 20, 2008 in Education, Language, Work10 Comments

I do a lot of research when looking for stories, and I see quite a bit of amazing stuff. Most of it I use for stories, but sometimes even truly wonderful items just don’t quite make it into the final product. This is one such case.

Shift Happens

Posted September 26, 2025December 3, 2007 in Editorial, Education, Explainer, Kids/Teens, Language, Online Life, Plugs, Technology66 Comments

There’s a group of friends I hang out with online, all of us online entrepreneurs. One sent a URL around urging us all to “take 8 minutes to watch the video,” adding “if you care about such things, please consider blogging about it and/or passing it on.” What things? Our kids. Or, more accurately, the education of our kids. The world is a very, very different place than it was when we were kids.

A “Letter”? From an “Editor”!

Posted September 23, 2025July 13, 2006 in Editorial, Explainer, Language, Reader Feedback19 Comments

Do the ! and ? in the title above, in relation to the quotation marks, bother you? Vindicate you? Make you wonder? Maybe you’ll enjoy this little debate, which opened in the 22 January 2006 issue.

Higher Education

Posted September 22, 2025September 20, 2005 in Adult, Education, Language, Politically Correct, Special6 Comments

aka, Ya’ll Grow Up Now, Hear?

I Became Aware of the Beaver Problem when researching the 18 June 2000 issue. People really enjoyed the resulting story. Pay particular attention to the second half:

Distant Cousins

Posted August 8, 2025February 17, 2003 in Language, Reader Feedback1 Comment

See 2006 Update, Below

Many readers enjoyed these two stories that appeared in the 16 February 2003 issue, as they showed how different — and how similar — Australians and Americans are:

The True Story of Leonard Carlo’s Bar

Posted August 6, 2025June 29, 2002 in Adult, Bureaucracy, Drugs/Alcohol, Language, Photo, Special46 Comments

See Updates Below!

I showed a friend the story below from the 3 October 1999 issue, and she found it way too hard to believe.

John Bobbitt:
Immortalized Through Verbification

Posted July 30, 2025July 17, 1994 in Firsts, Language, Major Headlines4 Comments

It’s really hard to coin a word. I tried it in the 17 July 1994 issue: