Archive by Author
The Strange World of Sports Mascots Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 27, 2018
By now, no matter where you are from, you have certainly seen a sports mascot. These animals, or not-quite-real creatures who appear on the sidelines of many sporting events to excite the crowd and make us laugh, have been around for over a century. The Olympics have had mascots for 50 years. But, where did…
5 Westerns You Must See Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 20, 2018
Notice that I didn’t say that these are the best Westerns. There are thousands of Westerns made by filmmakers over the decades, and I certainly haven’t seen them all. Many, in fact, have been lost forever to the vagaries of time. Still, I have seen quite a few Westerns, and I have a deep love…
When Western is a Noun Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 13, 2018
“It’s Americana, it’s part of our history, the cowboy, the cattle drive, the sheriff, the fight for law, order, and justice.” Clayton Moore, the actor who portrayed The Lone Ranger, on Westerns. Western is a word most commonly used as an adjective to describe either a direction or some characteristic representative of the US or…
Old Dictionary, New Words Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 6, 2018
As you know, the English language is an evolving, ever-changing construct. The words we speak and write can change in meaning, become forgotten, or morph into something quite different. This is one of the reasons that language, and linguistics, is such a challenging discipline. Merriam-Webster Dictionary, one of the leading resources for English in the…
What Color is That? Posted by Gary Locke on Aug 30, 2018
“Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.” Pablo Picasso How do you describe colors? The sky is blue, but so is the ocean. They aren’t the same color, are they? And the sky and ocean aren’t always the same color all the time. How, then, do you distinguish one shade of a color…
Sleepless in America Posted by Gary Locke on Aug 23, 2018
Americans are not getting enough sleep, and that presents an economic, health, and social crisis for the entire country. Studies show that lack of sleep contributes to obesity, poor performance in work and school, and unhealthy lifestyle choices. In the United States, this adds up to a stunning economic cost in lost productivity and health…
What is a Tag Question? Posted by Gary Locke on Aug 16, 2018
Sometimes we answer a question with another question or ask a question that can only have one answer. It is very common in English conversations, and can be deceptively tricky in some situations. We call it the tag question. A tag question is a grammatical structure in which a declarative statement is altered by use of an added interrogative (the…