Arnold Zwicky's Blog
Arnold Zwicky's Blog
Arnold Zwicky
A blog mostly about language from Arnold Zwicky, Adjunt Professor of Linguistics, Stanford University.
Latest Posts
(men’s bodies and sex between men, sometimes described in street language, so entirely unsuitable for kids and the sexually modest) Two gay porn scenes in which the partners take evident pleasure in their sex, as shown by the exchange of...
Briefly noted: today’s Zippy strip has our Pinhead rowing to a half-rhyme: Zippy is keen on spleen (‘bad temper; spite’ (NOAD)) and is happy to vent his in a half-rhyme. In particular, the feature rhyme of /strim/ with /splin/, m – n...
Today’s adventure in analyzing the jokey allusions in my postings. The target allusion is the one boldfaced in this passage from my posting yesterday (5/13), “The pocket bulge”: [The DJX bulge booster] provides a soft but protective...
From a symposium on “The Problem of Data in Linguistics”, Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vol. 1980, Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers (1980), pp. 598-604 598 “Internal” and “External”...
Fresh news for male genitalia, in a Daily Jocks e-mail ad today (5/13): DJX Prime Enhancing Underwear: an instant bulge booster. Provides the illusion of great size, thereby addressing the American male obsession with genital size as an...
(tales of man-man sex, some of it in very plain street language, so not for kids or the sexually modest) A story from my times at the gay baths, this one not previously reported on. From 1980, at the Club Baths of Toronto, a night out...
Two cartoons from the May 2026 Funny Times, both with variants of familiar theme. Some Bizarro word play exploiting and extending on the similarity between names of diseases and names of flowers (commented on long ago by James Thurber);...
Yesterday’s dinner order (big enough for that meal and today’s lunch): the Meat Basket Salad from Tacos El Grullense #1, in Redwood City: (#1) The meat basket at El Grullense #1 (the Tacos El Grullense Grill in Redwood City is the first...
From Bethany “Bitty” Ramirez on Facebook on 5/8: I chopped the rhubarb But I did not chop the strawberry — (#1) Ramirez BR often writes (mouth-wateringly) about food and its preparation, but not lined out like this, and not with what...
(To the memory of Ann Daingerfield Zwicky, who was born Ann Walcutt Daingerfield on 5/9/1937. Her favorite flower was the Japanese iris and her least favorite holiday was (US) Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May.) Found almost...
Spurred by Max Vasilatos’s show-n-tell at the most recent (5/3) soc.motss get-together on Zoom, some material on the S&M graphic artist REX, assembled from material in his Wikipedia entry; the summary paragraph: REX (1943 – March 2024)...
(much talk of men’s bodyparts and some of man-on-man sex, much of it in street language, so not suitable for kids or the sexually modest) Background: from Benjamin Dreyer on Facebook yesterday (5/7), about assless: — BD: My gosh, I’m in...
Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtin in the Point / Counterpoint segment on Saturday Night Live: Jane would make some serious point, only to be dismissed by Dan with a response beginning “Jane, you ignorant slut” This posting is about not...
Three plants — all old favorites of mine — that have recently caught my helper Isaac’s attention on our walks around downtown Palo Alto: two because of their striking foliage and flowers, one because its multitude of yellow flowers seem...
Awaiting the delivery of 4 Turkish hand towels (for use in bathroom and bedroom), to supplement my old 15 x 27″ stock, in white and yellow, as they gradually fray and shred and get retired as rags or trash. My helper Isaac asked how old...