ghoti

Some thoughts on the numbering system of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

There are two “facets” to the numbering system of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. One is to show the logical importance the comments to propositions/comments. The other is to show to which of the propositions/comments are they a comment of. Two “problems” immediately come to mind when I look at the system: In certain parts the less important […]
A metaphor …

This was a random anonymous quote for me from the WordPress team: “A metaphor is like a simile.” As a metaphor scholar I rather like it. But I wonder are my blogs being turned into a corpus database for their purposes?
Cinema and academic research

I have a love-hate relationship with movies. Some days I hate it to the max. The pointlessness and waste-of-time productions that consists of most films. Then some days I love it when I come across a great piece of cinema. One of my favourite films Kinema no Tenchi (The World of Cinema) is directed by […]
No Egg in Eggplant

Of course there is no egg in eggplant. Apparently the name comes from a white egg-shaped variety cultivated by 18th century Europeans. More interesting is the original name ‘aubergine’ which (according to Concise Oxford Dictionary) has its roots from Arabic and therefore the route (no pun intended, again) through which it made its way into […]
English is a crazy language

I am going to have a great time analysing these. There are either cognitive or historical bases for all of these I am sure.
The History of English in Ten Minutes (or we have a short attention span)

Here is the YouTube version of the great little podcast The History of English in Ten Minutes produced by Open University. As a matter of fact the history of English can be summarized in ten seconds with the chapter titles: Anglo-Saxon The Norman Conquest Shakespeare The King James Bible The English of Science English and […]
South Western Russia origin of English a Turkey

It seems English, an Indo-European language, isn’t from south western Russia or north eastern India as once thought but closer to home in Turkey. it is also much older than previous excepted theory by 4,000 years. Known as the Anatolia hypothesis it was suggested in 1980s and given strength now.
iPhone mobile projector

Here is a nice portable projector for your iPhone 4/4S. As usual Jetdaisuke gives an entertaining review. Here are the key points: bright at 35 lumens maximum projection size 1524 cm (yes, centimitres) 120min battery life works as a OHP (overhead projector) with your camera With external speakers you can add sound to your presentations. […]
Three ways to improve your use of prepositions

Here are three quick and dirty ways to get to know your prepositions: Read a Book There are books out there, like anything else, specifically geared towards learning and understanding prepositions. One that I recommend is English Prepositions Explained by Seth Lindstromberg. It approaches it from a cognitive linguistic perspectives that, in my opinion, works […]
Conferences

The first day of the JASELE conference in Nagoya has finished. Great to be there with all my fellow postgraduates, teachers, colleagues and friends. Heard some good talks and as usual I learnt a lot. But I am ashamed to say that I still feel like the outsider when it comes to conferences. I don’t […]