Special to the Star-Telegram Every three decades or so, there’s a federal case over broadcasting bad language. The most recent was on Election Day before the Supreme Court. This is like one of those cartoon caption contests. You know, like there’s this completely frazzled fish lying on a psychiatrist’s couch, distraught eyes fixed to the … Read more
Special to the Star-Telegram Chesapeake Energy’s impressive and expensive PR campaign has folks asking questions. Lots of questions. One of the overlooked and under-reported aspects related to drilling in the Barnett Shale is the negative impact to our local linguistic environment. We’re not talking particulate matter here. This is the worrisome increase in measurable propagandulate … Read more
Special to the Star-Telegram The local community had an opportunity to go beyond talking about race. Instead, we passed to avoid the front page, content to be merely a footnote. Today is graduation day at Texas Christian University. I teach a class in general semantics there, and seven of my 46 students will walk across … Read more
Special to the Star-Telegram An obscure monument south of downtown Fort Worth recalls a progenitor of the Stock Show and the tragedy that occurred there. The 2008 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo concludes tomorrow. Since its inception in 1896, the show has grown to world-class proportions, attracting almost a million visitors each year and … Read more
Special to the Star-Telegram Jim was my best friend in high school. He and I did everything that best friends do: We hung out, talked, double-dated and “made the drag” around town. We played together on the football field, in the band hall and at church. During my sophomore year, I played quarterback; Jim, a … Read more
Special to the Star-Telegram Don’t like feeling like a fish flopping on an August sidewalk? Don’t give up hope. Next week, I begin a new job. I’ve been invited by the Department of Communication Studies at Texas Christian University to teach a course in general semantics. There’s a bit of irony in this. In 1979, … Read more
Special to the Star-Telegram In 21st-century America, honor is an option — not necessary, not sufficient, desirable only if it doesn’t jeopardize the bottom line. I grew up playing sports in the Texas Panhandle. On my bedroom wall, I had a plaque inscribed with a then-famous Grantland Rice saying: For when the one great scorer … Read more
Special to the Star-Telegram Changing words doesn’t change what they refer to — but it may change attitudes. Words have been in the news a lot lately. Of course, one could make the argument that what we call “the news” is nothing but words. We hear and read about “the news” in the words that … Read more
(Printed as a Letter to the Editor, Dallas Morning News, January 20, 2000. Text below the clipping.) Bush listens to polls, not principle When asked during the South Carolina primary about that state’s Confederate flag issue, Mr. Bush revealed much in his reply: “The people of South Carolina can figure out what to do with … Read more
I was going to write a one-minute poemTo tell you about my act. No, the real reason I was going to write a poem wasTo impress youWith my wit, my insight, my intelligence andMy all too transparent veil of pretentious modesty and humility. The first line was to be“I’ve built an island for myself,”Followed by … Read more
