by david allan van nostrand | Nov 3, 2025 | Americana, Language, Point of view, The Wayback Machine
Recently I came across the term “mosquito swarm.” I pictured a high-pitched whining mob of vicious mosquitos looking for blood in swamps, but I searched the term anyway to see what the machine would try to feed me. In most cases the first several results had paid to...
by david allan van nostrand | Sep 8, 2025 | Anthropology, Human Behavior, Language, Point of view
All of the letters and sounds in the word ask are also in the word aks. When the letters S and K trade places, the word ends up sounding like axe, the woodsman’s sharp-bladed implement for chopping trees. People who say “Axe me” are fortunate that Little...
by david allan van nostrand | Aug 4, 2025 | Americana, Language, The Wayback Machine
Note to readers: You’ll find no ads on this site because I want you to enjoy a leisurely scenic drive without all those annoying billboards blocking the view and intruding on their enjoyment. From time to time I provide links in the text so people can see more,...
by david allan van nostrand | Jan 22, 2024 | Human Behavior, Language, The Wayback Machine
What Does It Mean to Suffer Fools Gladly? In the early 13th Century, a fool was a silly, stupid, and ignorant person. The word came down the linguistic ladder from the French word for madman, insane, and harebrained idiot. Today a fool is someone deficient in...
by david allan van nostrand | Oct 9, 2023 | Advertising, Human Behavior, Language, Using Information
Who Is David Ogilvy? The New York Times said David Ogilvy was the Father of the Soft Sell The hard sell is the in-your-face way of selling products. It’s the strategy employed by timeshare salespeople, car dealers, Billy Mays, and the Bass-O-Matic. The hard sell’s...
by david allan van nostrand | Oct 2, 2023 | Human Behavior, Language, Sociology, The world around us
The scientific study of language is called linguistics. Sociolinguistics is the study of how people use language and how it changes over time. It examines all aspects of the interrelationship of language and society, how language varies among speakers, and the...
