Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

Jonathon Owen

@arrantpedantry.com

2.4K followers 150 following 2.2K posts

Editor • Writer • Linguist • Ironic meta-pedant • Villain • Cat person Blog: https://www.arrantpedantry.com Merch: https://arrantpedantry.myspreadshop.com

www.arrantpedantry.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · Jan 29

Hey, check it out! I've joined the cool kids who use their own domain as their handle. You can now find me at @arrantpedantry.com.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 18h

Considering all the, uh, creative misspellings of my name that I've seen over the years, I'm surprised that this one hasn't popped up before.

Though I'm not sure that anything will ever beat Jouhathine.

Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens @csmfht.bsky.social · 1d

Reposted by Jonathon Owen

Ryan North? But - he died... 30 years ago this very night!! @ryannorth.ca · 19h

In video games, you will often find a fully roasted chicken abandoned on the ground, and eating it extremely quickly makes you feel better. What's less known is that this is also true in real life

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

Why, yes, I did once take a class on the history of the English language. Why do you ask?

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

brb, adding "since c. 1500, due to the Great Vowel Shift" to a bunch of pronunciations on Wikipedia

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

In fact, the pronunciations of many words changed c. 1500, due to the Great Vowel Shift.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

I love this note on the pronunciation of Canaan. It's such a perfect example of Wikipedia editor pedantry.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan#...

A passage from the Wikipedia article on Canaan, which begins "The English term "Canaan" (pronounced /ˈkeɪnən/ since c. 1500, due to the Great Vowel Shift) . . ."

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

I almost wrote "That's an insult to my lazy joke format," but now I'm glad I didn't.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

a woman wearing glasses is waving her hand while sitting in front of a window .

Alt: Liz Lemon from 30 Rock gives herself a high five and then points at someone off screen

media.tenor.com

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

I've apparently hit my limit of free CNN articles and can't actually read it. Though I assumed the title was mostly clickbait.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

*breathing intensifies*
bsky.app/profile/lloy...

Davis S. Pumpkinspice @lloyddavis.ca · 1d

It’s imperative to exhale after you inhale. If you try to do it the other way around, you’ll find there’s no air to exhale, and you could hurt yourself. It’s just science.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

I thought the "You're doing it wrong" genre of articles had peaked years ago, but "You're breathing wrong" has to set some kind of new high-water mark. www.cnn.com/2025/10/09/h...

Screenshot of a headline reading "How exhaling at the wrong time saps your strength"

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

Oh!

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

Ah, apparently I need a subscription in order to see what Connections Bot says.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

How do you get it to tell you that you got a reverse rainbow? I just get this.

Screenshot of my NYT Connections results, showing a perfect game done in reverse order of difficulty

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 3d

I've wondered for years about what sound the silent <x> in words like "cheveux" represented historically, because I knew it wasn't /x/. It's nice to finally have an answer!

Yoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 3d

Why do so many French words end in a silent x?
‘Cheveux’, ‘voix’, ‘paix’, ‘deux’, ‘mieux’, ‘faux’, ‘doux’ – the list is endless.

There’s a fascinating story behind this x’s – or actually two stories.

Click and zoom in on my new graphic to read about medieval abbreviations and imitating Latin:

Reposted by Jonathon Owen

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 5d

"I prompted the AI to devise a lesson plan that explains why students need to become proficient in prompting AI—so they can land writing jobs in the future, where they will spend their days prompting AI."

I Need AI to Write Better Lesson Plans So My Students Stop Using AI to Write Their Papers

I care deeply about my students’ learning, but with all the new technologies available to help them cut corners, I worry that they’re not doing the...

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 4d

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage says the hatred of the disjunct "hopefully" really took off in the '60s, and Strunk & White was published in 1959, so I think that's a safe assumption.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 4d

But the guy has clearly gotten high on his own supply, and his connection to Epstein is troubling, even if all he did was consult with Dershowitz on Epstein's case. I don't think I can read or recommend anything by him again.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 4d

I read a couple of his books in either college or grad school, and I felt like they really stretched my brain. I still think The Sense of Style is one of the best books on writing that I've ever read. I'm not aware of another book that combines linguistics and cognitive science with writing advice.

Reposted by Jonathon Owen

Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 6d

If you like yelling about misuse of the passive voice, THIS IS IT.

CNN @cnn.com · 7d

Adults and children alike were pulled from their Chicago apartments, crying and screaming, during a large overnight raid that has left tenants and neighbors shaken. https://cnn.it/4pPCXIt

37 people arrested and American kids separated from parents after ICE raid at Chicago apartments | CNN

Adults and children alike were pulled from their Chicago apartments, crying and screaming, during a large overnight raid that has left tenants and neighbors shaken.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 7d

Oh, wait, let me try that again.

*recoils, hissing*

*retreats back into shadows whence he came*

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 7d

Aww, I thought we were friends.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 8d

Sure would be nice if we had an actual government

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 8d

Now I want to read a John Donne poem about scrubs.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 8d

Zombo.com is still up?!