Michael Erard
@michaelerard.bsky.social
Writer, linguist. 3rd book: BYE BYE I LOVE YOU. The Economist: "Beautiful & strangely comforting." LARB: "Wise & gracefully written." Others: "Indelible." To buy: https://bit.ly/4kN0PKa
Explore www.michaelerard.com
Explore www.michaelerard.com
the best birthday present you can give a child is allowing them to pop you in the face with a pie
February 3, 2026 at 8:44 PM
the best birthday present you can give a child is allowing them to pop you in the face with a pie
A snowflake in tactical armor is still a snowflake
Get some therapy, chump
With a person. not a bot
Get some therapy, chump
With a person. not a bot
February 3, 2026 at 4:24 PM
A snowflake in tactical armor is still a snowflake
Get some therapy, chump
With a person. not a bot
Get some therapy, chump
With a person. not a bot
Reposted by Michael Erard
"I’m still enthralled by the subjects I studied," a reader wrote to me, "even though they are irrelevant to my work." He said that his son, who went to a large university, "sadly lacks that enthusiasm."
What room is there, anymore, for enthusiasm? Cost and professionalization has stamped them out.
What room is there, anymore, for enthusiasm? Cost and professionalization has stamped them out.
I spent several weeks this fall visiting elite liberal arts colleges, on the theory that these small, wealthy schools—with a singular focus on undergraduate education and almost no federal research money to threaten—are best poised to weather the crisis in higher education. Here's what I learned:
The Accidental Winners of the War on Higher Ed
Go to a small liberal-arts college if you can.
www.theatlantic.com
February 3, 2026 at 4:15 PM
"I’m still enthralled by the subjects I studied," a reader wrote to me, "even though they are irrelevant to my work." He said that his son, who went to a large university, "sadly lacks that enthusiasm."
What room is there, anymore, for enthusiasm? Cost and professionalization has stamped them out.
What room is there, anymore, for enthusiasm? Cost and professionalization has stamped them out.
Maybe using redcap logic brain and stylish magazine writer brain in the same day will stave off dementia…
February 3, 2026 at 4:15 PM
Maybe using redcap logic brain and stylish magazine writer brain in the same day will stave off dementia…
Reposted by Michael Erard
"It is not the task of the University to offer what society asks for, but to give what society needs."
(Edsger W. Dijkstra: www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/ewd13xx...)
(Edsger W. Dijkstra: www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/ewd13xx...)
www.cs.utexas.edu
February 3, 2026 at 12:26 PM
"It is not the task of the University to offer what society asks for, but to give what society needs."
(Edsger W. Dijkstra: www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/ewd13xx...)
(Edsger W. Dijkstra: www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/ewd13xx...)
being a writer with a day job IS the job, and it's weird
February 3, 2026 at 10:15 AM
being a writer with a day job IS the job, and it's weird
"Minnesotans cooperate because of the cold weather" is a sort of environmental determinism that I tackled in my one and only Pacific Standard (RIP) piece 10 years ago
psmag.com/news/can-a-t...
psmag.com/news/can-a-t...
Can a Tough Winter Make for a Better Neighbor?
Looking at environmental determinism through the climate change lens. By Michael Erard Men shovel the sidewalk the morning…
psmag.com
February 3, 2026 at 9:45 AM
"Minnesotans cooperate because of the cold weather" is a sort of environmental determinism that I tackled in my one and only Pacific Standard (RIP) piece 10 years ago
psmag.com/news/can-a-t...
psmag.com/news/can-a-t...
Reposted by Michael Erard
Vilis Kasims remembers "growing up bilingual", with two mother tongues – Latvian and Russian – and an even more complicated heritage, rooted partially in the autonomous Moldovan region of Gagauzia, where multiple languages are spoken
deepbaltic.com/2026/02/03/o...
deepbaltic.com/2026/02/03/o...
Our Languages and Us – Latvian, Russian, Gagauz, English...
"At least back then, there was no room for nuance in Riga. There were Latvians and Russians, and each of them had to choose a side."
deepbaltic.com
February 3, 2026 at 5:31 AM
Vilis Kasims remembers "growing up bilingual", with two mother tongues – Latvian and Russian – and an even more complicated heritage, rooted partially in the autonomous Moldovan region of Gagauzia, where multiple languages are spoken
deepbaltic.com/2026/02/03/o...
deepbaltic.com/2026/02/03/o...
Reposted by Michael Erard
New episode, first of 2026!! 🎉🎙️
A deep dive into metaphor with @sflusberg.bsky.social!
Metaphors delight, provoke, captivate, shock, and galvanize us. What does it say about the human mind that we simply can't escape them—and frankly don't want to?
Listen: disi.org/the-aura-of-...
A deep dive into metaphor with @sflusberg.bsky.social!
Metaphors delight, provoke, captivate, shock, and galvanize us. What does it say about the human mind that we simply can't escape them—and frankly don't want to?
Listen: disi.org/the-aura-of-...
February 2, 2026 at 4:55 PM
New episode, first of 2026!! 🎉🎙️
A deep dive into metaphor with @sflusberg.bsky.social!
Metaphors delight, provoke, captivate, shock, and galvanize us. What does it say about the human mind that we simply can't escape them—and frankly don't want to?
Listen: disi.org/the-aura-of-...
A deep dive into metaphor with @sflusberg.bsky.social!
Metaphors delight, provoke, captivate, shock, and galvanize us. What does it say about the human mind that we simply can't escape them—and frankly don't want to?
Listen: disi.org/the-aura-of-...
Reposted by Michael Erard
Thinking about whoever said that by accepting a meal from people and then arresting them ICE agents broke a cultural taboo that was invented by, like, the first humans to set up a tent
February 1, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Thinking about whoever said that by accepting a meal from people and then arresting them ICE agents broke a cultural taboo that was invented by, like, the first humans to set up a tent
great profile, @sirosenbaum.bsky.social
"The one screenplay he wrote that he most wishes someone would make is called The Hanging Tale. It’s a Scheherezade Western: A man is on the verge of being hanged, and they ask him for his final words. He starts telling a story — the story becomes the bulk of the film."
The Writer of Groundhog Day Has Been Living His Movie for the Past 24 Years
For Danny Rubin, who wrote the beloved movie and the new musical, every day is Groundhog Day.
web.archive.org
February 2, 2026 at 11:03 AM
great profile, @sirosenbaum.bsky.social
"The one screenplay he wrote that he most wishes someone would make is called The Hanging Tale. It’s a Scheherezade Western: A man is on the verge of being hanged, and they ask him for his final words. He starts telling a story — the story becomes the bulk of the film."
The Writer of Groundhog Day Has Been Living His Movie for the Past 24 Years
For Danny Rubin, who wrote the beloved movie and the new musical, every day is Groundhog Day.
web.archive.org
February 2, 2026 at 11:03 AM
"The one screenplay he wrote that he most wishes someone would make is called The Hanging Tale. It’s a Scheherezade Western: A man is on the verge of being hanged, and they ask him for his final words. He starts telling a story — the story becomes the bulk of the film."
from the last word discourse beat: at least according to today's Google News Alert, it's shifted from Renee Good's last words ("I'm not mad at you") to Ross's last words to her.
February 2, 2026 at 9:27 AM
from the last word discourse beat: at least according to today's Google News Alert, it's shifted from Renee Good's last words ("I'm not mad at you") to Ross's last words to her.
This piece is quite moving. "Systems don’t fail randomly. They fail in ways reflecting how they were designed. Sometimes the only people who can see that design are the ones broken by it who survived with enough institutional access to name what they saw."
www.publicbooks.org/displacement...
www.publicbooks.org/displacement...
Displacement as Method - Public Books
I left Gaza in 2014. My family stayed. I've lived in Algeria, now Taiwan... We move. This is not background information. This is method.
www.publicbooks.org
February 2, 2026 at 8:25 AM
This piece is quite moving. "Systems don’t fail randomly. They fail in ways reflecting how they were designed. Sometimes the only people who can see that design are the ones broken by it who survived with enough institutional access to name what they saw."
www.publicbooks.org/displacement...
www.publicbooks.org/displacement...
Reposted by Michael Erard
Foreign language learners show a kinematic accent in their co-speech hand movements. New paper by Hans Rutger Bosker & al.
doi.org/10.1162/OPMI.a.321
doi.org/10.1162/OPMI.a.321
Foreign Language Learners Show a Kinematic Accent in Their Co-Speech Hand Movements
Abstract. Humans typically move and vocalize in a time-synchronized fashion, aligning prominence-lending hand movements to acoustically emphasized syllables. This requires complex coordination. When s...
doi.org
February 2, 2026 at 8:10 AM
Foreign language learners show a kinematic accent in their co-speech hand movements. New paper by Hans Rutger Bosker & al.
doi.org/10.1162/OPMI.a.321
doi.org/10.1162/OPMI.a.321
Reposted by Michael Erard
This is one of the slides from my upcoming book talk at Barnes & Noble in the U District, Seattle (this Tuesday, 5:00pm). I often use the English ampersand as an example to help those with no knowledge of Chinese understand how Chinese characters function in Standard Written Chinese.
February 2, 2026 at 3:58 AM
This is one of the slides from my upcoming book talk at Barnes & Noble in the U District, Seattle (this Tuesday, 5:00pm). I often use the English ampersand as an example to help those with no knowledge of Chinese understand how Chinese characters function in Standard Written Chinese.
Reposted by Michael Erard
JUST IN: The five-year-old Columbia Heights Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, who have been in an ICE detention facility in Texas, are on their way home.
Liam Conejo Ramos and his father have landed back in Minnesota following a judge's order
Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old whose detention by ICE sparked national fervor, returned home to Minnesota with his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, Sunday morning after a judge ordered their release.
www.mprnews.org
February 1, 2026 at 3:55 PM
JUST IN: The five-year-old Columbia Heights Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, who have been in an ICE detention facility in Texas, are on their way home.
Reposted by Michael Erard
“The strategy of protesting in America is moving away from rallies and electoral organizing toward direct action. It is becoming one of the most significant civil-disobedience efforts since the civil-rights movement” econ.st/4c1PdRx
Inside the movement challenging—and disrupting—ICE
A non-violent network of activists is forming across America
econ.st
February 1, 2026 at 1:40 PM
“The strategy of protesting in America is moving away from rallies and electoral organizing toward direct action. It is becoming one of the most significant civil-disobedience efforts since the civil-rights movement” econ.st/4c1PdRx
I never ask for them but sometimes people share with me the last words of a loved one and I’m like 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽. So moving.
February 1, 2026 at 1:49 PM
I never ask for them but sometimes people share with me the last words of a loved one and I’m like 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽. So moving.
Reposted by Michael Erard
⭐️⭐️UTAustin alumni call on all ex-students to sign this petition urging UT not to sign the federal government’s higher education compact. UT leaders have still not made their decision about the compact clear.😡
alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org/petitions/un...
alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org/petitions/un...
University of Texas: Reject the federal government’s “Compact”
The Trump Administration’s “Compact” will put the University of Texas at Austin under political control. Join with Longhorns for Liberty to tell President Jim Davis and the Board of Regents to reject ...
alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org
January 31, 2026 at 6:14 PM
⭐️⭐️UTAustin alumni call on all ex-students to sign this petition urging UT not to sign the federal government’s higher education compact. UT leaders have still not made their decision about the compact clear.😡
alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org/petitions/un...
alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org/petitions/un...
Reposted by Michael Erard
TIL zugzwang
February 1, 2026 at 11:39 AM
TIL zugzwang
Reposted by Michael Erard
Great work from the FT's John Burn-Murdoch www.ft.com/content/b474...
January 31, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Great work from the FT's John Burn-Murdoch www.ft.com/content/b474...
I lived in Maine and didn’t like it. It’s the most distasteful thing about the place.
Signed, a person who left.
Signed, a person who left.
As a Canadian, what I've learned so far:
- Minnesotans are very nice and VERY organized
- Mainers are aggressively xenophobic but in a way that lCE will not like
- Philadelphians crave the blood of their enemies
- LA is ground zero for chaos tactics that never lose
- New Yorkers love gay hockey
- Minnesotans are very nice and VERY organized
- Mainers are aggressively xenophobic but in a way that lCE will not like
- Philadelphians crave the blood of their enemies
- LA is ground zero for chaos tactics that never lose
- New Yorkers love gay hockey
January 31, 2026 at 2:50 PM
I lived in Maine and didn’t like it. It’s the most distasteful thing about the place.
Signed, a person who left.
Signed, a person who left.
insert this is really usedul and insightful emoji about here!
You can test new tech ideas using the Seinfeld Test
Would the product eliminate the plot of an episode? (Google maps, cell phones, paypal, battery packs)
Good tech.
Would the product inspire new Seinfeld plots? (NFTs, AI chatbots, crypto currency, blindboxes, metaverse land sales)
Bad tech.
Would the product eliminate the plot of an episode? (Google maps, cell phones, paypal, battery packs)
Good tech.
Would the product inspire new Seinfeld plots? (NFTs, AI chatbots, crypto currency, blindboxes, metaverse land sales)
Bad tech.
January 31, 2026 at 2:10 PM
insert this is really usedul and insightful emoji about here!