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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

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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.

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 1d

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 · 1d

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 · 3d

"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...

buff.ly

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 2d

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.

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 2d

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.

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 2d

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.

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Reposted by Jonathon Owen

Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 4d

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

CNN @cnn.com · 5d

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.

www.cnn.com

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 5d

Oh, wait, let me try that again.

*recoils, hissing*

*retreats back into shadows whence he came*

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 5d

Aww, I thought we were friends.

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 6d

Sure would be nice if we had an actual government

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 6d

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

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 6d

Zombo.com is still up?!

ZOMBO

Zombo.com

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 7d

No, just kidding, I love it.

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 7d

We will raise your planet's temperature by one million degrees a day for five days unless we see a better Halloween name by 9 p.m. tomorrow, 8 central.

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 7d

It thought there's NO WAY blood is 2 percent of US exports.

And it's not.

IT'S 2.69 PERCENT

WHAT THE HECK

www.cnbc.com/2022/06/30/w...

Why blood makes up over 2.5% of all U.S. exports

In the U.S., it's legal to compensate people for their blood donation. Plasma donations can be a way to make extra income, but some groups can't donate.

www.cnbc.com

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 7d

I just don't understand why someone writing to an editor in a publishing-related context wouldn't stop to check the spelling of a name.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 7d

You'd think that my coworkers, who are primarily production or developmental editors, would be better about paying attention to the spelling of my name.

And yet.

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 7d

*starts chanting*

blood
blood
ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ
ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ
BLOOD
BLOOD

Molly White @molly.wiki · 7d

slightly ominous mailer from the Red Cross

Mailer that reads: Molly, Seasons may change, but the need for blood is constant.

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 7d

I'm not sure I'd call LLMs descriptivism machines, since they're just copying other language and not telling us how language works, but I get what you mean. And the feedback loop is really interesting. I don't know much about how they degrade, but I'd love to read a good breakdown of what happens.

Reposted by Jonathon Owen

Blue sky nice guy @rajandelman.bsky.social · 25d

Do you think unbending Clippy until he was a long piece of metal would be painful for him. Or do you think it would cause him to feel a great sense of relief

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 9d

I'd also add that there's a lot more to life than work. Having a well-rounded education enriches one's life in a lot of ways.

José Pablo Iriarte @labyrinthrat.bsky.social · 10d

We don't know what the jobs or technology of the future will look like, which is why education should not be job-prep, it should be learning how to be critical thinkers.

Teaching students to use AI is the opposite of teaching them to think critically.

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 10d

Hedging their bets, perhaps?

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 10d

Yeah, cultural/secular Christians seems like the most obvious answer.

Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 10d

I'm puzzled by the 2 percent of Christians that don't believe in Jesus.

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 11d

When asked if Jesus “will return to Earth someday,” more than half of all U.S. adults (55%), including three-quarters of Christians, said this will happen.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

When asked if Jesus “will return to Earth someday,” more than half of all U.S. adults (55%), including three-quarters of Christians, say this will happen. Protestants in the evangelical (92%) and historically Black (86%) traditions are more likely than other Christians to say there will eventually be a second coming of Jesus. Roughly four-in-ten Americans either do not believe Jesus will return to Earth (25%) or say they do not believe in Jesus (16%).

Respondents who said they believe Jesus will return to Earth were also asked how certain they are that this will happen during their lifetime. One-in-ten Americans say they believe the second coming of Jesus will definitely or probably occur during their lifetime, 27% are not sure if Jesus will return in their lifetime, and 19% say the return of Jesus will definitely or probably not occur during their lifetime.

The proportion of Americans who say they believe Jesus will definitely or probably return during their lifetime is higher among Protestants in the historically Black tradition (22%) and evangelical Protestants (21%), and lower among Catholics (7%) and mainline Protestants (6%). And the share of Black (19%) and Hispanic (14%) Americans who believe that the second coming of Jesus will likely occur during their lifetime is greater than the corresponding share of White, non-Hispanic Americans (8%).

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 11d

I have no idea whether "custard" is the right term for it, but I can confirm that butter tarts are essentially just pecan pies sans pecans. (Source: I have Canadian in-laws.)

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Jonathon Owen @arrantpedantry.com · 12d

Ugh. That really sucks. I hope you get paid soon!