language « The Hooded Utilitarian

March 29, 2011
By Noah Berlatsky
Blog
46 comments

The Illustrated Wallace Stevens

It’s not really possible — or at least it’s very difficult — to create an illustration that works like a Wallace Stevens poem.

January 29, 2011
By Alex Buchet
Columns, Keeping Up With the Goonses, Series
no comments

Strange Windows: Keeping up with the Goonses (Index)

Lexicographer: a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words. – Samuel Johnson, Dictionary (1751) In a seven-part series, we surveyed the contributions of comics and cartoons to English popular language Part 1, part 2, part 3 looked at American newspaper comic strips; part [...]

January 29, 2011
By Alex Buchet
Columns, Keeping Up With the Goonses, Series
3 comments

Strange Windows:Keeping Up with the Goonses (part 7)

This is part seven of our look at comics, cartoons and language– today focussing on Britain Art by Heath Robinson Britain has a long, rich tradition of cartooning second to no other land’s. And, as we saw for American English, cartoons have contributed to the country’s popular language.

January 22, 2011
By Alex Buchet
Columns, Keeping Up With the Goonses, Series
4 comments

Strange Windows: Keeping Up with the Goonses (part 6)

This is part six of our look at comics, cartoons and language– today focusing on panel and editorial cartoons “When I saw them together at the beach, that’s when the light bulb switched on: they were having an affair! The origin of this metaphor– the light bulb moment- for a sudden realisation or a [...]

January 1, 2011
By Alex Buchet
Columns, Keeping Up With the Goonses, Series
6 comments

Strange Windows: Keeping up with the Goonses (part 5)

This is part five of our look at comics, cartoons and language– today focusing on the comic book Art by Don Newton and Alfredo Alcala “Jeff and Tom are an item? Isn’t that cradle-robbing?” “Oh, total Batman and Robin, you know.” That same online gay and LGBTglossary consulted in part 4 gives the following definitions: [...]

December 24, 2010
By Alex Buchet
Columns, Keeping Up With the Goonses, Series
8 comments

Strange Windows: Keeping up with the Goonses (part 4)

And on to comic books, in part four of our series on language from the comics and cartoons! “No, I haven’t finished clearing out the barn! I’m up to my eyeballs in chores– I’m not Superman, you know.” Art by Joe Shuster The creators of the Superman comics character didn’t invent the word ‘superman’, but [...]

December 18, 2010
By Alex Buchet
Columns, Keeping Up With the Goonses, Series
2 comments

Strange Windows: Keeping up with the Goonses (part 3)

This is part three of our look at comics’ contributions to colloquial English. Another prolific contributor to the language was Al Capp, creator of the strip Li’l Abner. “My Mom and Dad met when she picked him out at a Sadie Hawkins dance.” Sadie Hawkins is one of Capp’s memorable characters; she first appeared in [...]