August 27, 2018

I am a retired computer programmer. Before taking up programming I was a stay-at-home father, and before that a professor of mathematics. Among my current passions are singing (art song and symphonic choral music), and reading (fiction and non-fiction).

The only non-blog content on this site—so far—is an essay on my experience in South Africa as a member of a choir on tour with the Minnesota Orchestra.

The subject of the forthcoming blog on this site is English usage. I am not a professional linguist, just an opinionated observer of current usage. My stance in the blog posts is as a descriptivist, not a prescriptivist. That is, I am trying to understand how people speak, rather than telling them how they should speak. Even a descriptivist, however, may deplore trends that degrade the language in some way, and I occasionally try to point those out.

You are welcome to comment on my posts, and on other readers’ comments. Just be civil, please.

Sept 12, 2018

The first English usage blog entry, on the phrase “in terms of,” is now up.

Sept 15, 2018

The second English usage blog entry, on the use of "I" instead of "me" in compound objects, is now up.