Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World
By Anatoly Liberman
Before we embark on the etymology of golf, something should be said about the pronunciation of the word. Golf does not rhyme with wolf (because long ago w changed the vowel following it), but in the speech of some people it rhymes with oaf, and “goafers” despises everyone who would allow l to creep in
By Rebecca Alpert
Growing up as a baseball fan in the 1950s and 60s, I could not wait until the All-Star game rolled around every July. (Imagine my delight during the years when there was a second game in August!) Back then, fans didn’t choose the players, so I would eagerly anticipate the announcement of the teams in the newspapers. Then I would rummage through my baseball card collection to pull out the All-Stars and admire their accomplishments. Watching the game on television was thrilling to me, no matter the outcome. If I was in
By Michael Humphreys
Baseball fans love to compare the players of today to the players who came before, but one must wonder how great the margin of error in these comparisons is. Is there any way of knowing who the real baseball greats are, and whose legend should stand the test of time?
Let’s take Omar Vizquel as an example. So says Wikipedia, “Vizquel is considered one of baseball’s
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written a Linked Up, but with releasing a new episode of The Oxford Comment, working “frak” into my daily vocabulary, and trying to keep up on developments in Egypt, I’ve not found the time! Hopefully, today’s will make up for it. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
P.S. I promised our Twitter followers that if they came up with at least 5 good questions about insects I would have an entomologist answer them, so send in yours!
By C. W. Marshall
Working in popular culture as an academic can mean turning one’s guilty pleasures into an object of study. So it was for me when I read the 2010 re-release of DC’s 1978 comic, Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (written by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams). Along with the Rumble in the Jungle (his 1974 fight against George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, in which he regained the Heavyweight title) and the Thrilla in Manilla (his 1975 fight against in the Philippines against Joe Frazier), Muhammad Ali’s fight against Superman would surely rank as a highpoint in his 1970s boxing career. I wasn’t reading this for its classical content.
With Mike Tomlin on his way to his second Super Bowl in three years and with Black History Month upon us, this is an ideal time to examine the movement that broke down the color barrier at the top of National Football League’s coaching hierarchy and transformed the NFL into an unlikely equal opportunity trailblazer. Moreover, as American institutions of all sorts, from the Association of Art Museum Directors to the National Urban League, contemplate the merits of emulating the NFL’s Rooney Rule, it is important to
After a nice little afternoon in Central Park yesterday, I consulted the AIA Guide to New York City to read up on the history of the 840 acre playground (which, I learned, is larger than Monaco). I share with you now my gleanings on how the park came to be the funky hybrid of leisure and active sport it is today, as well as my own thoughts on why parks prove we all really aren’t that different.
Laura Pappano discusses Elizabeth Lambert’s hair-pulling and sportsmanship in women’s athletics.
Anatoly Liberman explores the history of the word Viking.
A first-hand report from Yankee’s spring training.
On the importance of a newspaper dateline.
A look at the best baseball training site.
Will the economy effect the baseball spring training business model?
A look at the beginning of the Cactus League.
A look at the differences between spring training in Arizona and Florida.
Here’s a quiz: Is it worse for a girl to tear her ACL playing soccer or for a boy to get multiple concussions playing football? Or what about a 9-year-old girl driving a go-cart head-on into a concrete wall, smacking her body into the steering column, hitting her head on pavement and – oops – having her coat catch fire? Is that the worst?