The British Army: how is the Army meeting changing societal priorities?
What is the nature of the British army’s exceptionalism in constitutional, political, social, cultural, and military terms?
The contested nature of religious liberty in today’s America
Several decisions recently made by the United States Supreme Court, along with an escalation in Christian Nationalist rhetoric among right-wing American politicians, have brought the issue of religious liberty to the surface in today’s media. Much of the commentary has focused on a paradox: the concept of religious liberty has increasingly been used to suppress […]
No release from an etymological entanglement
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.
Environmental remediation of sea-dumped chemical weapons: courageously fixing the mistakes of our past
For many generations to come, there is only one place where we can live, and that one place is the Earth. It is therefore imperative that we take care of our home, rather than treating the Earth as if it were given to us for our own selfish exploitation.
Communicative luck reduction: machine-like or social (or both)?
While we occasionally have the sense that we are rolling dice with words and hoping for good luck, meaning and communication would be impossible if we only and always succeed no better than luck would allow.
A few things at a glance
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.
International law in quest for justice
One of the stated purposes of the United Nations, according to the UN Charter, is to settle international disputes or adjust situations that threaten international peace “in conformity with the principles of justice and international law.” In this blog post, Catharine Titi explores the relationship between equity, law, and justice and its importance to international dispute settlement.
Is all fair in war? Innocent blood, armed conflict, and King David
It is widely agreed that even in war, innocent blood should not be shed. What has not been readily apparent until now is that in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the problem of innocent bloodshed in war was first detected and, indeed, dissected much earlier—in its most ancient text, the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.
Irregular gleanings and a last shot at Modern English usage
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.
In praise of phrases
Writers need to love words—the good, the bad, and the irregular. And they need to respect syntax, the patterns that give words their form. But when writers understand the power of phrases, their sentences shine.
End birth alerts that separate at-risk Indigenous mothers from their children
“Born Innocent” uncovers the ongoing legacy of state-mandated family separation on Indigenous and other minority communities, with a particular focus on women and children.
An etymological cul-de-sac: the verbs “flaunt” and “flout”
The Oxford Etymologist explores the history and development of the verb “flaunt”, “to display ostentatiously,”
The Buddha’s never-ending story
Vanessa R. Sasson and Kristin Scheible explain how the Buddha’s life story is not an individual narrative, but a cosmic one, brimming with previous and future buddhas.
Melville’s wisdom: making the past speak to the present
Damien B. Schlarb discusses how “Melville’s wisdom,” the version of moral philosophy Herman Melville crafts in his fiction through his engagement with biblical wisdom literature, may help us confront our own moment of informational inundation and uncertainty.
Language history and we, part two (actually, a conclusion)
The Oxford Etymologist considers feminist perspectives of language development, split infinitives, and the pronoun “they” as discussed in Valerie Fridland’s “Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English.”
Revisiting toxic masculinity and #MeToo [podcast]
On this episode of The Oxford Comment, we explore two recognizable components in contemporary conversations on gender and gendered violence: that of “toxic masculinity” and of the #MeToo movement with scholars Robert Lawson and Iqra Shagufta Cheema.