OUPblog

An etymological hamburger

By Anatoly Liberman
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Implicit negation is easy to miss

By Edwin L. Battistella
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Endless trouble with breeches

By Anatoly Liberman
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Cancer diagnosis response: Being hit by an existential Mack Truck

By Shannon R. Poppito

When I meet with patients newly diagnosed with cancer, they often find it difficult articulate the forbidding experience of being told for the first time they have cancer. All they hear is ‘die’-gnosis and immediately become overwhelmed by that dreadful feeling: “Oh my God, I’m gonna die!” I often try to meet them in that intimate and vulnerable moment of existential shock and disbelief by stating, “It’s like being hit by an existential Mack truck.”

Who will be singing the next Bond song? Who should be?

By Adrian Daub and Charlie Kronengold

Now’s the moment to be a fan of the Bond songs. SPECTRE, the new film, comes out this November. That means we’ll hear an official unofficial leak of the title song sometime this summer. Everybody’s been guessing who the singer is. Twitter says it’ll be Sam Smith or Lana Del Rey. Sam Smith says it isn’t him and claims that he “heard Ellie Goulding was going to do it.” The Telegraph wants to know why no one has considered Mumford and Sons (don’t answer that). Even Vegas is paying attention. Who would you put your money on?

The question of belonging

By Tim Parks

“Don’t discuss the writer’s life. Never speculate about his intentions.” Such were the imperatives when writing literary criticism at school and university. The text was an absolute object to be dissected for what it was, with no reference to where it came from. This conferred on the critic the dignity of the scientist. It’s surprising they didn’t ask us to wear white coats.

Get ready with Oxford for the 2015 APA Convention

By Miki Onwudinjo

We’re excited for the upcoming annual conference of the American Psychological Association in Toronto, Canada this year from 6-9 August 2015. The conference will be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The annual convention of the American Psychological Association is the largest assembly of psychologists and psychology students in the world.

What is life?

By Susannah Gibson

Did you learn about Mrs Gren at school? She was a useful person to know when you wanted to remember that Movement, Respiration, Sensation, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion, and Nutrition were the defining signs of life. But did you ever wonder how accurate this classroom mnemonic really is, or where it comes from?

Monthly etymology gleanings for July 2015

By Anatoly Liberman

During the month of July I have received some questions, comments, and queries about things new to me. Thus, I know next to nothing about Latvian (my Indo-European interests more often make me turn to Lithuanian) and feel insecure when it comes to Romance etymology. The questions made me examine the areas that would under normal circumstances have not attracted my attention, and I am pleased.

10 moments in the life of Vincent van Gogh

By Miki Onwudinjo

Today, 29 July 2015 marks the 125th anniversary of the death of Vincent Willem van Gogh, the legendary Dutch post-impressionist painter behind Starry Night and Café Terrace at Night. His talents went widely unrecognized until after his death. Van Gogh was a brilliant artist with a tormented soul suffering from a mental illness.

What makes a good policing leader?

By Mark Kilgallon

Over the last 20 years I have been involved in policing leadership development against a backdrop of increasing complexity. I have had the enviable role of having been a police officer, medically retired as a result of an almost fatal stabbing, as well as being a coach and mentor to high performing leaders at all levels in the service.

We are all African, but we also have our own histories

By Matthew Davies

In May 2015, at a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya, a French-led international team announced the discovery of the oldest stone tools known yet. Dating back to more than 3.3 million years ago, these crude flakes, cores, and anvils represent the earliest steps in our evolution into a species reliant on, if not defined by, the use of tools and other manufactured objects. Coined the ‘pre-Oldowan’ or ‘Lomekwian’ after the site in West Turkana at which they were found, these tools are larger and cruder than the more recent Oldowan industry.

Meet the Economics journals marketing team at OUP!

By Kathleen Sargeant

We are pleased to introduce the marketing team for Economics journals at Oxford University Press. Kelly, Kimberly, Will, Kathleen, and Heather work across two continents, based both in the Oxford office and in Cary, North Carolina. They are responsible for the marketing of academic journals relating to economics, business, finance, and econometrics, and work together on the @OUPEconomics Twitter feed.

First biosimilar drug approved for sale in the United States

By Karyn Hede

New options for biologic cancer treatment are coming for the first time to the United States, and their arrival could help drive down costs for some of the biggest-ticket items in cancer care. Treatments that interfere with cancer’s biological underpinnings have revolutionized treatment for some cancers. But their cost now accounts for half of oncology drug spending—up from 11% a decade ago, according to the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

A treatment for despair and loss of meaning

By William S. Breitbart

The Psychotherapy Laboratory within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MSKCC was established about 12 years ago. I have been the Director of the Lab from its establishment. In addition to developing interventions for anxiety, depression, and PTSD, we have studied a whole group of existential problems that had as yet no established interventions.

Correspondence of colonial & revolutionary America

By Robert V. McNamee

The idea of social networks is not new, nor is their range of importance: from shared intimacy, to commercial nicety, to revolutionary provocation. At no time do we see more of their range and variety and importance than in the letters of Colonial and Revolutionary America. Letters connected families and friends, facilitated commerce and legal disputes, and turned all of these into a porridge of political transformation. Not only can we read history as part of everyday life, we can see it expressed in language of considerable beauty, grace and virtue.

Ethnomusicology’s queer silences

By William Cheng and Gregory Barz

An audible silence lingers in the field and fieldwork of ethnomusicology. Queer subjects and topics have made few appearances in the literature to date. Such paucity doesn’t owe to an absence of LGBTQ-identified members and allies; by and large, ethnomusicologists are as fabulous and open-minded as scholars come. So why has queer ethnomusicology arrived late to the party?

A look at the ‘Internet of Things’

By Marie-Helen Maras

Everyday objects are becoming increasingly connected to the internet. Whether it’s a smart phone that allows you to check your home security, or an app that lets you start your car or close your garage door from anywhere in the world; these technologies are becoming part of what is known as the Internet of Things.

India’s unique identification number: is that a hot number?

By S. K. Das

Perhaps you are on your way to an enrollment center to be photographed, your irises to be screened, and your fingerprints to be recorded. Perhaps, you are already cursing the guys in the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for making you sweat it out in a long line.