The Evolving Nature of Language

I am fascinated by the very notion of language. I am mesmerized by the fact that there are roughly 7,159 living languages in use – 44% of which are considered endangered and will very likely become extinct. I am also fascinated by the question of when does a dialect break off and become a language? […]

Building Your Power of Expression Self-Permeable, adj. Pronunciation: self-pərmēəb(ə)l Meaning: Whereas the word permeable refers to a material or a membrane that allows liquids or gases to pass through it, our word self-permeable is not found in most dictionaries. Think of it as a coined or specialized compound adjective. I use it in the sense […]

Here we go! Issue 361 of Uncommon Sense is at your disposal. People often imagine that they need to shield themselves, cloak themselves in a protective Kevlar cocoon, be invulnerable. Not always the right approach. The Self-Development column explains. The Elephant in the Room column demonstrates that, due to the crazed radicals on the Left, […]

There is a peculiar piece of advice floating around these days that says personal growth requires us to “be vulnerable.” Like many pieces of advice, it contains considerable truth—and just enough ambiguity to get us into trouble. Vulnerability does not mean wandering through life emotionally naked, announcing every insecurity to anyone unfortunate enough to be […]

Welcome to the WMBA. No, that isn’t a typo. Let me explain. If the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) ultimately decides that biological males may qualify for its teams simply by pretending they are women, then perhaps intellectual honesty requires changing the name. The Women’s and Men’s Basketball Association (WMBA) has a nice ring to […]

Here’s one of those wonderfully clever websites that you probably never knew you needed until you tried it. PlayPhrase.me is essentially a search engine for spoken words and phrases in movies and television. Type a word, expression, or short sentence into the search box, and PlayPhrase immediately begins serving up short video clips in which […]

Let me come clean right at the outset: I am not a trained chef. I’ve never attended culinary school, I don’t own one of those tall white hats, and no one is going to confuse me with Wolfgang Puck. But I do love to cook. There is something wonderfully therapeutic about working in the kitchen—chopping, […]

Building Your Power of Expression Aforementioned, adj. Pronunciation: əˈfôrˌmen(t)SHənd Meaning: This word denotes a thing or person previously mentioned or referred to earlier, especially earlier in the same conversation, document, or piece of writing. In conversational English, it basically means “the thing/person I mentioned before.” Usage: “I will be playing various songs from the aforementioned […]

Greetings readers! I bring you Issue #360 of Uncommon Sense with great pleasure! The Self-Development column will confront the issue of the importance of your own personal core values and why it is important to regularly revisit them and emotionally reconnect with them. Effective people of accomplishment maintain integrity and congruence by aligning with their […]

Before I begin planning each new week, I engage in a brief exercise that takes only a few minutes but often changes the way I approach the days ahead. I pause and reconnect with my core values. Years ago, I learned a weekly planning process from Stephen R. Covey that began not with appointments or […]