Scott Lincicome reports this fact: “US trade data for 2023 debunk common globalization myths.”
Phil Magness has good reasons for refusing to be labeled a “neoliberal.”
Vance Ginn explains the reason of rules.
Joseph Epstein contrasts dysphemisms with euphemisms. A slice:
Dysphemism is a useful word. It’s the reverse of euphemism. H.W. Fowler’s brief entry on euphemism in his excellent “Modern English Usage” reads: a “mild or vague or periphrastic expression as a substitute for blunt precision or disagreeable truth.” Needing to use the toilet, one takes a pass on the precise words available and supplies one of the many euphemisms at hand, among them “going to the loo,” “inspecting the plumbing,” “visiting the House of Commons.” I had a friend, now long gone, whose speech was larded with dysphemisms. Of Jewish academics, some among them famous, who attempted to pass themselves off as gentiles, he would say “At least X has never taken advantage of being Jewish.”
Euphemists fancy themselves polite, dysphemists fancy themselves precise. Dysphemists wear their linguistic trousers high up and tight, euphemists don’t mind donning baggy pants. Euphemists often come off prissy, dysphemists brutal.
Certain subjects bring out the differences between the two. For euphemists abortion is designated “women’s reproductive rights,” for dysphemists it is “the remedy for careless copulation,” or, darker, “killing babies.” For a euphemist death is “passing away” or “heading to the beyond”; for a dysphemist death is “kicking the bucket,” “buying the ranch,” “case closed,” “fini.” I have of late been availing myself of a euphemism for death of my own devising—“departing the planet”—which suggests the possibility of a later life on another planet.
Worthwhile reflections from Bob Graboyes.
Allen Mendenhall supplies evidence that “you don’t need DEI to achieve campus diversity.” (HT George Leef)
Varad Raigaonkar reminds us that the Chinese government is villainous.
Mojo Nixon – who I’d not heard of until reading his obituary – has died.
