Vitamin V

Probably too old, but I just heard now. This came from a spam that went through and, by pure curiosity, I started reading:

Hello,
l am dating a much younger woman (21). Before we began dating I was hearing stories of guys younger than me taking Vitamin V.

Yes, V is for Viagra. The honorable Urban Dictionary has an entry. Apparently, some people other than Hugh Hefner are taking it like a vitamin. And if you want to stay on the edge, you better start doing it too!!! Tough times!

The punchline is quite amusing, although far from original:

V. has to be the greatest invention since sliced bread.

Jacob Weisberg/Mark Liberman/ and Bushisms

Mark Liberman, in a LL post of January 2004, defends George Bush's occasional linguistic mishaps from Slate's Jacob Weisberg. To see what was the hullabaloo, I went to Weisberg's page to see what sort of slips he was chronicling. One that caught my interest is this one from Bush, of April 28, 2005:

"We expect the states to show us whether or not we're achieving simple objectives—like literacy, literacy in math, the ability to read and write."—on federal education requirements.

Undoubtedly, this quote plays on Bush's plans for "literacy in math"--or reading and writing ability in math if you are Weisberg. However, a very simple online dictionary, dictionary.com, gives a second sense of literacy that is "The condition or quality of being knowledgeable in a particular subject or field: cultural literacy; biblical literacy". So when the President says "literacy in math" he isn't wrong. Weisberg, on the other hand, needs to do his homework a little better.

Finally! An Explanation of Why New Yorkers Talk so Funny!

According to Dick Yarbrough, in an article of May 2, New Yorkers talk funny because "everyone talks in a hurry because they want to get off the streets before they are mugged. New Yorkers say things like 'Watchwhereth **%@# yurgoin,'meaning, 'Excuse me, but you stepped in front of me,' and "fuggedabowdit,' which translates as, 'Thank you, but I must respectfully decline.'"

And an interesting take on the meaning/use distinction from the article: Southerners have the same words as everyone else, they just assign them different meanings.

I'm with you Dick. I'm with you. Only, what about those wonderful Texas accents?