I heard Steven PInker speak last night, and his speech was rich and fast, and defied reporting. His disquisition on the psychology of swearing was pure delight, as was his discussion of the predominance of Steves in his age-group, mentioned à propos of project Steve. He made me think about prepositions and tenses, which I’ve always found difficult. I did wonder about one thing, though: he said that prepositions are binary, that is to say, on/off, to/from. I think they’re more complicated, at least I think that’s why I’ve always had trouble with them in foreign languages, particularly in German and Greek. Here, for connoisseurs of aischrologia, is an article of his in The New Republic: Why we curse: What the F***?:

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