Letters to the Editor
Dear SpecGram,
I was quite disappointed to read Robson’s recent article bemoaning a lack of linguistically themed television. We here at Word-TV have been providing quality language-themed programming for almost 35 years. In fact, several of the hypothetical shows Robson suggests are or have been actual shows on our network, including The Linguistic Odd Couple/The Odd Couple and Articulate That!/So You Think You Can Articulate.
It’s unfortunate that Robson lives in a crummy part of the world where Word-TV is unavailable!
Una C. Countable,
Network Executive
Word-TV
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Dear Mis-Countable,
Thanks for the reminder of Word-TV. We encourage readers of SpecGram to contact their cable or satellite providers and ask them to carry Word-TV; many already do, often as part of the Thinly Sliced Niche Programming Package. Your network is an excellent resource. It would be even more excellent if you could pay the fee/bribe/payola necessary to get Word-TV moved into the lower number channels. Not every TV, DVR, or cable box can handle seven-digit channels.
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Dear SpecGram,
Oh, is it that time of year again?
I’m sure that you and your band of
slapdash researchers think so.
Stop bashing on Chomsky, all of his
impressively effective theories, his
linguistic descendants, and their own
linguistic theories. It just makes
you look small.
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Dear J.K.,
Yikes! Ha ha! Very funny. You had us worried—
only a little—for a moment there. But eventually,
ultimately, we figured it out.
So, your clue—feminizing a fictional character,
understatedly referring to the female author, whose
commonly used initials are an abbreviation for a
knowing nod and a wink—was clever enough.
Although it was a bit off-base for linguists, who
tend to abhor books featuring pseudo-Latin dreck.
To clarify for our readers, your steganography
has been highlighted and revealed more plainly
in an inset at right. Was this really the best and
smartest use of your time?
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Speculative Grammarian accepts well-written letters commenting on specific articles that appear in this journal or discussing the field of linguistics in general. We also accept poorly-written letters that ramble pointlessly. We reserve the right to ridicule the poorly-written ones and publish the well-written ones... or vice versa, at our discretion.
