daverea.com

Piggybacking on last night’s topic (language, not illegal aliens) I read a page today that I just couldn’t let slide.

After following a few random links from (once again) Pauley’s site, I landed at NewzNozzl, an apparent aggregator of links, articles and postings from around the web. They claim to scour the other content aggregators that are out there (and quite popular) like del.icio.us, digg and newsvine (no mention of Technorati, for some reason) and pick out the best of the best. The jury is most decidedly still out on that…

It wasn’t until I reached their About page that my eye started twitching. Inconceivable as it was, I found four blatant (i.e. not at all tricky or rooted in obscure technicality) errors.

While it’s hard for me to take a site named “NewzNozzl” (yes, that really is how they spell it) seriously given that their top-rated link (as of this writing) is for an “IRS Withholding Calculator”, I tried to give these guys the benefit of the doubt. After all, the message of their About page conveys some pretty grandiose claims.

But if you can’t even take five minutes and proofread your own copy before posting it, your site probably isn’t worth my time. I get the heebie-jeebies thinking about what I might have found had I scrolled the About page down a bit…

As I read through Pauley’s latest post (and the editorial that accompanied it) tonight, something occurred to me:

There is no such thing as an illegal immigrant.

We hear the term “illegal immigrant” thrown around day after day in the press, on TV, and in the blogosphere. But if you really stop to think about it, if one truly is an immigrant, then one is by definition participating in the immigration process, and thus cannot possibly be illegal.

I’m certain that there’s some technicality of grammar that my overly-pragmatic mind isn’t seeing here, or perhaps those who like the term “illegal immigrant” will just fall back on the old standby that “language is inherently defined by its usage”. But could it also be arguable that the term is the product of a strategic alchemy of language and ideology? By watering down the true meaning of (and honor in) the word “immigrant”, maybe we’re doing a disservice to all those who’ve actually gone through the process and become citizens via the time-worn-and-proven process?

I guess being in the business I’m in, I have to carefully consider a lot of things (requirements documents, anyone?) in their literal context. Sometimes it’s because I’m writing for audiences whose first language is not English. Other times, it’s because I’m trying to minimize the number of ways that a certain statement could be interpreted. But one way or the other, I tend to pay very close attention to the literal meaning of what I read and write. I guess it’s not too bad to occasionally let it bubble over into topics like this one!

(And to his credit, Pauley never actually used the term himself!)

First and foremost, I should report that our refrigerator was successfully defrosted yesterday. Beacuse I know that’s what’s been on all of your minds in the interim. We thank you for your concern. With the coils cleaned (of about 2 pounds of dust, which I am still coughing up) I now need to locate the defrost timer, which (with my luck) is probably nowhere near accessible.

While the snowy roads this morning precluded any musical enjoyment (it was my first time driving the Aero in the snow) I did get a chance to catch a few songs on One Man Band during my limited wheel-time yesterday. If the first three songs are any indicator, the album is definitely a winner. Mellow and subdued, the songs are a blend of James, his guitar, and some tastefully-added piano. Produced live, the crowd’s enjoyment of each track is contagious, and I found myself smiling – one of those satisfied, all-is-right-with-the-world smiles – as the disc played on.

With any luck, I’ll get to listen to the rest today!

I wish that this past week had afforded me some opportunity to collect music for Saturday Morning Tuneage, but alas: I arrive empty-handed.

For now, the most that I can offer is a quick pointer to an album that looks promising over on Amazon MP3:

James Taylor – One Man Band

If you’re a James fan (and I most certainly am), at least the reviews seem to indicate you’ll be pleased. That said, I’ve downloaded the album and not yet listened to it. Maybe I’ll put it on today, to soothe the inevitable heartburn that will result from my toting the entire contents of our refrigerator into the garage so that I can proceed to fix the damn thing. [OK, deep breaths...]

If I do manage to catch some time with One Man Band before Saturday is over, I’ll do my best to get back on here and toss up a little review… and until next week, my apologies for fulfilling my own prophecy that Saturday Morning Tuneage was likely to be a less-than-regular feature!