Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more
Epidemic fact-intolerance
BEMUSEMENT was a widespread reaction to 47 US senators 鈥� Republicans all 鈥� posting an 鈥溾�� to Iran in early March, advising the country that it was wasting its time hammering out a deal to limit its nuclear activities with US president Barack Obama and five other leaders (22 November 2014, p 7). Without the approval of Congress, they wrote, it would be a mere executive agreement that Congress could change or a future president nullify at will. As , none of that is true.
Many of these senators are lawyers. All employ them. Surely, they knew that? Sadly for New 杏吧原创 readers 鈥� and other members of what a senior adviser to Republican president George W. Bush 鈥渢he reality-based community鈥� 鈥� if you want to believe something badly enough, facts just get in the way.
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A week later, 30 senators sent to Obama鈥檚 health and agriculture secretaries, 鈥渃oncerned with the scientific integrity鈥� of a committee that, they said, had recommended the removal of 鈥渓ean meat鈥� from US dietary advice. As the Center for Science in the Public Interest , 鈥渢he Senators could not have read鈥� much past page three, since page four clearly states that 鈥榣ean meats can be a part of a healthy dietary pattern鈥�.鈥�
Intriguingly, many of those also signed the Iran letter, and 23 are on a roster of climate deniers (). Fact-intolerance seems to be habit-forming.
Would you dare open junk mail offering a 鈥渇ree pre-paid cremation鈥�? Andy Johnson-Laird fears 鈥渋t might be the death of me鈥�
We would like to record鈥�
FEEDBACK would like to record that David Icke and co-defendants have agreed to pay CAN$210,000 () in damages and legal costs to settle a libel action by a Canadian activist lawyer, . Distribution of Icke鈥檚 book Children of the Matrix must be discontinued for containing defamatory material. Icke is, of course, the former football commentator who in 1991 that he was the Son of God, and who now holds that we are in thrall to an international banking conspiracy of shapeshifting lizards who are of no particular Earthly religion, oh no. That is all.
The scienciest neologisms
WHAT, we asked, should we call the phenomenon of spelling errors that reveal an accent (21 February)? Readers dug into their Greek, always a source of the scienciest neologisms. Alexander Pettigrew came up with 鈥渕erophones鈥� using the prefix 鈥渕ero-鈥� meaning 鈥減artly鈥�. Lawrence D鈥橭liveiro says 鈥渨hy, homeophones, of course,鈥� from the Greek 鈥渟imilar鈥�. Grant Hutchison recalled, as we often do, 鈥渢he theological debate between the (who held that the Father and the Son were of identical substance) and the (who held that They were of similar, but not identical, substance)鈥� and therefore proposes 鈥渉omoiphones鈥�.
More accent-induced confusion
GOING back to English roots, Ben Haller proposes, on the grounds that the phenomenon of accent-induced semantic confusion depends on one鈥檚 mental state, that the results be 鈥渉eadphones鈥�. In a linguistic grey area, Alex MacDonald finds 鈥渄uplocates鈥�.
Actual research on accents
MEANWHILE, Dom Watt has come up with the apparently 鈥渘ibboleth,鈥� which 鈥渕ay come in useful when spellings 鈥榞o brogue鈥�, so to speak.鈥� He also reports actual research on the question: Uta Papen and Kevin Watson at Lancaster University, UK, are on 鈥渢he connection between UK children鈥檚 spelling and their speech鈥�. We await the results with interest. Not least out of gratitude for this, we will henceforth collect 鈥渘ibboleths鈥�.
What makes an accent?
SIX readers took us to task for our purported example of an actual homophone, 鈥渨hich witch鈥�. In their various flavours of Scots the sounds 鈥渨鈥� and 鈥渨h鈥� are quite distinct. Are there any pairs of words whose pronunciation is identical in all accents and dialects? How many have to agree on a pronunciation for it to be an accent, not an idiosyncrasy? The usual definition, 鈥溾��, doesn鈥檛 quite cut it here.
Now, nibbolethic determinism?
FEEDBACK is reminded by the above phenomena of our observation that anyone speaking on the news about 鈥減leece鈥� has probably spent a lot of time in friendly meetings with the constabulary and may have gorn native. That struck us in the late phase of our picaresque past, in which we were regularly meeting with people who refer to themselves as 鈥淪enior Pleece Officers鈥�.
Are there other examples of semantic-accentual confusion related to occupations, rather than to regional culture? Can we look forward to nibbolethic determinism?
Peaky Peak Palin pachyderm
FINALLY, returning us to the legislative suspicion of truth, John Leland directs us to a certain previous governor of Alaska discussing 鈥渢hat 800-pound elephant in the room at the White House鈥�. Prospect magazine as 鈥淧eak Palin鈥�. Filthy socialist European readers and those who conspiratorially welcome our new UN black-helicopter metricated overlords will recognise 800 pounds as around 360 kilograms, or a little over one-thirteenth of the mass of Feedback鈥檚 standard 5-tonne African elephant. Are Sarah Palin鈥檚 elephants very hungry?