I got pretty comfortable with architect lingo the past eight years. Programming, parti, AHJ. After three weeks at a landscape and planning firm, I am still chuckling at the odd words and phrases that keep coming up. Multibenefit. Armature. Ecosystem services. PDA. (No, not that PDA.) It’s fun, in a way, all the head scratching … Continue reading On a whole new world of words
Category: Wordplay
On loose ends
When I explained why I’d called—that I still owed her feedback—she laughed. “Isn’t today your last day?” “Well…yeah?” I hate loose ends. There’s a self-flagellating aspect to them—I will dutifully pick them up and lash myself. Braggy, I suppose, to talk about tying up loose ends on my last day. It sure is! But I … Continue reading On loose ends
On the awfulness of “meatspace”
I jumped onto a Teams meeting earlier today only to find my boxed profile virtually shoulder-to-shoulder with two colleagues who were...also in the office with me. We shook our heads sadly at the presumption and then agreed to meet out in the real world. In that moment, an alternate term occurred to me, though thankfully … Continue reading On the awfulness of “meatspace”
On opportunistic
In an opportunistic move in early 2020, the City purchased a 1.99-acre parcel near its downtown core. Hm. Opportunistic? There’s nothing wrong with it, to be fair. Merriam-Webster has it as “taking advantage of opportunities as they arise.” And that’s just what the City of Lafayette, in a recently reviewed RFP, was doing. But it … Continue reading On opportunistic
On the silly term porte cochere
Why use jargon? Sometimes there’s just no other way to say something: you can say electrochromic glass or you can burn a full sentence glossing “glass that responds to an electric current by changing color.” Clearly, there’s an advantage to the first option, though it may occasionally send something scurrying for a dictionary. (But sometimes, … Continue reading On the silly term porte cochere
On the term “disabled”
I’ve reflected a lot in the past days on a passage in Sara Hendren’s book What A Body Can Do: Amanda would say she is disabled—not differently abled, not specially challenged, or any other similar variation.* Like many people in the disability community, she would use that term by choice, preferring it even to person … Continue reading On the term “disabled”
On jargon from another industry
My wife showed me a diagram the other night. It was a simplified diagram of how programmatic ad placement works—the steps between buyer and publisher. It included a term—“DSP”—that I’ve heard my wife utter innumerable times on work calls over the past few years. If pressed, I might have been able to break out the … Continue reading On jargon from another industry
On what last names tell us
As a parent, it’s a wonderful thing to watch your friends have kids. As a name and word enthusiast, it’s a fascinating thing to watch your friends make decisions about their kids’ names. First names are interesting enough—there’s more than I could say here about that. (It’s another post.) Last names hold their interest, too. … Continue reading On what last names tell us
On a broader definition of argument
When I hear the word “argument,” an image comes to mind. Really, a series of images. Gritted teeth. Shaking heads. Red faces. Arms crossed. Tears. Two people squaring off against each other, pits in their stomachs. Words as weapons. But that’s a limiting view of argument. I’ve been reading through, of all things, a textbook … Continue reading On a broader definition of argument
On recreation as re-creation
A few years ago—and, no, I have no recollection what I was writing about—I typed out a thought that involved needing to create something over again, something that had already been created. I looked real close at one of the words in that thought. Huh. Recreate? Re-create? Well, of course! It’s a lovely, if obvious, … Continue reading On recreation as re-creation
Taylor Coe 