Sometimes you’ve got something really important to tweet, but it doesn’t quite fit in 140 characters. There’s several techniques that can help in this situation.

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Regarding I Could Care Less. My theory has always been that at some point, long ago, the phrase was “Like I could care less.” You still hear this variant today. It means the same thing of course, that one could not care less, but the word like makes it clear. Over time, the phrase gets used and repeated and some of the sarcastic intonation drops out, but people still know what the words, in this particular formation, mean. Then the leading word gets lost.

Just pretend it’s really a single word, couldcareless, meaning apathetic. We already pretend that awful means something other than awe full.

From the New Yorker, Money Talks - Learning the language of finance. For a little while I thought this article was going somewhere, but as I read more I decided I don’t like it much at all. It positions itself as piercing the veil of obscurity surrounding financial and economic jargon, but then ultimately contributes even more confusion to the field.

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Do you miss the good old days? So does the Feb 1 The Atlantic.

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While writing about sem_open, I initially used the word performant, until spell check complained. The internet confirms it’s not a real word, despite being easily understood. Suggested replacements are fast or efficient, but neither captures the entire range of meaning that performant has. One could say fast and efficient, but that sounds redundant and wordy. Why use three words when one will suffice? (I settled on efficient.)

It’s like somebody revokes the word status from lanky and says to use tall or skinny. Or tall and skinny. How about using the word that means what I want?

Dictionary be damned, I’m going to start using performant. It’s a perfectly performant word.

Everything that is wrong with the rest of this country, succinctly represented on one map. This one is also pretty good. I can absolutely confirm this one as well. Some people just don’t know how to talk.

Nothing too surprising for anyone who’s talked to people from different parts of the country, but this is the best visual representation I’ve seen.

Interactive version by NY Times.

A week late, but it’s a double issue for Dec. 31. Whew!

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