I was recently delighted to discover that Daniel Harbour, one of the linguistic theorists I’ve most enjoyed reading, has a blog \u2013 about language and also other interesting topics. It’s called the “because” charade<\/a><\/em>, and here’s how he explains that curious name:<\/p>\n My blog is called\u00a0the \u201cbecause\u201d charade<\/em>\u00a0because what follows the word\u00a0because<\/em>\u00a0(in a lot of discussion of science, ethics, politics, religion, …) is rarely a reason, or reasonable, or rational. And I believe that we\u2019d all be better off if reason(ableness) played a bigger part in public life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Recent topics have included the Pirah\u00e3 controversy \u2013 an important linguistic debate, which he explains in terms a layman can understand \u2013 and the theory of evolution. A pleasure to read!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was recently delighted to discover that Daniel Harbour, one of the linguistic theorists I’ve most enjoyed reading, has a blog \u2013 about language and also other interesting topics. It’s called the “because” charade, and here’s how he explains that curious name: My blog is called\u00a0the \u201cbecause\u201d charade\u00a0because what follows the word\u00a0because\u00a0(in a lot of … Continue reading New blog discovered: the “because” charade<\/span>