Stephen Lewis Journalist Profile

Articles

On Language: Brain rot then and now

Jan 26, 2025 | record-eagle.com | Stephen Lewis

Institutions associated with publishing have announced lists of words that stand out from the previous year for one reason or another. Oxford University Press declared “brain rot” to be its “Word of the Year.” Apparently, brain rot indicates the negative effect on our cognitive abilities when subjected to the endless stream of language on social media, much of it ill-informed or worse.
On Language: The strange case of Arthur Conan Doyle

Jan 12, 2025 | record-eagle.com | Stephen Lewis

I imagine few people know who Arthur Conan Doyle is. On the other hand, virtually everyone knows the name of the character he created. That would be Sherlock Holmes, who has appeared in all forms of print and other media from Broadway to big screen to television. Doyle left his struggling career as a doctor to find extraordinary popularity as a writer that brought him wealth and even a knighthood, making him Sir Arthur.
On Language: Where Santa came from

Dec 8, 2024 | record-eagle.com | Stephen Lewis

One of the lesser known American writers is largely responsible for one of our culture’s most well-known and beloved characters. I am speaking, of course, of Washington Irving and Santa Claus. Irving’s first name was bestowed on him at his birth in 1783, the year the Treaty of Paris ended our revolution. That he took that name seriously is attested to by the fact that toward the end of his life he wrote and published a massive biography of his namesake.
Aerospace Insurance Market Renewal Outlook: Q4 2024

Nov 27, 2024 | wtwco.com | Stephen Lewis

Skip to main content main content, press tab to continue A balanced market? By | November 27, 2024 The aerospace insurance market is relatively benign at the moment, and while there are a couple of large issues rumbling in the background, there is little sign of change as we move into 2025.
On Language: Just who are these folks?

Nov 24, 2024 | record-eagle.com | Stephen Lewis

After the election, a headline above a political commentary column in The New York Times caught my attention. Not for politics, but for one word. That headline said, “Voters to Elites: Do You See Me Now?”The word that interests me is “elites,” the plural of “elite” as a noun when applied to a class of people. So, let’s take a closer look because something a little odd seems to be happening.
On Language: Of turkeys and Thanksgiving

Nov 10, 2024 | record-eagle.com | Stephen Lewis

Late in the afternoon one day, I saw a white sedan stop by my mailbox on the other side of the road with its blinker on as though it might turn into my driveway. It was clearly not part of the postal service, and I was not expecting company. I got out of my chair for a closer look and understood why the car had stopped on the shoulder of the road with all of its signal lights blinking.
On Language: How Ed Sullivan taught me grammar

Oct 27, 2024 | record-eagle.com | Stephen Lewis

In the early days of television, Ed Sullivan would declare, “We have a really big show tonight,” stressing the first syllable of that fourth word, “really.”As a kind of syntactical contrast, I recently saw an ad state “It’s a real good story,” omitting the “ly” that turns the adjective “real” into the adverb Ed was so fond of. “Real good” is syntactically problematic, a usage error that our brains have to fix.
On Language: From one flock to another

Oct 13, 2024 | record-eagle.com | Stephen Lewis

The other day, I glanced out of my window and saw a flock of Canadian geese walking south. I went outside and watched them enter the strip of woods that separates my property from my neighbor’s. He was coming back from his mailbox, and together we watched the geese disappear into the woods. We waited but they did not emerge. Maybe they were conferring about their travel plans discussing when to stop walking and start flying, or who would be the lead flier in their V formation.
On Language: The colonizers genocidal act fits the description

Sep 22, 2024 | record-eagle.com | Stephen Lewis

A recent article in the New York Times magazine describing the difficulty of applying international law’s definition of genocide to acts past and present in which thousands have been killed indicates that the underlying basis of calling an act genocidal is that it “served the intent of destroying a protected group.”As a mind experiment, let’s apply that definition to our own history concerning the Indigenous population who had resided here for millennia before the arrival of settlers.
On Language: Another Ishiguro-based movie?

Sep 8, 2024 | record-eagle.com | Stephen Lewis

I have not read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Booker Prize-winning “Remains of the Day,” nor have I seen the film based on it. But I recently finished his “The Unconsoled,” which I had been reading for a very long time.