Chronicle of wasted time

The lares and penates of G Lanyi


Links to the latest articles

The age of machinoids

When the proofs of this article arrived, I discovered that the production staff at Springer changed all the colloquialisms to formal English, making everyone sound like Cambridge dons. The machinoids I tried to negotiate with to revert these edits were uncomprehending. In the end, the editor had to tell them to reprocess the article, and I resent the text with the note: “It is proofed and clean. Do not change anything. Print as is!” It occurred to me that I could add this very story as an epilogue to the article because quite likely they would not read the text, but on second thought, I abstained. (Published in AI & Society, 2024)

The galloping editor

Should writers and editors worry about the new AI putting them out of business anytime soon? Not just yet. (Published in AI & Society, 2023)

In the 8th circle

Found among the papers of Dante: the punishement he had intended for the forgers of words or wordmongers. (Published in the Speculative Grammarian, 2023)

Tweedledum and Guildenstern

What is the meaning — if any — when “Jewish” and “democratic” are uttered in one breath? And should the language of the law be denotative or connotative? (Published in the Journal of Language and Law, 2023)

It is interesting to note

Best practices for academic writing in all disciplines. Read twice: once for laughts and again for self-reflection. (Published in the Speculative Grammarian, 2023)