Voters around the country haven't forgotten about the time, in February of 2007, when Joe Biden complemented his future running mate, Barack Obama, by using the racially charged word "articulate." I don't have to explain the significance of the term in its backhanded, racist context; my question is, under what circumstances is it OK to call a black person "articulate"?

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Peter Funt, who "can be reached at www.candidcamera.com," has built a career on his sirname's reputation for trying to pull the modestly amusing out of the banally amusing. Perhaps, then, he's best suited to explain the power behind one simple little expression of comedic acknowledgment: "Ha."

"Thanks to Chris Matthews, the engaging yet often bombastic host of Hardball on MSNBC, this laughable little term has popped into the media lexicon. Every time Matthews shouts 'Ha!' his guests seem genuinely startled, much as they would if the host inadvertently let out a loud belch."

But does Matthews really get to own "ha"?

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The ads in New York's subway cars for translation services make one thing pretty clear: If you don't speak English, you're destitute! Or so the Lou Dobbs Agenda would have you believe.

But in Bolivia, where this ad appears, the message, from First Class Institute, is the same: Being able to read, speak, and understand English will get you ahead in life.

And if you won't get you a better-paying job, at the very least it'll allow you to watch blockbuster movies in their original context. You know, instead of watching Minority Report as After Judgment.

Below, find out what what you'll think the titles of The Green Mile and Million Dollar Baby are if you don't speak English!

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GIGGLE Does anyone else laugh at the Hollywood trades' continued insistence on using industry jargon in their copy, because it'll save space or make them sound more insider-y or whatever? How are we supposed to take Variety seriously when they write lines like, "Nonetheless, MRC TV prexy Keith Samples said he knows the Sunday block faces an uphill battle against established competish." [Variety]

"Though it feels like a modern appendix to our ancient alphabet, the ampersand is considerably older than many of the letters that we use today. By the time the letter W entered the Latin alphabet in the seventh century, ampersands had enjoyed six hundred years of continuous use; one appears in Pompeiian graffiti, establishing the symbol at least as far back as A.D. 79. [...] As both its function and form suggest, the ampersand is a written contraction of “et,” the Latin word for “and.” Its shape has evolved continuously since its introduction, and while some ampersands are still manifestly e-t ligatures, others merely hint at this origin, sometimes in very oblique ways." [Typography, via Kottke]

“Andre,” said Mr. McKenna, “you look amazing!”

ACTUALLY, he did not say it in quite that way. It happens that the adjective “amazing,” pronounced with a bunch of superfluous vowels, is how fashion types, and also certain urban gay men and also one or two tuned-in heterosexual copycats, lately express their approval. Amazing has replaced such locutions as “genius” and “major,” which today sound even more old-hat than “fabulous.”

“You look amaaaaazing,” Mr. McKenna said.

–Excerpted from "A Cover Girl Who's Simply Himself" from the Sunday Style section of the New York Times [NYT]

Remember when you were in elementary school and cool older kids used to taunt you with relentless chants of, "Want some ABC gum?" and "Hey, your epidermis is showing?" Well, now syntax bullies (and self-proclaimed grammar sticklers) are terrorizing the uneducated masses with the equally intimidating, "Your modifier is dangling."

Hey, it's no "You’re in the audience, okay? Audience comes from the Latin, 'to listen'” but we think it's already starting to catch on.

OMG, did we just end a sentence with a preposition? Quick, look away, before "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" sourpuss Lynne Truss reads it and hits us with her cane…

If the gays can throw around "fag" with endearment, then so too can young girls unleash "slut" as a means of bonding. Even Seventeen editrix Atoosa Rubenstein, archbishop of tween culture code, giggles when 12-year-olds belt "you little slut" at each other. But for her part, the Times' Stephanie Rosenbloom isn't ready to let "slut," "bitch," or "cootch" enter her copy unless embedded in a soundbite. So how to call Paris Hilton a gangly ass ho without actually saying it? Like so:

Women wear T-shirts with provocative slogans. Stripping and pole dancing is an au courant way to exercise. Paris Hilton is called an “American cultural icon” on Sephora .com, where she sells $49 perfume.

See? Thursday Styles can be informative. Without Stephanie's instruction, we never would've been able to call Jessica Simpson a semen stain with such integrity: "Female celebrities are lauded for their sexual empowerment. By sleeping with more than three men at a time, starlets beam independence. Jessica Simpson is one of the most in-demand Hollywood "It" girls even though she only guy she keeps around more than one night is her gay hairstylist."

The Taming of the Slur [Stephanie Rosenbloom, NYT]