Back in my early years on Facebook I liked a page called “Wait but why” in which the author, who was curious about everything (pancurious?), would investigate things and write about them in an engaging way.
The posts were originally weekly, but then became less frequent as he spent more time deep diving into specific topics. I’ve been a financial supporter on Patreon for years but since drifting away from facebook I’ve kind of lost sight of it. He’s written a number of books now, one of which was a hagiography of Elon Musk, who was a fan and gave him an exclusive interview. We can forgive him for that – after all, I can dimly remember when Elon seemed a hero to liberal greenies, even if he was a little weird. Anyway, I get regular Friday emails now which seems a good way for the Wait But Why author to reconnect with his fan base. It’s like he’s remembering where he started from.
That’s my long introduction to my copy and paste of excerpts from his latest email, which is on one of my favourite topics: language.
I’m not sure if I actually believe that last factoid. I always read “er” as “errr” in my head, not “uh”. I’m open to being wrong, though.
Here’s a link to the website.