Peter D. Kramer
@peterdkramer.bsky.social
Author, most recently, of Death of the Great Man, a novel. Also new: 30th anniversary edition of Listening to Prozac. peterdkramer.com
While I'm at it: If MICROCRACK was low frequency, how about ANABIOTIC?
September 14, 2025 at 1:45 PM
While I'm at it: If MICROCRACK was low frequency, how about ANABIOTIC?
Glory days. Here's the cover, with an image taken from the office television. I was a college intern, but I had three pieces in the issue & got written up in the house organ, N/W. In the photo, I was more or less in uniform, wearing a seersucker suit with a thin bow tie.
July 20, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Glory days. Here's the cover, with an image taken from the office television. I was a college intern, but I had three pieces in the issue & got written up in the house organ, N/W. In the photo, I was more or less in uniform, wearing a seersucker suit with a thin bow tie.
Not sure why the whole Web isn't saying this. Trump's Brazil tariff is illegal.
Presidents can impose tariffs only for limited economic reasons. Interfering with a prosecution abroad is not a permitted rationale.
The issue is both legislative & constitutional. Only Congress can levy taxes.
Presidents can impose tariffs only for limited economic reasons. Interfering with a prosecution abroad is not a permitted rationale.
The issue is both legislative & constitutional. Only Congress can levy taxes.
July 11, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Not sure why the whole Web isn't saying this. Trump's Brazil tariff is illegal.
Presidents can impose tariffs only for limited economic reasons. Interfering with a prosecution abroad is not a permitted rationale.
The issue is both legislative & constitutional. Only Congress can levy taxes.
Presidents can impose tariffs only for limited economic reasons. Interfering with a prosecution abroad is not a permitted rationale.
The issue is both legislative & constitutional. Only Congress can levy taxes.
SSA BS.
Is this politicization a first? Just got an email from the Social Security Administration patting the President on the back for the budget-busting bill
Irony (one of many) is that the bill changes the taxation of benefits in a way that threatens to deplete the fund a year early.
Is this politicization a first? Just got an email from the Social Security Administration patting the President on the back for the budget-busting bill
Irony (one of many) is that the bill changes the taxation of benefits in a way that threatens to deplete the fund a year early.
July 4, 2025 at 12:44 PM
SSA BS.
Is this politicization a first? Just got an email from the Social Security Administration patting the President on the back for the budget-busting bill
Irony (one of many) is that the bill changes the taxation of benefits in a way that threatens to deplete the fund a year early.
Is this politicization a first? Just got an email from the Social Security Administration patting the President on the back for the budget-busting bill
Irony (one of many) is that the bill changes the taxation of benefits in a way that threatens to deplete the fund a year early.
If ADENINE, why not ALANINE?
Thinking it might be because alanine is "non-essential."
Thinking it might be because alanine is "non-essential."
April 19, 2025 at 3:14 PM
If ADENINE, why not ALANINE?
Thinking it might be because alanine is "non-essential."
Thinking it might be because alanine is "non-essential."
was in, is out CARIOCA.
Surprising. It's been in forever.
Below, an ngram of carioca vs the also-perennial YENNING, whose inclusion had never made sense to me.
Surprising. It's been in forever.
Below, an ngram of carioca vs the also-perennial YENNING, whose inclusion had never made sense to me.
February 27, 2025 at 12:40 PM
was in, is out CARIOCA.
Surprising. It's been in forever.
Below, an ngram of carioca vs the also-perennial YENNING, whose inclusion had never made sense to me.
Surprising. It's been in forever.
Below, an ngram of carioca vs the also-perennial YENNING, whose inclusion had never made sense to me.
"BREAKING: RFK JR CONFIRMED AS HHS SECRETARY"
Quick hed that says it all about our times.
Farce as news, news as deadly threat.
Quick hed that says it all about our times.
Farce as news, news as deadly threat.
February 13, 2025 at 4:56 PM
"BREAKING: RFK JR CONFIRMED AS HHS SECRETARY"
Quick hed that says it all about our times.
Farce as news, news as deadly threat.
Quick hed that says it all about our times.
Farce as news, news as deadly threat.
From the rival site:
January 30, 2025 at 10:22 PM
From the rival site:
Always: DITALINI
January 15, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Always: DITALINI
NYTimes hed watch. Asked how vigorous he might be at 86, Biden said, “I don’t know. Who the hell knows?”
I find the response to be a step shy of acknowledgment that he might not have been able to serve out his term. I mean, who among us knows how vigorous he or she will be in four years?
I find the response to be a step shy of acknowledgment that he might not have been able to serve out his term. I mean, who among us knows how vigorous he or she will be in four years?
January 8, 2025 at 5:49 PM
NYTimes hed watch. Asked how vigorous he might be at 86, Biden said, “I don’t know. Who the hell knows?”
I find the response to be a step shy of acknowledgment that he might not have been able to serve out his term. I mean, who among us knows how vigorous he or she will be in four years?
I find the response to be a step shy of acknowledgment that he might not have been able to serve out his term. I mean, who among us knows how vigorous he or she will be in four years?
For my sins, watchng snippets of the Patriots-Cardinals game.
Hapless is the word for the Pats. Hapless in both senses of the word, unlucky and clumsy.
Hapless is the word for the Pats. Hapless in both senses of the word, unlucky and clumsy.
December 15, 2024 at 11:34 PM
For my sins, watchng snippets of the Patriots-Cardinals game.
Hapless is the word for the Pats. Hapless in both senses of the word, unlucky and clumsy.
Hapless is the word for the Pats. Hapless in both senses of the word, unlucky and clumsy.
Then again, @OED does not recognize cart-way as an unhyphenated word. The OED dates cart-way to the 1390s, and various spellings appear in the literary examples.
@merriam-webster.com does contain cartway.
@merriam-webster.com does contain cartway.
December 14, 2024 at 12:23 PM
Then again, @OED does not recognize cart-way as an unhyphenated word. The OED dates cart-way to the 1390s, and various spellings appear in the literary examples.
@merriam-webster.com does contain cartway.
@merriam-webster.com does contain cartway.
Here's the n-gram. AMNION appears in print much more often that CARTWAY and has done so for two centuries.
But then, amnion s medical and cartway is common language, or was once.
But then, amnion s medical and cartway is common language, or was once.
December 14, 2024 at 12:20 PM
Here's the n-gram. AMNION appears in print much more often that CARTWAY and has done so for two centuries.
But then, amnion s medical and cartway is common language, or was once.
But then, amnion s medical and cartway is common language, or was once.
That less frequently used word is DOGTROT.
December 6, 2024 at 2:48 PM
That less frequently used word is DOGTROT.
Tweak FRL to "felons, relatives, & loonies"?
December 1, 2024 at 11:15 PM
Tweak FRL to "felons, relatives, & loonies"?
So misleading—as if there never had been a bio-psychosocial model. I have not read the book, but *no* plausible representation of depression in the brain will be incompatible the life-circumstance perspective. No biological theory ever proposed has been.
November 27, 2024 at 2:10 AM
So misleading—as if there never had been a bio-psychosocial model. I have not read the book, but *no* plausible representation of depression in the brain will be incompatible the life-circumstance perspective. No biological theory ever proposed has been.
From my college classmate Mike Kazin, the opposite bet:
November 26, 2024 at 6:55 PM
From my college classmate Mike Kazin, the opposite bet:
The missing compound word having to do with paper or rope: HANDLAID.
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/h...
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/h...
November 26, 2024 at 2:08 PM
The missing compound word having to do with paper or rope: HANDLAID.
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/h...
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/h...
Of course, nothing is as unused as MEMED, which goes unremarked.
Use 'memed' in a sentence.
@lauralippman.bsky.social @around.com @fetterman.senate.gov @notinwordlist.bsky.social
Use 'memed' in a sentence.
@lauralippman.bsky.social @around.com @fetterman.senate.gov @notinwordlist.bsky.social
November 23, 2024 at 3:22 PM
Of course, nothing is as unused as MEMED, which goes unremarked.
Use 'memed' in a sentence.
@lauralippman.bsky.social @around.com @fetterman.senate.gov @notinwordlist.bsky.social
Use 'memed' in a sentence.
@lauralippman.bsky.social @around.com @fetterman.senate.gov @notinwordlist.bsky.social
Having (privately) received complaints about the recent pangram MICROCRACK, I ran an Ngram (vs low-frequency 🐝 words) in the years since the OED says the word came into use. It's on the level of ARCO & CANOPIC, well below the now-discarded TAIN. @merriam-webster.com classes microcrack as medical.
November 23, 2024 at 3:18 PM
Having (privately) received complaints about the recent pangram MICROCRACK, I ran an Ngram (vs low-frequency 🐝 words) in the years since the OED says the word came into use. It's on the level of ARCO & CANOPIC, well below the now-discarded TAIN. @merriam-webster.com classes microcrack as medical.
3/ Apparently, the warning made adolescents less likely to seek care & pediatricians less likely to prescribe. The one variable that did not change: Doctors became no more likely to monitor teens for suicidality.
Here, the turquoise line shows the prescribing drop-off.
Here, the turquoise line shows the prescribing drop-off.
November 21, 2024 at 3:29 PM
3/ Apparently, the warning made adolescents less likely to seek care & pediatricians less likely to prescribe. The one variable that did not change: Doctors became no more likely to monitor teens for suicidality.
Here, the turquoise line shows the prescribing drop-off.
Here, the turquoise line shows the prescribing drop-off.
2/ Here's the relevant graph. It's stunning. You almost never see a public health intervention that causes this kind of inflection point, a dramatic worsening of public health. The red line shows a steady decrease in teen suicides followed, after the warning, with a steady increase.
November 21, 2024 at 3:25 PM
2/ Here's the relevant graph. It's stunning. You almost never see a public health intervention that causes this kind of inflection point, a dramatic worsening of public health. The red line shows a steady decrease in teen suicides followed, after the warning, with a steady increase.
Regarding Trump's absurd cabinet appointments, I've taken a look at this sentence from Hannah Arendt which has been making its way around the Web.
November 18, 2024 at 3:05 PM
Regarding Trump's absurd cabinet appointments, I've taken a look at this sentence from Hannah Arendt which has been making its way around the Web.
As Bsky balloons, Is X feeling pressure?
November 17, 2024 at 5:51 PM
As Bsky balloons, Is X feeling pressure?
@debamlen.bsky.social I got queen bee twice yesterday, first with 242 points & then with 249. The added word (absent from @merriamwebster.bsky.social) was HAMACHI. Am I right that the goal posts moved midday? Has this happened before? #thegridkid #hivemind #nytspellingbee
December 3, 2023 at 11:42 AM
@debamlen.bsky.social I got queen bee twice yesterday, first with 242 points & then with 249. The added word (absent from @merriamwebster.bsky.social) was HAMACHI. Am I right that the goal posts moved midday? Has this happened before? #thegridkid #hivemind #nytspellingbee