second floor

“Mixed-up, mangled expressions; foreign-language faux pas; confused and confusing terms; commonly mispronounced words—they’re all explained in this useful and entertaining guide.”

it’s all online here

some examples:

agnostic/atheist:

Both agnostics and atheists are regularly criticized as illogical by people who don’t understand the meaning of these terms. An agnostic is a person who believes that the existence of a god or gods cannot be proven or known. Agnosticism is a statement about the limits of human knowledge. It is an error to suppose that agnostics perpetually hesitate between faith and doubt: they are confident they cannot know the ultimate truth. Similarly, atheists believe there are no gods. Atheists need not be able to disprove the existence of gods to be consistent just as believers do not need to be able to prove that gods do exist in order to be regarded as religious. Both attitudes have to do with beliefs, not knowledge.

“Agnostic” is often used metaphorically of any refusal to make a judgment, usually on the basis of a lack of evidence; people can be agnostic about acupuncture, for instance, if they believe there is not enough evidence one way or another to decide its effectiveness.

chai:

Chai is simply the word for “tea” in Hindi and several other Asian languages. The spicy, milky variety known in India as masala chai is called “chai” in the U.S. Since Americans likely to be attracted by the word “chai” already know it’s a tea-based drink, it’s both redundant and pointless to call the product “chai tea.”

…that i’ve seen…

better late than never… (full disclosure: in the realm of “notable” movies, i haven’t seen the diving bell and the butterfly, the savages, margot at the wedding, atonement, or before the devil knows you’re dead)

honorable mentions go to 3:10 to yuma, into the wild, and persepolis

my picks for best actor and actress go to daniel day-lewis in there will be blood and marion cotillard in la vie en rose

10. the assassination of jesse james (written by ron hansen and directed by andrew dominik)

9. cassandra’s dream (written and directed by woody allen…technically 2008 but i’ll let it slide)

8. eastern promises (written by steven knight and directed by david cronenberg)

7. control (written by matt greenhalgh and deborah curtis; directed by anton corbijn)

6. la vie en rose (written by isabelle sobelman and olivier dahan; directed by olivier dahan)

5. rescue dawn (written and directed by werner herzog)

4. michael clayton (written and directed by tony gilroy)

3. the darjeeling limited (written by wes anderson, roman coppola, and jason schwartzman; directed by wes anderson)

2. no country for old men (written and directed by the coen brothers)

1. there will be blood (written and directed by paul thomas anderson)