J. Max Mikitish
Mikitish: Contending with Christian words

America is a Christian nation. I do not mean this in a political sense, but rather a sociological one. In comparison with Western Europe, we […]

Mikitish: What makes our words so bad?

As the Delta Kappa Epsilon controversy overtook the campus and the pages of the News last week, I (at the expense, perhaps, of sounding crass) […]

Mikitish: Translation and the time of ice

There is a beautiful Old Irish poem, often used as an example text for the language, in which the speaker is a messenger bringing tidings […]

Mikitish: How to say please

“Would you please hand me that pencil?” A typical enough sentence — polite, but not strangely so. Now consider this one: “Would you, I bid, […]

Mikitish: Imprecise language

Sometimes, I feel like, especially here at Yale, people can sometimes speak in a somewhat indecisive way. “I feel like …” Ugh! What a horrible […]

Mikitish: Missing classes

What are schedules made of? Econ, psych and everything nice. That’s what schedules are made of. Or, so it seems. From “Organic Chemistry” to “Game […]

Mikitish: Burried Alive

Before traveling to China on a Light Fellowship this summer, I often touted China’s rather liberal minority language policy as a fine example of protecting […]

Mikitish: Why we write right

“What we say goes” is, as far as I’m concerned, a beautiful title for a book about linguistics. And as the book is a set […]

Mikitish: On Atticus and Ainu

Last week, Atticus Bookstore and Café came under assault by activists and politicians for its “Here we speak English” policy. The problem, it seems, is […]