CHICAGO — Happy Friday, Chicago! Here are some things we're reading while waiting for the clock to hit WINE.
Off to the Afterlife with a Striptease: Officials in China are cracking down on strippers at funerals. Sam Cholke is reading the Wall Street Journal's report on the odd practice of hiring a troupe of strippers for a funeral to attract more mourners, which is seen as a bringing better fortune in the afterlife. Chinese reporters found there were as many as 20 striptease funerals happening in one month in some villages.
Chill Out, Grammar Snobs: The YaleNews reports that linguists working on the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project are studying slight differences in English syntax across the United States. (So the ways words are used and ordered, not lexicon, like soda vs. pop, or accents). The construction "Do you want to come with" is uniquely Midwestern, and you can browse more phenomena at the database. The project attempts to show linguistic variations without judgment, or ideas of "right or wrong" language use.
As one researcher put it, “Often people are convinced that there is a right way of speaking a language and a wrong way of speaking that language. From the point of view of a linguist, that is really off the mark for many reasons...It is important that people who criticize others for how they speak realize that they are really using language as a way of conveying a social prejudice."
Jeb Bush Gets Hangry, Too: No matter how you feel about Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, you have to give him credit for sticking to his Paleo Diet despite being tempted with pasta, cheeseburgers and pizza as he tries to woo America. Americans LOVE TO FEED PEOPLE, which means he's often presented with a massive pile of food that he can't eat, the New York Times reports:
"During a meeting with veterans in Colorado Springs a few days ago, a thick stack of pancakes was placed in front of Mr. Bush at an IHOP, along with a second platter of eggs, bacon and hash browns. The veterans dug in. Mr. Bush left his breakfast untouched, to the disappointment of the restaurant’s staff."
Why Paleo? Bush is trying to ditch carbs and shed some pounds because he's up against a "younger and svelter field of Republican rivals," the Times says. He's scarfing almonds and salads with grilled chicken, but like DNAinfo's Jen Sabella — he needs a cheat day here and there:
"During his campaign swing through New Hampshire last week, Mr. Bush held up a plump slice of blueberry pie on a paper plate for every last camera to see. Then he slid a plastic fork into it.
'Hell with the diet,' he declared mischievously. 'Where are the french fries?'"
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