The Spiritual Core As readers of this blog may be aware, I am a person who has thoroughly read and studied Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. I even wrote a book explaining the terse passages at some length, with less arcane language, though I’d be kidding if I said it was successful; I just…
Articles by Jeremiah Bourque
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Learning English
American Culture: The Imperfect Hero
Movie Logic In American television and film culture, or put another way, movie logic, we encounter, with overwhelming frequency, the flawed, imperfect action hero. The flaws in this hero are usually obvious. They are easy to see, and easy to understand. The hero may be, in fact, a quite despicable person in many respects; the…
Learning English
English: Precedented vs. Unprecedented
With Precedent? Without Precedent? “Precedent” A precedent is an action that is used as a later example, or standard, by which future actions may be judged. Therefore, the precedent precedes (comes before, comes prior to) the action the precedent is used to judge. Indeed, the word comes from a Latin word for “to precede.” This…
Learning English
Famous Quotes and Where They Come From
History Influencing Modern Culture I want this to be the first article of several detailing the role that history plays in modern culture through the handing down of famous quotations. In this case, we will begin with “I have not yet begun to fight!” The Battle of Flamborough Head In September 1779, the American”Continental Navy”…
Learning English
American Culture: The American Civil War
Still Impacting American Culture Today It’s probably very difficult for non-Americans to appreciate how the American Civil War still has a great impact on American culture. I might even call this a defining impact that helps define Americans’ identity of themselves in various ways. I’m sure this all seems very strange to non-Americans. I myself…
Learning English
On Friendship, Benevolence… And Strategy
A More Modern Version Instead of quoting Sun Tzu or Nietzsche, let me start with a version actually coined by my own father, one Eric Bourque: You should make your friends not want to be your enemies, and you should make your enemies want to be your friends. – Eric Bourque Seriously, there’s a ton…
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Pride vs. Narcissism
I suddenly had a flash of inspiration and felt compelled to write – well, blog – about the issue of pride vs. narcissism. Both seem similar, yet they are different in a way that I find to be critically important. Individual Pride & Narcissism Pride X is important to me. X is indispensable to me. X has virtues that…
Other Languages
Introducing The Japanese Culture Blog
Japanese is a means to an end. No one sane studies Japanese for over a dozen years, becomes a professional translator, and learns all the complexity and nuance of this language because the language is fun. Yes, it is a great challenge, and it is very interesting, but that wasn’t the point. The language is…
Learning English
Conversation Is Not An Act Of War
Click for Audio Version Let’s get this out of the way: the following is strictly my personal opinion as Jeremiah Bourque. In a conversation, anything that is not a fact is, by extension, the opinion of the speaker. It is my opinion that conversation need not be an act of conquest of the other person….
Learning English
How To Greet People In 3 Easy Steps
How To Greet People In 3 Easy Steps by Jeremiah Bourque (Click on link for audio version) Hello, how do you do? My name is Jeremiah Bourque. It’s a pleasure to meet you. In three sentences, I have just given you a lesson on how to make a greeting. #1: Breaking the Ice Figuratively speaking,…
