Concrete Academic

Where do strange local pronunciations come from and how do they establish such an amazing foothold?
Case in point: When I first moved to Austin, Texas I discovered one of the main streets was named “Manchaca”. Now, growing up one of my friends was named David Menchaca (almost identical spelling) and he pronounced his name [...]

“That’s an interesting theory, but do you have any proof?” But what’s a theory, and what is proof? Does a lot of proof turn a theory into a fact? Do lots of facts prove a theory? Can you theorize facts into proofs? Before wading into some deeper waters tomorrow, I want to do some ground [...]