precisive

This week a British judge refused to dismiss a plagiarism lawsuit against best-selling author J.K. Rowling. The claims against the wildly successful creator of “Harry Potter” say that she stole ideas from an obscure fantasy book. The judge said that a proper hearing should be held to consider the matter. Is plagiarism simply copying words? Or is it more complicated than that? The dictionary defines …

For the last 14 years, Jack was the most common boy’s name in England and Wales. Last year, though, Oliver overtook Jack to take the top spot. There’s a more interesting story, though, in the statistics: over 7,000 newborn boys in Britain were given one of 12 variations of the name Mohammed, such as Muhammad or Mohammad. Combined, these forms place it in the top …