And I think it’s important to remember that icons don’t have to represent the physical things they represent in the first place. The important thing for the Mail and Phone icons above is that they play off what we all recognize. And, I highly doubt 12-year olds don’t know what the phone icon means. It’s a standard symbol in most cultures around the world. It’s used in airports, restaurants, devices, etc. They may not understand its derivation, but that’s irrelevant for an icon. All that’s important is knowing what it means and they likely understand that by its pervasive usage.

Have you ever heard of the book, “Thank You for Arguing”? It’s about rhetoric, but it’s an incredibly modern, readable book. The author uses pop culture examples without being saccharine (and even tells you which persuasive technique it is to use pop culture references – a commonplace!)

It’s a few years old, and he talks about George W Bush, and he says the exact same things you wrote about Glenn Beck. He goes into a little bit more about why it’s effective. I don’t know about language processing, as such, but he made an extremely good explanation of it being an output of certain rhetorical styles. (An abuse, naturally.)

He must have had a field day with Palin. Too bad the book’s too old

I bet you’d love the book, having just poked around your site and looked at your research work. It seems like it’d be right up your humanistic alley!

Is it possible that you simply get a decent amount of sleep? Older people seem to me to get less sleep as a rule: making them crankier, less fun, ….more tired!