THE NAME GAME
A RECENT brouhaha in the name game got me thinking about questionable automotive monikers. Infiniti has been on again/off again about its 560-hp Q50 Eau Rouge, this sports sedan named … Continue reading
FLIGHT OF THE ?
CHARLES LINDBERGH and his Spirit of St. Louis were the first, in 1927, to fly solo non-stop from New York to Paris. However, aircraft cognoscenti also recognize the Navy-Curtiss NC-4 … Continue reading
A LUDDITE’S VIEW?
PRESERVATION OF hair on the top of my head was one reason for my choosing a Honda Crosstour . See “2012 Honda Crosstour,” http://wp.me/p2ETap-9S. Another reason that continues to satisfy … Continue reading
LA PLUME DE MA TANTE’S
I HAVE long been puzzled by double possessives, also known as the double genitive case. “The feather of my aunt” versus “The feather of my aunt’s.” Which is correct? This … Continue reading
WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE—AND PLENTY TO READ
THE DECEMBER 18, 2014, issue of London Review of Books features an article by Rose George titled “No Bottle.” It’s a review of three books, Drinking Water: A History by … Continue reading
THE HISPANO-SUIZA ALFONSO XIII
ONE OF the world’s first sports cars was named after an auto enthusiast who was also a king. The Hispano-Suiza Type 45CR, introduced in 1911, possessed everything sporting of the … Continue reading
TRANSLATION (ПЕРЕВОДА)
I HAVE Englishwoman Constance Garnett to thank for my discovering Russian classics. Publisher Random House played a role as well for its striking red cover of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and … Continue reading
A WRIGHT WHIMSY
THE FOLLOWING two fantasy correspondences are offered for your amusement: Wilbur Wright, 7 Hawthorne Street, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A. April 11, 1909 My Dear Wilbur, Greetings from the little bathing town … Continue reading
THE FERVOR OF FRENCH FLYERS, 1898 – 1908
FRENCH AÉRONAUTS came this close—no, closer than this—to being the first in the world to demonstrate sustained, controlled, heavier-than-air flight. What about the Wrights? Between 1898 and 1908, there was … Continue reading
HOLLYWOOD MEETS MOTOR SPORTS
A CONFLUENCE of technologies occurred at the beginning of the last century. (How quaint this term “last century” sounds to those of us of a certain age.) The automobile and … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 