BROWSING ANECDOTALLY PART 2
YESTERDAY WE BEGAN THE SORT OF RESEARCH I LOVE: Seeking and sharing cleverness of other folks. Let’s continue today with more of The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman … Continue reading
BROWSING ANECDOTALLY PART 1
I’M HAVING GOOD FUN WITH THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF ANECDOTES, Clifton Fadiman General Editor, especially its multiplicity of indices. There’s a Source List, with 36 1/2 pages of alphabetized … Continue reading
SHOULD DICTIONARIES BE HEP?
NITSUH ABEBE REPORTS “SORRY, WEBSTER. MOST PEOPLE DON’T WANT INTERNET SLANG IN THE DICTIONARY,” The New York Times, September 18, 2026. Or so claims a news release he received last … Continue reading
FAIRY TALES: CRADLE SCISSORS, SHAKESPEARE, CONAN DOYLE, OSCAR WILDE’S MOTHER, AND A WOMAN IN THE BATH
SOMETIMES, I FEAR, I MISS THE POINT of a book review. In London Review of Books, September 10, 2026, Nick Richardson offers a lengthy (7107 words!) article “Cradle Scissors,” (the … Continue reading
CELEBRATING OSCAR WILDE ANNOTATIONS PART 2
WE STARTED THIS ANNOTATION GLEANING YESTERDAY, with H. Montgomery Hyde’s The Annotated Oscar Wilde: Poems, Fiction, Plays, Lectures, Essays, and Letters as our source, specifically its play The Importance of … Continue reading
CELEBRATING OSCAR WILDE ANNOTATIONS PART 1
I HAVE LONG SAVORED THE WIT, ERUDITION, AND STYLE of Oscar Wilde. See “In Praise of Annotated Editions,” November 22, 2013; “The Best of Lines,” April 21, 2017; “In the … Continue reading
NEET TEENS WORLDROUND PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE STARTED ETYMOLOGICAL FUN WITH NEET, “Not in Employment, Education or Training,” encouraged by William Davies’ “Young People Are Different,” London Review of Books. Today in Part 2, we … Continue reading
NEET TEENS—WORLDROUND PART 1
“THE TEENAGER WAS BORN, IT’S SOMETIMES SAID, IN AMERICA IN THE MID-1950S, when Little Richard released ‘Tutti Frutti’ and Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.” And so begins William … Continue reading
EAST/WEST GERMAN DECRIMINALIZATION, DANIEL DEFOE’S PILLORYING, AND THE MISUNDERSTOOD MOLE
MY FREQUENT VISITS TO LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS are encouraged by a simple truism: Its writing is so blessedly good! Even to the literary quality of its readers. Here are … Continue reading
MERRIAM-WEBSTER; TIME TRAVELER PART 2
YESTERDAY WE BEGAN ETYMOLOGICAL TIME TRAVEL encouraged by Merriam-Webster. Today in Part 2, we continue with my second and third categories, “Now You Know” and “Er… Ah…” of its examples … Continue reading
