THE AMPHIBOLOGIST WILL SEE YOU NOW
THE WORD GENIUS website introduced me to a new word, amphibology, the meaning of which has given me much linguistic pleasure. “Amphibology” describes a phrase or sentence that is grammatically … Continue reading
THE O.S.S. AND RUBE GOLDBERG
NOT TO DISPARAGE THE HEROIC WORK of the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, but several of its false starts make for entertaining reading. My source of this … Continue reading
TOOT THAT YURUPARÍ, MAN!
NICOLAS SLONIMSKY SURE FOUND JOY in musicology. He has appeared several times here at SimanaitisSays. And I remember Nick fondly from the old days of Southern California classical radio KFAC, … Continue reading
THE FIRST BOOK IN ENGLISH
“CURIOUSLY,” LYDIA ZELDENRUST WRITES in BBC History, March 2023, the first book printed in English “was not the Bible, nor was it a text by a famous English author like … Continue reading
THE WIFE OF BATH—YOU GO, GRRL
WE TEND TO THINK OF FEMINISM having mid-20th-century origins with accelerated growth during MeToo emerging in 2006. However, Marion Turner writes of 600 years before in “The Voice of a … Continue reading
FROM B (Britannica) TO W (Wikipedia); A, X, Y, AND Z TOO.
RESEARCHING ONLINE SCIENCE, I USED TO seek out entries with .edu handles, all the more confident of their veracity. Over the years, especially here at SimanaitisSays with its more varied … Continue reading
BOOKMARKS FOR COOKS
I LOVE TO COOK and enjoy accumulating books. (The scholarly term “collecting” is something of a boast.) I have more than four packed shelves devoted to favorite cookbooks, including Woman’s … Continue reading
YOU CAN COUNT ON IT—LINGUISTICALLY
HAD WE ALL EVOLVED WITH SIX DIGITS on each appendage (such polydactyly is one of the most common congenital abnormalities), we’d likely have a “dozenal” number system. Ancient Egyptians, John … Continue reading
ON GRAUPEL AND A STRANDED CAN-AM CAR
I WAS RAISED IN CLEVELAND and spent undergrad years in Worcester, Massachusetts. So snow is nothing new to me. Indeed, it’s where I learned about not just drifting snow, but … Continue reading
PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATIONS FROM VOA
YOU’LL LIKELY KNOW which president said, “Ask not what your country will do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” But who created “lunatic fringe,” “loose cannon,” and … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 