Simanaitis Says

On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff

Category Archives: I Usta be an Editor Y’Know

TO MUM WITH LOVE, WITH BIBLIOPHILIA ADDED 

A HEART-WARMING STORY comes from BBC News, November 17, 2022: “U.S. Blogger in Quest to Find Norfolk Mother’s Day Card Writer.” It’s a sweet tale that reminds me of my … Continue reading

November 23, 2022 · 1 Comment

“WHEN DID YOU COME TO THIS COUNTRY, DENNIS?” PART 2

YESTERDAY, MARNIE CHESTERTON of BBC CrowdScience opened a discussion of “Why Can’t I Change my Accent?” Today in Part 2, she tells us about pitch, in more ways than one.  … Continue reading

October 29, 2022 · 1 Comment

“WHEN DID YOU COME TO THIS COUNTRY, DENNIS?”   PART 1 

IMAGINE: THERE I WAS A (likely) fourth-generation American, and a teacher asked me that question. (I had yet to appreciate sarcasm.) True, as a native-born Clevelander, I spoke a dialect … Continue reading

October 28, 2022 · 3 Comments

A GUIDE TO XENOPHOBE’S GUIDES

THESE GUIDES SAY, SATIRICALLY from the start, that xenophobia is “an irrational fear of foreigners, probably justified, always understandable.” Then, removing tongue from cheek, they’re described as “an irreverent look … Continue reading

October 20, 2022 · 2 Comments

BEING HEP, LIKE, TWENTY-THREE SKIDOO

A BEAUTY OF SLANG is its etymological appeal. Why “23” anyway? And, y’know, is it “hep” or “hip”? This clearly calls for some research.  My sources are multitudinous. With the … Continue reading

September 28, 2022 · 1 Comment

NICE NEWS—AN ONLINE SOURCE OF POSITIVITY

THESE DAYS, NEWS NEGATIVITY isn’t hard to come by. But the Nice News website offers a much welcome reason to visit online (as well as a great source for SimanaitisSays). … Continue reading

September 21, 2022 · 7 Comments

BRITS BEING SILLY

I LOVE BRITS BEING SILLY.  Peter Sellers, Spike Mulligan, and Harry Secombe had The Goon Show on BBC. Gerard Hoffnung brought silliness to the concert hall. Dudley Moore and his … Continue reading

September 20, 2022 · 3 Comments

A (BELATED) 10TH ANNIVERSARY

AGG!! IT SLIPPED MY MIND back in mid-August, but this celebrated the tenth anniversary of SimanaitisSays—count them 10! And they said I’d run out of things to say. Ha. Here, … Continue reading

September 9, 2022 · 5 Comments

WANTED, IN THE OLD WEST, AND IN VICTORIAN THEATRE AS WELL PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we saw British polymath Robert Harling rise (possibly from orphenhood, possibly not) to become a typographer (Playbill font, 1938), an editorial trainee (twice, not for long … Continue reading

September 3, 2022 · Leave a comment

WANTED, IN THE OLD WEST, AND IN VICTORIAN THEATRE AS WELL PART 1

THESE TIDBITS, IN PARTS 1 AND 2 today and tomorrow, are about Robert Harling’s Playbill typography (which, curiously, has nothing to do with Playbill, the theater magazine described in “Prokofiev, … Continue reading

September 2, 2022 · Leave a comment