ALPHABETS, SYMBOLS, AND OTHER SQUIGGLY STUFF
ONE OF MY MORNING RITUALS, after 6:00 a.m. Pacific BBC World Service and a final reading/editing of the day’s SimanaitisSays, is Voice of America News. Each day VOA includes its … Continue reading
WORDS WE DON’T HAVE, BUT MAYBE COULD USE
I’M HAPPY TO ADD FOREIGN WORDS TO ENGLISH especially with their nuances. One of my favorites is Schadenfreude, from the German “enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others.” A source … Continue reading
HURRAH FOR THE WORD NERDS
ONE OF THE SPIFFS of The New York Times Book Review is learning just enough about a book so you won’t feel culturally deprived in not reading it. On the … Continue reading
CURSIVE REDUX
TEN YEARS AGO, SIMANAITISSAYS was less than a year old when it asked pessimistically “Is Cursive Dead Yet?” Optimist that I am today, I’m happy to report, along with KTLA5, … Continue reading
HOW DO YOU SAY THAT IN MID-ATLANTIC?
KATHARINE HEPBURN OR ORSON WELLES would have known. And, being as I am into old movies, I recognize this artificial accent as its name suggests sort of a mix of … Continue reading
HAVE A GRINDER WITH A FRAPPE
THE RECENT WORD GENIUS titled “10 Words Only People From New England Will Understand” evoked memories of my undergrad years some six decades ago at Worcester Poly. Anyone familiar with … Continue reading
BRINGING ZHUZH TO THE PADAWANS
LEXICOGRAPHIC PALS MERRIAM AND WEBSTER bring 690 new entries into their dictionary, two of them utterly new to me and included into today’s title. Here are tidbits about them and … Continue reading
HOW’S YOUR LOREM IPSUM DOIN’?
YESTERDAY, WE MENTIONED jamais vu, the familiar becoming peculiar through extreme repetition. (Try saying “table” 30 times.) Speaking of Which. I’m reminded of an opposite word game, the one starting … Continue reading
AIRCRAFT CUTAWAYS—A VARIETY OF STYLES
THE PURPOSE OF A CUTAWAY, of course, is to reveal inner aspects of something by selectively omitting outer elements. The intent, though, depends on the audience: Is it a technical … Continue reading
