A WRITER’S DRINKS—AND DIAMONDS PART 1
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD wholeheartedly took part in delights of the Jazz Age. Indeed, among other examples of this era between World War I and the Great Depression, he wrote about … Continue reading
HE, SHE, HIM, HER, THEY, THEM
UNLIKE MANY OF the world’s languages, English is relatively gender-independent. We don’t have the lady table, la table, at the gentleman cafe, le café. True, we have he/she and him/her … Continue reading
CELEBRATING YOGI-ISMS
YOGI BERRA WAS famed as a baseball catcher and also as a wordsmith of the highest order. He was an 18-time All Star and won 10 World Series championships as … Continue reading
ME AND THE SUITS
I’VE NEVER BEEN much of a corporate type. When I left Caribbean academic life for the real world in the mid-70s, Joe Gilbert, rest his soul, was general manager of … Continue reading
NINTH ANNIVERSARY OF THIS WEBSITE
THE FIRST OF SimanaitisSays, August 13, 2012, celebrated the Mazda Miata. I’m still enjoying no. 000348. And I continue to enjoy the research, composition, and production of SimanaitisSays. It’s my … Continue reading
IS THERE AN ALCHEMIST IN THE HOUSE?
ALCHEMY WAS MORE than changing base metals into gold. Malcolm Gaskill reviews Jennifer M. Rambling’s The Experimental Fire: Inventing English Alchemy, 1300–1700 in the London Review of Books, July 15, … Continue reading
THAT’S A PARAPROSDOKIAN TO ME!
THE WEBSITE Inspiring Quotes is entertaining. Plus, I learned a new word from it, “paraprosdokian.” The word has a Greek etymology: παρά, para, “against,” and προσδοκία, prosdokia, “expectation.” Inspiring Quotes, … Continue reading
WHERE’S NINA?
YOU WOULDN’T THINK that crow quill pens would be all that common, but in less than a week I’ve encountered a second famous artist who employed them. Theatrical caricaturist extraordinaire … Continue reading
GOREY’S SPOOKY PEN AND INK
EDWARD GOREY’S WHIMSICALLY spooky credits for PBS’s Masterpiece series have entertained me for years. And Rosemary Hill’s recent “How Peculiar It Is,” London Review of Books, June 3, 2021, adds … Continue reading
MAYBE IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES
A DICKENS CITATION at a recent Inspiring Quotes reminded me of high school. Typical of teenage angst, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” These … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 