HOUSEHOLD DISCOVERIES AND MRS. CURTIS’S COOK BOOK—1909 PART 1
WELL, IT’S CLEAR why I bought this particular 1909 1024-page tome: “The main object of this book is economy,” its Preface says. “If rightly used, it will save a great … Continue reading
FAUX (AND FUN) BIOS
BIOGRAPHIES, LITERALLY “PICTURES OF LIFE,” are assumed to be truthful narratives. Unless, of course, they’re written by or for scoundrels. Or written with a firmly placed tongue in cheek. I … Continue reading
DOWN EAST CHATTEH PART 2
THIS CONTINUES SHARING MY favorite New England expressions and phrases, as compiled by Charles Fry Haywood in his Yankee Dictionary. Parson’s Nose. Haywood is both succinct and technical on this … Continue reading
DOWN EAST CHATTEH PART 1
WHEN I RECENTLY UNEARTHED Charles Fry Haywood’s Yankee Dictionary, I naturally turned to René, Maine pal/family member to learn which of these New England expressions were familiar to her. Published … Continue reading
BEN AND GEORGINA APPRECIATE BRIT TRIVIA
SOME TIME AGO, Wife Dottie and I had the pleasure of introducing Georgina to the American West; she reciprocated by introducing me to English humourist Ben Schott. Georgina is the … Continue reading
ON ONE’S SAVOIR FAIRE, CHUTZPAH, AND BRAVADO
I’VE LIFTED TODAY’S TITLE from Peter and Linda Archer’s assemblage of 500 words and phrases that have found their way into English. Dr. Linda Archer is a Professor of English … Continue reading
ON SPEAKING M.L.E.
REBECCA MEAD WRITES “Schoolchildren in the British capital have developed a dialect, Multicultural London English—and my American-born son is learning it.” This, from The New Yorker, February 6, 2022. It’s … Continue reading
ART—SELF-TAUGHT, SORTA
MY DRAWINGS OF PEOPLE lean toward stick figures; my attempts at perspective tend to be purely orthogonal. However, I have profited from lessons, formal and otherwise, in art appreciation. Here … Continue reading
PRACTICING ONE’S FRENCH PRONUNCIATION
“SUFFICE IT TO SAY these curious verses were part of the meagre collections of one François Charles Fernand d’Artin, retired school teacher…” So begins the Foreward of the charming French … Continue reading
THE BEST OF…
GEE, THIS BOOK SORTING in the garage is fun. I pulled out The BEST of Everything, 1980, to see how hopelessly outdated its choices were. However, I was now missing … Continue reading
