DOEST THOU KNOW?
ENGLISH HAS CARELESSLY mislaid its intimate second person. The French language still maintains tutoyer, its intimate tu versus vous. German still differentiates among du, ihr and Sie. Yiddish carries these … Continue reading
WELL, Y’KNOW…
A FAVORITE CARTOON IS “The Emergence of Language.” And I’m fairly confident that, following “urg,” “ug” and “uh-oh,” among mankind’s first words were “well” and “y’know.” Or so it seems … Continue reading
FIE ON AUTO-CORRECT!
I’VE DISARMED THE auto-correct on both sides of my PC/Apple machine. I’ve had enough of fighting with its opinions on what I really mean. More often than not, it’s wrong; … Continue reading
AN ADVENTURE, BLESSED
PARADOXICALLY, ON LAGUNA DIABLO I had an adventure that was truly blessed. Laguna Diablo is a vast dry lake in Baja California and, in the early 1980s, the R&T crew … Continue reading
BACH IN A MINUTE
I’M HAVING A BALL learning more about the history of music. But not from the work of just any musicologist. Rather, it’s from a favorite author, actor and one-of-a-kind, Stephen … Continue reading
“DO PUT DOWN THE REVOLVER”
THIS WONDERFUL TITLE appeared in the London Review of Books, August 14, 2016, in a book review written by Rosemary Hill, whose other work in LRB I’ve enjoyed. I’m sure … Continue reading
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIMANAITISSAYS!
THIS ITEM BEGINS the fifth year of SimanaitisSays. Once more, I thank you for your readership and interactions. Indeed, celebrating this camaraderie, I recall several notable items of the past … Continue reading
A 1953 TIME CAPSULE—BUGATTI LORE AND MORE
ETTORE BUGATTI, Le Patron, died in 1947, the same year that Road and Track published its first issue. In November 1953, the magazine was six years old when it chose to … Continue reading
“#&*%@!!” HE SAID
A FEATURE IN The Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2016, is titled “Vol. 29, No. 7: Vulgarities.” It updates this newspaper’s treatment of words and phrases that once weren’t uttered … Continue reading
THE WEEKEND
VIOLET CRAWLEY, Dowager Countess of Grantham, delivered a wonderful line at Downton Abbey: She asked, quite innocently for once, “What is a weekend?” The Countess was responding to Matthew Crawley, … Continue reading
