U OR NON-U, REDUX
IT USED be so simple. Beginning with October 14, 1066, one was either Norman or non-Norman. Up until recently (two days ago), it was U or non-U, the “U” standing … Continue reading
SHAKESPEARE, INC.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE a loan shark? A tax dodger? Worse yet, a hedge trader? Or was he merely a man of his Elizabethan times? And the greatest dramaturgist of all time? … Continue reading
EASTER FLICKS
IT’S MID-afternoon. Maybe a holiday meal with the family is either in preparation or has been concluded. Maybe the familial/liturgical/political chatter has temporarily subsided. What to do? See if there’s … Continue reading
“GOOGLING,” SO TO SPEAK
LANGUAGES ARE living things—and occasionally combative ones. So it was recently when the Språkrådet, the Swedish Language Council, had it out with no less than Google Inc., all over the … Continue reading
TIME TRAVEL
THE IDEA of time travel, especially backward in time, is an appealing one for me. I’ve enjoyed several novels with this as their theme. Here are mini-reviews of my favorites. … Continue reading
VAUDEVILLE AND MUSICALS
VAUDEVILLE COULD well be a metaphor for my career in magazines and academe, and maybe for yours too. There are two entertaining books that are fun to share. The first is No Applause—Just … Continue reading
RONALD SEARLE
THE ART and humor of Ronald Searle delighted me once again when I was moving some of my books and came upon Slightly Foxed. This wonderful book addresses one of … Continue reading
APOSTROPHES LIVE
PITY THE poor apostrophe. It is getting increasingly misused, abused and even relegated to secondary status among its punctuational brethren. Yet I also appreciate that our English language is a … Continue reading
WHEH’S THE CAH PAHKED?
A LETTER in The New York Times Book Review, January 6, 2013, reminded me of my own experience with the New England accent. What with Downeast Maine, the Northeast Kingdom … Continue reading
THE NAME’S THE THING
A RECENT news item got me looking up patronymics, matronymics and related naming around the world. Throughout all this I’ll base my examples on Dennis Doe, son of Algert and … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 