LATINA MORTUA EST?
IS LATIN a dead language? Far from it if you’re into the biological sciences, philology, law or medicine. Or if you happen to be using an ATM in Vatican City. … Continue reading
“SOUNDS LIKE…”
AN ONOMATOPOEIC word is one that sounds like its meaning: Bang! Ring, ring. Meow. Some are cross-cultural; others are not. Some have been around a long time; others are only … Continue reading
ARTS AND CRAFTS IN CALIFORNIA
ARTS AND CRAFTS didn’t originate in California, but the movement reached a local high in that state at the beginning of the 20th century. The residential architecture and furnishings of … Continue reading
LA PLUME DE MA TANTE’S
I HAVE long been puzzled by double possessives, also known as the double genitive case. “The feather of my aunt” versus “The feather of my aunt’s.” Which is correct? This … Continue reading
TRANSLATION (ПЕРЕВОДА)
I HAVE Englishwoman Constance Garnett to thank for my discovering Russian classics. Publisher Random House played a role as well for its striking red cover of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and … Continue reading
ON POLITICAL SATIRE
THE HACKING of Sony because of its movie The Interview and subsequent responses bring to mind political satires of 1940, Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator and You Nazty Spy! by … Continue reading
DRIVE ON!—URGES L.J.K. SETRIGHT
LEONARD JOHN Kensell Setright, L.J.K. to those who read his works, was an English motoring journalist with technical savvy, style and occasional outspokenness. Who else but Setright would compose a … Continue reading
PHILIP MARLOWE—SHAMUS EXTRAORDINAIRE
RAYMOND CHANDLER’S Philip Marlowe is almost as real to me as the real Sherlock Holmes. An epitome of the hardboiled detective, Philip Marlowe has been portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, Dick … Continue reading
1928 SANTA ANA MONOPLANE
HOME FIELD for my Microsoft Flight Simulator is Santa Ana, California; formally SNA. (See http://wp.me/p2ETap-20s.) And, sure enough, in the late 1920s there was a Santa Ana Aircraft Company designing … Continue reading
HYDROGEN I.C., PART 3: BMW
BMW WAS another automaker exploring H2 I.C. Back in 2006 I went to Berlin to sample the company’s dual-fuel gasoline/hydrogen 7 Series. This car took advantage of liquid hydrogen, LH2, … Continue reading
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