COMPLICITY AND COLLUSION—DUAL ETYMOLOGIES
MUCH IN the news these days, the words “complicity” and “collusion” warrant inclusion in my series of Etymology for our Times. It’s most appropriate to compare and contrast these two … Continue reading
A GUIDE TO THE UNITED STATES
“THE VAST EXTENT and rapidly changing conditions of the United States make the production of a satisfactory guidebook a peculiarly difficult task.” You’re telling me. I hasten to mention that … Continue reading
WILL THE REAL PIETER BRUEGEL PLEASE STAND OUT
THE MODERN WONDERS of infrared macrophotography, infrared reflectography, and X-radiography have offered new insights into the works of 16th-century Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. “Peeling Back the Paint to … Continue reading
DR. JOHN H. WATSON—FASHIONISTO
SHERLOCKIAN CHRISTOPHER MORLEY wrote that “Watson was a couturier at heart.” Today, maybe we’d say fashionisto, masculinizing the term “fashionista,” defined in Merriam-Webster as “a designer, promotor, or follower of … Continue reading
RESTORATION COMEDY—A PENDULUM SWING OF CROMWELL’S PROTECTORATE
HISTORY HAS a way of oscillating between extremes. One example is the English Restoration as a response to the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell following the 1649 regicide of Britain’s King … Continue reading
SCHADENFREUDE—ETYMOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL VIEWS
“DEAR DR. WORDSMITH, current political goings-on have me experiencing Schadenfreude. Is this okay?” It depends, of course, on how concerned you are about the state of these United States. If, … Continue reading
OLIVER CROMWELL—PURITAN, LORD PROTECTOR, AND A REAL PIECE OF WORK PART 2
YESTERDAY IN Part 1, we saw Oliver Cromwell involved with regicide, the British Rump Parliament, killing women and children in Ireland, and other Puritan sanctimony. Today’s Part 2 has a … Continue reading
OLIVER CROMWELL—PURITAN, LORD PROTECTOR, AND A REAL PIECE OF WORK PART 1
IT’S NOT OFTEN that I take a dislike to an historical figure. Hitler, yes. Mussolini, yes. But then I was born during the war years. However, having read about Oliver … Continue reading
ELLIS ISLAND TIDBITS
“HOW FAR WOULD you travel to find a better life? What if the journey took weeks under difficult conditions? If you answered, ‘Whatever it takes,’ you echo the feelings of … Continue reading
ON ACTORS, YOU’LL EXCUSE THE TERM
PITY THE POOR Thespians. Those of the acting profession have given us entertainment, comfort, even enlightenment. Yet, like Rodney Dangerfield used to say, they don’t get no respect. Here are … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 