HAPPY 800TH, MAGNA CARTA!
IT WAS JUNE 15, 1215, that King John of England granted concessions to 25 of his barons at Runnymede, about 20 miles west of what’s now central London. From then … Continue reading
WRITING, METAPHORICALLY
THERE’S A recently published book that threatens to tell me more about metaphors than I really want to know. Its review by Colin Burrow in the London Review of Books, … Continue reading
AND THAT MEANS….
LATELY, RESEARCHING one thing and another, I’ve been enjoying Google Translate. This online tool supports 90 languages as either input source or translated target. Google Translate says that during 2013 … Continue reading
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
WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE—AND PLENTY TO READ
THE DECEMBER 18, 2014, issue of London Review of Books features an article by Rose George titled “No Bottle.” It’s a review of three books, Drinking Water: A History by … Continue reading
THE ORACLE OF DELPHI—ON HIGH TEST
THE GREEK Oracle of Delphi was vaguely known to me. Like so many other things, I knew I could learn more if I wanted with a quick Googling. But how … Continue reading
TRADING IN NANOSECONDS
I RECALL that my degree in mathematics came with a pledge to use this knowledge always for Good and never for Evil. Apart from occasionally torturing students with exam tie-breakers, … Continue reading
PITY THE SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETER
IT IS difficult to imagine a more nerve-wracking job than real-time translation. A person prattles on in one language while the audience wearing headphones awaits your interpretation in another. This … Continue reading
WE ARE WEIRD
A PROVOCATIVE recent book offers the view that we have a lot to learn from primitive societies—from what we might call uncivilized sorts. What with savage rites and all, I’m … Continue reading
BEETLE BITS
A GOOD number of us have recollections of the original Volkswagen Beetle, and a recent piece in the London Review of Books, September 12, 2013, caught my eye. The article, … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 