Month: September 2012

  • SEXUAL MATTERS

    For a good number of years, I have been pursuing the art of a wordsmith. But all of that has now gone by the wayside as we have seen the Republican primaries take place. Much to my dismay, the aspirants to Barack Obama’s job have brought up a collection of terms of which I am…

  • FURTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT THE LANGUAGE OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS

    In recent weeks I have been listening to television and radio reports about something “going viral.”  I was having a hard time trying to realize what the phrase “going viral” meant.  My wife, who pampers me, explained that “going viral” simply meant that the report had gained a tremendous amount of circulation.  I could have…

  • AGAIN, THE LANGUAGE OF THE AMERICANS

    As most of you know, I am an astute observer of the language that was inherited by our ancestors, which had its origination first in the Saxon people and then in the English.  Perhaps this essay should be classified as an essayette.  But that is a concern for another day. There are three entries in…

  • A POLYGAMY OF ESSAYETTES – ACT TWO

    You may recall that I sent you some essayettes in a previous mailing.  The essayettes were not long enough to be a full essay and so when they are gathered together I call them a polygamy of essayettes.  I will freely concede that the word polygamy is almost always used in conjunction with a practice…

  • THE MOTHER TONGUE REVISITED

    Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court Justice, is a man who has his head in the sand.  He insists that the law is what was written in 1776 – 1789 without any improvements to the law or the language.  You may recall that Scalia is the person who gave us George W. Bush when the hanging…

  • THE SILVER DOLLAR BLUES

    I am going to reach into racetrack terms to introduce this essay.  At tracks where horses and dogs race each other, there is a highlight of the afternoon called the Trifecta.  This means that when a bettor picks the winners of the Trifecta, he will be rewarded with extra cash.  I have been to the…

  • SUMMERS AND/OR SOMMERS

    I have consulted with grammar experts here and in New York City and the general conclusion is that the title to this essay is something like an adverb.  I was largely unschooled on the matter of grammar in the English language.  So if there is a mistake in the labeling of this title as an…

  • TWO TAXING QUESTIONS

    Over the years, readers of these essays will recall my references to my friend in Sweden, whose name is Sven Lernevall.  You will be surprised to know that one of Sven’s friends is a slightly younger person named Christer Flink.  My understanding is that when Sven reached the age of retirement, he was succeeded in…

  • WELCOME HOME?

    Last Sunday night the President of the United States held a dinner to which veterans of the Iraq war and the Afghanistan war were invited.  Obviously the President could not have all of those who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan to one dinner.  I do not know how the veterans were chosen to gather for…

  • WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU…

    It may come as a surprise to some younger readers that there was a time in this country when there was no such thing as instant communications.  As a matter of fact, my family did not have a telephone until some time in the vicinity of 1935.  My mother, who was home all day, was…