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ON TYING ONE’S SHOES
I have been blind for more than six years and there are certain things that interest and amuse me. One of the facts that is of interest and amusement to me concerns tying my shoes. Sighted people have no trouble in performing this service. But non-sighted people have a bigger problem with tying their shoes.…
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THE GIs
In the summer of 1942, I enlisted in the American Army. When I took the oath to become a soldier, automatically I became a GI. The term GI means Government Issue. The uniforms that we wore, for example, were Government Issue. There was no such thing as buying a fancy uniform to serve. The covers…
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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…
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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…
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OXYMORON
One of the most interesting features of the English language, or I suppose of many other languages as well, has to do with the term, oxymoron. The word is taken from the Greek words for sharp and dull. The definition is a figure of speech in which two incongruous or contradictory words exist side by…
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SO ENDETH THE LONG NIGHT
As you know, baseball is played largely in the summertime. The greediness of the owners has extended the baseball season until November arrives. I deplore all of that. But to get to the point of this monumental essay, it has been the better part of four or five months since a Major League Baseball game…