May 2015
-
Let us suppose that an old friend has just told you that his or her spouse is suffering from Alzheimer's or some other horrible form of dementia. It's very difficult to know what to say to your friend. You want be sympathetic and consoling, and polite, but you just can't find the right words. Perhaps the best…
-
Juliet 1595: "My bounty is as boundless as the sea/ My love as deep. The more I give to thee,/ The more I have, for both are infinite." Juliet 2015: "My bounty is as epic as the sea,/ My love as cool. The more I give to you,/ The more I have, for both are…
-
I know that I'm not the only person in the world who's prone to snap judgments and easy stereotyping. I say this in apology, because yesterday I was guilty of a spectacular misjudgement, a wildly incorrect speculation. It's time to kneel on ground glass, to scourge myself (metaphorically speaking). One of the attendees of a…
-
Not just my own, but surely every thinking person's favorite word-forming element is "–some," perhaps because It appears in so many cheerful formulations. If you experience a sudden, overpowering urge to transform a noun to an adjective then "–some's" the way to go. Imagine yourself, for instance, writing a novel and searching for the words…