Not-yet-published pieces, stories, essays, rants, and random strangenesses

The novel is progressing nicely, thanks for asking. At least, it seems to be. May be too close to it to tell for sure. On top of that,...

If graduate students in the humanities are not being taught how to write, how can we expect those in the sciences to do any better? by...

From the New Yorker, July 25, 1994 It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to...

The diminutive suffix “-ish” to denote approximation is just plain lovely. Its attachment to time, as in “How about if we meet 4:00ish?”,...

Chuck Lorre is a gifted comedy writer, director, producer, and even composer for TV sitcoms. He wrote for Roseanne, about which he said,...

I don’t think I’ve ever posted an entire Wikipedia article before, but this one was too full of delight for me to stop myself. One of my...

That’s the translation of one of my favorite Latin phrases: Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane...

Aibohphobia is a very rare psychological disorder and is characterized by the unusually fearful reaction elicited by the sufferer upon...

Over coffee this morning (Raven’s Brew‘s delicious Resurrection Blend, which I highly recommend), Adam, newly graduated from massage...

A propos of yesterday’s post, a little poem. Poem-ish. Poemishness: I recently read of a woman who Lives in a loft In Lower Manhattan....

by Nicholson Baker, The New York Times Ammon Shea, a sometime furniture mover, gondolier and word collector, has written an oddly...

Well, it’s not a new word, by any means. Just new to me. I do this. I run across a word that just excites me, though I’ve never been able...

Tao (pronounded “dow”), as everyone knows, translates roughly to “the Way,” specifically the way water runs downhill, effortlessly,...

I may have spoken too soon with yesterday’s post. I just heard an ESPN commentator say an athlete was “chopping at the bit.” (You may...

Playing Jeopardy! together is a nightly ritual for Mom and me. One of the categories on last night’s Jeopardy! (a repeat from last year,...

A friend who shall remain nameless has been nagging me mercilessly about how I don’t blog anymore. Well, not mercilessly. And perhaps...