I’ve mentioned earlier about encouraging students to use a dictionary. February 1st was the anniversary of publication of the first part of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1884. According to the February 1, 2015 email from The Writer’s Almanac, It covered from “A” to “Ant.” The Philological Society of London had conceived the
Some time ago, I decided my life’s ambition should be to become so important that I would never have to wait on anyone again. Boy, do I have a long way to go. Actually, my President’s Weekend trip to Southern California for the Disneyana Fan Club Expo went pretty smoothly. And the 80+-degree temperature upon
I’ll admit I’d never thought of this before. but the “Verbal Energy” column in the Feb. 9, 2015 issue of the Christian Science Monitor takes this on. It seems the word “ketchup” comes from Chinese, or more specifically Hokkien, which is the language of southern Fujian and Taiwan. Ke means “preserved fish” and tschup means
When I started teaching, I told the kids they had the hard part — I expected them to make me feel young(er). I got a good example today which serving as an aide in 8th grade science class. Have you ever heard of an Oobleck? It’s a non-Newtonian fluid that was the creation of Dr.
When I worked at Tomart Publications as a book and magazine editor, one of our specialties was radio-premium collectibles — those prizes people sent in for during the Golden Age of radio. For awhile, the Illustrated Radio Premium Catalog and Price Guide was one of our best-selling books. Many collectors fondly remembered special treasurers they had as
Last night I saw the play Pride and Prejudice at Wright State University. That got me to thinking about marriage. As part of my training to become a teacher, I read the book Marriage, a History for a Sociology course. It was a real eye-opener and one of the more interesting books I’ve ever read.
For the past two days I’ve been working with special-needs students. This reminded me of a poem I wrote about them for my book Some Poems About Life. Drawing A Short Straw Sam sits at his school desk on a typical winter day. He’s working at his lesson, the first lesson of today, as
As a history nerd and aspiring writer, I can occasionally combine the two interests. One fascinating tidbit (at least to me) is the number of English kings who did not speak English. If this surprises you, recall what happened in 1066 — William of Normandy earned his nickname William the Conqueror by defeating Harold II at the
One of my favorite subjects is finding useful words and learning how they evolve. That’s one reason I subscribe to “The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor” from American Public Media. The “Almanac” sends me literary news with a poem every day. This is how I learned that the first use of the word “serendipity” was
Last year when I turned 65 I was amazed to be inundated with junk mail from insurance companies about Medicare supplemental insurance. Which got me to wondering, how did half the world know my age? Something similar is happening this year. I decided to set up my writing career as a business and registered with