Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Perspective — A Poem About Winter
There’s snow all over the place in Dayton, OH, so today I thought I’d share one of my poems. (BTW, it’s in the Some Poems About Life book.) Perspective The son stood in the doorway, Behold a beautiful sight! As far as he could see, nothing but fluffy white! Today would be a time of laughter
Thai Words in English
Yesterday’s column piqued a friend’s curiosity. In an email he asked what Thai words that I remember have made it into English? My tour of duty in Southeast Asia was 1972-73, but I quickly remembered one word — nitnoy. It’s online in the Urban Dictionary. Nitnoy — “A little bit” – from Thai “Nit Noi”.
Why is English So Popular?
If the English language is so idiomatic (as discussed yesterday), why does it enjoy worldwide popularity? Language-wise, the book The Story of English gives three reasons: — Unlike all the other European languages, gender is determined by meaning, so a noun doesn’t have to be matched with the right article. For example, in French the moon
Beware of Heard…
Beware of heard, a dreadful word That looks like beard and sounds like bird, And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead — For goodness’ sake, don’t call it deed! Presumably written by a frustrated immigrant trying to learn the language, this poem exemplifies the inconsistencies in English. As related in The Story of English
How to Surprise Your Mom
I once worked with a young lady who was in her first job. She told me the story of how she had gotten hired at 18, and all the living space she could afford was an efficiency apartment. At that time, she was very close to her little brother, who was about ten years younger.
Happy New Year!
“An optimist stays up to see the New Year in. A pessimist waits to make sure the old one leaves.” — Bill Vaughn “Cheers to a new year and another chance to get it right.” — Oprah Winfrey http://www.quotationspage.com/
How I Got in Trouble at High School … As a Teacher
When I substitute teach, I always have backup plans — books and topics we can talk about if we run out of material. One of my favorites used to be The Book of Totally Useless Information by Don Voorhees (MJF Books, 1993). It contains an entry on obscene gestures entitled “When did it first become
Team of Rivals
I recently finished reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. A fascinating book, it was really a political history of four men. I always wondered how Lincoln was able to win the presidential nomonation with so little experience in Washington. (He positioned himself as everyone’s second choice.) Of
Do Dictionaries Contain Mistakes?
Having spent 15 years in the publishing business, I know there’s no such thing as a perfect book.(And if there ever were, the computer would eat the file.) So what about dictionaries? In the book The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way, Bill Bryson explains one error. The 1934 Merriam-Webster International Dictionary