- Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.—Gravity’s Rainbow
‘Is it about a bicycle?’ he asked.—The Third Policeman
Tag Archives: language
Close
… but no cigar. You don’t like to see this in the New York Times. From an otherwise excellent article on the definition of “civil war” and who gets to say whether there is one in Iraq: Large swaths of Iraq have little violence, but those areas are relatively homogenous and have few people. [emphasis [...]
Moonwalker
I haven’t used a conventional alarm clock for years. I have a personal alarm clock named Laura. But recently I’ve needed its services. And for several days now, when it goes off, I find myself thinking, “The alarum has sounded!” (How Shakespearean de Verean!) It seems I’m playing with the word to make up for [...]
Armor
I was exploring the hotels of Saint Petersburg on the web and found one called Brothers Karamazov. It opened in 2004 and has 28 rooms with all the modern amenities, including internet access. The hotel boasts four special rooms with 19th-century decor, each named after a female character in a Dostoevsky novel. (I don’t imagine they have [...]
More
I noticed a sign stapled to a telephone pole on the way to work this morning: WE HAUL EVERYTHING AND MORE! 703-555-1212 One assumes they do more than just haul stuff, not that they carry away more than everything. But one can’t be sure.
Lingua
A Russian friend would periodically make the case that his native language is more expressive than English and, I have to admit, when he rolled out his examples, I was impressed. They were masterpieces of concision and wit. But in my heart of hearts I knew my mother tongue was pretty damn good—precise when it [...]
Diacritic
Gmork is a fictional villain, while Gmörk is a decent white wine from Austria. What a difference an umlaut makes.
Velorickshaw
Eleven velorickshaws* currently operate in Moscow, tooling around on Tverskoy Boulevard, Tverskaya Street, and in the area near the All-Union Exhibition Center (they haven’t renamed that yet?**). You can’t tell the driver where to take you—for now, at least, the velorickshaws travel along predetermined routes (sort of like the horse-and-buggies in Central Park). A ride costs 150 rubles. [...]
Aversions
I don’t know how it came up, but for some reason our daughter found a reason to tell her mother on the phone that she doesn’t like the word “flab.” Not that she doesn’t like flab itself (which may or may not be the case); she doesn’t like the word—something about the sound being too [...]
Pomes
The conversation went like this. We were walking back from lunch, and I noticed the grass getting long (and remembered how ours needs cutting). I said to Ken: “So, have you cut your grass yet?” It turns out he hasn’t needed to, for reasons involving lack of sun in the front yard and kids running [...]
Resolution