Sometimes the plea for better grammar isn’t just pedantry, but rather a desire for clearer, more efficient communication. (At least that’s how I’ll justify this post to you, my three readers.)
It seems obvious to me that “written” (committed to paper) and “oral” (spoken) are just two more distinct forms of “verbal” (using words). Yet in [...]
I’m no fan of spectator sports, but I often like the writing they inspire.
And I love the following sentence, from John Updike’s 1960 New Yorker article about Ted Williams:
For me, Williams is the classic ballplayer of the game on a hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the [...]
I started a Flickr set of photos I’ve taken (or that my friends have sent me) of funny signs.
As always, I recommend viewing the photos directly on Flickr here – especially in slideshow format here. But I’ve included a small gallery below.
Vienna’s iconic Riesenrad (giant Ferris wheel) is the central attraction in amusement park in the Prater, a large public park in the Second District. My favorite mention of the Prater is in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, in which the Marschallin tells her young lover Octavian that he may ride alongside her carriage in the Prater. [...]
In April I went to London for business. (I stayed with Lauren and Jason in St. John’s Wood – when they moved there from NYC a few years ago, Lauren kept a still-funny blog about the tribulations Americans’ settling in London.)
While in The Smoke I took some photos, a handy ninety-two of which I deemed [...]
My wife grew up in Pocatello, Idaho (famous, to some, for the song sung by my not-so-distant cousin Judy Garland in A Star is Born).
A few weeks ago we visited my parents-in-law there. I took two small collections of photos.
The first includes some signs from a shooting range that we visited one morning. Way out [...]
