From the monthly archives:

September 2010

TEA PARTY: a children’s game mimicking reality

September 30, 2010

We were fortunate to have two daughters.   They were born into an era in which many things were changing rapidly, among them the games children play.   We had delayed video games as long as we could, but their brother bought a Pac Man for them as a gift.  What could we do? But our girls [...]

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SEMI-COLON: A punctuation mark (;) used to join two independent clauses in a sentence.

September 29, 2010

The debate continues among scholars, editors and writers.  Is the semi-colon a useful tool or an overused, detracting usage? It seems that some in the literary field consider extensive use of semi-colons to be frivolous and unnecessary.  I suppose the word “extensive” is the key to the discussion.  I don’t think there’s anybody out there who [...]

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JUXTAPOSE: to put side by side for the sake of comparison

September 28, 2010

I don’t remember my dreams very often.  If I can jump out of bed (harder than ever to do that!) and grab a paper and pen and write furiously, I can sometimes capture it.   But more often my dreams are interesting, exciting, but forgotten within moments of awakening. Not so last night. I dreamed I [...]

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CAVEAT: a warning

September 27, 2010

  It’s not quite so simple as that which is depicted by a warning sign like this one.  Caveat is a little more sophisticated than that.  But I love moose warning signs, so I decided to display it. A caveat, however, is more about a predetermined understanding.  If someone has issued a caveat they have [...]

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LOCOMATED: transported by a locomotive to a fairy-tale setting.

September 26, 2010

My wife and I needed a mindless day on which we could sit back, drink in our surroundings, and not be bothered by things like medical issues, work problems, or household chores.   I acted impulsively, therefore, when I read an article in the Travel section of The New York Times on Friday. (see p. C33)   [...]

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SATIRE: the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.

September 25, 2010

Satire is a dangerous form of humor.  Whether employed in stand-up comedy, writing, or drama, satire requires something that other genres of expression don’t:  the person experiencing satire must be capable of understanding it and have an appreciation for it. Some might say that the appreciation for satire is an acquired taste.  Some people need [...]

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WAR CHEST: money set aside or scheduled for a particular purpose or activity, as for a political campaign or organizational drive.

September 24, 2010

My wife pointed out to me the interesting feeling one gets when reading that a political candidate has a war chest. That’s a term which is used commonly to describe an accumulation of money designated for a political campaign.   To be fair, it is a term which is usually used to describe a bank account [...]

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POLITICS: any activity concerned with the acquisition of power, gaining one’s own ends, etc

September 23, 2010

It frustrates the heck out of me that the political spectrum has become a negative concept.   Just mention the word politics and people start rolling their eyes.   I’m not saying that it’s inappropriate.  Over the past century the political spectrum has become a place of power-grabbing and dog-eat-dog behavior.   There have been times when it [...]

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NUGGETY: a strong, thickset man

September 22, 2010

Sometimes I don’t do a lot of research.  I have to admit that because this is one of those times. I was watching the Late Show with David Letterman just before I went to bed last night.  One of my favorite TV actors, Simon Baker, was his guest.  I am awed by the fact that [...]

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MENDACITY: the tendency to be untruthful

September 21, 2010

The election season has given spawn to a new media column which assesses the truthfulness of statements made by candidates during their campaigns.   The results range from “Absolutely True” to “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire.” Research by the journalists determines which of the various categories can be applied to the data presented in a speech, [...]

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