Posts tagged as:

NY Times

DELIQUESCE: to melt away, disappear

October 22, 2011

While the word deliquesce (pronounced del-a-kwes) is usually used in science to describe the concept of something melting away, like an ice cube, it also has literary applications.  It can be used (as a verb) to describe the concept of an issue fading from prominence. For instance, a recent New York Times article about the [...]

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METAPHOR: a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance*

April 13, 2011

The wonderful children’s story, The Emperor’s Clothes, depicted in the illustration for today’s posting, is a perfect example of the literary phenomenon known as a metaphor. It is a way of making a point by referring to an incident which illustrates it. The Emperor has convinced himself that his parading nude in public is not [...]

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POLYMATH: (noun) someone who has academic credentials in a variety of subjects

March 5, 2011

I was reading an article in The New York Times about the Oscar presentations…specifically an article about James Franco, the co-host of the 2011 event.  My personal take on his performance was “less than mediocre,” but that’s neither here nor there.   It wasn’t his performance review that caught my attention; it was a reference to [...]

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BAKERY: a place where Bran Muffins, Coffee, and the New York Times blend.

January 10, 2010

Some people very, very close to me tell me that they think I’m become a little compulsive in my life. I reject that characterization. I’ve been known to leave a soiled pair of jeans over the back of my chair for several days at a time before putting them into the laundry basket. It has [...]

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INCHOATE: commenced, but not completed

January 4, 2010

Yesterday’s New York Times Magazine had a great article by Ben Zimmer, executive producer of visualthesaurus.com. Zimmer is a linguist with impeccable credentials. Yesterday’s article was about Justice Antonin Scalia’s distaste for the use of the word choate. Scalia is known to point out to attorneys using the term that there is no such word. [...]

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