Some English teachers, anyway. Actually, one English teacher in particular: Dudley Fitts. I just read this short essay in Andover Magazine in which an Andover alumnus (who is slightly older than I), Tod Howard Hawks, recalled his first 9th-grade English assignment… Read More ›
Month: April 2020
Apart-ment
You will want to read a longish poem just published by my favorite Canadian linguist, James Harbeck. Before then, note what he has to say about words: Words are delicious and intoxicating. They do much more than just denote; they have appearance,… Read More ›
How does a New Yawker tawk?
How do you combine linguistics, the movies, New York, and politics? Just check out this fascinating article from the New York Times! The article includes several great clips with audio and video from a wide range of New Yorkers. I… Read More ›
William thinks he’s on TV.
He thinks he’s on TV. He doesn’t realize he’s just sitting in a box from BJs.
What an indulgence!
What an indulgence: two Dorchester restaurants two days in a row! It’s important to support your local small businesses during the stay-at-home orders, so Barbara and I decided to get takeout from Tavolo last night even though we had gotten… Read More ›
The Blarney Stone without any blarney
Last night Barbara and I enjoyed another quarantine dinner that couldn’t be beat: takeout from the Blarney Stone, delivered efficiently and promptly by Caviar. Mostly quoting from the menu now, we had “grilled BBQ marinated steak tips, creamy mashed potatoes,… Read More ›
High-school graduation photo
Everyone seems to be posting their high-school graduation picture on Facebook these days. So, I guess I have to join ’em. Here we are. P.A. 1965:
DJ’s European Market and Deli
Polish take-out yesterday afternoon from DJ’s European Market and Deli: lunch and partial dinner for Barbara, partial dinner for me. DJ’s is in the Polish Triangle, right on the Dorchester-Southie border. Courtesy of prompt delivery by GrubHub, we ordered stuffed cabbage… Read More ›
Maxine Unleashes Doomsday
How could I resist a novel with a title like Maxine Unleashes Doomsday? The genre of this story, as you expect, is near-future post-apocalyptic science fiction — more or less. Apparently it was inspired by The Road Warrior, but I’ve never seen… Read More ›
Math and cats
(This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post. I suggest reading it first, if you haven’t done so already.) A quote from John Horton Conway in today’s MathBlab: You know, people think mathematics is complicated. Mathematics is the simple bit. It’s… Read More ›