Maybe it's just me. I don't consume a lot of baseball media, but it doesn't seem like he enters conversations about great home run hitters very often. This impression of mine might also result from the fact I'm not a fan of his. I have called him Pay-Rod and Pay-Roid. I've booed him in Seattle … Continue reading The Unremembered Greatness of A-Rod
Month: June 2018
Words of power
Interesting that this and abracadabra both have uncertain origins. This word seems to have more of a faux-Arabic sound to my ear, as if the original coinage was attempting to play upon the mysterious and mystic perception of the Middle East. The tendency to have people vary the end of the word while retaining the … Continue reading Words of power
Measured stone
Who knew it was also a unit of measure? The only citation for sense 3 of the noun form is... another dictionary. Also, I own a (much more recent) copy of this dictionary. Old dictionaries tend to be veritable fonts of old and interesting, though not always useful, information. One of my favorite things.alabaster, n. … Continue reading Measured stone
Weekly Basho Haiku #26
wrapping dumplingswith one hand brushing backher bangschimaki yakatate ni hasamuhitai gami~BashoTranslated by Jane Reichhold
Tikki Tikki Tembo
It has a clear enough meaning and the history of the word goes back nearly 600 years with little change, yet the etymology is uncertain. The OED has several guesses listed, but none is quite satisfactory. Delightfully, the original word appears to have been used in conjunction with the word "in" or "on" preceding it … Continue reading Tikki Tikki Tembo
Roll those bones
There's a bizarre range of meanings for this word. According to the etymology it apparently started with a Sanskrit word for a place to play dice (and, as we all know, the, *ahem*, ladies love Sanskrit). The only consistent part of the meaning appears to be the fact that it is for a place where people … Continue reading Roll those bones
Weekly Basho Haiku #25
falling to the grounda flower closer to the rootbidding farewellchi ni taorene ni yori hana nowakare kana~BashoTranslated by Jane Reichhold
Stream? More like a trickle.
Sometimes people say to me, "Bob". "Bob", they say to me. "Bob, why do you get DVDs from Netflix instead of streaming movies?" The short and simple answer is that Netflix doesn't, by and large, stream the movies I want to see. My DVD queue tends to hover around the maximum number of 500, and … Continue reading Stream? More like a trickle.
Master of the Tupperware
My wife would probably want to employ one of these people each time there's a potluck at church. Not a household office about which one hears often, but undoubtedly useful.aker, n.hist. Obsolete. rareA servant responsible for receiving and looking after vessels from the kitchen.
Will Ferrell is Strange
Will Ferrell is a very funny man. I've not seen the entirety of his oeuvre, but I've watched a few movies and seen number of his comedy sketches from SNL and other places. As humorous as Anchorman is, it's not his best work.Comedies can be great movies, though they're not very often any longer. The Thin … Continue reading Will Ferrell is Strange
Neh 