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Are We Documenting Our Way to Forgetfulness? Oct. 09, 2026
I hope to visit Vermont one of these years to witness the changing of the leaves and revel in the ka... Read More
There's a Varmint in Your Vocab! Oct. 07, 2026
The leg muscles of newborn calves are often knotted and rippled, especially if the calves are born t... Read More
Coming to Terms With Politics Sep. 30, 2026
With the "all-important mid-term elections" coming up in a few weeks, it's time to cast your mail-in... Read More
Let the Word Games Begin! Sep. 23, 2026
Have fun with these puzzlers: Scramble Clambers Can you make a new word by rearranging the letters i... Read More
Focus More Clearly by Looking Away Sep. 18, 2026
Flying over the Sea of Japan in 1954, the electrical system on Lieutenant Jim Lovell's Banshee night... Read More
Is Verbing Nouns Worth the Effort? Sep. 16, 2026
When a TV news anchor recently told viewers that technicians were having trouble airing a correspond... Read More
Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Rosh Hashanah Sep. 11, 2026
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hated Sherlock Holmes. I know: That sounds as improbable as J.K. Rowling hati... Read More
And It's Seabiscuit By Three Lengths! Sep. 09, 2026
Did you know that "gun" derives from 11th-century Scandinavian raiders who affectionately gave their... Read More
Moderation is Not a Four-Letter Word Sep. 04, 2026
What was the most memorable moment in the history of Time Magazine? It arrived, in my opinion, with ... Read More
The Natives are 'Restive' Sep. 02, 2026
In 2005, when Harvard University President Larry Summers was embroiled in controversy, a newspaper s... Read More
Permission to Play Gets More Work Done Aug. 28, 2026
J.P. Morgan reportedly said, "I can do a year's work in nine months but not in twelve months." In to... Read More
Get Outside your Head to Look Inside your Mind Aug. 21, 2026
Are you trying to decide what the right thing to do is? Ask an ethicist. Do you want to see the righ... Read More
Do Hot Doggers Relish Showing Off? Aug. 19, 2026
This column is packed with tantalizing tidbits I haven't been able to squeeze in elsewhere. — ... Read More
Seeking Peace Does Not Demand Surrender Aug. 14, 2026
Why are manhole covers round? The common answer is obvious once you hear it: A circle is the only sh... Read More
Diagnosis: Murder Aug. 12, 2026
You're the sentence doctor. Each of these sentences suffers from faulty syntax, wordiness, passivity... Read More
Historical Revisionism Empowers Political Radicalism Aug. 07, 2026
Opposite Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest's City Park, you find the Statue of Anonymous, one of the ci... Read More
The Whimsy Report Reveals Americans' Lex Lives Aug. 05, 2026
The year was 1948. All American adults were happily married and spoke perfectly proper English, neve... Read More
Don't Allow Militant Ideology to Conquer Reason Jul. 31, 2026
There's no place on earth like Israel: The history, the diversity, the tension of a culture divided ... Read More
The Strong, Silent Type Jul. 31, 2026
"How many people said the word 'cigarettes' today?" I asked my wife, Deborah. "Or 'book of matches,'... Read More
A Handy Guide to Language Pitfalls Jul. 29, 2026
On my desk I keep a list of tiny quirks of spelling, usage and meaning that often bedevil me. Perhap... Read More
