Category Archives: Words

Confessions of a Birthday Scrooge

Posted on December 14, 2011 by

Today’s guest post comes from Tiny Clyde. I have a birthday this month, never mind which day. And don’t go wishing me happy birthday anyway. “Every idiot who goes about with [Happy Birthday] on his lips, should be boiled with … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Blogs, Uncategorized, Words | 58 Comments

Inexplicable Particle Party

Posted on December 13, 2011 by

There will be an announcement from the scientists at the CERN super collider this morning having to do with particle physics and the search for the mysterious Higgs boson, which supposedly plays an important role in some theoretical explanation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Science, Words | 62 Comments

H.B., G.L.

Posted on November 17, 2011 by

It’s Gordon Lightfoot’s birthday today. He’s 73. I enjoy “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” as much as anyone can relish the re-telling of a terribly tragic event happening to other unfortunate people, but I think my favorite Lightfoot song … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Words | 59 Comments

The Sidetrack Trap

Posted on October 29, 2011 by

Last night I had a strange dream that the leaves falling off the trees in my yard were actually words. When I gathered them up they seemed to make an indecipherable mound of text, but when I allowed myself to … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Blogs, Research, Words | 83 Comments

Watch This Space

Posted on October 27, 2011 by

I had a cup of coffee this afternoon with a friend of mine – a very nice man who just got back from Los Angeles and a visit with Jayne Meadows. He knows a lot of grateful, gracious, formerly famous … Continue reading →

Posted in Nostalgia, Words | 89 Comments

G.O.A.T. Notes

Posted on September 20, 2011 by

Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale. It’s a very creative group of Babooners here on the Trail, and we sometimes use words not found in your standard English dictionary. So Jacque and I (back in April) put together … Continue reading →

Posted in Words | 75 Comments

Pen Name de Plume de Jour

Posted on September 9, 2011 by

Today’s guest post is by Clyde. I just read From the Fair, the delightful autobiography of Sholom Aleichem, the Yiddish author of the Tevye the Milkman stories and many others. If you like Fiddler on the Roof, you might like … Continue reading →

Posted in Words | 83 Comments

happy birthday don, archy & mehitabel

Posted on July 29, 2011 by

Today is the birthday of Don Marquis (pronounced MAR-kwiss, I believe). He was from Walnut, Illinois. Born there in 1878. A newspaper man with an active imagination, Marquis wound up writing so much more than the usual police reports and … Continue reading →

Posted in Words | 58 Comments

Literature and Chickens

Posted on July 11, 2011 by

Today is the birthday of the writer E.B. White in 1899. The E. stood for Elwyn, which White said he “never liked”. “My mother just hung it on me because she’d run out of names. I was her sixth child.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Words | 111 Comments

Taking the Long Way

Posted on July 4, 2011 by

Happy Independence Day! To celebrate freedom by staying home from work on a Monday must feel especially sweet, unless you happen to be an employee of the State of Minnesota. In that case, the open ended-ness of your long weekend … Continue reading →

Posted in Words | 55 Comments