Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a happy time with a word puzzle whose answers all include the word happy. Try this: “The nickname of Xaviera Hollander, as derived from the title of her bestselling 1971 memoir.” This is part of a complete...
Has the age of email led to an outbreak of exclamation marks? Do women use them more than men? Also, is there a word for the odd feeling when you listen to a radio personality for years, then discover that they look nothing like your mental picture...
Martha reviews the new book, Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich, a memoir about setting out to learn a second language in mid-life. Rich spent a year in India to learn Hindi, and became so fascinated with the process that she went on to...
misery memoir n.— «Last monday, the mother of Constance Briscoe lost the libel action she had brought against her daughter for the publication of Ugly, Briscoe’s memoir of her upbringing of neglect and abuse. The case was both astonishing...
mis lit n.— «Nowadays, there is a mania for memoirs, and in fact there are so many of them that they have come to be called in some quarters “mis lit” (misery literature).» —“Larry McMurtry on Cormac, Heaven’s Gate, and...
wovit n.— «Years after Zimbabwe’s independence, President Robert Mugabe declares war on the white farmers, causing many to be killed along with their families and black supporters at the hands of squatting War Vets or “wovits” as they are...