A profile in The New Yorker of writer Patricia Lockwood, author of Will There Ever Be Another You (Bookshop|Amazon) opens by saying she has “the impish verve and provocative guilelessness of a peeing cupid,” a description the quirky author herself...
First names like “Patience,” “Hope,” and “Charity” are inspired by worthy qualities. But how about “Be-courteous” or “Hate-evil”? The Puritans sometimes gave children such names hoping that...
Say you’re a novelist working on your magnum opus. While you’re shuffling through the produce aisle, an idea strikes you and you can’t stop thinking about it. That’s what they call a plot bunny. This is part of a complete...
A line Maud Newton shared from John Banville’s The Sea has the compact force of a poem: “The past beats inside me like a second heart.” Banville, whose full name is William John Banville, is an Irish novelist, screenwriter, and adapter of dramas who...
What does it mean to vet a political candidate? The word “vet” comes from veterinarian, specifically the ones who would examine a horse before a race to make sure it was healthy and eligible. Similarly, one might vet a candidate to make...
Hi, all -- In this week's archive edition, we talked about "pooflapoo pie" vs. "Watergate salad," "more" vs. "most," "stalactite" vs. "stalagmite," weather proverbs, and tricks...
