NPR watch

Heard on NPR this morning: “But years of hot, humid Caribbean weather has taken a toll on the author’s thousands of papers and books.”

And on subject-verb agreement. The years have taken a toll.

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Robert Walser: “Is it Sunday today?”

Hedwig Tanner is speaking to her brother Simon:


Robert Walser, The Tanners , trans. Susan Bernofsky (New York: New Directions, 2009).

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Another Walser Sunday

Christmas 1915

[“Salesgirls’ Holiday Real Christmas Gift: Trying Season in Stores on Nerves and Muscles Ends with a Big Rush. A Big Year for Buying. ‘Shop Early’ Campaign Not Ineffective and Last Day’s Crush at Counters Has Been Worse.” The New York Times, December 25, 1915.]

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it.

Toy talk

From The New York Times :

Baby laptops, baby cellphones, talking farms — these are the whirring, whiz-bang toys of the moment, many of them marketed as tools to encourage babies’ language skills.

But in the midst of the holiday season, a new study raises questions about whether such electronic playthings make it less likely that babies will engage in the verbal give-and-take with their parents that is so crucial to cognitive development.

Years ago, when Elaine was on the radio and I did the weekly grocery shopping, a produce clerk complimented me for talking all the time with my children — pointing things out, asking them questions, answering their questions. The clerk explained that he had noticed us over many visits. No doubt he saw all kinds of parents in that store.

The educational future that some envision — every child communing with a device — is not one I favor. Nothing beats talking with people. (Though I am curious about that farm.)

Typewriter repairers

Sean noticed my use of repairmen in a post about typewriters and handwriting. I chose the word repairmen eyes open (that is, aware of -men ), since “the last typewriter repairman” is a recurring bit of journalism. (Try it.)

But I just discovered Nellie Myra Thatcher (d. 1958), who repaired typewriters in New York and was described in 1919 as “the first woman typewriter ‘repairman.’” And I also just discovered that in 2010, Mariana Keller of The Wall Street Journal made a short film about Donna Brady, whom Keller calls a typewriter repairwoman. The workspace we see in that film does not suggest a repair shop (with tools, spare parts, and machines dropped off for fixing): Brady’s business seems to have been a matter of cleaning up and reselling typewriters at flea markets. (I can imagine a courtroom battle over the meaning of repair : does applying machine oil to a moving part count?) At any rate, the business, Type B, now appears to be on hiatus or closed.

And at any rate, I’ve added repairers to repairmen in my post, acknowledging the journalists’ phrasing but acknowledging too that not all those who repair are men. Thanks, Sean, for getting me to rethink it.

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Recently updated

The Vinegar Flies Now with more flies.

Domestic comedy

[Elaine made a killer soup .]

“And you didn’t measure anything?”

“I measured two bunches of scallions and one onion.”

“That’s not measuring; that’s counting!”

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[No leeks at the supermarket. So instead: potatoes, scallions, an onion, chicken stock, butter, milk, salt. Elaine added more details in the comments.]

Typewriters and handwriting

A headline, seen by chance: “Could handwriting be going the way of typewriters?” The writer is wondering, of course, if handwriting is moving toward extinction. But it’s just as possible to hear the question as suggesting the rediscovery of a neglected (and perhaps beautiful) means of self-expression and communication.

It is unlikely, though, that there will be newspaper articles about the last handwriting repairmen, or repairers.

Related reading
All OCA handwriting and typewriter posts (Pinboard)

Proustian

Oscar’s Day today is Proustian.

Robert Walser: winter

Robert Walser, The Tanners , trans. Susan Bernofsky (New York: New Directions, 2009).

Related reading
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[Easy to miss its arrival yesterday. High: 56 °F. Low: 42 °F.]