Bryan Garner looks at gyro , gyro , and gyros . Gyroses ? No such thing.
Speaking of gyro the food, how do people pronounce gyro where you are? In east-central Illinois, the food is often confused with the spinning object: /JY-roh/. I opt for /YEE-roh/, and the context (i.e., a restaurant serving gyros) makes it pretty certain that I’ll be understood, even if I’m the one who seems not to know how to pronounce the word.
Related reading
All OCA Bryan Garner posts (Pinboard)
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Garner's Usage Tip of the Day: gyro
Sardines and peppercorns
They’re not kidding. These sardines are extraordinarily peppery. Their fragrance does indeed precede them, and the burn lingers in the mouth. Highly recommended.
Related reading
All OCA sardine posts (Pinboard)
A joke in the traditional manner
Did you hear about the mustard-fetching dogs?
No spoilers. The punchline is in the comments.
More jokes in the traditional manner
The Autobahn : Did you hear about the cow coloratura? : Did you hear about the thieving produce clerk? : Elementary school : A Golden Retriever : How did Bela Lugosi know what to expect? : How did Samuel Clemens do all his long-distance traveling? : How do amoebas communicate? : What did the doctor tell his forgetful patient to do? : What did the plumber do when embarrassed? : What happens when a senior citizen visits a podiatrist? : What is the favorite toy of philosophers’ children? : Which member of the orchestra was best at handling money? : Why did the doctor spend his time helping injured squirrels? : Why did Oliver Hardy attempt a solo career in movies? : Why did the ophthalmologist and his wife split up? : Why does Marie Kondo never win at poker? : Why was Santa Claus wandering the East Side of Manhattan?
[“In the traditional manner”: by or à la my dad. He gets credit for all but the cow coloratura, the produce clerk, the amoebas, the toy, the squirrel-doctor, Marie Kondo, Santa Claus, and this one. He was making such jokes long before anyone called them “dad jokes.”]
Monday, May 2, 2016
Spirits and bad grammar
In New York: A Serendipiter’s Journey (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1961), Gay Talese writes about New York City policewoman Clare Faulhaber (1923–2008), undercover catcher of fortunetellers. (She could make an arrest only when someone predicted the future or stole money.) Here Faulhaber describes a visit to a séance. She wore a maternity dress as a disguise:
“Anyway, soon the medium came in. She was a small, elderly woman with white hair, dressed in a dinner gown. The people got into a circle around her, and soon she was saying, ‘I’m getting vibrations — vibrations for a woman who is holding a new life within herself. Is there anyone present who is holding a new life within herself?’These passages earlier appeared in an article Talese wrote for The New York Times , “The Occult Cult Flourishes” (October 12, 1958). Faulhaber was the subject of a later Times article, “Policewoman Yclept Faulhaber Gave Up Chaucer for the Force” (April 10, 1964), in which R. W. Apple Jr. notes Faulhaber’s earlier career teaching Middle English at Marymount College, her 1963 award as New York City’s outstanding policewoman, and a 1961 incident in which Faulhaber was attacked by two panhandlers posing as Roman Catholic nuns. And then:
“And there I was,” says Miss Faulhaber, “wearing the maternity dress for all to see and the only thing I had bulging out under it was the belt and holder containing my 32-caliber pistol. Later the medium had a plate passed around, and people put $1 and $5 bills on it, and the lights dimmed. This is when she started to go into a deep trance and began talking. First she was somebody’s ‘Uncle Bill’ and then later she was somebody’s mother, but what really bothered me was that no matter who the spirits happened to be, they all made the same grammatical errors.”
FAULHABER — Clare W., of Manhattan, 84, died January 19, 2008. Clare was a Police Detective for the City of New York for 20 years before retiring. She was a member of the New York City Veterans Police Association.
Also from this bookChestnuts, pigeons, statues : “Fo-wer, fi-yiv, sev-ven, ni-yen” : Klenosky! : Leeches, catnip oil, strange potions : A real-life Bookman : Tie cleaning in New York
[The photograph is from the 1964 article. Click for a larger view. New York Review Books, please reissue this wonderful book.]
Zippy and the subjunctive
[Zippy , May 2, 2016.]
The past subjunctive has been good to Orange Crate Art.
Related reading
All OCA Zippy posts (Pinboard)
Sunday, May 1, 2016
New books, old books
Joseph Joubert:
The great inconvenience of new books is that they prevent us from reading old books.Also from Joseph Joubert
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert: A Selection , trans. Paul Auster (New York: New York Review Books, 2005).
Another world : Form and content : Irrelevancies and solid objects : Lives and writings : Politeness : Resignation and courage : Self-love and truth : Thinking and writing
Hi and Lois watch
[Hi and Lois , May 1, 2016.]
Hi and Lois has occasionally switched to thick lines: look at the difference between these two 2012 panels. But I can’t recall seeing the switch in the same day’s strip. Difficult not to suspect that Hi and Lois is at least sometimes put together as piecework, and without proofreading. Sheesh.
Related reading
All OCA Hi and Lois posts (Pinboard)
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Hi and Lois watch
[Hi and Lois , April 30, 2016.]
It’s not the first time that Hi and Lois has given us a facade that opens onto an interior room. I almost expect to see more of the kitchen out in the front yard. And those angles. Granted, the glimpse of the kitchen (salad, pepper mill, and — is it wine?) is a way to signal party . But some tastefully festooned decorations could have made the point as well, or better. Shoes always help, too.
[Hi and Lois , April 30, 2016.]
Does the ostensible host even live in this house? If she does, she should know that the kitchen is — or was? — in the other direction. Perhaps she’s taking a shortcut. Notice the motion lines. Or is that a stray piece of baseboard?
Related reading
All OCA Hi and Lois posts (Pinboard)
Domestic comedy
“You’re not just saying it to placate me, are you?”
“Yes, I’m just saying it to placate you.”
Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)
Friday, April 29, 2016
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
