When I need a lively phrase I am rescued by the Diction Fairy, who klonks me on the nape with a backscratcher and suggests something odd but memorable.
—James Joyce
We’re joking, of course, in representing this as a quotation …
For a story to have what we consider a proper ending, it is not enough for the “real-life” events to come to an end. Instead, some form of coherence has to be brought to the reader’s attention again. The most …
As is typical with anything I create, I prefer some of these to others.
* I’ve never held a baby before.
Is this much blood normal?
* That face looks really familiar.
I just can’t imagine why it’s coming out …
This last essay was sent to us by the well-known author Aloysius Krumpelwitz, who writes under the pen-name “Anon.” We meant to turn him down, for the rest of us disagree strongly with his obvious anti-intellectualism, but we had misplaced …
To see imagery as mere ornament in a story is like seeing a man’s head as just a pedestal for his bonnet.
—William Shakespeare
Hey, I said that.
—Francis Bacon
So when did men start wearing bonnets?
—Emmeline Pankhurst
…What
…Whatever one wishes to say, there is one noun only by which to express it, one verb only to give it life, one adjective only which will describe it. One must search until one has discovered them, this noun, this
First of all, it happened in another universe, and on the outer fringes of another galaxy, and on another planet, and in another time zone. You could hardly expect those people to be the same as the people you know.…
Mr Salter’s side of the conversation was limited to expressions of assent. When Lord Copper was right he said, ‘Definitely, Lord Copper’; when he was wrong, ‘Up to a point.’
—Evelyn Waugh, Scoop
We were reminded of this rule—and you …
I Can’t Sing (Sung to the tune of “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You”)
Verse:
I can’t sing
Even though I try
For I can’t help
Sounding like I might die
Verse:
It sounds bad
Tell me, should I …
The first thing to consider is the difference between the diction of writers and civilians. Writers use one set of words, civilians another. Most of us use words from what linguists refer to as “basic level.” We say, “I’m going …
Before the Internet, we had to go to political rallies or beer parlors to collect half-truths and bizarre opinions, but now we simply thumb through collections of them on the Internet. One of these is the notion that writers should …
Our next example is related to the word-parsimony fallacy but even stupider. This is the notion that there are some parts of speech that writers should avoid, namely adjectives and adverbs. On the face of it, this doesn’t seem an …
The Princess Llesllie—who was Welsh, and therefore had an abundance of voiceless lateral spirants in her name—was trying to sleep; but we will get to that in a moment. Llesllie lived in one of the finest castles of all, and …
…The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more often likely to be foolish than
Torkulweef say:
We offered to introduce Tiresias, but he refused, for no better reason than that he thought we would lie and say rude things about him. But people from our clan—and we’re from another dementia than the reader—are all …
What is truth? Who wants to know!?
Al Capone
…Some day there won’t be any need for books on usage. People will all be connected by a giant electronic network, and when they want to know something about usage or
Torkulweef say:
We offered to introduce Tiresias, but he refused, for no better reason than that he thought we would lie and say rude things about him. But people from our clan—and we’re from another dementia than the reader—are all …
Going through a stack of sketches and papers I came across this little sonnet. A note says it came from this comment — which was not …
WordPress being the most-used software on the web these days, sites that run on it find themselves constantly under attack. A weakness found will show up in so many …
As each day arrives, he will open up his mind.
To the suffering and joy he sees in all of humankind.
She does not know what will happen, as the world spins around.
Fear arises, love comforts, he knows no …
reposted with kind permission
from Garbo’s blog
Push Start Music
Last time, we established that Middle C is the musical note that …
reposted with kind permission
from Garbo’s blog
Push Start Music
It is not necessary to read music to play well. Many musical greats did not and …
I have been busy in the Esoteric Library this week. I’ve just finished editing, reformatting, and upgrading the unbearably adorable illustrations, for A.A. Milne’s not- about-bears book Once On a Time.
What a delight! Milne says in his preface that …
These cookies are a bit like a peanut – flavored “sandy” style shortbready kind of thing, so satisfying in the mouth!
Another altered recipe. Doubling the amounts is never enough for me; I always end up fiddling with the ingredients …
Waarom lachen het beste medicijn is.
Het hebben van plezier brengt je in het “hier en nu”. Nu is de enige “tijd” die er is, op deze “momenten” ben je niet bezig met de toekomst of het …
Sometimes They tell you things you need to hear
Sometimes They tell you things you shouldn’t hear
Sometimes They won’t be quiet at all, even if you don’t understand
Sometimes You wish others could hear, but they’re listening to themselves…
This oatmeal cookie recipe is adapted from the one on the Quaker Oats lid. I reduce the sugar, add extra liquid in the form of one more egg and maybe some yogurt. The result is like little bite-sized …
— Brian Bilston (@brian_bilston) December 13, 2018
Travelling by train from Paris to Milan,
Spooked and saddened from too much movement;
My uneasy rest was cut short by the customs official demanding my passport
I had been in one of those sleeps which do not let go …
All Lenore could see through the peephole was a confused mass of dark red.
The bell rang once more. “Who is it?” she demanded. “I don’t answer the door for invisible people.”
‘It’s me.”
Lenore rolled her eyes. “Who is …
He bought the shoes on a Monday, I think.
The store was pretty crowded, but he found them right away.
9EEE. The perils of wide feet.
These are pretty comfortable, he thought.
The shoes came home in their box, as
These days Woodies are collector cars restored to pristine condition. This wasn’t always the case. There was a time when Woodies were filled with ladders, lumber, bags of cement and buckets of paint. This is a tale of those strange …
Stella Omega
Lyrics are not complete as poetry. They are created with an additional element, and you just can’t take that away- it’s like printing a poem without any vowels. The music is integral to the form- most of the …
Lukas Rönnqvist
One sunny spring day, at the tender age of 25 I was out and about in my favorite place in the world, Stockholm the capital of Sweden. I was walking the streets, not really looking for anything when …
Stella Omega
My daughter was a stay-awake baby. Sometimes, to shorten the process, we would load her in the car and drive out into the lyrical Pennsylvania countryside, watching the colors of night gather in the sky, the green trees …
Stella Omega
(I wrote this essay for the forums at literotica.com, back in 2012. Recently a few people asked me to bring it forward, so here it is… )
Note: Our society has become very enamored of the concept of …
Prepare your ingredients;Chop the Broccoli into very small florets. Smaller than these. Figure a half-cup per serving.
Chop Garlic fine. Lots!
Chop a Cured Meat into small dice; the original was pancetta but I’ve used
Prosciutto,
Smithfield ham,
Black …
