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Poetic term of the day — April 25, 2008 [by Mitch Sisskind]
KENNING: a compound word or phrase similar to an epithet, but which involves a multi-noun replacement for a single noun, such as wave traveler for boat or whale-path for ocean, used especially in Old…
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Freud Quiz # 11 (with bonus question)
Freud maintained that death was (a) the best of a bad business (b) the best of both worlds (c) the right answer (d) one of two unknowns in the equation (e) the greater of…
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Poetic term of the day — April 24, 2008
SYLLEPSIS (suh-LEP-sus): a type of zeugma in which a single word, usually a verb or adjective, agrees grammatically with two or more other words, but semantically with only one, thereby effecting a shift in…
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Lehman Battles Back
Despite a wretched week, Lehman battled back with negative ads about his opponent. . . Lehman’s sister Sue won the Sydney marathon. Cries of “Sue Lehman!” filled the air. . . An actor wearing…
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Happy Birthday
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) sits in a parked car in Ithaca, New York, September 1958. Carl Mydans/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images Happy birthday, Vlad — and you too O Swan of Avon!
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How Chivalry Began (by Jenny Factor)
Remember how some ancient wise ass said “the vows of women should be written in wind and running water?” Well, that was Catullus—more than a thousand years before Donne’s “Song (Go and Catch a…
