Anecdotal Evidence

Yet another unfamiliar word I would like to see revived: gasconade . Dr. Johnson gives a typically terse definition : “a boast; a bravado.” ...

The only summer mornings we woke up and got dressed early was garbage collection day. We had to beat the trash men. This was long before rec...

“[T]here is, perhaps, a special pleasure in re-learning the names of many of the flowers every spring. It is like re-reading a book that one...

Literature is a hobby, and not. It is an academic discipline, and not. It is a diversion, a distraction, an escape. But some of us can’t ima...

The medical technician performing the echocardiogram asked me to lie on my side, not “dorsally.” I thought first of the triangular fin on th...

“It is only about the contents of a book that I care, not its shape, its date, or the number on its flyleaves.” Spoken like a reader, not ...

On the morning of August 5, 1763, Dr. Johnson accompanied Boswell on the stage-coach that would carry him to the port of Harwich. Then twent...