Answer: “told riches.” Somebody has to carry on George Carlin’s tradition of poking around in the English language’s idiosyncracies and peccadilloes. For more in this vein, see “What’s the Past Tense of Sight See?”; “Landmark ” or Watermark?”; “Dried vs. MORE Dried Apricots“; and “wild and crazy” (vs. conventional) fruit.Read More
Or Is That, “Anti-Totem?” I’ll leave my reaction to (re)watching “Rocky” 36(!) years later for another post. But, what I noticed — besides all the bare office desks (what, no PC monitors??) — were the differences between sports arenas then and now. The backdrop for the movie’s climactic fight scene is the old Philadelphia Spectrum, host...Read More
“Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.” –Critic (tongue in cheek) “Ambulatory” is one of those words that sounds worse than it really is. You’d think that a person who’s “ambulatory” would be on their way to the hospital in an ambulance. In fact, it actually means that they’re up and walking around. That would be me, today....Read More
Did Wronged Consumers Misbuy it? Lloyds Banking Group PLC will reduce some of the bonuses awarded to top executives in 2010 following an insurance misselling scandal that resulted in the U.K bank handing hefty compensation to consumers, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. Last year, Lloyds set aside £3.2 billion ($5.06 billion) to compensate...Read More
Stealth Inflation & Rising (Dog) Food Costs There are lots of indices that purport to measure inflation: “the Producer Price Index,” “the Wholesale Price Index,” “the Consumer Price Index,” etc. But the only yardstick that really matters to me is “the Kaplan Family Price Index.” By that measure, inflation is galloping right now. Overt and...Read More
Rorschach Tests for Communities If you’ve never been to the Twin Cities, the two largest metro airports are named after the state’s most famous native sons, Charles Lindbergh and Hubert Humphrey (actually from South Dakota). Less than a mile south, there is a “Harmon Killebrew Drive” next to the Mall of America. But if you’re looking...Read More
