Getting One Out of Three Right We’re in Minnesota, so here’s the weather forecast: the rest of April: cold; May: cold; June: cold; July: somehow hot as hell. Back to y’all.” –Saturday Night Live; cold open (April 10, 2021). As a Minnesota native and long-time Twin Cities resident, I can attest to the “perpetually cold”...Read More
(Un)Grammatically Speaking One of the less-heralded parental duties is (gently) correcting your kid’s bad grammar — or trying to. Witness this exchange between me and my (then) 8 year-old daughter: She: “Did you know that Raffy (family dog) digged a big hole in the garden?” Me: “It’s “dug,” not “dig.” She (with emphasis): “Did you know...Read More
Getting Ready to Leave the Nest It’s not just human parents getting ready to bid goodbye to their youngsters — specifically, this year’s graduating high school seniors. So are Mama and Papa ducks. In the photo above, the male duck (“drake”) is at the lower left; the mother and her eight ducklings are in the...Read More
When the Neighbors are the Dealbreaker Prospective Buyer: “We love the house. But we could never live across the street from that pornographic statue.” Phil Dunphy: “Oh . . . huh . . . I never noticed it.” Prospective Buyer: “Yeah . . . you can see it from inside when you look out the...Read More
Identical or Fraternal? Look closely in the photo above, and you’ll see not one but two trunks at the base of this tree, located about 1/2 mile west of Minneapolis’ Cedar Lake in St. Louis Park’s Fern Hill neighborhood. The tree — make that tree(s) — command a key intersection, which give passing motorists (and...Read More
“What’s the Matter With Kansas Iowa?”** In modern English, a shibboleth can have a sociological meaning, referring to any in-group word or phrase that can distinguish members from outsiders – even when not used by a hostile other group. It is also sometimes used in a broader sense to mean jargon, the proper use of...Read More
