Archive for August, 1999

rrr: And Not a Mere Device

I am but a poor speaker; my words stumble from my tongue (or keyboard) like bleary-eyed tosspots after a night's carouse. But I'll do what I can with my poor skills to discuss rhetoric. "Doesn't everyone know what a rhetorical question is?" I hear you ask. But questions that don't require answers are not what […]

qqq: Roots

Dominus has been collecting material for some time now to be eventually turned into an online etymology quiz. The general idea behind the quiz is to give people an idea of which kinds of etymology are likely to be true and which aren't, rather than to trick people. To that end, although the quiz includes […]

ppp: The Sum of Its Parts

"I thought ... I might trick myself into ... more precise language and not go chasing across your pages, my dear Journal, like a wild-eyed Diana shooting in all directions in the hope of bringing down one perfect word." —Dorcas, in Sesyle Joslin's The Young Savages Before I can talk about this week's topic, I […]