Other Writing.
Opinion | The joy of reading Dickens proves that God blessed us, every one
Each and every reading of the novella delivers both the pleasure of the familiar and, as great pieces of writing invariably do, fresh surprises and insights.
Opinion | Will this two-faced month never end?
The Roman god Janus, looking back and forward, gives January its name and describes one of the more amusing quirks in the plenty quirky English language.
Opinion | Epitome? Pity me, I thought it was pronounced eh-pih-tome.
Humans have a strange habit of deciding what a word means and sticking with it, until reality or the dictionary intrudes. Song lyrics are especially tricky.
Words in Progress: Notes From a Retired Copy Chief | Kirkus Reviews
Benjamin Dreyer shares some observations as he leaves Random House after 30 years of copy editing.
Opinion | The quotes likely to be permanently evocative of the Jan. 6 scandal
Political scandals have a way of generating what the “Jeopardy!” people might well dub Potent Quotables.
Opinion | Kyiv vs. Kiev, Zelensky vs. Zelenskyy, and the immense meaning of ‘the’
Quickly, before I lose my nerve and something even worse happens than has already happened, some thoughts about language in the context of this war.
Opinion | Why English is changing faster than you can say E-mail, e-mail, email
The Post recently switched from “Internet” to “internet.” I confess, I was a longtime holdout too, but ultimately, I capitulated.
Opinion | It’s pointless to yearn for a post-pandemic return to normalcy. Or is it normality?
Millions of Americans also dreamed of going back to life as it was before World War I. And what is “normal,” anyway?
Prisoners of Second Avenue
For reasons this veteran editor and best-selling author can’t fully explain, an unsung film adaptation of a Neil Simon play has become an abiding domestic comfort many years after he first encountered it.
Irene Goes Wild
The great but underrated Hollywood star Irene Dunne made her transition to screwball comedy by playing the scandal-courting author at the heart of Theodora Goes Wild.
Opinion | Language is here to serve all of us. Merriam-Webster’s word of the year shows that.
It’s singularly honorable.
The home life of Shirley Jackson, queen of horror | The Spectator
The only chilling story in Jackson’s charming memoir of domestic chaos involves her malfunctioning refrigerator.