WHERE I LEARNED WORDS: Was just randomly thinking about where I learned various words–I still remember the first time I ran across “baobab” (The Little Prince, also home of “toper”) and “jejune” (uh, the book version of Labyrinth–David Bowie’s character is described as “jaded with jejune joys.” Yes, I still remember that; some things are too awful to forget). I’m pretty sure the “Dilsey” section of The Sound and the Fury (ugh) is where I got “deliquescing,” and “coruscant” is... Read more

ADVENT! Advent! Advent! Advent! Readings for the First Sunday of Advent. Read more

A LOT OF PEOPLE have noted a cheering quote from this story on the attacks in Kenya: “Kenyans in the village this evening said the carnage would deliver a devastating blow to their already weak economy. It is unfair, they complained, that innocent Kenyans would again have to die for causes they had nothing to do with. Then they started shouting against Arabs, some of whom have settled here and own stores in the city: ‘We love America,’ they yelled.... Read more

I’M OFF GIVING THANKS. Will return to real blogging tomorrow, which may turn into Answer Arthur Silber Day–aesthetics and reason, homosexuality and politics, and some stuff about religion and the free market that I’ll probably post on Q’s for O’s. And, of course, whatever else wafts across the transom. For now, have a blogwatch. It’s all I can do on too much turkey and too little caffeine. The Agitator: Miss Manners, friend of freedom. The Cranky Professor: Seminaries: How did... Read more

AMAZING ARTICLE ON RELIGIOUS REPRESSION IN CHINA. “China is in many ways freer than it has ever been, and it’s easy to be dazzled by the cellphones and skyscrapers. But alongside all that sparkles is the old police state. Particularly in remote areas like this, police can arrest people and torture or kill them with impunity, even if they are trying to do nothing more than worship God. Accordingly, Washington must press China hard to observe not only international trade... Read more

Blogwatching the detectives Don’t get cute… Body and Soul: Afghan women making French documentaries. Brink Lindsey assesses the nifty Bush trade proposal. His take? “Signs point to yes!”, basically, but he has a few caveats. He also has notes from his trip to Tokyo and Seoul. Noli Irritare Leones: Defending Courage. Eloquent and fierce. Oblique (and permalinkless) House: Story that truly illustrates the meaning of “it’s the thought that counts”–how a Jaguar commercial this year snidely echoes a sweet family... Read more

“The dynastic temptation was very real. The country was lucky that there was so little material for temptation to work with. Of the first five presidents, only John Adams had sons who survived to adulthood. Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, whose administrations covered the first quarter of the nineteenth century, were known as the ‘Virginia dynasty,’ but if the seducing channel of immediate (male) offspring had flowed from any of them, the dynasty might have extended into a second generation. How... Read more

“EX-GAYS”: IS THIS THE CHURCH’S ANSWER? My first Register column. Read more

THE DIVINE AND MISS M: The previous post talked about what manners do well. But Miss Manners’ The Right Thing to Say also exposed what manners don’t do well. For example, she notes, “Here is a list of topics that polite people do not bring into a social conversation: “Sex; religion; politics; money; illness; the food before them at the moment and which foods they customarily eat or reject and why; anything else having to do with bodily functions; occupations,... Read more

THE DIVINE MISS M: I’ve taken a little break from Brookhiser’s biography of our first president in order to immerse myself in the wonderful world of Miss Manners. Miss M is truly fantastic–witty (“It seems that telephone books are shrinking. As ever more people request that their numbers be unlisted, it is going to be increasingly hard for small children to reach their dinner plates”), vehemently (with a dainty kind of vehemence) pro-privacy and anti-snobbishness, compassionate, adaptable, and focused on... Read more