Squibblings « Neologistics Editing

About Legacy Posts

By Lynn David Newton, on July 25th, 2011%

As of July 25, 2011, I have migrated over 130 articles from my Neologistics blog, where since August 2005 I have posted many unsorted articles, including items unrelated to editing, writing, or literature. The articles copied from the old site have all been labeled with the category LEGACY.

It has been a longstanding shortcoming of Google’s otherwise . . . → Read More: About Legacy Posts

My Visit with Queen Elizabeth II

By Lynn David Newton, on July 15th, 2011%

Image via Wikipedia

I had a dream last night about Queen Elizabeth II. Lovely woman, that one.

She came to our locality for a visit, accompanied only by a male attendant, whom I presumed to be a personal secretary.

She spoke at a function I was at, of undefined purpose.

I walked a few steps behind her as she . . . → Read More: My Visit with Queen Elizabeth II

Running Only Four or Five Hours

By Lynn David Newton, on March 1st, 2011%

Long ago I considered running the Mickelson Trail Marathon. It sounded like a good race to me, and besides, I hadn’t run a regular marathon in years; but running it would have required me to travel from Arizona to South Dakota.

When I proposed the idea to Suzy, her initial reaction was: . . . → Read More: Running Only Four or Five Hours

Having a Thing

By Lynn David Newton, on November 26th, 2010%

People will say “Such-and-such is not my thing.” People with “a thing” have too . . . → Read More: Having a Thing

Acquiring Wealth As a Writer

By Lynn David Newton, on November 26th, 2010%

If I had a nickel for every time I said, “Schmork flump verwissenschatz und geheimlichen zonderfloozles,” I’d have . . . → Read More: Acquiring Wealth As a Writer

Living in a Caboose

By Lynn David Newton, on November 26th, 2010%

Image via Wikipedia

When I learned that a high school classmate moved to Israel to live in a caboose after we graduated, I thought that was a pretty weird choice. It was not until years later that I learned it was not a caboose he moved to, but a kibbutz.

It was still a strange choice, . . . → Read More: Living in a Caboose

Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself

By Lynn David Newton, on November 26th, 2010%

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve just finished reading a new book (2010) by David Lipsky, the title of this post. It’s about a five-day road trip author David Foster Wallace took in 1995 at the behest of Wallace’s publisher Little, Brown to promote his then new novel Infinite Jest, with Lipsky in tow, on assignment from Rolling Stone . . . → Read More: Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself

Moby Dick

By Lynn David Newton, on November 26th, 2010%

Never read it. . . . → Read More: Moby Dick

Jefferson the Neologist

By Lynn David Newton, on November 16th, 2010%

Image via Wikipedia

In answer to some people who stodgily protested certain Americanisms that had crept into the writing of Jefferson’s founding requirements regarding the University of Virginia, he defended himself by asserting that as new discoveries are made, new words must be invented to name them. Continuing along that line, he said:

And give the word neologism . . . → Read More: Jefferson the Neologist

Take the Money and Run

By Lynn David Newton, on November 15th, 2010%

Image via Wikipedia

Wise and experienced persons ones solemnly proclaim, fingers a-wagging, that money and material prosperity do not bring happiness.

Duhh! Everyone knows that, but some who preach this less than profound truth seem to opine from the point of view that most people think that if they only had more money and material prosperity they . . . → Read More: Take the Money and Run

My Grandma

By Lynn David Newton, on July 19th, 2010%

My Grandma Newton

had no automobile;
had no television;
had no radio;
had no telephone;
had an ice box instead of a refrigerator until 1952;
had no modern record player;
didn’t own a book except a Bible;
didn’t think much of music except hymns;
didn’t approve of my father’s choice of profession;
didn’t approve of dancing;
didn’t approve of alcohol;
didn’t approve of card playing;
would play Dominoes with . . . → Read More: My Grandma

The Real Inventor of the Internet

By Lynn David Newton, on November 24th, 2009%

Image via Wikipedia

An urban legend that circulated in 2000, one that persists today as a standing joke, was that Al Gore, then running for the office President of the United States, made the wild claim to have “invented the Internet.” Although Gore made no such claim, he did frequently talk about the . . . → Read More: The Real Inventor of the Internet

Nuggets

By Lynn David Newton, on August 27th, 2008%

As I prepare to move in a few days into our new house in the Berwick community of Columbus, these thoughts cross my mind.

Long ago I attended a church service on Communion Sunday, when they pass around bread and wine. Next to me was a lady I never saw before, one who struck me . . . → Read More: Nuggets

MANLY Sports

By Lynn David Newton, on May 28th, 2008%

There have been far too many sissy sports allowed into the Olympics, and personally, I’m weary of it. I say it’s time to beef up the agenda a bit with a few more MANLY sports. Here are some suggestions.

Hitting other MEN in the face as hard as you can until they fall unconscious. Oh wait, they . . . → Read More: MANLY Sports

The Power of Negative Thinking

By Lynn David Newton, on May 28th, 2008%

Dilbert

Some time ago there was a Dilbert strip wherein, when charged with having a bad attitude, Dilbert responds: “My attitude is proof that I am thinking clearly.”

In one of the conference rooms at the now defunct Motorola Computer Group there was a plaque with a quote from CEO Bob Galvin that said: “Come to work . . . → Read More: The Power of Negative Thinking

How to Tell the Difference

By Lynn David Newton, on May 28th, 2008%

On a long walk though Columbus, as I headed up Neil Street, I saw an earnest looking young man sitting on the front steps of his Victorian home. He was holding something close and rocking back and forth rhythmically. As I observed him on approach, I guessed he was either religious . . . → Read More: How to Tell the Difference

Drivel

By Lynn David Newton, on February 10th, 2008%

Here are some thoughts I’ve wanted to express for a long time.

Yesterday I thought of a great mnemonic device, but I forgot what it was. I’m fully aware of the irony of this situation. Or maybe I was just looking for a way to use “irony” in a sentence.
Have you ever noticed? There . . . → Read More: Drivel

Life’s Great Ironies

By Lynn David Newton, on February 10th, 2008%

Did you know that

M O T H E R I N L A W

is an anagram for

W O M A N H I T L E R

That charming coincidence certainly applied well to my first one.
To her daughter too, come to think . . . → Read More: Life’s Great Ironies

The Consummate Word

By Lynn David Newton, on September 18th, 2007%

Image via Wikipedia

P.G. Wodehouse.

What he said.

How he . . . → Read More: The Consummate Word

Chips Off the Workbench

By Lynn David Newton, on December 23rd, 2006%

Welcome to my verbal webcam. It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, as I’ve been busy with work and the upcoming race Across the Years. Meanwhile, here are a few thoughts that pass through my eccentric mind.

When people ask me why I run so much at my age I tell them I’m hoping to be . . . → Read More: Chips Off the Workbench

To-Do Lists

By Lynn David Newton, on November 16th, 2006%

Image by bark via Flickr

I don’t do things unless I’ve added them to a to-do list. Sometimes my wife will ask me to do something. I’ll say, “But that’s not on my list.” She’ll say, “So put it on your list.” So I put it on my list. Then I’ll do it . . . → Read More: To-Do Lists

The Most Secure Place in the World

By Lynn David Newton, on March 23rd, 2006%

Many adventure and sci-fi movies show scenes of top secret highly secure fortresses surrounded by armed guards and protected by more hi-tech gear than the Pentagon can afford. Each of these movies leaves you convinced that there couldn’t possibly be a more important place in the world.

What might be found in the . . . → Read More: The Most Secure Place in the World

Exhalations

By Lynn David Newton, on November 14th, 2005%

I’m pathologically incapable of reading a sentence under the control of an editor and not editing it. In fact, I’m doing it right now!
I’m having one of those experiences where an action produces a repeatable but seemingly unrelated reaction, so remote as to seem impossible. It’s like turning on the car radio . . . → Read More: Exhalations

Chopin on the Banjo

By Lynn David Newton, on September 23rd, 2005%

Cover of Béla Fleck

You haven’t lived until you’ve heard Bela Fleck playing a Chopin Etude on the banjo. If you were to listen to it while falling over a cliff while running from a bear in Alaska, your life would be complete (and possibly over). You would never need to drink another . . . → Read More: Chopin on the Banjo

Micro-Thoughts Redux

By Lynn David Newton, on August 30th, 2005%

Don’t you hate it when people keep using words like redux?
Before my life changed I was a composer. People sometimes ask me: “What kind of music did you write?” I wrote UN-popular music. Some titles:

Neglected Concerto
Unknown Symphony
Songs Without Words or Music

People who never read are ignorant, and they show it. It’s easy to tell . . . → Read More: Micro-Thoughts Redux

The Truth About Guys

By Lynn David Newton, on August 24th, 2005%

Image via Wikipedia

So tell me — what are those girls underpants parties all about? I never have understood that. Guys don’t do those. Guys don’t say things like, “Say, Bubba’s getting married — let’s buy him some new Fruit of the Looms and jock straps and sit around swilling a few brewskis . . . → Read More: The Truth About Guys

The Seven Twenty-First Century Dwarfs

By Lynn David Newton, on August 15th, 2005%

If Disney were to remake Snow White, they would have to redo the dwarfs to make them more relevant to contemporary standards. Here’s a suggested list.

Seedy
Sleazy
Greedy
Lazy
Grouchy
Raunchy
Disreputable

It’s not much, but neither is much behavior considered normal and acceptable . . . → Read More: The Seven Twenty-First Century Dwarfs

Tatoos As Art?

By Lynn David Newton, on August 8th, 2005%

Last year I read an article that began:

The double Olympic champion didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after spotting Emma Fitch’s mis-spelt work of art [a tatoo] during a walkabout in Kent.

I’ve seen tatoos justified as “art” before. ART?? Puhleeeze!

Perhaps persons moved to become collectors of such AHHHRRRT ought to . . . → Read More: Tatoos As Art?

Micro-Thoughts

By Lynn David Newton, on August 8th, 2005%

Image via Wikipedia

Some people have things to say and some people have to say things.
There are c. 6.5 billion people in the world. If the average person lives 76 years, 27740 days, It means that throughout the world an average of 236880 people, a nearly a quarter of a million, die every . . . → Read More: Micro-Thoughts

Moon Travel As Recreation

By Lynn David Newton, on August 8th, 2005%

Image via Wikipedia

Today’s CNN Quick Vote survey question is:

If you had $100 million, would you spend it on a trip to the moon?

Yes
No
Are you crazy?

So far, of the 143977 people who have answered, 12569 have said yes. That’s 9%. Never mind that the vast majority voted otherwise. Seems to me that there’s . . . → Read More: Moon Travel As Recreation

Greetings

By Lynn David Newton, on August 8th, 2005%

Image by ladybeames via Flickr

As a long-time denizen of the Internet (for many years before I even knew it was called the Internet), this is nonetheless my first attempt to create a blog. We shall see how it goes. So far there is nothing done that cannot be undone.

Some fragmentary phrases I’ve . . . → Read More: Greetings