Author Archives: JMN

About JMN

I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.

Fun With Man-Words

Posted on August 11, 2022 by JMN

In 2013, 52 Atlantic spotted dolphins migrated from the northern Bahamas to Bimini, 100 miles south, where a community of 120 of their species already lived. The encounter could have gone badly. When groups of social mammals meet, things can … Continue reading →

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Also Good With Cheese on a Biscuit

Posted on August 9, 2022 by JMN

Anyone who has twisted the cap off an opened jar of Marmite rimmed with dried product will know why it’s used to glue the tiles on the heat shields of Elon Musk’s rockets. The shields enable the craft to withstand … Continue reading →

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‘Trsf yjr timr/‘

Posted on August 8, 2022 by JMN

When I tried to be a writer I was too young to have interesting thoughts. Rimbaud was a freak to be worshiped despairingly. Why couldn’t I be an ancient soul at nineteen like him? I could not find impassive rivers … Continue reading →

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‘What rough beast, its hour come round at last…’

Posted on August 6, 2022 by JMN

“We’re going to draw a hard line in the sand for morality,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Clint Ives said… “I applaud their efforts to defeat liberalism…” (George Coryell, “Victoria County [Texas] sides with group that wants city library books removed,” victoriaadvocate.com, … Continue reading →

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New Word: ‘Yean’

Posted on August 5, 2022 by JMN

I’ve bumped into yean, a novel word, in the serendipitous way that study of a foreign language affords. The word is classed as ‘Archaic.’ Of course it is. Another recent discovery of mine, objurgate, is’ Rare.’ I wonder if I … Continue reading →

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Don’t Do to Me Whatever That Means

Posted on August 3, 2022 by JMN

From the stagnant backwaters of my brain, objurgate bubbles up unsolicited. Is it even a word? Where have I ever heard or set eyes on it? Objurgate. My smidgin of Latin alerts me to what the word has in common … Continue reading →

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Garabatos

Posted on August 1, 2022 by JMN

The Spanish word garabato (‘scrawl’) has a staccato pop to the ear, like a spate of rim shots. It evokes line and form in a night on the town, gadabout and roguish, flirting with all and sundry, living it up, … Continue reading →

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The ‘He-She —> They’ Transformation (2)

Posted on July 30, 2022 by JMN

(Continued from https://ethicaldative.com/2022/07/26/the-he-she-they-transformation-1/) A pronoun is only as stable as the noun it stands for. If Niamh does not always, or ever, identify-reveal as she, nor Oisín as he, their customary pronouns aren’t fit for purpose. At the same time, … Continue reading →

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The Secret of Drawing Is to Make a Mark

Posted on July 28, 2022 by JMN

Complexity is what we create; our familiar cussedness comes out and easily defeats us. The harder things in life are the simple ones. Whenever I manage to disregard the rulemonger holding class in my skull-room, the method-nazi intoning, You are … Continue reading →

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Don’t Let the Prefect Be the Enemy of the Gay

Posted on July 27, 2022 by JMN

Where I live, a powerful local official causes a contribution to be withheld from an organization planning a pride festival in the town square. The official does not wish the county’s name to be associated with a drag show, a … Continue reading →

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