Tag Archives: language

Bewusstseinslage

Posted on June 10, 2018 by JMN

A contestant in the final stages of the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee competition failed to spell “bewusstseinslage” correctly. I don’t know whether to bawl or weep. That a young citizen of these United States speaking this American language should … Continue reading →

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Drawling

Posted on June 4, 2018 by JMN

One time I helped tend bar at a gala hosted by my father in the historic building that tripled as his studio, gallery, and dwelling. A man I knew by reputation, but not personally, appeared at my countertop and asked … Continue reading →

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Jekyll-and-Hydish

Posted on June 2, 2018 by JMN

Some bloggers are restrained, self-deprecating, modest, understated; others write posts that are daring, obstreperous and filthily funny. I admire and enjoy both registers, and the gradations between. It’s hard to find my own voice, though, one that feels authentic. I’m … Continue reading →

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Whoa where?

Posted on June 1, 2018 by JMN

— Whoa where? — Hurricane season is coming. Protect your liquor cabinet: Batten down the hooches! — Plural of “burnoose”: “burnooses” or “burneese”? — Drunk and Orderly — Thought thoroughly through. Tough though. — If you say baba ghanouj, I’ll … Continue reading →

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The creepiness of the creepy

Posted on May 24, 2018 by JMN

We become benumbed and resigned to it. Around 2011, it dawned on me that things I mentioned in personal emails, and the objects of my searches, would crop up in online advertisements. First I was mystified, then stupefied. My online … Continue reading →

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“William James…”

Posted on May 23, 2018 by JMN

“William James described consciousness as the “alternation of flights and perchings,” suggesting that we tend to overvalue the “perchings,” the nouns or the primary verbs in a sentence that steal the spotlight from the little words, like ‘in,’ ‘and,’ ‘but,’ … Continue reading →

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Happy Words

Posted on May 20, 2018 by JMN

A word is a terrible thing to lose. Rescued Words by Wallace Stevens: fubbed gobbet diaphanes pannicles carked rapey cantilena fiscs phylactery princox funest Copyright 2018 James Mansfield Nichols. All rights reserved.

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Make Intelligent Mistakes

Posted on May 19, 2018 by JMN

Make intelligent mistakes. (No idea who said this.) What interests me about rhyming is how it can force you to say something that you didn’t intend to say. It can make your poem go in a new direction. It may not … Continue reading →

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Untimely Splooge?

Posted on May 19, 2018 by JMN

As a twenty-something aspiring writer I felt I was duty bound to tilt at every convention I could locate, and to speak unvarnishedly about it. I had read Burroughs and Berryman and Updike. Regrettably, one redoubt I chose briefly to … Continue reading →

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Happy Words

Posted on May 17, 2018 by JMN

A ninja of the recondite… Queasy pudding… Codwalloping colossus… Like Puritans and Papists… In Shakespeare’s “King Henry IV, Part 2,” when the King says the rebels are fifty-thousand strong, Warwick gently chides him saying, “Rumour doth double, like the voice … Continue reading →

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