Tag Archives: language

‘Telescope’ by Louise Glück

Posted on June 23, 2022 by JMN

Occasionally a poem is so frictionless it stabs without hurting. My second reading of “Telescope” by Louise Glück was to someone far away over FaceTime. You’ve gotta hear this! I chirped. There is a moment after you move your eye … Continue reading →

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A Lash of Good Tongue

Posted on June 20, 2022 by JMN

“To sit fast badly is better than to be thrown easily.” (Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, p. 124) [sū’(u)-l-istimāk(i) ẖair(un) min ḥusn(i)-ṣ-ṣirƸaẗ(i)] Wright cites the phrase to illustrate the formation of the [ism(u)-n-nūƸ(i)], noun of kind, aka nomina … Continue reading →

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‘To Translate Is to Look into a Mirror…’

Posted on June 18, 2022 by JMN

Benjamin Moser reviews Jhumpa Lahiri’s book “Translating Myself and Others.” The book deals with her decision at age 45 to begin writing in Italian, which for her was an entirely learned language. “Art is not — should not — be … Continue reading →

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Bah-BOOM-BOOM Riff Ripped

Posted on June 13, 2022 by JMN

First published as https://ethicaldative.com/2022/05/22/bah-boom-boom-riff/ . To Her, Still One’s home is her castle,a refuge from hustleand bustle, the jostle of mobs;nest in which refuge to seekfrom the insults that bristlein digital wallowsand rants of apostles of doom,by the wherry that’s … Continue reading →

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To Whom It Concerns on the Morrow

Posted on June 7, 2022 by JMN

Hey, U 2 + 3! June 8 and Jan 9 are two dates written in bright lights for us who love you. Your penultimate mission in Oki is to celebrate the dickens out of that day which will have arrived … Continue reading →

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Women Irritated the Painter. Oh Dear

Posted on June 2, 2022 by JMN

John Elderfield, who curated the last big de Kooning survey for the Museum of Modern Art, said that originally the Woman series upset different people in different ways… Some were dismayed by the vulgar treatment of the female form… Elderfield’s … Continue reading →

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‘The Small Miracle of Translation’

Posted on May 31, 2022 by JMN

The novel… is the first in an Indian language to win the International Booker Prize, and the first in Hindi to even secure a nomination… [Translator Daisy Rockwell’s] work on the book showed “the small miracle of translation,” [Frank Wynne, … Continue reading →

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Language Is a Weapon, Too. Keep It Sharp

Posted on May 29, 2022 by JMN

… Any honest accounting shows that more of the blame for these senseless rampages lays at the feet of bought-and-paid-for politicians who have blocked any reasonable gun control measures in order to retain their own hold on power. (Kara Swisher, … Continue reading →

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The Hardest French Word to Pronounce for a Texan

Posted on May 26, 2022 by JMN

L’aurore (the dawn) “Low roar” is the best we can do. Governor Abbott, born kids have a right to life, too. (c) 2022 JMN — EthcalDative. All rights reserved

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A Good Outing: Roger Angell (1920-2022)

Posted on May 24, 2022 by JMN

“It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitative as a professional sports team,” he wrote in his book “Five Seasons” (1977). “What is left out … Continue reading →

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