My housemate was talking to a physician this morning (didn’t say why) and mentioned my snoring. The physician imitated the sound of sleep apnea, and it sounded (I’m told) exactly like a noise that I make.

She suggested I have my uvula removed. But, if memory serves, my old acquaintance H.J.N.C.Andruschak had that done and it did not affect his snoring.

Such an operation also would impair my (unrealized) ability to speak Arabic or Eskimo.

I thought the “. . . Not!” construction was new when Wayne & Garth used it, but here it is in the mouth of Archie Goodwin:

“We know she didn’t kill her husband. Either you thought she had and probably still do, or you killed him yourself. If the former, your feeling for her has got a smudge. If the latter, you did a swell job, not, handling it so that she gets the credit for it.”

“Death of a Demon” by Rex Stout, published 1961 as part of Homicide Trinity.

Last night I mentioned linguists and misguided egalitarians in the same breath, and it occurs to me that some might take that somehow as a swipe at a certain public figure. Let me assure both my readers that I was thinking of no commie in particular; it’s merely that language is a perennial interest of mine and the jargon was handy.

Lalaith offers:

Bhorh nazgu burdatuluk. Bhorh nazgu thrakatul.
Bhorh nazgu dupatuluk agh Lúthrongdush-shi krempatul.

Five Rings to lure them all. Five Rings to bring them.
Five Rings to dope them all and in Salt Lake City deceive them.

Pseudodictionary has accepted a coinage of mine.

Here is a relatively harmless violation of the Tenth Amendment: the Social Security Administration publishes lists of Americans’ favorite names for babies. Do similar data exist for other countries?

Emily, Hannah and Madison lead the pink pack for the second year running. Madison?! Do her parents fondly imagine her growing up to be a porno star, or has some other famous female Madison escaped my attention?

Much much later: “Madison” (taken from a street sign) was the name assumed by the nonhuman lead character in a movie that I never saw.

When allusions whoosh by to movies that I never saw, like these, I worry a bit less about homogenization of culture.

While I’m up: why do some -ize verbs like baptize have nouns in -ism, while others take -ization (half Greek and half Latin)? Would anyone understand me if I wrote “homogenism” above?