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Author Archives: Michael Hendry
Seen Today . . .
. . . a middle-schooler — not one of my students — who was amused and even a bit pleased that the first three grades on his report card were A, D, and D.
Today in History
Today is the 100th anniversary of the death of Machado de Assis. A few months ago I read his second and third novels (the first has not been translated into English), The Hand and the Glove and Helena, and yesterday … Continue reading
Posted in Culture: Fiction
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Quotation of the Day
Basil Grant and I were talking one day in what is perhaps the most perfect place for talking on earth–the top of a tolerably deserted tramcar. To talk on the top of a hill is superb, but to talk on … Continue reading
Posted in Culture: Fiction
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Does This Count?
Michael Gilleland, Laudator Temporis Acti, collects examples of asyndetic, privative adjectives. Here is a possible bilingual example from the Younger Pliny (Epistulae 2.3.8), writing of those who can’t be bothered to go see the orator Isaeus: Aphilókalon inlitteratum iners ac … Continue reading
General Tso’s Chicken
At least that’s what some of the other generals say.
Posted in Orbilius
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Quantum Mutati ab Illis
“Where is he from?” Bracoletti answered without hesitation, lowering his voice, and with a gesture indicating the most complete disenchantment: “He is a Greek from Athens.” My interest sank like water absorbed by sand. When one has traveled in the … Continue reading
Posted in Culture: Fiction
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Missing the Obvious Pun
I wish I’d known about Barney Greenglass the Sturgeon King when I worked for six months just a few blocks away: very tasty. But if I were in the lox business I would call myself the Sturgeon General.
A Vegan in 1911
The scene: There are no trees in the “Luft Bad.” It boasts a collection of plain, wooden cells, a bath shelter, two swings and two odd clubs — one, presumably the lost property of Hercules or the German army, and … Continue reading
Posted in Culture: Fiction
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Pedantic Joke/Riddle
What are the two (2) ingredients in a Hirtius salad, and why do I call it that? If it helps (it probably won’t) I just had one with a can of kippered herring and some crackers.
Quotation of the Day
One of three rivals in love, from a Brazilian novel set in the 1850s: (Note: the aunt and the baroness are one and the same.) He was a young man of about twenty-five or twenty-six. His name was Jorge. He … Continue reading
Posted in - Quotations, Culture: Fiction, Ephemerides
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Unidiomatic Spam
When I see the subject-line “How to handle wild babies?”, I can’t help thinking of feral infants: an interesting concept for a horror movie, if it hasn’t already been done. (I’m not much interested in horror movies, so I wouldn’t … Continue reading
Aphorism of the Day
He sido para mí, discípulo y maestro. Y he sido un buen discípulo, pero un mal maestro. I have been my own disciple and my own master. And I have been a good disciple but a bad master. (Antonio Porchia, … Continue reading
Posted in - Aphorisms, Ephemerides
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Unusually Vain Vanity Plate
Seen on a new or nearly new Saab 9-3 convertible: SNAAB Too bad the car was an unattractive shade of green, because the pun is excellent.
Posted in Orbilius
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Paradise Lost II
Notes from my reading of Book II: 1. Again the passage that most struck me was a classicizing bit, a simile describing Satan’s journey through Chaos (943-50): As when a Gryfon through the Wilderness With winged course ore Hill or … Continue reading
Posted in Culture: Poetry, Nachleben
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Paradise Lost I
I started a new job two months ago, and now teach part-time at two different high schools. Oddly, I seem to have more spare time for reading now, partly because I have to get to work at the new school … Continue reading
Posted in Culture: Poetry, Nachleben
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Quotation of the Day
Topsius, a fictional German professor of Biblical archaeology who drinks beer with his breakfast: Socrates é a semente; Platão a flôr; Aristoteles o fructo . . . E d’esta arvore, assim completa, se tem nutrido o espirito humano! (Eça de … Continue reading
Posted in Nachleben, Philosophy
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What About Copies of Copies?
Les seules bonnes copies sont celles qui nous font voir le ridicule des méchants originaux. The only good copies are those which show up the absurdity of bad originals. (La Rochefoucauld, Maximes 133, translated by Leonard Tancock)
Posted in - Aphorisms, Ephemerides
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Most, Not All
La plupart des jeunes gens croient être naturels, lorsqu’ils ne sont que mal polis et grossiers. Most young people think they are being natural when really they are just ill-mannered and crude. (La Rochefoucauld, Maximes 372, translated by Leonard Tancock)
Posted in - Aphorisms, Ephemerides
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How to Tell It’s Time to Quit Surfing the Web and Cook Dinner
When you see a review of a book entitled Ius Latinum and think “Mmmmm . . . gravy”.
Posted in General
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Ovid’s Birthday
Publius Ovidius Naso is 2050 today. The vernal equinox seems a suitably Ovidian date. Though the specific date is (so far as I know) unknown, this year is also the 2000th anniversary of his banishment to Tomis: I wonder if … Continue reading
