Dawg blawg
Whose Dog Are You?
From a scholarly friend comes “Whose dog are you?” It seems Alexander Pope’s bitch, Bounce, whelped a number of pups, one of which he gave to the Prince of Wales in 1736 to guard his house in Kew. The poet engraved this epigram on the collar: I am his Highness’ Dog at Kew; Pray tell…
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Although I had tried to make The Writer’s Brush: Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture by Writers as comprehensive as possible, as I acknowledged in the preface, I knew that with new writer-artists appearing every day that it would be out of date as soon as it was published. Omissions were partially rectified with two large exhibitions…
Read MoreRabid Dogs of God
The ongoing post-publication additions to “You’re My Dawg, Dog: A Lexicon of Dog Terms for People.” Dogs of God An art card designer in Sarasota emailed the untrue, ostensibly humorous claim that the etymology of Dominicans (as in Friars) is Domini canes or “dogs of God.” It’s untrue because the eponymous order was founded by Saint Dominic…
Read MoreHungry Dogs in the Cellar Nip at Civil Liberties
Looking for a bedtime sedative one night last week, I found The Switch, a streamable 2010 by-the-numbers comedy. In it, a mentoring character played by Jeff Goldblum admonishes Jason Bateman’s character to stop suppressing feelings he doesn’t want to deal with. In the muck of bad writing sparkles a gem: “Beware,” he says, “hungry dogs in…
Read MoreHappiness Is a Stick Dog
The ongoing post-publication additions to You’re My Dawg, Dog: A Lexicon of Dog Terms for People, illustrated by J.C. Suarès, whose drawings graced the pages of The New Yorker, New York Times, Variety and dozens of books. Before it was a primitive drawing of a canine (also several book titles, manufactured treats, a website design company, and god knows what…
Read MoreDoggone It! Author of Dog Term Lexicon Is Dogged by The Ones That Got Away
We’ve all had those head-thumping moments—coming up with the crushing argument when our adversary’s long gone, remembering the ingredient left out of the casserole, the part that should have been done or installed before the part just finished with. Many such omissions are fixable, even if at some cost or inconvenience. But imagine writing a…
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