In Plain Engel-ish

Clergymen have been called “men of the cloth” since 1600. The term was originally coined because their ceremonial robes were made of distinctive and very expensive wool and silk cloth. It wasn’t until 1865 that the church decided their clergy needed a more specific sartorial statement. In that year, Presbyterian Reverend Donald McLeod in Glasgow, Scotland, invented the clerical collar — a stiff, white collar with no opening in the front. It was quickly adopted by all Protestant and Catholic clergy. By 1900, even some rabbis in England were wearing collars. Not all clergy were enthralled with it. Many called...

PLEASE, SIR, I’D LIKE S’MORES Thanks to the Biblical baby Moses, I learned as a child that bulrushes could be found in marshes. I had also seen beautiful water lilies growing there, with their pretty leaves spread on the surface. I learned in elementary school science class that muskrats, badgers, and frogs were plentiful in marshes. Thus, I had thought of marshes as rather cozy bodies of water, where Kermit might like to nestle with his banjo when he sang “It’s Not Easy Being Green” or “The Rainbow Connection”. What a surprise it was to learn on our first family...

What do I want to write about first in this essay? I don’t know what. Let me rephrase that. What I want to write about is: “je ne sais quois” (ZHEH-neh-say-kwah) — the fabulous French phrase meaning “I don’t know what”. Let me explain why a phrase that means “I don’t know what” is actually saying that you DO know what — but you just can't find the words. We all have relatives and friends whom we are crazy about, and we know exactly why. Perhaps it is their kindness, their sense of humor, their good deeds, or maybe their...

My childhood certainly wasn’t a non-stop joyride. Yet countless joys were ridden and relished, especially during those years between about age six and eleven when we are old enough to express our joys excitedly but young enough not to worry that too much enthusiasm might be viewed by our peers as babyish, with no sense of detached cool. I still remember my first realization that, concerning my classmates, I was not the adorable paragon that I seemed to be within my family. We were all on the playground at Delaware Trails Elementary School when a couple of boys ran by...

I enjoy idioms: phrases whose meaning is not obvious when taken at face value. For example, you could spend hours puzzling over why “raining cats and dogs” means “raining heavily”, but in hopes of ever figuring it out, you’d still be all wet. Likewise, don’t waste your time on the famous gun-related idiom — just give up and “bite the bullet”.  I suppose I should blame one of my least favorite idioms on the Greeks. Well, not the entire population, just those living in Corinth. And only those living there 2,000 years ago, when Saint Paul came a-calling. For it...