In Plain Engel-ish

Having realized that my last two essays dealt with my cousin’s survival at Auschwitz and my dad’s eating grass in war-torn Hungary, I thought a little levity might be a nice springtime diversion.  We English teachers don’t always have it easy at social occasions (remember those?). After we’re introduced at a party, asked what our profession is, and plead guilty to teaching English, all too often the response is: “Oh, dear, I'd better watch my grammar.” Oh, dear, indeed—is that our reputation with the general public: punctuation police? Syntax sentinels? I have an orthopedist friend who complains that people at parties are always...

As with most of you, exactly one year ago I started worrying that this bizarre “lockdown thing” might last one or maybe even — gasp! — two months, so I said to myself: “Self, you need to make a list of Netflix movies to watch in order to help get you through these awful few weeks.” I immediately knew which movie I would put at the top of my list: the only great movie with the word “list” in its title — Schindler’s List. I believe that Charles Dickens would have been such a champion of this movie. Dickens’ heart would have especially ached for the...

Though I open this essay by giving you the Dickens, you will find my subject matter is quite a bit more broad. It won’t surprise you to learn that Charles Dickens has been called the greatest descriptive artist in the history of the novel. But he did have one whopping deficiency. He was at a loss when it came to describing most plants and flowers. We are told that his favorite flower was the geranium, and it has thus become the cheery symbol for the World Dickens Fellowship today.  But probably it was his favorite because it was one of...

The Covid pandemic has caused disruptions and heartaches in so many professions, with teaching certainly near the top of the list. As a proud member of this noble calling for exactly fifty years, I wanted to express my appreciation for all the Great Teachers who inspired me to join their ranks. I see that we do have a National Teacher Appreciation Day, but it’s “the Tuesday of the first full week in May.” Really? Why pick an anonymous Tuesday and why not at least hold it on the same date every year? It seems like some dumb committee picked an...

When you read this column, you might still be suffering from H.O.S. (Holiday Overload Syndrome). Not only did we recently stagger through such a strange Christmas, Chanukah, and New Year’s, but we are now firmly wedged between Martin Luther King Day and Valentine's-President’s Day.     I think that a glance at the holidays we Americans do celebrate each year might tell us quite a lot about our values as a nation. If we eliminate religious holidays, since they exclude those not of a certain faith, and eliminate the Birthdays (Lincoln, Washington, King), since they celebrate a life rather than an...