Thank goodness I made no New Year’s resolution to curtail my book acquisitions. This is half of today’s intake.

Who Was Oskar Stoessel?

My interview with Chtistopher Scalia—about my latest book: open.spotify.com/episode/3UhN...

My pronouns? Nominative in the subject position, and accusative as an object.

What a pleasant surprise in today’s mail. It’s the fifth of my books to be translated into an Asian language.

My intern just put this 1975 book in the “Gender Studies” category. Actually, though, Walker Percy just meant “odd” with his use of “queer.”

“We’re not a king. We’re not a king at all.” So said President Trump today, using the royal “we.”
#trump #KingTrump

I’m rearranging my “Books by Friends” category and have decided that Judge Posner is definitely in. We had our tussle in The New Republic in 2012, but our last interaction was quite genial. And in 2005 and 2006 he signed books to me “with affection.” He’s a friend.

Happy birthday!

The common misuse of PERUSE is certainly there! Page 822 of Garner’s Modern English Usage (upper left here). Cheers.

What a wonderful transformation we’ve seen since the 1940s. Today such a depiction would show women as about half the group, and a substantial number of minorities. All such scenes as this are hopelessly dated.

Thought for the day—from Leon Green writing in 1941.

Confucius in 5th century BCE. Still relevant?

Opening paragraph of a 1919 book on the presidency.

Thank you, Target, for getting it right.

If you were a lexicographer, how would you define A LOT as used in this sentence (said to me by a friend): “I saw my in-laws over the holidays. It was just, believe me, A LOT.” Another person in the conversation nodded knowingly. So what is the lexical content of “a lot.”

Here’s sending out good wishes—and only good wishes—on this good day.

If you want to know more about the Trump approach to presidential transitions—and why it’s so dangerous—you should read Michael Lewis’s superb book The Fifth Risk. It details what happened in the 2016–2017 Obama–Trump transition. Worth reading now. @michaellewis65.bsky.social

It was 114 years ago yesterday that my grandfather, Meade F. Griffin, received this book as a Christmas present. He was 16. He went on to a distinguished career as a lawyer and judge. He died a few months before my 16th. I treasure the books bearing his ownership signature. #books #bibliophily

My GMEU entry on the name Santa Claus and its history. Merry Christmas.

Celebrating Christmas by signing up for Bluesky Social. I’m told I’ll find this platform much more satisfying than the Former App.