The four seasons

This column is not about the famous singing quartet featuring Frankie Valli, nor is it about the international chain of fine hotels. Today I’d like to tackle when to capitalize seasons. What can I say? I’m on a caps kick lately.

Lame gifts are the best

A s I got ready for the stock show Monday morning I found myself grateful for two gifts that I would’ve hated as a kid: a jacket and thick boots. The local weather is always courteous enough to drop about 40-60 degrees when the stock show arrives so the extra insulation was welcome.

A lesson in parts, in two parts

Today’s linguistic lesson is a two-parter. Well, if you really want to get into it, it could potentially be several parts. And, when I say “parts”, I mean body parts. I can talk your earlobes off about body parts. I want to specifically introduce you to the term “anatonym.

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor: During the ‘make America great’ campaign, Mr. Obama asked an interesting question- “When was America great?” Now I am not a fan of Mr. Obama and did not vote for him. Some people may have wondered where he got the idea that America was not great. He may have gotten it from the Bible.

Corrections and a Case of the Hum Bugs

I come to you today as an editor with a hat in hand. In the spirit of owning the error, I wanted to start this column off by admitting several misprints and errors I found after printing the Dec. 23 issue.

Starting a new year with neologisms

It’s time to celebrate a new year. Good riddance to 2021, which seemed like a regurgitated, tired sequel of 2020. Here’s hoping 2022 won’t be 2020, too. We’re all ready for a new year. What better way to bid adieu to the old and usher in the new but with new words! I’m talking about neologisms.

A weasel by any other word

As a child, I assumed lava would play a bigger part in my life than it has. Yet I haven’t seen lava in person once. I feel like I overprepared myself for lava and underprepared myself for scheduling a dentist appointment.

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor: I enjoyed your recent Museum Matters column by Ben Pate about the history of the old Bunyan Community. My grandparents (E.C. Shillingburg and Myrtle Williams Shillingburg) were raised on farms at Bunyan and attended school there.

Don’t get upsot by these vintage Christmas terms

It’s that time of year when we tune into the local Christmas station on the radio. After a five-minute commercial block, you hear some pop star oversing a traditional, public domain holiday song. This type of Christmas album is, as Lucy Van Pelt tells Charlie Brown, “a big commercial racket.

Why it’s A-OK to write ‘Xmas’

Some phrases get people’s stockings in a twist during the holiday season. Today I’m not going to beat around the holly bush — I’m jumping right down the chimney to address these Christmas controversies. Do you throw up your dukes when you hear someone wish you “Happy Holidays?