Archive for the ‘Death and dying’ Category

Funeral flowers for Mr. Shimmer

May 2, 2026

In this cartoon from the latest (5/4/26) New Yorker, Ms. Duck and Ms. Rabbit mourn their versatile paramour, Mr. Shimmer the duck-rabbit (or rabbit-duck); see my 8/24/25 posting “Shimmer is both a floor wax AND a dessert topping”, and reflect on versatile gay men, who are bottoms or tops, depending on how you approach them:


(#1) The widows weep for their bi-stable beloved; meanwhile, the famous illusion that lies at the very center of their world turns out to be a lifelong preoccupation of the cartoonist

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Posted in Ambiguity, Cartoonists, Death and dying, Illusions, Language and animals, Language and religion, Linguistics in the comics, Parody, Perception, Work | Leave a Comment »

On this day in history

April 29, 2026

On this day (penultimate April) in history, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train arrived in Cleveland OH, following his assassination on 4/14/1865. As described by Tim Evanson on FB today:

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Posted in Death and dying, Events and occasions, Poetic form, Poetry | Leave a Comment »

Z number

April 10, 2026

E-mail from Ellen Kaisse this morning:

I don’t know how I failed to learn this for 60 years or so but Purcell’s cataloguer is a Z person, Franklin Zimmerman. You probably have known forever, but thought I’d mention it just in case. How can someone who died so young have 860 Z numbers? And probably most are glorious.

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Posted in Abbreviation, Death and dying, Figurative language, Music, Names | Leave a Comment »

Singing about death

March 9, 2026

On 3/7 (on this blog) I posted “The travails of etymology”, about the sources of some phrasal verbs meaning ‘to die’. Which elicited from Troy Anderson friendly but anxious e-mail on 3/8:

dai s’la (hello friend/cousin, in Miluk),

Your last post on Facebook makes me think you’re thinking you’re about done? I’m sad we haven’t kept the conversation going.

Know I’m here rooting for you.

(The reference to the language Miluk will get clarified eventually, when I tell you more about TA.)

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Posted in Death and dying, Etymology, Etymythology, Humor, Language and religion, Lexicography, Music, My life, Poetry | Leave a Comment »