Archive for the ‘Language and food’ Category
September 13, 2026
Arriving a bit after the day itself (9/6), a big (two 8 x 12 panels) greeting attached to the handle to the front door of my apartment. Signed by many of the other residents at Avant. None of whom I have met by name (though we might have exchanged friendly hellos in the elevator). But a sweet gesture towards someone who sticks out as wildly different from the rest — gay spice, as one of the staff calls it.
I’ve mounted it temporarily with artist’s tape on the open door of the linen closet, so I can see it from the worktable where I labor with computer.
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Posted in Clothing, Events and occasions, Language and food, My life | Leave a Comment »
September 2, 2026
From the annals of mishearing (a continuing series)
Caught in tv commentary this morning, what I heard as an alert about cell farming. Cell farming — the production of cultivated meat — is a real, though still very fringe, thing; the meat-simulacrum is expensive to produce, and many people are deeply wary of it. But there it is.
Then a visual flashed by — of a wrist scored by cuts — and it became clear that the warning was about self-harming.
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Posted in Errors, Language and food, Lexical semantics, Mishearings, Phonetics | Leave a Comment »
September 1, 2026
(bodily unpleasantness, much of it in street language, so likely to be offensive to many readers)
🐅 🐅 🐅 tiger tiger tiger for terminal August; send in the rabbits of September, and we can marvel (with Stephen Sondheim) Isn’t it rich? / Isn’t it queer? — that we should come to this time of the year
Yes, this is getting out a day late, but I have an excuse. It’s both painful to hear about — involving 12 hours of excruciating pain for me — and deeply revolting — well, literally shitty — so I’m having trouble framing the story for you. Then, as a kind of ghastly sideshow, various pieces of essential software (Facebook is mostly to blame) simply stopped working as they should, making it impossible for me to make my blog postings available through FB. All together, giving the Lost Blogging Day of 8/31.
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Posted in Events and occasions, Language and food, Language and medicine, Language and the body, My life, Stories | Leave a Comment »
August 23, 2026
Today’s foodmanteau — the hybrid food’s my very own, composed yesterday (8/22) to be served for the first time today — is
biryanestrone = biryani + minestrone
The elements: (1) from the Hyderabad Dum Biryani in Mountain View CA, lamb keema biryani plus paneer (spicy fried cheese cubes); (2) from the Menlo Park Safeway store, Signature brand minestrone soup.
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Posted in Language and food, Language and medicine, My life, Portmanteaus, Taste | 1 Comment »
August 23, 2026
From my deodorant history, in my 8/19 posting “Two favorite movies”:
I cut the dosage, found less aggressive deodorants, discovered that sandalwood suits my body chemistry. Most important, I stopped pumping out pheromones like a stag in rut. It got better. Ever since, I’ve been giving off essence of locker room, with (currently) a very light coconut and vanilla deodorant to moderate it some; you can now say fairly that my armpits smell delicious. )
Specifically, Native brand coconut and vanilla deodorant, in a tube that has just come to the end of its life and been replaced by the cucumber and mint flavor. And I have reordered a trio of three flavors — these two plus lavender and rose. They’re all subtle, non-irritant, and long-lasting. I’m a fan.
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Posted in Death and dying, Language and food, Language and the body, My life, Smell, Taste | Leave a Comment »
August 21, 2026
The gratifying increased sharpness of my senses of smell and taste continues to enhance my life (it’s presumably a gift of the increased prednisone dosage). Leading me yesterday to create a stunningly rich-tasting casserole out of simple leftovers from a local Nick the Greek outlet (I don’t actually cook, but instead microwave new dishes — tending towards the soup and stew zone — using leftovers from restaurant take-out). The gyro casserole.
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Posted in Language and food, My life | Leave a Comment »
August 20, 2026
(Lots about bodily fluids, up close and personal, and the male body, a lot of it in street talk, so inadvisable for kids and the sexually modest)
Another little posting that might — like “Struggling Actor” earlier today — go far. But it starts with recollections of pomanders from my childhood, sparking my interest in getting some for my Avant apartment. Why should I want to do this? (aside from sentimentality), you ask; I will explain. It’s all about the whizz.
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Posted in Death and dying, Language and food, Language and medicine, Language and plants, Language and the body, Language of sex, My life | Leave a Comment »
