DALLAS Moments before President John F. Kennedy’s limousine reached the Texas School Book Depository on that November afternoon four decades ago, Nellie Connally turned to Kennedy and remarked, “No one can say Dallas doesn’t love and respect you, Mr. President.”“You sure can’t,” he said.The first shot sounded like a firecracker. The next two were unmistakably […]

Kennedy was younger, more vibrant and more irreverent than the gray-haired figures dominant in public life. It was a bright, mild late November day when the stunning news reached Washington.Forty years later, I can still recall my sense of shock as I recognized that the frantic words coming out of my bedroom radio told of […]

Q Can you tell me the origin of the word “hoosegow,” meaning “jail”? Does it come from German? – B. K., Greenbelt, Md. A: “Hoosegow” actually comes from the Spanish word “juzgado.” In Spanish, the letter “j” is pronounced like the English letter “h.” “Juzgado” literally translates to “court” or “tribunal” and is the past […]

WASHINGTON – Here’s how Maine’s members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes in the week ending Nov. 21. HOUSE Energy policy Voting 246 for and 180 against, the House on Nov. 18 approved the conference report on a package of tax breaks, regulatory relief and other policy changes designed to increase domestic […]

Kids have been very much on my mind lately, and with good reason. My eighth grandchild has arrived. Her name is Lily.She also will be a reminder of the miracle that is embedded in the physiology of our lives. She will bring great joy to her parents, and, in time, to her brother, not to […]

Use of a possessive gerund or a plain participle often a matter of emphasis. “I can’t object to your whistling,” said my sister, “as long as you don’t complain of me humming.”Today’s topic, you will have correctly surmised, is the Gerundicus Strabismicus, popularly known as the cross-eyed participle or gerund with possessive. The species has […]

Remarks attributed to the former president have no basis in fact. The TV miniseries about Ronald Reagan attributes two devastating lines to the former president, according to leaked reports. They are: “I am the Antichrist” and “They that live in sin shall die in sin,” which is presented as Reagan’s smug dismissal of homosexuals who […]

They were just short phrases in a newspaper commentary, but they expressed a view that’s often bandied about in fights over federal judicial nominees, particularly those of President Bush.And they are such fictions.Take, for instance, the claim that “conservative” judges “believe what the Constitution says, not what judges think it should mean.”No offense to the […]

Q Where did the expression “take it on the lam” originate? – C.L., South Orange, N.J. A: “Take it on the lam,” meaning “to run away,” originated as criminal and underworld slang before the turn of the 20th century. This passage, written in 1904, gives some of its original flavor: “He plugged the main guy […]

Despite hundreds of years of research, those nasty cold germs live on. Winter’s here, and you feel lousy: You’re coughing and sneezing; your muscles ache; your nose is an active mucus volcano. These symptoms – so familiar at this time of year – can mean only one thing: tiny fanged snails are eating your brain.No, […]