"Why do they [write] for their money? Why do they [work] for short pay? They ain't getting nowhere and they're losing their share. They must have gone crazy back there." — Michael Burton (paraphrased)
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, February 2, 2019, 1:49 p.m. I just checked the TV listings and see that PBR Bull Riding is on from Oklahoma City. Now, PBR stands for Professional Bull Riders, so what the message on TV indicates is that what is on is Professional Bull Riders Bull Riding. What a surprise that …
Continue reading They’re Only Words, and Words Are All I Have …
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, April 25, 2018, 10:01 a.m. I drove past a message board that read: FREE BLOOD PRESSURE! If your blood is running low, they’ll pump it right up. A government office has a sticker in the window of the front door. NO CONCEALABLE WEAPONS Forget about hiding a derringer in your boot, …
Continue reading It’s Only Words, and Words Are All I Have …
Political correctness. It's nothing new. It's why you walk into a convenience store and ask the lady at the register where the restrooms are. Restrooms, huh? It's why a prison is part of the Department of Corrections. Not prisons. Corrections. The War Between the States was politically correct. Not the war. It was awful. The …
Motorsports and American Culture: From Demolition Derbies to NASCAR, Edited Mark D. Howell and John D. Miller (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield) I’d never heard of this book until a copy of it was given me by my friend John Edwin Mason, who, in addition to teaching African history and the history of photography at …
I grew up with Granddaddy Dutton and Papa Davis, and Granny Dutton and Mama Davis. It was always Daddy, never Dad. Mommy was replaced by Mom at puberty. Succeeding generations have added such innovations as Pawpaw, Meemaw, and Mawmaw. I’m sure they existed somewhere, but not around here. Meemaw. It’s a modern term, at least …
I was in the kitchen when I heard Anthony Mason, on CBS This Morning, say a music group played “vibronic pop.” I thought, why isn’t it “vibratic”? I understand why it might be “symphonic.” But neither music nor anything else “vibrons.” It vibrates. The reason words often don’t make sense is that they are usually …
Nightrider's Lament 