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May 25, 2012
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Erika Bolstad: Temple cancels Wasserman Schultz speech
The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman: The former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with contemporary Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
May 24, 2012
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May 23, 2012
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May 22, 2012
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Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
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May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
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Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
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The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
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The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
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Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
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Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
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Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
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The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
April 11, 2011
/ 7 Nissan, 5771
Where It's At
By
Paul Greenberg
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Dear Reader,
It was wholly a pleasure to receive your complaint about a headline over one of our stories in the Sports section the other day. The story was about Mike Anderson's early hesitation to come back from Missouri to coach men's basketball at the University of Arkansas, and the headline read:
Happy
where
he's at
"I realize that English evolves," you write, "but I still think this is wrong. Do you agree?"
Short answer: No.
The long answer comes in the form of a story I bet every kid from the South who's gone off to an Ivy League school has heard or told, probably both:
A new freshman from Arkansas is walking across Harvard Yard on his first day on campus.
"Excuse me," he asks an upper classman, "would you tell me where the library's at?"
The Harvard student, peering down his nose, replies: "Here at Harvard, we do not end sentences with a preposition."
"Oh," the kid from Arkansas says. "In that case, would you tell me where the library's at, jerk?"
I've cleaned up the punch line slightly for a family newspaper, but Gentle Reader will get the point.
If my answer-and-story isn't sufficiently definitive to settle the ever disputable question of whether to end a sentence with a preposition, here is the late great David Foster Wallace on the subject, carrying on in his ever-cataloguing, always dancing, sometimes maddening, regularly overwrought, and often enough obscure, wound-up and boring-beyond-words way, including those multisyllabic ones he dropped everywhere in the course of making a case.
What a ride through the American language he offered. He was a one-man verbal pyrotechnic.
Here is the crux of his comments on the fabled Avoid Terminal Prepositions rule. which really isn't one.
" ...First off, the Avoid Terminal Prepositions rule is the invention of one Fr. R. Lowth, an 18th-century British preacher and indurate pedant who did things like spend scores of pages arguing for hath over the trendy and degenerate has. The ATP rule is antiquated and stupid and only the most ayatolloid Snoot takes it seriously." (Snoot was his family's nickname for fanatics about proper English usage.)
"...Plus the apparent redundancy of 'Where's it at?' is offset by its metrical logic. What the at really does is license the contraction of is after the interrogative adverb. You can't say 'Where's it?' So the choice is between 'Where is it?' and 'Where's it at?' and the latter, a strong anapest, is prettier and trips off the tongue better than 'Where is it?' "
For me, the more rural Southern as well as Midwestern "Where's it at?" is preferable simply on the basis of euphony. It's got rhythm, it's got music, it's got the punch of punctuation at the end with that final at. Who could ask for anything more? You heard me what I said -- a phrase that beats the pallid alternative, "You heard what I said," all to heck.
I would trust the ear rather than eye in these matters. When in doubt, go for the phrase that rolls trippingly off the tongue. Speak the speech, I pray you, that sounds more like home -- and Shakespeare, too. Which is no mean combination for a fancier of the language.
Just remember it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing, 'cause that's where it's at. Which sounds so much better to me than "That's where it is." Surely that impeccable linguist Louis Armstrong would agree.
Maybe my Southern origins are showing, but I've never had reason to hide them -- or my preference for the musical over the pedantic. Language, among other criteria, should not only communicate but sing and zing, not just explicate but exhilarate. (Snap your fingers at this point.)
What else can I say except be of good cheer? Which is not a bad guide to language -- or life.
Inky Wretch
Paul Greenberg Archives
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