Webster's New World Dictionary (Third College Edition, 1986) defines "commonplace book" as "a book in which extracts, poems, aphorisms, etc. are copied down for future reference, often together with one's ideas and reflections." As a college student back in the mid-70's, I learned about this concept from a wonderful teacher whom I shall never forget, Mr. William P. Tuck. The idea was to become a more thoughtful reader and a better writer by contemplating and taking down these passages (the cognitive combined with the kinesthetic). In an assignment for another class, I had to turn in 100 favorite sentences culled from 900 pages of assigned reading. Fortunately, they were returned; I still take pleasure in reading them.
Today, perhaps as a result of those exercises, I still find myself searching for these verbal gems in my reading. The perfectly-turned phrase... the profound statement that suddenly makes clear something one has always needed to know... beautiful images evoked so subtly that one is transported before realizing it... even the occasional malapropism or absurdity... these are what I seek.
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Collected Maxims
Gleanings from The Last Unicorn (Peter S. Beagle)
Gleanings from Shadow Song (Terry Kay)
Gleanings from Jitterbug Perfume (Tom Robbins)
Gleanings from The River in Winter (David Small)
Collected Malapropisms
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Collected Maxims
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~Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
~Theodore Roosevelt
Gleanings from The Last Unicorn (Peter S. Beagle)
Go back to beginning
Gleanings from Shadow Song (Terry Kay)
Go back to beginning
Gleanings from Jitterbug Perfume (Tom Robbins)
Go back to beginning.
Gleanings from The River in Winter (David Small)
Collected Malapropisms
As a linguaphile, one of the ways that I entertain myself is by collecting malapropisms. Here are some (complete with "daffynitions") that I have heard first-hand or picked up second-hand from friends. (Example sentences have been changed to protect the innocent...but retain the flavor of the actual usage.) Hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
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