Now I'm deep into Vanity Fair, which is terribly good, and my mailed-books-from-the-library asterickal experiment has borne fruit, so now I have riches beyond the dreams of avarice -- well, anyway, I have books for the forseeable future :-)

A short time ago I was listening to the radio in the car, as usual, and some fellow -- honestly, I wasn't listening until this point -- said ""Iddles' of the King." My god. Shot me right back to my childhood when my brother made fun of everything by mispronouncing the words. THAT was one of the things he said to be funny. And we were tykes at the time -- I remember having a little book when I was 4 or 5 that had the name "Belle" for a character. Steven would always say "Belly," and we'd scream and scream, "BELLE." And "Step Hen" for that other spelling of Steven, and "iddles" for "idylls." I can't remember a thing about the radio program, so I hope it was meant to be funny.

Once I heard a radio person say, "The house was gutted on the inside."

Once I heard a different radio person say (about the trial of Bob Satiacum), "The trial proceeded in the absence of his presence."