Join Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Jack Fowler to explore university culture leading our tech world, thoughts on DEI admissions and their consequences, and the history of and resurgence of paganism.
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Join Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Jack Fowler to explore university culture leading our tech world, thoughts on DEI admissions and their consequences, and the history of and resurgence of paganism.
There are two things that I have an almost superstitious adherence to.
The first is if I see a penny lying on the ground, I stop and pick it up. (In the back of my mind I think that to ignore it, I am in effect saying that I now so jaded in life, that such little things no longer matter. As someone who believes in karma, I feel I am asking for a comeuppance if dismiss the penny as not worth my time and effort it takes to bend over and retrieve it.)
The other adherence I have is looking up words I do not know. A couple of years after graduation from Fresno State (FSC as it was called then) in the late ’60’s, I decided there were far too many words that I did not know, and I needed to improve my vocabulary. I would carry a little pocket note book, listing unfamiliar words I came across along with their pronunciations and definitions I recorded. I would review the list periodically.
A person that I worked with had a similar interest. So, we played a little game trying to word stump the other. We would work our vocabulary words into our conversations and if the other person did not know it he had to confess.
When reading a physical book I will place a period in the margin if there was a word that I want to later look up in the dictionary.
So yes, Victor, when I come across your mystery words on my computer, I always highlight them, and instantly look them up. Sometimes I forget a meaning, and that’s all the more reason to do it again.
….Continue in subsequent post.
…Continued from previous post…
It is interesting what you said about over doing it, though, with esoteric words. I use to enjoy listening to the comments of George Will forty years, or so, years ago on this “Week With David Brinkley”. I loved his insights in those days. So, for a while I would also read his columns.
But It became too much effort for me, because I found he over did it with his obscure choice in words. To me it smacked of pretentiousness. So, I stopped reading what he wrote.
Sam Donaldson was also a contributor on that show. I can’t tell you how many letters I wrote to Brinkley (he replied to none) asking him to drop Donaldson. I found his insights in no greater depth than if I took up conversation with some regular at a neighborhood beer joint.
Typing this post, brings the great Thomas Sowell to mind. The genius of him, expressed in both his spoken and written word, was his facial simplicity of expressing complex things.
I love this man.
auto correct did me in:
…facil simplicity… was what I intended.
Interesting discussion about paganism and it’s explosive growth in society. People who call themselves pagan have fled from organized religions, seeking “better” answers elsewhere. They glorify themselves by worshiping whatever they want. They often loathe cultural traditions, not wanting any boundaries or restrictions. This seems to go along with woke ideology. Thank you for a great podcast.
For a quick, readable introduction to contemporary Paganism and Witchcraft, see Pam Grossman’s “Waking the Witch”.