Why I wish I was a humanities major

I just heard Robert Fisk use the word "palatinate." Then I had to look it up. I wish I had more $10 words sitting in my vocabulary.

Sometimes, why something won't work is more easily explained by stepping back and using common sense and English, than by pushing oneself through a day's worth of grunt-work.

Lilies do look like open maws, each petal a speckled tongue. Or, more sensually,

"... glory
of the open throat, white,
spotted with crimson."

"Vespers" Louise Gluck