I have a Word document saved to my computer called “Thoughts and Questions.” Now, I haven’t updated the file in quite some time, but over the years, when I remembered, I would periodically add a lingering (or fleeting) curiosity to the list of unknowns. Some of the questions have been answered (to #5, my family responded: “Well, of course they use wooden bats in the Major Leagues! That’s all they use!”… shows you how much I know about sports!); some questions need only a quick Googling to be resolved; some questions may require a lifetime of wondering; and some aren’t even questions at all. (And some make no sense: cf. #49.) Of course, these aren’t all the things I wonder about. But in case you wanted a partial glimpse into my thoughts (ay, God be with you, good fellow!)… anon, here is the list:
- compassion as the heart of religion?
- origin of lion head as popular installment on fountains
- compatibility of innocence and intelligence
- spelling trends matched with advent of personal computer
- Are wooden bats permitted today in the Major Leagues?
- origin of the term “devil strip”
- How did “The Entertainer” come to be known as the Ice Cream Truck Song?
- If a fireplace is lit, why do the surrounding rooms grow cold?
- Why does the brain like familiarity (as in music)?
- Why is there a patch of solid-white flowers among the dappled leaves of the plant in our side yard?
- How does reading books stimulate the mind?
- Is a poor diet making me feel nothing toward life?
- how to prevent varicose veins
- Is “beach” restricted to the area abutting seas, oceans, and lakes?
- sea vs. ocean
- What is the relative merit of not acting on negative impulses (versus not having them at all)?
- Do plants respond to conversation?
- origins of the term “peewee”
- If the Jewish people are considered the Chosen People, what of those who convert to Judaism, not being born into it?
- music as a totally metaphorical language
- living without confrontation in a noisy society?
- “popular introvert”
- Do narcissists cry, genuinely, for other people? How great is their self-loathing?
- Is anger necessarily directed, to distinguish it from other emotions?
- moral compass vs. ethical principles
- Is self-pity nauseating, as George Steiner’s mother believed?
- hope vs. optimism
- What would a breakdown of the religious affiliation of judges and magistrates look like?
- How much time does the average American adolescent/adult spend reading in a day?
- Acting inauthentically is self-destructive. (derived from Rousseau)
- “Act well your part; there all the honor lies.” (Pope)
- Association begets assimilation?
- purge me with hyssop
- “It’s better to burn out than fade away”? (Neil Young)
- Does brightness of the eyes signal intelligence in a person?
- The work of the writer is similar to that of the lighthouse keeper, in terms of the extreme solitude that characterizes both.
- To say the thing aloud brings it into existence.
- fairness vs. justice
- Concept imagery is the ability to visualize the whole or gestalt and this type of ability is related to reading comprehension.
- Students cannot self-correct unless they can perceive. / You cannot think about something unless it comes to conscious attention.
- What do you picture? (Not What do you think?)
- poem read silently vs. poem read aloud // sheet music vs. musical performance
- The map does not equal the territory.
- going vs. coming: e.g., “How’s the studying going?” vs. “How’s the studying coming?”
- Seriousness does not preclude enjoyment.
- moral utility of fiction
- “ravage of” vs. “ravaging of” (question of what is ravaging, what is being ravaged)
- Msgr.: Monsignor / Messenger
- The sound made upon opening a can of soda is not unlike the sound of a kiss.
- “I am a goat-person.”
- Grammar of a sentence like: “I took the umbrella in case it were/was to rain.”