I asked why would someone name their daughter Chastity? Wouldn’t that lead to jokes as she grew up? Would anyone name their daughter Promiscuous? The daughter looked at me intently and said, “Some people are named Randy.”

I heard the President speak against gun-free zones. Does that mean that people can bring handguns and semi-automatic rifles with bump stocks into the White House?

Isn’t it un-American to be all excited about a British royal wedding? Why is it that friends who mock those who follow the Kardashians spend a lot of time learning about the royals?

“Fathers have become sympathetic, and kiss their grown sons when they feel like it, and who knows what oversensitive is, considering all there is to be sensitive to.” William Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow.

The spouse says that she can’t get into Frank Sinatra because she can’t sing along with him. Even so, she is enthralled by Ella Fitzgerald.

A friend who grew up in Oklahoma told me that at every high school football game and other sporting events he attended growing up, the crowd, after the Star-Spangled Banner, sang the showtune Oklahoma. I wonder if all this singing of a Broadway song is the reason why so many gay people come from Oklahoma.

I was heading to the escalator at a local Target. A man carrying more stuff than I offered to let me go first, but I insisted that he proceed.  When I got to the escalator with him in front, I realized that the escalator was not functioning.  I said to him, “But I expected you to get it to work.”  He immediately replied, “That’s just what my wife says.”

“In [her] worldview, it seems that one has the police to protect one’s property, Rush Limbaugh to protect one’s pride, and God to take care of the rest.” Arlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right.

When I first learned to type, I was told to leave two spaces after a period. Then with computers, I learned that it was now proper to leave only one space at the end of a sentence. I have tried to adopt that new style and usually, but not always, succeed.  But in the last month I have seen reports of a study that has concluded that it is better for readers if there are two spaces. Now I am just confused.