Sunday Sundries, 178

1. AOTW: No one specific example this week--but just an annoyance that's been building. To all motorists out there who do not want to win the AOTW Award (so coveted, so eagerly sought): In your lane? Near a stoplight? That broad white line painted completely across your lane means STOP HERE, AOTW! There's a reason that line is there!

2. Via Kindle I finished just one book this week (not counting the weekly book I do for Kirkus Reviews): the latest mystery by Colin Harrison (1960-), You Belong to Me (2017). I can't remember when/why I started reading Harrison's books (they number about 10 now), but I'm glad I did. Intelligent and wry, exciting at times. Puzzles that are fun to try to solve.

This recent one involves a NYC lawyer named Paul, a guy who loves old maps of Manhattan, and one subplot (that ends up not being so sub-) involves his attempts to acquire a very valuable one. Then--the murder-n-stuff. A good woman is married to a bad guy. She's also involved with a former lover. The husband, very jealous, finds out, and ...  The stories eventually intersect.

Try some Harrison--I think you'll like/love it.

3. Still streaming a bit each night of "our" shows: Line of Duty, Vera, Doc Martin. Also enjoying (for more that just the first time) the comedy of John Mulaney, whose specials (just two, I think) are on Netflix.

I see he's doing a couple of shows in Cleveland mid-month ... might have to check him out!

4. I usually bake sourdough bread on Sundays, but ... this week was a little ... different ... so I just fed the starter today (see pic of my starter, which will turn 32 years old this August!); I'll use it for waffle batter later in the week.

5. Last Word: a word that piqued my curiosity this week ...

Joyce and I were laughing about each other's quirks the other day, and I stopped to wonder (nerd that I am) where quirk came from. And guess what? No one's too sure. But it dates back to the mid-sixteenth century--1565, the year after Shakespeare was born. Here's the Webster's def. Oh, and I just checked my Shakespeare concordance, and I see he used it about a half-dozen times--not usually in the sense that we do. But here's one--that speech in Much Ado about Nothing when Benedick is fooled into thinking Beatrice loves him--and he is talking to the audience about how this will look because he has so long laughed at marriage (2.3):

Benedick: I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have rail’d so long against marriage; but doth not the appetite alter? A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. 

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quirk noun \ˈkwərk\

plural -s

1 :  a triangular shaped area: such as

a (1) dialectal, England :  a hosiery clock (2) :  a small gusset set in at the base of a thumb or the fingers of a glove

b :  a diamond-shaped windowpane

2 :  an abrupt turn, twist, or curve or other deviation from a regular course or pattern :  bend, crook: such as

a (1) :  a turn of a pen in writing :  flourish (2) obsolete :  a sudden whimsical turn or phrase in music

b (1) :  a clever retort :  conceit, quip (2) :  a clever or cunning evasion :  subterfuge, quibble

c :  a peculiarity of action, behavior, or bearing :  mannerism

3 obsolete :  a sudden fit :  short paroxysm

4 a :  a small channel or groove separating a bead or other molding from the adjoining members — see quirk molding

b :  the bead or fillet of a grooving plane in woodworking

origin unknown

First Known Use: 1565