I was watching a television show recently when a character referred to a “murder of crows.” That is the archaic term for what most folks would call a flock. I decided to research the origin of the term, which dates back to the 15th century, according to a word ancestry site. Originally, it was murther of crowes, the former being the middle English term that evolved into murder. Why a group of black-feathered scavengers came to be know by this homicidal appellation is less clear. The most-likely theory revolves around the eating habits of crows, which would often swoop down upon a corpse-strewn...
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It is late August, and the Boston Red Sox are leading the American League Eastern Division. My hopes are rising. I can’t help it. It is in my DNA.
Three weeks ago, we sat five rows behind home plate at the shrine — Fenway Park — thanks to my generous Beautiful Mystery Companion, who bought us premium seats as an early birthday present. “If we’re going to Fenway, we might as well sit close,” she said. I like the way she thinks. We were close enough to see the sweat on the home plate umpire’s brow when he removed his mask. The umpire was a large man loaded down with protective...
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“Any fool can make a fortune; it takes a man of brains to hold onto it.”
“Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND — CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s great-grandfather lived large, mostly because Cornelius Vanderbilt the First built an empire centered on steamships and steam engines. He was personally worth $100 million at the time of his death in 1877, back when that amount provided a lot of power. His son, Billy, managed to double the family fortune. Cornelius Vanderbilt II (nicknamed “Deuce” by me) and his brother William proceeded to start spending the late...
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BOSTON — The famed North End of this city is barely a third of a square mile in area. It is packed with more than 100 restaurants, wine bars and bakeries. It also contains Old North Church (now called Christ Church) and Paul Revere’s house. North End is Beantown’s oldest residential area, home to immigrants since the 1630s when the Pilgrims arrived. North End became the preferred neighborhood to a heavy population of Italian immigrants in the early 20th century, a trend that has continued. Italian is spoken almost as often as English in the North End. You can close your eyes and imagine you are in Europe,...
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