beforebreakfast.net

What’s the weather like where you are?
Here in New York, it’s cold and clear, with whipping winds that sting your face. No snow (yet), but I’m hoping there’ll be some soon. On a cold winter day (or night), there’s nothing like staying inside in the warmth and relaxing.
Today’s poem is about precisely that, and it’s […]

[Read more →]

A simile, when properly executed, is truly a thing of beauty. In English a simile is a comparison where it’s obvious we’re making a comparison, usually by using words like "similar to," "as" and "like." This is in contrast to a metaphor, where the comparison is made more implicitly, often by saying that one thing […]

[Read more →]

WHAMM! ZOK!! SPLOOSH! KAPOW!
Did anyone use to watch the old Batman TV show, with Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as the Boy Wonder? If so, you surely remember the comical onomatopoeia that they used to imitate sound effects in all of the fight scenes. It was pretty exciting.
The Japanese language uses onomatopoeia […]

[Read more →]

明けましておめでとうございます！I hope you all had a nice New Year’s, wherever you may be. I also hope no one’s 二日酔（ふつかよ）い is too serious.
In honor of the New Year’s, I’d like to share the preface from the 徒然草（つれづれぐさ）, with which many of you are no doubt familiar. The 徒然草 (which takes it name from the passage […]

[Read more →]

Happy New Year’s, everyone! Did you all send out your 年賀状（ねんがじょう） yet? (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you should probably go here and read more about it.) I hope everyone has a great New Year’s Eve. I’ll be spending mine in New York City (GIANT BALL DROPS WHILE CHAOS REIGNS IN THE […]

[Read more →]