Baffle-gab

First published in Column 8 in the 1990s, specific date unknown at the moment...

Second-hand bookshopsand an interest in curious words sometimes combine together for me in aserendipitous way. Last week, for the sum of $4.50, I purchased a book called Words.  That book, (by Paul Dickson), is the source ofthis column. (Please apply to me in writing via the Midweek* fora translation of any unfamiliar words!)

By the way, I hope no reader of thiscolumn is Hippistic, ie, has a philistine's resent...