Well, as a Gmail user, I have become very accustomed to the very helpful context-sensitive links that Gmail offers me along with each email message I receive. For instance, a recent email from Rob (now in Maine) yielded links to "Free Red Lobster Dinner" and "Bayview Hotel, Bar Harbor." A Journalscape notifcation of Steph's blog entry called "Kingfishers, York and a 200-word story" gave links titled "We need story writers!" and "Love stories? Write here."

But probably the best ones are the links I get when I clear my spam folder. Mostly these are links to recipes, and I just recently started paying attention to them because Rob, fresh back from Guam, was telling us that spam (the food) is a Big Hairy Deal on Guam. Apparently you can get Spam and hot sauce all mixed together in the requisite aluminum can; and for Liberation Day (I can't remember the date), Hormel issued spam packaged in commemorative tins. (Oh, had I but known the wonders on that small island, I would have requested some souvenirs . . . ) At any rate, here's a fine recipe for Vineyard Spam Salad that just sounds like a yummy summer treat . . .

And how about some eggcorns to go with that? Eggcorns, which are akin to malapropisms, are written language substitutions that make some kind of sense. Here are a few:

deformation of character
free reign
far-gone conclusion
flaw in the ointment
from the gecko (instead of get-go)
he who plays the piper calls the tune
no stings attached

. . . and so on. You can see the complete compilation here. (My favorite, which doesn't appear in and doesn't really qualify for the database because it was coined by my then-three-year-old daughter, is "Spaghetti and meatbulbs.")

Oh, yeah, and here's a good blog entry about Dave Barry, linguist.

(Now it's back to agonizing over owning too many houses. Send moral support. Quick!)