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Double take

Who doesn’t find a few words stubbornly hard to spell? When I encounter one of my bugbears, I scribble down multiple versions of it, and the correct one usually jumps out at me. For example, is it “accomodate,” “acommodate,” or…

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What’s in a name?

In March, mature coastal Douglas-firs are 12 months into their 17-month reproductive cycle. March is the time of pollen making, and in April the pollen-bearing cones burst and pollination of the seed cones begins. Pseudotsuga menziesii was first discovered on…

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The fine art of English spelling

If you’ve ever puzzled over why “limb” and “debt” have a silent b, and what’s with the “i before e except after c” dictum when there are so many departures from the so-called rule, here’s the book for you. “For every quirk of spelling, there's…

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