The Lexicographer's Rules

"Some stop and read the whole paper from outside the rack. They keep reading and reading and then just walk away without buying it. They get all the news they want from the front page. Others just put a coin in without looking at the paper at all. They fold it and put it in their briefcase. And then there are those who do this: They put a quarter in the paper rack slot and take a paper from the middle of the pile. They look at the cover and then put it back, then get another one from the middle. Some do this three or four times."

—San Francisco Chronicle. The Night Cabbie is a bi-weekly feature of the Chronicle that recounts episodes and drama from a hack driver's point of view.

"Despite references to camels, Islamic law and Afghan freedom fighters, the terrorism trial has somehow managed to sound a good deal like your average Brooklyn mob trial."

—New York Times. The trial of an absent Osama bin Laden carries on without him.

"One has to question why it is that a man who commits acts of aggression against neighbors on several borders and against his own population is able to generate a certain degree of respect among the average citizen of many Arab countries. The fundamental reason for that is he stood up to the United States.'' "

—The Age. Gay Alcorn says Saddam Hussein has comprehensively won the propaganda war against the US. "We have a complex situation where you have a nasty dictator who has dangerous weapons in Baghdad. On the other hand, you have a single superpower which is flexing its muscles and becoming dramatically less respectful of international organisations. Caught between those two is the international community legitimately concerned about both of those players."'

"I'd do it at home if I had time, but I just can't bear the thought of meeting someone without my makeup."

—Los Angeles Times. Miyuki Okada puts on her makeup riding the train. The refined, restrained culture of Japan deals with an unwanted externality of globalization: common rudeness (relatively speaking), in which the new generation really is less polite than the last. Tokie Ishii, 68, looked on perplexed. "I just can't understand their behavior. Aren't they embarrassed? In my childhood, people learned how to behave." '

"They looked horrible. They slammed their bodies together in over-exaggerated pelvic thrusts and groped each other in a way that is apparently supposed to be erotic. Not only was I disgusted at this, but I also feared for my safety because they had a habit of attaching themselves to anyone passing by and would then 'dance' with them, no matter the unsuspecting victim's gender."

—Town Hall. Sex is dirty, thus, a dance that simulates sex is dirty, too. QED.'