The Lexicographer's Rules

"Get an Underground map. I used to go everywhere on the Tube. Three months ago I went from Hampstead to Finchley on a Saturday night. It was really good fun, full of kids going to clubs and drunk office girls. I wore a cap and nobody recognised me."

—This Is London. Spice Girl Emma Bunton's advice to tourists, from a question-and-answer interview.'

"Thurmond is at the hearing for half an hour, during which he reads, uneasily, two brief statements. The rest of the timeÑthat is, when he's not signaling for LaufferÑis spent gazing into the hearing room and performing a kind of seated ballet with his hands. Thurmond's fingers are long and lean, his skin splotchy, he's wearing an oval band-aid on his forehead. He rubs his upper lip, his right eye, his left eye, his right cheek, his nose, he raises a glass of water to his lips, one sip, then scratches his head, wipes something out of his right eye, strokes his left eyebrow, smooths back his thin reddish hair with both hands. These hand maneuvers go on and on, and noticeably so, for they unfurl slowly, almost rhythmically, like a minuet, and Thurmond is alone in this performance. The other senators are relatively stillÑobserving the witnesses, questioning the witnesses, reading materials. Thurmond stares blankly ahead."

—Washington Post. Strom Thurmond at 98 is the oldest senator to ever serve and has served the longest of any senator.

"Just the other day, we were picking a jury. The judge had a taxi driver in the jury box, and he asked him, 'Have you ever been robbed?' And the guy said, 'Yeah.' 'Were there any weapons involved?' 'No,' the guy says, 'just a gun.' Just a gun! That tells you a lot about Brooklyn, about an almost blasŽ acceptance of violence."

—New York Daily News. Senior Assistant District Attorney Rob Reuland's first book is Hollowpoint.

"It's the summer season coming up, so my patients must have tune-ups. But instead of doing liposuction on seven areas, they're doing three or four. These decisions are so painful."

—Washington Post. Plastic surgeon Pamela Lipkin is just one of many Manhattan businesspersons suffering as a result of a declining market and diminished demand for luxury services.

"He flew to Sacramento so I could get that money. He flew to Sacramento. And he wanted no photographers, no story. He wanted to come in and just get the ball and make the exchange. This guy, Gordon, was the one that had all the photographers there because he wanted publicity. When Maris walked in, that whole room was full of photographers snapping. He was like, 'What the hell is going on?' One of the light stanchions falls and hits him right on the head. I thought he was going to die. His face like, changed. Here it is he didn't want anybody thereÑand now he gets hurt besides. But he didn't say a word."

—Staten Island Advance. Sal Durante was 19 when he caught Roger Maris' record-breaking 61st home run October 1, 1961, from seat 4, box 163D, section 33 at Yankee Stadium.'