In today’s installment of my “Baltic Journal” — Part IV — I have a brief note about names. In Latvia, everything seems to be plural. Esses rule the roost. You have an ess on the end of first names, and an ess on the end of last names. For instance, “Alfreds Kalnins.” (He was a composer.)

I would like to tell a joke, here in the Corner — well, not a joke, a story. A true story. I know a writer in England who has a devilish wit. One day, he called up Robert Silvers, the venerable editor of The New York Review of Books, to pitch a piece. He began, “Mr. Silver?” The voice at the other end of the line said, “It’s ‘Silvers.’” The devilish wit said, “If I want two, I’ll ask for them.”

The rest of the conversation did not go well, apparently.