The Left Lane

"This gown has a princess silhouette with a portrait collar, tulle skirt and accents of AlenÙon lace on a chapel train." Huh? If you're planning a traditional wedding, you're going to need to learn the lingo before you go dress shopping. The Web sites of two major bridal salons are a good place to start.

At davidsbridal.com, clicking on bridal gowns and then "perfect for you" brings up a helpful and detailed photo gallery of silhouettes, fabrics, laces, embellishments, necklines, waistlines and trains.

At alfredangelo.com, click on "fashion glossary," which gets you a dictionary of everything from silhouettes and waistlines to bustling methods, and features that flatter and fit different figure types. Each comes with a sketch.

Black viewers' likes

ABC's "My Wife and Kids" is the most popular show among black viewers, based on ad-buying firm TN Media's analysis of Nielsen Media Research data. Twenty percent of black homes watched the Damon Wayans comedy in the survey period (October through March, compared with just 7.5 percent of white homes). (The sitcom premiered in mid-March, so only the first few episodes were measured.)

UPN's entire Monday sitcom block (seen here on KFVE), featuring largely black casts, showed up near the top of the black chart but ranked among the least-popular shows among whites.

"ER," "The Practice," "Survivor," "Law & Order," "60 Minutes" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" were popular in all homes, though more so with whites than blacks.

Many children's songs are tongue-twisters, so what if your child has a disability that makes it tough for him or her to sing along?

Now there's "Time to Sing!", an album with tempo and lyrics modified to fit the needs of youngsters who have speech disorders or who just find it hard to keep up with traditional recordings. The CD features 26 children's songs, including the "Hokey Pokey," "B-I-N-G-O" and, yes, "The Alphabet Song." Arrangements are by "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" musical director Michael Moricz, with an assist from Dave Hammer, a speech-language pathologist at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. The suggested retail price is $16.99. As it's hard to come by in local stores, order it at www.center4creativeplay.org/sing or call 1-800-262-8052.