Ho there, it's the May 21 crossword

[Thomps2525]

Today's Los Angeles Times crossword by Jeff Chen and John-Clark Levin includes TINYBUBBLES ("Don Ho's signature song"). Circled letters – "bubbles," get it? – in three vertical answers contain the names of tiny units of measurement:

Computer screen array: DESKTOPICONS
Longtime late-night host: CONANOBRIEN
It's often worn with a hood and mortarboard: ACADEMICROBE 

Pico comes from the Spanish pico ("peak; small amount") and is a prefix meaning "one trillionth." Nano comes from the Greek nanos ("dwarf") and is a prefix meaning "one billionth." It's most commonly used in the word nanosecond. Micro comes from the Greek mikros ("small; short") and means "one millionth," as in microgram, microvolt, microwatt and microampere. The prefix is also used as a synonym for "small," as in  microcosm, microbrew, microbiology, microfilm and microscope.

Donald Tai Loy Ho (1930-2007) was born in Kakaʻako, a neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawai'i. In 1959, after serving in the United States Air Force, Ho began singing at Honey's, a bar and nightclub owned by his family. In 1963, he started performing at Duke's, a nightclub owned by competitive swimmer/surfer Duke Kahanamoku. It was there that Ho was noticed by record company executives. He signed a recording contract with Reprise and released his first album in 1965. Tiny Bubbles, his most famous song, reached #14 on Billboard's adult contemporary chart and #57 on the Hot 100 in early 1967. Among his other hits: Pearly Shells, Instant Happy, Sands Of Waikiki, Little Grass Shack and It Must Have Been The Wine. Ho released 14 studio albums, three live albums, six compilation albums and 11 singles. He also frequently performed in Las Vegas and hosted a 1976-77 daytime variety series on ABC-TV. Here is Tiny Bubbles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t45DKmtzTHo

"Spanish hand" is MANO, which is not used in English. "Italian chum" is PAISANO, which is not used in English. "With, in France" is AVEC, which is not used in English. "Branded wares, informally" is: MERCH, short for "merchandise." I have never heard anyone use the word "merch."

"Thorax membrane" is PLEURA. The word comes from the Greek pleuron,which means "side of the body; rib." Pleura is "the delicate serous membrane that lines each half of the thorax of mammals." Pleura is the plural of pleuron – and doesn't that sound like a tongue twister? – but somehow the word began to be used as a singular, with "pleurae" or "pleuras" as the plural. So when you say "pleurae," you're actually using the plural form of a word which is already a plural. Yeah, I'm just as confused as you are. I think those "tiny bubbles" are starting to get to me.