November 2009
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eff-whye-eye
i just wrote something and scheduled it for posting on halloween of the year 2020.
while i do know the phase that the moon will be in on that night, it is still too far away for me to predict if a lady gaga tune will be the number one single in eastern european nightclubs as well.
October 2009
32 posts
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audio books out of context #1
this is the first...
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[part the second: FERLY to FLAPDOODLE]
thus resumes the second part of my poolitzer-nominated series within a series of select f-words from this ferly dictionary:
FERLY. Wonderfully strange
FERNYERE. In former times
FEVER-LURDEN. The disease of idleness
FEZZON. To seize on—generally applied to the actions of a greedy ravenous eater
FILL DIKE. The month of February
FIMASHINGS. In hunting, the dung of any kind of wild beasts
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the dick test
i just came across this in the 1954 edition of the world book encyclopedia:
The Dick Test: a laboratory test designed to indicate whether or not a person is immune to scarlet fever.
imagined scene:
MY DOCTOR: you have failed the dick test RAYNOR: righteous! MY DOCTOR: so you probably have scarlet fever. RAYNOR: whatevs.
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provincial f-words from the 14th century
bros, i started the f-word series as a way of showcasing some choice morsels from specialised dictionaries. i chose words that start with f partly because of my infantile preoccupation with labiodental fricatives but also because enabling limits on my search meant that i would have more free time to hang out with my buddies at applebee’s and talk about witty hollister t-shirts. this system...
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the blasphemous comma
in several editions of early king james bibles, luke 23:32 reads:
“And there were also two other malefactors [crucified with Jesus].”
A comma was accidentally omitted. it should have read “And there were also two other, malefactors [crucified with Jesus].”
this has come to be known as the blasphemous comma.
additional amusing bible errata can be found by pounding hard...
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midday, midweek, midmonth middle english excerpt
the propertees that are best in an hors are a bygh rowmpe, a longh stote and smale stonys in his qodd.
ie. the best horse is one with a big butt, a long wiener, and teency nuts.
from a late fifteenth century manuscript in the british museum.
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overheard at whole foods this morning
“…he’s so rich, he doesn’t even buy underwear—he just wears his slacks once or twice and then tosses ‘em.”
i knew that i wanted to be a rich bastard for a reason.
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trivia tuesday
what landmark statue, erected in 1885 was the first sight that immigrants (and anyone else) entering new york harbor would gaze upon?
hint: this is not a trick question. also, the predecessor of this statue resides in my hometown.
answer
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oddments
IF it is a specialised jargon dictionary AND it was published in 1888 AND it concerns the topic of typography THEN you had better believe that it is part of raynor ganan’s vast library
this installment of f-words comes from the printers’ vocabulary: a collection of some 2500 technical terms, phrases, abbreviations and other expressions mostly relating to letterpress printing...
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there's a place
Monsieur Giacomo O’Shaughnessy reports that there is a place in Charleston where the naked ladies Charleston. He goes on to mention that at said place, there is a hole in the wall where the boys—owing to the use of a homemade periscope fashioned from an empty pencil box, two pieces of mirror, and hoof glue—can see most of (if not the entirety of) it all. The it in question is of course an...
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the empyre state
on my morning perusal of the oh-ee-dee, this glittering gem caught my eye:
empyreuma:
the burnt smell imparted by fire to organic substances
little feverish remains after a crisis
useful AND poetic…hot damn! i am contemplating setting something on fire just to give me the opportunity to use this word.
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