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Alexandr Herzen
The European revolutions of 1848, which attempted to establish socialist systems of government and economics, didn’t spring up out of nowhere. Neither did the Narodniks, who were members of an agrarian socialist movement in Russia in the 1860s and 1870s. Narodism wasn’t the only socialist movement in Tsarist Russia, either; the Socialist Revolutionary Party was Continue reading
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Jonathan Swift and the English Language
In 1710, Jonathan Swift declared that “…our Language is extremely imperfect; that its daily Improvements are by no means in proportion to its daily Corruptions; and the Pretenders to polish and refine it, have chiefly multiplied Abuses and Absurdities; and, that in many Instances, it offends against every Part of Grammar.” He made his declaration Continue reading
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The valises of April 5
April 5 is partly interesting because it’s the birthday of Tulse Luper, in Newport, Wales, in 1911. Or Tulse might be said to have been born April 5, 1942, also in Newport. It’s an intricate story, best told in the form of several valises; a subset of a much larger collection: Valise 1: It’s possible Continue reading
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Livery
A shipping agent, particularly if employed by a company like UPS, arrives dressed in livery. If you check the license plate on their vehicle, in some cases it says “livery.” “Livery,” which has nothing to do with “liver,” is from the French word “leveré.” It was delivered into English sometime in the 1300s, and has Continue reading
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Owen Suffolk
Owen Suffolk was born April 4, 1829, and was not a nice, law-abiding citizen. He was born into a comfortable middle-class life in England, but everything changed when his father’s business was ruined when he was probably in his teens. To make a living he went to sea. When he returned, though, he had no Continue reading
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“Time and tide…” wait…
If you live near (or visit) the ocean, you’ve probably paid at least a bit of attention to the tides. But there are also other kinds of tides, like “Yuletide” for the Christmas season — and those tides came first. Sort of. “Tide” originally came from German (“tidiz”) and didn’t at first have anything to Continue reading
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Jane Goodall
Today is Jane Goodall’s 90th birthday. She might be celebrating with the chimpanzees she’s close to. Goodall was born in 1934 in London, and her first encounter with chimpanzees was a stuffed toy her father gave her instead of a teddy bear. Her mother’s friends thought the toy might terrify Goodall, but she loved it, Continue reading
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It’s all nonsense
There was a sort of dictionary in the late 1500s, the Worlde of Wordes, that included this definition: “Balchi, a..roguish, gibbrish word, vsed for money.” Whatever kind of money “balchi” was has been lost to history, as has the word “balchi”, but the entry did, at least, include one of the first appearances of “gibbrish”. Clearly the Continue reading
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“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”
A US-based story or Hollywood film about crime or criminals set in the first two-thirds of the 20th century is pretty likely to include somebody talking about “going on the lam.” What they mean is going on the run from the law; evading arrest. They might also say something like “beat it, the cops are Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate Bossypaws. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Check out my other blog, Techlimitics, where I’m grappling with the nature of simplicity.
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