-
“Distress, dat dress, I’m distraught”
To be “canny” means being prudent or knowing about something. It originated in Scottish and in northern English dialects as a modification of the word “can,” as in “able to.” The word entered literary English in the 1600s and at first tended to be applied to Scots themselves. The common stereotype of Scottish people even… Continue reading
-
Not a beadle
A “beadle” used to be a minor official, particularly in England. The word has been around for centuries, although by now it’s mostly obsolete. In all that time it’s been used in various ways, from a “herald” — sort of a town crier who shouted out the latest news or proclamations — to a person… Continue reading
-
Charles Farrar Browne
If you enjoy comedy clubs, humor in general, and standup comedians in particular, you’ll be ready to celebrate today. It’s the 190th anniversary of Charles Farrar Browne, who’s considered to be the first standup comedian and was a well-known humorist in the 1800s. He was born Charles Brown, without the “e,” in a small town… Continue reading
-
No muttering
Here’s an English-language oddity; you can utter words, and the words you utter can be utter nonsense! That’s right, “utter” and “utter” are utterly different words. Well, maybe not utterly different. They are different words, but they come from the same source: the Old English word “uttera,” which was the adjective form of “ut” (by… Continue reading
-
Widows in the hood
A few centuries ago you probably would have worn weeds. Not that people were wandering around wrapped in thistle leaves — “weed” used to mean a garment, like this reference from the 1400s: “I am wrappyd in a wurthy weed.” It’s a very old word that came from the predecessors to Old English: Old Frisian, Old… Continue reading
-
Howard Garis
There are plenty of widely known books, book series, and characters written for children. Howard Garis may have written more of them than anybody. Garis was born in New York state on April 25, 1873. As an adult he moved to Newark, New Jersey and worked for a while as a reporter for the Newark… Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer (among other things) located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate Bossypaws. No surprise, she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Check out my newsletter, Artisanal Scribbles, where I’m grappling with writing, authentic human authorship, integrity, and the craft of beauty in the AI age. You can also find some of my old software projects at GitHub. Nothing very impressive. I mostly wrote tiny utilities in Python and shell scripts. I’m mostly retired from coding nowadays.
I find myself suddenly de-corporatized (their choice, not mine). To help keep the lights on, buy me a coffee!
Recent Posts
- Educational Trip
- Yeah but what about the Jewish Space Lasers?
- Happy Anniversary?
- Alleys
- Your pockets aren’t deep enough
Categories
Artificial Intelligence
Chocolatiana
Essays
History, sort of
Immorality
Incompetence
Quotations
Resistance
Stories
Tales from the Forest
Technicalities
Tragedy
Unanticipated Consequences
Privacy policy
No trackers, no ads, no data collected or saved.
Contact
peterharbeson@me.com