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March 19: Minna Canth
Today is the Day of Equality in Finland. Not by coincidence, it’s also the “flag flying day” of Minna Canth, and the anniversary of her birth in 1844. Canth was a prominent Finnish writer and social activist. She was born in Tampere, a medium-sized town on the Nokia River (yes, that Nokia). Her father was Continue reading
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March 21: Anne Howard
Even though we live in a largely patriarchal society (which used to a lot more patriarchal), there have always been women willing to strike out on their own paths in spite of sometimes dire consequences. One of them, long, long ago, was Anne Howard, who was born in England in 1557. Her life was almost Continue reading
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March 20: Amanda Clement
Sports, in general, tends to be an area where the sexes are segregated. You won’t find any women on a men’s baseball team, for example, and vice versa. But what about the officials? It turns out that there have been female umpires and referees, and for longer than you might guess. Amanda Clement was born Continue reading
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Man the pumps!
Throughout the entire history of humanity, it’s been possible in many places around the world to locate water by simply digging a deep enough hole. Getting the water up out of that hole, though, there’s the problem. But it was a problem that began to be solved at least 4,000 years ago when the “shadoof” Continue reading
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Presently
At present we shall present, as a present, the puzzling past and present of “present.” The origin of the word “present” is not presently known for sure. It might have come from French, or it might have been formed all on its own in English. There was an Old French word “present,” but there was Continue reading
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Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
The great European composers of the 1600s and 1700s are well known: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and their colleagues. But there was another, possibly a master of more genres than the others, and whose genius was widely acknowledged at the time. And this composer was a woman, at a time when women were hardly ever educated. Continue reading
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Contracting
It’s perfectly acceptable today to use contractions. In fact, throughout the history of English it’s usually been fine. But there was a time… Contractions go back at least as far as Old English, which included “nis” (ne is, meaning “is not”), naes (ne waes, meaning “was not”), nat (ne wat, meaning “does not know”), and Continue reading
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Instrumentally speaking
If you attend a classical music concert performed on “period instruments,” which are the types that were in use when the music was composed, you might see and hear a “clavichord.” It resembles a piano, which is a more recent version of the same thing; an instrument in which strings are played via keys. The Continue reading
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch
We can read English, which means that we can also read Middle English, although it takes quite a bit of getting used to. Reading Old English, though, can be just about impossible without a bunch of studying. For one thing, it’s “inflected,” which is what you call a language where the words change depending on 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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