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Phobias
For many centuries English speakers who were afraid of getting dirty got along pretty well by saying something like “I’m afraid of getting dirty.” Similarly, if they were afraid of spirits, they’d tell their friends “I’m afraid of spirits.” There are plenty of other examples. They didn’t need any special words for their fears. Anna… Continue reading
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A.A. Milne
“The question is,” said Rabbit, “where is Christopher Robin?” Piglet hadn’t heard that Christopher Robin was missing, and he edged closer to Pooh. “Pooh,” he whispered, “is it true? Is Christopher Robin really Somewhere Else?” “Well,” said Pooh, “Christopher Robin might be Somewhere Else. But inside ‘Somewhere Else’ there’s a ‘Somewhere’ sitting quietly, just waiting… Continue reading
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Krazy Kat
Krazy Kat was a comic strip from 1913 to 1944. It was pretty unconventional, from the odd premise to the stylized dialog to being occasionally self-referential — sometimes the characters addressed the cartoonist, criticizing some aspect of that day’s strip. The main characters were Krazy Kat herself (or himself; it was never clear), and his… Continue reading
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Words of governance
The ancient Greek word for “city” is “polis.” The Greek word “polites” (pronounced with three syllables) is derived from “polis” and means “citizen,” and THAT word led to “politikos,” which means “having to do with citizens.” Latin adopted “politikos,” where it became “politicus,” and that led eventually to English (which adopts everything) and “politics.” The… Continue reading
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Eugéne Augustin Lauste
Everybody who enjoys movies should make a note that today is the birthday of Eugéne Augustin Lauste, who was born January 17, 1857, and had a lot to do with the early technology of moviemaking. Lauste was born in Montmartre, France, and was a fast starter — by the age of 23 he held 53… Continue reading
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Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a cartoon character that first appeared in1929. He wasn’t the star of a comic strip at first; he was just a minor character in Thimble Theatre, a syndicated comic that had already been published daily for ten years. The main characters in Thimble Theatre at the time were Olive Oyl … Continue reading
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Dead Reckoning
Before the invention of GPS, before LORAN (a navigation system used before GPS), and even before airplanes had radios at all, if you wanted to fly long distances you might use sightings of the sun in the daytime or the stars at night. But if it was cloudy, you’d need a different system. You’d use… Continue reading
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Perissology
Near the end of the 1500s, a word entered English that was destined for nearly universal and permanent…obscurity. The word would never, in its centuries of (lack of) usage, become anything more than a literary curiosity, used (when it was used at all) mostly to make a joke. The word is “perissology” (told you it… 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 other blog, Techlimitics, where I’m grappling with the nature of simplicity. You can also find some of my minor software projects at GitHub. Nothing very impressive. I mostly write tiny utilities in Python.
I find myself suddenly de-corporatized (their choice, not mine). To help keep the lights on, buy me a coffee!
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Contact
peterharbeson@me.com