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Born today: Sarah Josepha Hale
I don’t know how widely distributed nursery rhymes are in the world, but one that’s repeated for practically every little tyke in the US is Mary Had a Little Lamb. It’s about some kid named Mary and her pet sheep. Nursery rhymes are often just “around;” you don’t think of them having authors — but Continue reading
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October 24
In 1929, October 24 was “Black Thursday,” the day the New York Stock Exchange crashed by 11 percent. Then on October 24, 2008, it was “Black Friday,” the day most of the stock exchanges around the world crashed by 10 percent or more. You might say the value of stocks those days dropped like a Continue reading
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Recumbentibus
In ancient Rome, the common practice was, supposedly, to recline on a couch while you ate dinner. The Vulgate Bible, which was compiled in Latin in the 4th Century CE, includes the verse “novissime recumbentibus illis undecim apparuit.” The word “recumbentibus” means to recline, particularly when you’re reclining at a table. English translations of that Continue reading
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Yes sir
Have you ever noticed that the terms for military ranks are pretty inconsistent in terms of how sensible they seem to be? At the extremes, “private” and “general” could be assumed to refer to scope of responsibility. If you’re a “private”, you’re responsible only for yourself (and maybe not even that), while a “general” is Continue reading
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October 23
If the weather is accommodating wherever you happen to be today, it’s a good day to venture outside, find a patch of grass or forest, lean down, and say loudly, directly into the ground, “CONGRATULATIONS!” The sound will carry through the earth and with luck, will be appreciated by some tiny, burrowing mammals. Because today Continue reading
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The Race (part 1)
(Here is part 2, which was published first.) “Come on, Hare, we’re gonna be late!” yelled Otter. “I don’t wanna miss it!” “Okay, okay,” said Hare, packing the last few things into a picnic basket. “We’ll be there in plenty of time.” “I wanna get there before all the good seats are taken,” said Otter. Continue reading
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Born today: Franz Liszt
Taylor Swift is setting the entertainment world on fire right now, but she’s got nothing on a guy born October 22, 1811, in what was then the Kingdom of Hungary: Franz Liszt. Liszt was born into a musical family — his father played several instruments, and counted a number of famous composers among his acquaintances, Continue reading
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Newfangled
We see a lot of newfangled gadgets, devices, and tools these days. But there’s nothing new at all about “newfangled”. “Newfangled” is, if you go back far enough, related to “fang,” but not the modern word for a sharp tooth. The ancestor of the “fangled” part of “newfangled” is an Old English word, “feng,” meaning Continue reading
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October 22. Not always disappointing.
We only have one day before the anniversary of the Great Disappointment. Although to everyone except the one group that at least claimed to be disappointed, the rest of the population generally continues to be not disappointed at all over how things turned out. It all goes back to October 22, 1844, in Low Hampton, Continue reading
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On pilcrows and interrobangs
Punctuation, at least in English, is a lot newer than the language itself — even newer than the written form of the language. After all, the model for languages in Europe was Latin, which used hardly any punctuation. One mark that was used in classical Latin was the “capitulum” — the chapter marker. That one 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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