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Teterrimous
It’s high time to review some words in the “obsolete” pile to see if we should bring them back and start using them again. Here’s a word we should resurrect: teterrimous. Back in the 1700s and 1800s when it was in use it meant “most foul”, as in “beware the teterrimous monster living in Continue reading
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Born Today: Davy Crockett
In the US, there’s a huge amount of mythology around the “frontier.” It really wasn’t that long ago, mythologically speaking, but it’s a big blob of lore, some of it fictional, in American minds. Since the frontier era lasted until just a little more than a century ago, many of the heroic characters are based Continue reading
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Again
“Again” is a word that comes up…well, again and again in conversation. It’s been around for a very long time; at least since Old English. But its meaning contains a surprising little twist. What you probably think of when you use “again” is repetition; you did something once, and if you do the same thing Continue reading
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August 17
Those are the original Seven Commandments of Animalism, as espoused by Squealer and Napoleon, the two leaders of the revolution at Manor Farm. The world found out the whole story on August 17, 1945, when George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” was first. As you might remember, it didn’t turn out well. By coincidence, the two leaders Continue reading
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Refrain
Word of the day: refrain When an over-played, clichéd song is played yet again, particularly when it cycles around to the tired refrain, unless you’re with a particularly refrained group of people, someone is sure to utter the refrain “how many times do we have to listen to this tune?” “Refrain” is not exactly a Continue reading
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Born Today: Vincenzo Cornell
You might have a globe in your office, or remember one from a school classroom. If this has reminded you that you’d like to have a globe, they’re easily available and not particular expensive, since they’re mass produced, small enough to easily ship, and relatively popular. You can even get an inflatable one. None of Continue reading
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Props
Sir Arnold Lunn was a writer who seems to have been better known as a skier. He was knighted for his skiing, but not his authorship. He lived from 1888 to 1974, and there’s a monument to him in Mürren, Switzerland where he organized the first world skiing championship in 1931. His father introduced him Continue reading
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August 16
August 16, 1896 was a big day in the Klondike. Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack, and Dawson Charlie discovered gold on Rabbit Creek, a small(ish) stream feeding into the Klondike River. “Skookum Jim Mason” and “Dawson Charlie” were aliases — but not for any nefarious reasons. Skookum Jim’s real name was Keish, and Dawson Charlie 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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