-
Pulicidal, pulicivorous, and even phtheirophagous propensities
In 1863, the “Lady’s Newspaper” of London printed a letter that’s gone down in the annals of insulting texts as a classic. It was from somebody called “J. Hooker”, and although it’s not really known who that might have been, there’s some speculation that it was Joseph Dalton Hooker. He was a well-known biologist of Continue reading
-
Macaroni
Yankee Doodle, as the story goes, stuck a feather in his cap and called it “macaroni.” Loads of kids in the US learn this song and wonder what the heck the pasta reference is doing there, because it doesn’t seem to make any sense. It doesn’t make any sense nowadays because back in the 1700s Continue reading
-
July 31
It’s July 31; do you have a pot full of plant ash soaking in water? You know, to make that really great fertilizer for your garden? The stuff called “pot-ash”? Okay, you almost certainly don’t, but in any case today’s the day, in 1790, that the first US patent was issued, and it was for Continue reading
-
Born Today: Peter Benenson
You’ve heard of Amnesty International — its founder, Peter Benenson, was born July 31 in London. He was born Peter Solomon, but adopted his mother’s maiden name as an adult, following the dying wishes of his grandfather. Benenson began his humanitarian work early; when he was 16 he created a relief fund for children orphaned Continue reading
-
The first thing we do…
July 2022 Lawyers are not particularly popular people, I’ve heard. Maybe it all goes back to Shakespeare’s Henry VI, when Dick the Butcher said to Jack Cade, “First thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” There’s a whole context around that, of course, and guess what? It had to do with an armed insurrection. It was Continue reading
-
Maybe we’re dreaming
July 2022 “The American dream;” you hear about it all the time. I wonder if we’ve always taken it the wrong way. A dream can be an aspiration, sure. That’s how we generally think of “the American dream.” It’s what you can aim for, hope for, strive for, and maybe even reach. But dreams are Continue reading
-
Cacoethes scribendi?
An unpleasant, disharmonious noise is called “cacophony”. Although that’s the only word in its family that most people are familiar with, there exists a whole family of English words that (1) mean something unpleasant, and (2) begin with “cac-“. The prefix is pretty straightforward; it comes from the Greek word “kakos” (bad). Most, but not 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.
Privacy policy
No trackers, no ads, no data collected or saved.
Contact
peterharbeson@me.com