Pylimitics

"Simplicity" rearranged


  • Truck

    “I think,” said Corney, “we’d better get him up to bed at once?” “Do what yow like,” replied aunt Ann. “It makes no odds to me: I’ll ha’ nothing to do with him! — I’ll have no truck with a tocksicated man.” If you “have no truck with” someone (or something), that means you want… Continue reading

  • Emil Krebs

    Can you speak a second language? Or have you studied a second or third language? Everybody who has, whether they’ve succeeded in becoming fluent or not, has experienced how difficult it can be. And everybody who hasn’t probably imagines that it’s at least that difficult, if not more so. So it’s time to be impressed… Continue reading

  • November 15

    Today is the international Day of the Imprisoned Writer. When it was instituted in 1981 the PEN International Writers in Prison Committee was about political writers and journalists, but any time you have the opportunity to appropriate a holiday, you should probably make the most of it. After all, there might be cake.  It’s also… Continue reading

  • Dunsical breborions!

    In 1653, Sir Thomas Urquhart translated The First Book of the Work of Mr. Francis Rabelais. Urquhart was a Scottish aristocrat who was also a writer, but he is most known for his translations of Rabelais. That, and the way he died, of course. When he heard that Charles II had become the king, Urquhart… Continue reading

  • Jacob Abbott and Astrid Lindgren

    Literature for young people wouldn’t be the same without November 14. Well, I mean, obviously any book that mentioned the month would, in that case, have to explain why the calendar goes from 13 directly to 15, but that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about Jacob Abbott and Astrid Lindgren who were born on… Continue reading

  • November 14

    It’s November 14, the day James Bruce discovered the source of the Nile River. He traced it all the way to an Ethiopian town called Gish Abay. There was a fresh water spring there, and Bruce declared it to be the source of the river. There was at least one hole in his story, though;… Continue reading

  • Theorem

    I love the leaves in autumn,and also needles (pine).The sniffs are very pleasantand the feel on paws is fine. I’ve noticed that each needleis exactly like a line.You also get some conesfrom the tree that’s labeled pine. There’s a crackpot human notionthat thanks to pines I see;they do a thing with numbersthat they call “geometree.”… Continue reading

  • November 13

    It’s November 13, and you are feeling sleeeepy… how do I know that? Simple — today’s the anniversary of the day in 1841 that James Braid, a reasonable and respected medical man from the UK, attended a demonstration of animal magnetism by Charles Lafontaine. “Animal magnetism” was supposedly an invisible force that was common to… Continue reading

  • That’s Irrevelant!

    It’s not uncommon for two sounds in a word to trade places when someone speaks them, saying “aks” for “ask” or “revelant” for “relevant.” It’s common enough that there’s a word for it: metathesis.  Metathesis doesn’t just occur on an individual basis, though; there are words in which sounds have swapped places in the language… Continue reading

  • Neil Young

    Neil Young, the Canadian musician, celebrates his 79th birthday today. He was born in Toronto in 1945, and contracted polio when he was 6. It was the last major outbreak of that disease in Ontario, and it left him partially paralyzed on his left side. His family began spending winters in Florida, in the US,… 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. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.

Privacy policy
No trackers, no ads, no data collected or saved.