Pylimitics

Horatio Nelson, the famous British admiral, served in the Mediterranean Sea in the late 1700s, before the French Revolution. From 1799 to 1801 his flagship was the HMS Foudroyant. British warships are often named for admirable qualities, like the HMS Resolute or HMS Victory, and the Foudroyant was no different, even though few people would… Continue reading

When a craftsperson, artist, musician, or writer manages to fit a set of components together to make a congruous, harmonious whole, there used to be a word for it. Well, of course, there still are words for it — after all, I just used “congruous” and “harmonious.” And “consistency” and “elegance” could be added as… Continue reading

It’s common to almost everyone that they think of a cause for what they see, coming up with an explanation that seems reasonable, at least given what they know at the time. Before things like germs, viruses, and some of the actual processes operating in your body were discovered, people dreamed up any number of… Continue reading

It goes without saying that Santa rides around in a “sleigh.” That is, it goes without saying but it doesn’t go without music and pictures — the sleigh is a crucial part of any good Santa tableau. But “sleigh,” it turns out, is a word that only arose in the 1700s. Specifically, the 1721 December… Continue reading

“Gift” is an old word; older than English. It comes from Old English, and even before that seems to have been part of ancient Germanic languages. After all, even thousands of years ago people got married. And in those days a “gift” was the payment a man made when purchasing a wife. It’s not certain… Continue reading