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June 5: Otis Barton
On June 3, the birthday of Pietro de’ Medici, we explored some of the typical tropes about rich kids being self-indulgent waste cases. But not everybody born into wealth squanders their lives and fortunes. Consider, for example, Otis Barton, who was born June 5, 1899 into a wealthy New York family and accomplished some remarkable Continue reading
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Ad lib
If you’re pressed for time before, say, a presentation or a task, sometimes you just wing it — you improvise, proceed in haste without preparation. That is, you autoschediaze. “Autoschediaze” — which is pronounced with FIVE syllables: aw-toe-ske-di-ez — is the verb form of “autoschediastic.” That word showed up in English from either Greek or Continue reading
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June 6: Angelo Moriondo
As you’re enjoying your coffee, possibly an espresso-based drink, give a thought to Angelo Moriondo, who was born 173 years ago today in Turin. Why, you ask? Simple. Moriondo invented the espresso machine. Or, well, at least pretty much the basic kind of espresso machine used today. Moriondo was born into a family of entrepreneurs Continue reading
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Casing the joint
One of the tropes of cowboy movies is the poker game in the saloon. Depending on the movie, the game might show off the skills of the hero, unmask the villain’s fruitless attempts at cheating, or simply provide a way to gather the important characters into one location so that when another important character walks Continue reading
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All mixed up
Amid the chaos of everyday life, it’s common to mistake one word for another, or to think that two words might be related even though they aren’t. And the way English works, if enough people make the same mistake, it’s not really a mistake any more and ends up memorialized in the dictionary. “Chaos” is Continue reading
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Christopher Cockerell
There’s a clever vehicle you can ride in and even, if you want, own and drive yourself. It doesn’t have wheels. No tank treads either. It doesn’t float in water. It doesn’t fly. But despite all that it can travel over any terrain and over water. And the very first one was made out of Continue reading
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“Dynasty,” but not in Dallas
Family dynasties can be very powerful and enduring organizations. A good example is the Medici family of Florence several centuries ago. It’s so long ago that nobody knows all the details, but one of the major factors in their ascendance was the Medici Bank. Giovanni de’ Medici founded it around 1397, and it became the Continue reading
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I’ll be on the deck
In about the middle of the 1700s in England, two architectural styles became very popular. One was gothic, and the other could be best described as sort of fake Chinese. That is, buildings, bridges, and the like were designed to look like they were from China, to people who had never been to China. In Continue reading
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Dwile flonking
Any number of words and phrases have entered English from various sports, from being “on deck” meaning the next in line (that’s from baseball) to loads of others. But other words have stayed within the confines of their respective games. In some cases this is probably a good thing. Take, for example, the words “jobanowl,” Continue reading
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Egg-zactly
In William Caxton’s 1490 translation of the “Aeneid” (specifically in the prologue), there is this line: “Loo, what sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte, egges, or eyren? Certaynly it is hard to playse every man, by-cause of dyversite and chaunge of langage.” The line illustrates a controversy of the time: which word was going to 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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