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Oh yeah? Well take this!
Back in the 1600s there was a terrific insult word that has, incomprehensibly, fallen out of use entirely. It was blatteroon, defined in a Glossaria in 1656 as “a babler, an idle-headed fellow.” In spite of being an excellent epithet to sputter at this or that blithering idiot, the word seems to have died out Continue reading
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May 24: Charlie Taylor
Yesterday was the birthday of Otto Lilienthal, one of the people behind the creation of modern aviation. Today is the birthday of another one; Charlie Taylor. He’s not a household name like the Wright Brothers, nor is he as well known as Lilienthal. But he was just as important. Without him, the Wright Brothers wouldn’t Continue reading
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May 23: Otto Lilienthal
It’s a routine thing to hop on a plane to travel somewhere. But of course it wasn’t always that way; somebody had to figure out how to make an airplane. The Wright brothers usually get credit for building the first one that sort of worked. But before they were able to demonstrate a flying machine Continue reading
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Charmed, I’m sur
Most people, at least in western cultures, have something in common with super heroes. No, it’s not the obvious thing you’re thinking (you immediately focused on your ability to deliver a wry quip while vanquishing a super villain, I assume). It’s all in your name. In the English tradition — or I suppose the tradition Continue reading
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The blessing of the boats
How are church buildings and governments like boats? Because of the words, of course! Not all the words. But there are some unexpected crossovers. For example, take “nave.” It’s the main part of a church, where all the pews are (if there are pews, of course). It’s from the Latin “navis,” which means ship, and Continue reading
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Mrs. Hudson’s Tenant
On May 22, 1859, the game was afoot. The author of the series of stories about Professor Challenger and Brigadier Gerard was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. The family was poor, but the author was supported by wealthy uncles and sent to private school at the age of nine. Then he attended Stonyhurst College, which had Continue reading
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Sardoodledum
In 1895 George Bernard Shaw wrote an article for the Saturday Review in which he talked about a play entitled Fedora. That play, by the way, is where the “fedora hat” got its name. Shaw was not very impressed by the play. In fact, he hated it, even though it starred the then-famous actress Sarah Continue reading
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Watch your Ps and Qs
Etiquette is a set of rules for general politeness. As was put down in 1998: “Blowing one’s nose..is..set within a taken-for-granted set of social procedures and etiquette.” As you can probably tell from the spelling, “etiquette” entered English from French, and not that long ago as words go — probably in the early 1700s. But the Continue reading
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Sandy Douglas and OXO
Enjoy computer games? They’ve been around longer than you think. In fact, they’ve almost certainly been around longer than you! The first graphic computer game was OXO (a version of tic-tac-toe, or noughts and crosses), and Alexander Douglas created it in 1952. Alexander “Sandy” Douglas was born May 21, 1921 in London. He evidently had Continue reading
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The Hooded Claw
You can live in a neighborhood. Part of life is childhood. You can utter a falsehood. You can wear a hood. You can open the hood of your car (or, if you’re driving a convertible in England, you can put the hood up or down). If your childhood goes badly in a bad neighborhood and 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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peterharbeson@me.com