Updated Xmas Stories
Posted 25 Dec, 2006 at 19:27 by kael in /Words | Permanent link
Updated Xmas stories.Comments (0 comments so far)
Words and Names
Posted 26 Apr, 2006 at 23:04 by kael in /Words | Permanent link
I found this site while stumbling around the web this morning. It's a great site describing the evolution of names.
Amongst other things, it explains (to me) why the Hungarian word for orange is what it is (it's much closer to the word's root than English, as it turns out).
It also shows some provocative changes in meaning of words (as in 'brave' originally meaning 'cowardice', and 'girl' originally meaning 'a young person of either gender').
Shiny!
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Retail Poetry
Posted 15 Nov, 2005 at 00:27 by kael in /Words | Permanent link
The Artizia window, right next to Mexx in the Eaton's Center is filled with pithy little quotes like "It's strange the way I need a reason to call you and say I thought about you today'" and "We gave black cats the right of way."
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The real meaning of simple
Posted 17 Oct, 2005 at 19:50 by blue in /Words | Permanent link
For those who don't know, Google recently created a simplified version of its privacy policy.
Now, I've been of the opinion for a while that quite honestly... when it comes down to it, if you are going to live your life paranoid that companies/people won't do their best to stand by what they claim when it comes to privacy and you don't want something known... don't put it out there. Simple as that.
Even so, working with online application design, I also understand the necessity of putting stuff out there that you would like to know isn't going to some unknown hole in the wall where someone you don't know if watching.
Google's attempt to simplify their policy so that a non-legalese speaker can understand is pretty good... but this guy thinks he can do one better.
Check it out for a quick laugh and a bit of humour about the whole privacy situation.
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There once was a strange dictionary…
Posted 21 Jun, 2005 at 13:40 by matt in /Words | Permanent link
The goal: a definition of every word in the Oxford English Dictionary -- in limerick form.
The project: The OEDILF.
A sample:
A person whose gullet's constricted
Can't mention with what he's afflicted.
If no one takes note
Of him clutching his throat,
Then a terrible fate is predicted.
They're going in alphabetical order, for the sake of thoroughness, and have made it as far as the Ba- words.
Be afraid.
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More short stories
Posted 24 May, 2005 at 09:44 by wendy in /Words | Permanent link
brought to you by McSweeney's. If you've ever played any of those terrible text based adventure games...you'll really enjoy this one. Vaguely reminiscent of "Meet the Parents". AWKWARD INTERLOPER OF THE REALM: CHRISTMAS DAY WITH MY NEW GIRLFRIEND'S FAMILY AS A CIRCA-1982 TEXT-BASED COMPUTER ADVENTURE GAME. BY TEDDY WAYNE
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Origin?
Posted 05 Apr, 2005 at 22:31 by matt in /Words | Permanent link
I would be most grateful to anyone who could tell me where the phrase All die. O, the embarrassment!
first appeared.
(A representative sample usage, stolen from someone's .sig file: I die! I attempt a speeling flame, but my flamer explodes and covers me with burning oil. The fire spreads to the walls and nearby houses. The smoke from the flames blots out the sun. Crop failures abound and civilization collapses. The last humans huddle around their pathetic campfires as a new ice age ensues and the glaciers approach. The light of the fire attracts many wolves. All die! O, the embarrassment!)
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Stolen from the SKZB mailing list
Posted 22 Feb, 2005 at 17:00 by matt in /Words | Permanent link
There was a young man of Hanshu
Who tried limericks in haiku
But
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A subtle distinction
Posted 24 Jan, 2005 at 17:15 by matt in /Words | Permanent link
There's a new coffee-house opening up near my apartment. This is exciting, because I don't hang out in coffee-houses nearly as much as I'd like to, and this place is even sort of within walking distance. (The "sort of" is because to get there one needs to cross a pair of major streets. There are sidewalks, but no other concessions to pedestrian existence.)
The sign that they've put on the building reads "Seekers Coffeeshop & Café". Now, are they making a distinction here that I've just never bothered with, or are they being pretentious?
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"Words, words, words." Hamlet (II,ii,194)
Posted 16 Jan, 2005 at 05:41 by blue in /Words | Permanent link
What an odd little tool. Do you suppose Shakespeare would have approved?
I personally think he would have loved Green Eggs and Hamlet
Green Eggs And Hamlet
I ask to be or not to be.
That is the question I ask of me.
This sullied life, it makes me shudder.
My uncle's boffing dear sweet mother.
Would I, could I take me life?
Could I, should I end this strife?
Should I jump out of a plane?
Or throw myself before a train?
Should I from a cliff just leap?
Could I put myself to sleep?
Shoot myself or take some poison?
Maybe try self immolation?
To shudder off this mortal coil,
Could I stab myself with a fencing foil?
Slash my wrists while in the bath?
Would it end my angst and wrath?
To sleep, to dream, now there's the rub.
Could a toaster drop in my tub.
Would all be glad if I were dead?
Could I perhaps kill them instead?
This line of thought takes consideration-
For I'm the king of procrastination.