August 2008
Wuthering
August 26, 2008
As we learn on page 2 of Emily Brontë's famous novel, Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr Heathcliff's dwellings, "wuthering" being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather....
Yngling
August 20, 2008
What a charmingly odd word. The Guardian tells us that Yngling is, quite simply, a type of boat (…) invented in 1967 by Norwegian Jan Lingel, who wanted to build a boat for his son, Oyvin, who was 14 days...
To be damned with faint praise
August 15, 2008
After our game on Wednesday: "You had an excellent second half, Alison." "Hm. Great. Do you know the expression 'to be damned with faint praise'?" I do and strongly deny that my compliment was in any way tainted by implied...
Google Translation Center
August 8, 2008
In his Tool Kit, Jost Zetzsche mentions the arrival of the Google Translation Center. This is only the cache version as apparently, it was "accidentally" released by Google, who took it offline when it was spotted by Google Blogoscoped. It's...
Funambule
August 7, 2008
Funambule, from Lat. funambulus: funis, rope, and ambulare, walk. Tight rope dancer. I went to see Man on wire, the story of Philippe Petit, who performed a high-wire routine between the two towers of the World Trade Center in...