CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
Thanks to the Bananagrammer blog for recommending our Wye's Dictionary of Improbable Words to those "interested in obscure words on the extremes of human language." We love how Bananagrammer says that our collections of all-consonant and all-vowel words "spin off into highly arcane references (at times approaching Borges-level bizarreness)."
"Writers don’t have to be brilliant conversationalists; it’s not their job to be smart except, of course, when they write. Hazlitt, that most self-conscious of writers, remarked that he did not see why an author 'is bound to talk, any more than he is bound to dance, or ride, or fence better than other people. Reading, study, silence, thought are a bad introduction to loquacity.'" —Arthur Krystal, "When Writers Speak," Sunday Book Review
This applies to June bugs, Japanese beetles, ladybugs and the like as
well. Hierophants seem divided on whether or not this applies to the
lightning bug. Better safe than sorry, I always say. Curses resulting
from Scarab-Slighting can have quite gruesome sequelae.
An ancient Egyptian blessing should also be spoken. A good one would be...
"I bless your Carapace; I bless your Undercarriage; I bless your Antennae*; I bless your Many Legs; I bless your Tympanic Membrane; I bless you and Pray you will take Good Report of me to the Underworld." (Here you may ask for something which resembles the beetle in form. Hint: Blu-ray players have a carapace too!)
*I am substituting "Antennae" for the sake of North American probability. If it is indeed a genuine Egyptian scarab, you can substitute "Pincers."
* A manual for typographers published in 1917 acknowledged that there are many beautiful forms of the ampersand, yet it forbade their use in "ordinary book work." Extraordinary books are another matter. Our lavishly illustrated Ampersand opus explores the history and pictography of the most common coordinating conjunction.
* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com.
Haha! Love this one. Now I want to check the MJ quietus date. I'm guessing that was the genesis, but I'm terrible on chronology. I trust God to keep the years in the right places, because God knows I lay them all over the place.
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A printed collection of A Fine Line Between... is now available from Amazon.com.
* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com.
"There should be a book on the divided American left and that it should be titled either The Joy of Sects or Let Dogma Eat Dogma." —J. David Gillespie, Politics at the Periphery, 1993, p. 179.
Inspired by Hilary Caws-Elwitt, who also once quipped, "The Proust series is occasionally funny. But I wouldn't call it a laugh a sentence, or a laugh a page . . . or even a laugh a paragraph."
Printed collections of Forgotten Wisdom diagrams are available: Volume I from Lulu and Volumes II, III and IV from Amazon. Selected posters are also available via Zazzle.
Jerri Blank: I'm having a lot of trouble cornering my dreams. All I know is that when you quit school that day, the things you said really inspired me.
* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com.
I know. I found that you can complain tilde cows come home, but cedilla don't care.
Printed collections of Forgotten Wisdom diagrams are available: Volume I from Lulu and Volumes II, III and IV from Amazon. Selected posters are also available via Zazzle.
Printed collections of Forgotten Wisdom diagrams are available: Volume I from Lulu and Volumes II, III and IV from Amazon. Selected posters are also available via Zazzle.
* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com.
When Joseph Merrick visited, no one mentioned the Elephantiasis in the room.
[We apologize profusely for the bad taste of that joke. By the way, as of today, Google points to the Mr Malark blog as the only other reference to the phrase "Elephantiasis in the room."]
Printed collections of Forgotten Wisdom diagrams are available: Volume I from Lulu and Volumes II, III and IV from Amazon. Selected posters are also available via Zazzle.
Printed collections of Forgotten Wisdom diagrams are available: Volume I from Lulu and Volumes II, III and IV from Amazon. Selected posters are also available via Zazzle.
* A manual for typographers published in 1917 acknowledged that there are many beautiful forms of the ampersand, yet it forbade their use in "ordinary book work." Extraordinary books are another matter. Our lavishly illustrated Ampersand opus explores the history and pictography of the most common coordinating conjunction.
Printed collections of Forgotten Wisdom diagrams are available: Volume I from Lulu and Volumes II, III and IV from Amazon. Selected posters are also available via Zazzle.
* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com.
Which is funnier: a pratfall or a pie in the face?
Clue: This is according to a book on the medicine show phenomenon of the 19th century
Answer:A pie in the face. “Nothing was more hilarious than a pratfall, until Doc Kelley invented the pie-in-the-face bit.” (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
Citation: Ann Anderson, Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones: The American Medicine Show (2004), p. 124
* Though printed in black and white, great literature is bursting with vibrant colour. In this rebus-style puzzle, color words and parts of words have been replaced with colored boxes. Try to guess the exact hue of each. Roll your mouse over the colored boxes to reveal the missing words. Click the colored boxes to learn more about each hue. Special thanks to Paul Dean for his colorful research.
Been there. Lived it. About a million times. Great series. Philosophical Dualities Cast Asunder a la Wittgenstein. The deepst problems are no problems at all. They are these flash cards!
A printed collection of A Fine Line Between... is now available from Amazon.com.
* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com.
* Ellipses don’t merely omit superfluous words or mark pauses. Far from
it! In an astonishing number of cases, the ellipses illustrate a
narrative, inviting the reader to “connect the dots.” Learn more about Annotated Ellipses at Amazon.com.
Printed collections of Forgotten Wisdom diagrams are available: Volume I from Lulu and Volumes II, III and IV from Amazon. Selected posters are also available via Zazzle.
Back in c. 1909, a teacher sent my great-great grandmother a note asking why her daughter didn't come to school and reassuring her that the classroom was warm, comfortable, and germ-free!
Many decades later, I (as the hooky-player's 15-year-old grandson) testified before the Louisiana State Legislature on behalf of the state's first homeschooling bill. That legislation became a model for several other states.
Clue: This is according to the satirical journal Punch.
Answer:Humor. “Wit is wittier than humour, while humour is more humorous than wit.” (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)
Citation: Francis Cowley Burnand, Punch, vol. 207 (1944), p. 68.
![The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine](/weblog/images/covers/ghost-scanning-machine.png)
