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, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, 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.
Here's a precursor to Stephen Fry's "tremulously at first and then with mounting heat and passion." The caption reads, "slow and timid at first, but quicker and firmer presently." From Jacques Hamon or Sir Philip's Private Messenger by Mary Emily Ropes, 1896.
Things haven't changed much in the last 120 years. From Stories from the Diary of a Doctor (1894). The caption reads: "The contents of the paper puzzled him."
You've heard of "forced perspective," but we call this unusual effect "horsed perspective." From Across France in a Caravan by George Nugent Bankes, 1892.
Exquisite things are invariably surrounded by fairies. From A Tramp Abroad Etc. by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1897). The caption reads: "An exquisite thing."