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.
In 1894, nickel beer was actually $1.37, adjusted for inflation. From Bill Nye's History of the United States. The caption reads: "Where beer was only five cents per glass."
Here's a precursor to the "EAT MOR CHIKIN" cows of Chick-fil-A billboards. The caption reads, "The More Pork bird." From Adventures of a Gold-Digger by John Sherer, 1856.
This caption, "He did not give me time to feel frightened," recalls the movie gimmick king, William Castle, who might have promised horrors filmed "faster than the speed of fright." From Jenny Jones and Jenny by William Edwards Tirebuck, 1896.
There's some small comfort in the knowledge that people have been feeling 'out of it' since at least 1889. Illustration from Neighbours by Mrs. Molesworth (1889). The caption reads: "She and Cathie sat in a corner beside Lavinia feeling 'out of it.'"
Fans of William Burroughs' Naked Lunch will recognize this as a precursor. From The Simple Adventures of a Memsahib by Sara Duncan (1893). The caption reads: "It's just the place for centipedes."
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. [For Jonathan Caws-Elwitt.]
For fans of the game Clue/Cluedo, here's a precursor to "Col. Mustard in the drawing room with the candle stick," from Illustrated Penny Tales From the Strand Library, 1894.
Here's a precursor to Menke Katz's line about how "Even time is tired here of night and day" ("Old Manhattan," Rockrose, 1970). This tired Father Time appears in Illustrated Poems and Songs for Young People, edited by Lucy Sale Barker, 1885.