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.
"Death saw a Patient who pulled out his purse. / And a Doctor who took the sum. / But he left them be, for he knew the 'Fee' / Was a prelude to 'Faw' and 'Fum.'" Color lithograph by Edward Hull, 1827.
"It seems our pretty young royals are shrinking before our eyes" (A Current Affair, July 13, 2011). Pictured, Brisbane decorates for Queen Elizabeth II in 1954.
"A huntsman is enveloped by a sudden fall of snow from an overhanging tree branch, causing him to drop his rifle which discharges accidentally." Coloured lithograph by A. Strassgschwandtner, ca. 1860.