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 the middle of the night, when the griffin was snoring away lustily, Jack reached up and pulled a feather out of his tail." From The Fairy Ring by Kate Douglas Wiggin & Nora Archibald Smith, illustrated by Elizabeth MacKinstry, 1916.
Can you guess why a griffin is depicted alongside a wedding ring and a heart locket? Pomponius Mela explains: "Griffins, a savage and tenacious breed of wild beasts, love—to an amazing degree—the gold that is mined from deep within the earth" (Pomponius Mela's Description of the World by Frank Romer, 1998).
An illustration from an 1899 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "Dave closed his hand firmly upon hers, locking her arms around the neck of the gilt griffin."