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.
You've heard Paris called the "City of Light," but even after the Enlightenment, its streets were impenetrably dark. "Paris is a city of darkness." From Popular Mechanics, 1918.
Imagine seeing headlines like these, today. Vestiges of another age. "City eyesore transformed into Greek theater" (Popular Mechanics, 1917). "Sunken-garden beauty spot made from ugly gully" (Popular Mechanics, 1920).
The term "micromanage" has been traced back to 1976, but here's a literal case of micromanagement from 1910, in Popular Mechanics. "The head chef of the future submitting food to a microscopic analysis."