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 of the multinational conglomerate 3M, but what does it stand for? Monsters, Myths and Mermaids? Men, Martians and Machines? Mildew, Mudpies and Miracles? Weirdly, it's none of those things! 3M says it stands for honesty and integrity. Rather cheeky, though, not to have a single M word in their "What we stand for" section. One recalls the classic moment in The IT Crowd when Jen Barber can't say what I.T. stands for:
June: What does I.T. stand for?
Jen Barber: What does it stand for? What doesn't it stand for?
June: Yes, yes, but what does it stand for?
Jen: It stands for, it stands for commitment. It stands for audacity. It stands for courage in the face of...