Things I learned while looking up other things, 2022.01.11
Dear friends,
It feels like the last few weeks have been ones of almost willful unlearning. All the stuff we learned (often the hard way) in 2020 and 2021? Swept out, tossed aside, sent to the landfill with the new year's confetti and novelty glasses. Maybe we could call it 'antisocial forgetting'.
Over the holiday I finished Fonda Lee's excellent Green Bone Saga; an invented proverb in the book is "marry the devil, get the devil's mother", which led me to this fun folktale about the devil's mother-in-law, and these sayings about the devil's grandmother. (Devilsmother is also a place in Ireland.)
New finding from the Department of Unlikely Sentences: "Due to Don Johnson's dissatisfaction with the "Lifeline" rig, the Jackass Leather Company (later renamed Galco International) "Original Jackass Rig" shoulder holster rig was personally fitted for him by Rick Gallagher (President of Galco)." (From the Wikipedia article Firearms in Miami Vice.)
Eucalypsinthe was a proposed substitute for absinthe, made from eucalyptus ("flavour anything but agreeable ... difficult to understand how any could be brought to really like it as a beverage").
Language features that let you indicate how you know what you're talking about (for example 'I saw this myself' or 'That guy told me about this' or 'It's obvious that X happened because we know Y') can be called evidential or mediaphoric features.
A scaldabanco ('benchwarmer') is either a failing student who is allowed to advance because of their age (or pleading by their families) or a "hot declaimer" (a fiery preacher).
Another in the long list of "things it was a pleasure to find the name for" is Zalgo text: "digital text that has been modified with combining characters, Unicode symbols used to add diacritics above or below letters, to appear creepy or glitchy."
Stay well!
y̷̨̧̳͖͔̜̬͂͂̋̈̊̉́̄͋̌͌̐ọ̶̡̜͙͍͕̥̺̖̥̣͓̅͆̌̈̍ͅú̵̢̗̮̳̩̫̣̦̭̞r̸̲̬͌̂̃̓̆̋̅̈̋͗́̚͠ ̶̨̛̦̦̦͎̿̀̓f̶̳̯̗̯̲̜̣̣̹̞͖͚̠̤̱̣̫̎̅̅̊̍̿r̷̡͍̰̭̰̗͓̙̙͖͋͑͑͊̔̎̑̀̾͒̔́͐̍̉͘ị̶̡̨͙͙͇̠̰͍̞̥̙͍͙͚͌͊e̷̡̙̼͎̭̯̹̫͔͚̙̟̼̍͋͘͜͜ͅn̷̛̛̹̳͎̯̙̤̯͈̜͕̗͔̳̫͉̽̈́̿́̉͗̎̏͋̏̌̎̕͝d̵̞̹̲̙̠̯̫̱̲̫͕͙̭͚̭̐͛̆͒̃̀̿̀̓̏͜,̵̫̮͍͎̋̀̓̊́͗͌͋
Erin
It feels like the last few weeks have been ones of almost willful unlearning. All the stuff we learned (often the hard way) in 2020 and 2021? Swept out, tossed aside, sent to the landfill with the new year's confetti and novelty glasses. Maybe we could call it 'antisocial forgetting'.
Over the holiday I finished Fonda Lee's excellent Green Bone Saga; an invented proverb in the book is "marry the devil, get the devil's mother", which led me to this fun folktale about the devil's mother-in-law, and these sayings about the devil's grandmother. (Devilsmother is also a place in Ireland.)
New finding from the Department of Unlikely Sentences: "Due to Don Johnson's dissatisfaction with the "Lifeline" rig, the Jackass Leather Company (later renamed Galco International) "Original Jackass Rig" shoulder holster rig was personally fitted for him by Rick Gallagher (President of Galco)." (From the Wikipedia article Firearms in Miami Vice.)
Eucalypsinthe was a proposed substitute for absinthe, made from eucalyptus ("flavour anything but agreeable ... difficult to understand how any could be brought to really like it as a beverage").
Language features that let you indicate how you know what you're talking about (for example 'I saw this myself' or 'That guy told me about this' or 'It's obvious that X happened because we know Y') can be called evidential or mediaphoric features.
A scaldabanco ('benchwarmer') is either a failing student who is allowed to advance because of their age (or pleading by their families) or a "hot declaimer" (a fiery preacher).
Another in the long list of "things it was a pleasure to find the name for" is Zalgo text: "digital text that has been modified with combining characters, Unicode symbols used to add diacritics above or below letters, to appear creepy or glitchy."
Stay well!
y̷̨̧̳͖͔̜̬͂͂̋̈̊̉́̄͋̌͌̐ọ̶̡̜͙͍͕̥̺̖̥̣͓̅͆̌̈̍ͅú̵̢̗̮̳̩̫̣̦̭̞r̸̲̬͌̂̃̓̆̋̅̈̋͗́̚͠ ̶̨̛̦̦̦͎̿̀̓f̶̳̯̗̯̲̜̣̣̹̞͖͚̠̤̱̣̫̎̅̅̊̍̿r̷̡͍̰̭̰̗͓̙̙͖͋͑͑͊̔̎̑̀̾͒̔́͐̍̉͘ị̶̡̨͙͙͇̠̰͍̞̥̙͍͙͚͌͊e̷̡̙̼͎̭̯̹̫͔͚̙̟̼̍͋͘͜͜ͅn̷̛̛̹̳͎̯̙̤̯͈̜͕̗͔̳̫͉̽̈́̿́̉͗̎̏͋̏̌̎̕͝d̵̞̹̲̙̠̯̫̱̲̫͕͙̭͚̭̐͛̆͒̃̀̿̀̓̏͜,̵̫̮͍͎̋̀̓̊́͗͌͋
Erin
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