Technical nonfiction and spec fiction. She/her. Melbourne, Australia. Generation X. Admin of Outside of a Dog. BDFL of Hometown (Mastodon) instance Old Mermaid Town (@futzle@old.mermaid.town). Avatar image is of a book that my dog tried to put on their inside.
My rating scale: ★ = I didn't care for it and probably didn't finish it; ★★ = It didn't inspire but I might have finished it anyway; ★★★ = It was fine; ★★★★ = I enjoyed it; ★★★★★ = I couldn't put it down.
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From the back cover:
Imagine a world in a system of twin stars, where Winter is 600 ice-locked years and …
The arrangement of entries by date was inspired, but it did inevitably lead to a disappointing last century as I already knew the etymologies of the most recent usually-technical neologisms.
This book was, physically, nightmarish to read, with tiny text practically right in the gutter.
Borrowed this amazing tome from a friend. Mesmerizing and humorous, astonishingly well researched.
[on the history of “ginger”] • In the early eighteenth century horse dealers discovered that inserting ginger into a horse's backside made him sprightly and hold his tail well. According to Francis Grose's CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OF THE VULGAR TONGUE (1785), the original term was to feague a horse. (Grose adds that, before ginger was thought of, an eel was reputedly used for the same purpose.) Not surprisingly, to feague was eventually replaced by a new coinage, to ginger, which appeared in print in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. This verb, often with the particularly appropriate addition of up, was soon figuratively extended to mean 'to liven up', and in this sense is now a common colloquialism.
— Dictionary of English down the Ages by Linda Flavell, Roger Flavell (Page 69 - 70)
I have so many questions.
Another etymology book. This one is arranged roughly chronologically by first use, with themed chapters (e.g., 1086: The Domesday Book).
A Christmas present. I’ve heard good things about this book.
@pelagikat Thoughts and prayers.
Having recently read POSH and its well-researched debunking of many folk etymologies, I find How Did It Begin full of those same wrong etymologies. Perhaps being from sixty years ago, this book is now outdated. Setting it aside because I can’t trust it.
Before Dr Karl and before Robyn Williams, the ABC had Rudi Brasch. This compendium of short essays on various customs and superstitions was first published in 1966 and a revised edition in 2006.
Lymstock is a town with more than its share of shameful secrets – a town where even a sudden outbreak …
Lymstock is a town with more than its share of shameful secrets – a town …
I never got into this story or any of the characters. It’s only technically a Miss Marple story as she has such a small part in it. Written in 1942, it’s very dated now with respect to gender and relationships.
@pelagikat I am certain that I read this, or tried to, years ago, as Lessing was one of Mum’s favourite sf authors. The only thing I remember is that I would never read another Lessing title again. Good luck!
Lymstock is a town with more than its share of shameful secrets – a town …
Oh, first person, this'll be a change.
@FrankAuLux How are you enjoying the Hutch books? I read them so long ago, I should read them again.
An old-fashioned London Hotel is not quite as reputable as it makes out… When Miss …
Didn’t go at all where I thought it would. Marred again by pacing issues.
