Languages
PETA’s Complete List of Animal-Friendly Idioms
See all of them here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 22, 2024 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Languages, Euphemisms, Cant, Weasel Words, Prissy Phrases and Orwellian Language
How To Speak Hip
The whole playlist for all 13 cuts is here. Track 1 below.Wikipedia entry for the album here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 19, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Languages, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s, Parody
Apostrophe Protection Society
Protecting the apostrophe since 2001, since its a threatened species: apostrophe.org.uk
Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 15, 2023 -
Comments (5)
Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations, Languages
The Yak Yak Contest
Alas, I cannot learn the full roster of contestants, nor the outcome.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 11, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Languages, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1950s, Women
Instant Yiddish
Don't be a schmuck! Use the player below to bone up on your Yiddish.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 18, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Ethnic Groupings, Languages, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, 1960s
Follies of the Madmen #565
Ninety-second commercial appears to think it's an epic movie.
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 23, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Games, Languages, Mad Scientists, Evil Geniuses, Insane Villains, Stereotypes and Cliches, Advertising, 1970s
The Making of An American
The immigrant's story: twas ever thus.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Mar 19, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Emigrants, Immigrants and Borders, Ethnic Groupings, Jobs and Occupations, Languages, PSA’s, 1920s
Miss Esperanto
I have three references to this contest, from 1929, 1963 and 1967. No firm idea of how long it lasted, if it's still going on, or if it was held faithfully every year.
Puccini's opera 'La 66Bohème' was performed as a special performance for the Esperantists. Finally, Miss Maria Wenczel from Hungary was chosen as 'Miss Esperanto 1963'. Diethilde Magori from Germany and Helen Salmos from Sweden took second and third place in this competition. After the end of the congress, the young people drove to Sofija in a special caravan, where they were expected by the 48th Esperanto World Congress.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 16, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Languages, 1920s, 1950s, 1960s
Flirtation Codes of the early 20th Century
What a chore flirtation must have been back then if you had to memorize all these codes.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Oct 8, 1916
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 16, 2022 -
Comments (5)
Category: Languages, 1910s, Love & Romance
Scott Perky’s Bi-Directional Text
Henry Perky invented shredded wheat. His son, Scott, was also an inventor, though not as famous. He invented and patented a bi-directional, symmetrical font which could be read from left-to-right or right-to-left.
Perky's idea was that this would allow one to read a line of text from left to right, and then read the next line right to left, without having to move the eye back to the beginning of the line. This, he claimed, would reduce "brain fag":
It is hardly necessary to allude to the strain upon the eyes and brain, which results from much reading. To students, researchers and others whose lives are cast among books, any device which promises to facilitate reading in such wise as to lessen fatigue of the optical tract, and consequent headache and brain fag, will appear of unusual importance.
Randy Ludacer of Beach Packaging Design took the time to set the first three lines of Perky's patent in the bi-directional font, so you can experience what it would be like to read it:
Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 08, 2021 -
Comments (5)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Languages, 1900s
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