(b)logophile

So yeah, the Greek economy is on the rocks. Which puts the rest of Europe under pressure. Which leads some German politicians to make helpful suggestions that one somehow expects will not be appreciated. One also has a sneaking suspicion that the gentlemen in question have probably never had a conversation with a real live [...]

The IND (the Dutch immigration folk) have a spiffy website. They have an 0900 number with friendly and cheerful staff. They have all the documents you need as pdf downloads, usually in both Dutch and English. And so I am regularly, consistently, and enormously surprised at the regular, consistent, and enormous gap between what I [...]

My diss is printed1 and I’d like to post photos of the pyramid of boxes, and the snazzy cover … but my camera has run out of batteries and won’t release said pics from its robotic claws. In the meantime, then, a bizarre piece of lexicography:2 the second citation for “tarantula” in Dr Johnson’s Dictionary. [...]

From a Pharyngula post I learn that the Museum of Jurassic Technology has a website. Magnificent. (A few years ago I picked up Mr Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders, about the MJT and its proprietor, in a fit of whimsy and a second-hand bookstore. Highly recommended.)

Greek spelling is both wonderful and awful. It’s wonderful because, completely unlike English, if you see a word written down you know exactly how to pronounce it. It’s awful because knowing how to pronounce a word still leaves you lots of options for how to spell it. Today’s discovery is the verb “to use”: χρησιμοποιώ. [...]