hand

photo by Drab Mayo on flickr.

first!

our man Chaucer was the first to use a large amount of English words, for the simple reason that he was one of the first major writers to writie in the queen's tongue, rather than some Latin Mumbo-Jumbo or Olde Germanice Gobbledegooke.

examining his writings more cloesly reveals a lot of semi-unpleasant truths. some of his poetry, for instance, indicates that he was an early goth... make that late goth, as the Goths predated him. okay, let's say early emo.

14 For sorwful imaginacioun
15 Is alway hoolly in my minde.
16 And wel ye wite, agaynes kynde
17 Hit were to liven in this wyse;
18 For nature wolde nat suffyse
19 To noon erthely creature
20 Not longe tyme to endure
21 Withoute slepe, and been in sorwe;
22 And I ne may, ne night ne morwe,
23 Slepe; and thus melancolye
24 And dreed I have for to dye,
25 Defaute of slepe and hevinesse
26 Hath sleyn my spirit of quiknesse

as we can see, he got a lot of those "first usage" medals through simple cheating, as he used any old spelling he could think of. such as "morwe", which clearly was an inspiration for Tolkien's Morwen. we'll have to get back to whether cheating or copying is the worst sin.

Source, for the poetry at least: wikisource.

hello kitty...

in Taiwan, if you don't have a clever dog, you could always have your baby in a Hello Kitty hospital. children are swaddled in Hello Kitty sheets, surrounded by Hello Kitty decorations, and given Hello Kitty birth certificates.

the hospital also boasts a bi-annual visit from people dressed as cats.


source: weird asia news.

hello doggy

Hello the dog, from Pingdong in Taiwan, runs errands for her owner. earlies, she used to carry betelnuts from his stall to customers. nowadays, after a run-in with a motorcycle, she is confined to the safer job of going to the supermarket. she carries money and shopping list in a bag and waits in line at the checkout. if buying dog food, Hello will show a note specifying what flavour.

however, her goodness has limits. during the summer, Hello prefers to stay in the air-conditioned shop rather than hurrying home. so... no dog biscuits today!

sources:
ananova and CRIENGLISH.com

ivy beats holly!

the first christmas card was decorated with a border of ivy and vine leaves (and grapes), but no holly. and no mistletoe, either. ivy wins!



Source: worldcollectorsnet.com for facts, thefindbuzz.com for this fine image.

a plague of parrots

Britain's latest pest appears to be parrots. the monk parakeet and the ring-necked parakeet have become so naturakused -- erm, naturalised -- that they can now be shot without permission. other birds celebrated with this disctinction include crows, magpies and gulls.


lurking parrot looking mean in kensington gardens, london.

Source: Britain's naturalised parrot now officially a pest. The Independent, 30 September 2009.

hent the obbit

as we know, the word "hobbit" has been severely popularised lately. following current trends, it seems that the ents are next. why else would there be a twitter account for the BBCEntsTeam?

entish image from treecraft.