From time to time I write to the OED. It's not like a penpal thing, that would be awful. But I do keep a list of words which interest or confuse or delight me when I read - because, as we've learned, I am twelve kinds of sad when it comes to such things - and occasionally I come across ante- or post-datings which I like to pass on to people as ( Read more... )

Gregor Dallas's book of Paris anecdotes, Metrostop Paris (very loosely based on the metro system) has a great chapter on Anaïs Nin, a writer I used to love, then decided was overrated, and now rather appreciate again. The story is mainly about her affair with Otto Rank, and fascinating it is too. But in the middle of it, a name appeared which I ( Read more... )

I have a lot of Camille on my iPod at the moment.

Try to imagine walking home through the dark streets of the 19th after a late shift, with this playing in your ears:

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It's ridiculous, but ever since that Shooting Stars retrospective went out, I've been craving baked potatoes. I must have eaten half a dozen in the last week. With this in my head the whole time:

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I can't stand Little Britain, so it's nice to remember that there was a time when I thought Matt Lucas was funny.  I always liked his songs, and the fact ( Read more... )

Stephen Fry's recent blog entry has been picked up by virtually every language planet in the blogosphere. But if you haven't seen it yet, it's very worth reading and finally settles those niggling doubts over where Stephen fits on the prescriptivist-descriptivist continuum. Happily, we now know. Annoyingly, though unsurprisingly, he argues the case ( Read more... )

We spent the morning eating toast in our dressing-gowns in front of the TV, watching people cheering all over the world. It was impossible not to get quite emotional about it all, even though everyone is at pains to point out that Obama is not some kind of superman and the world is still in a mess.

It's just I feel that the President is so much ( Read more... )

This is one for muckefuck .  A sign which went up in Swansea:


( Read more... )

Wow, I thought polls would be a bit gimmicky, but I was actually totally gripped by seeing democracy in action. I might live my whole life like this. It's like The Dice Man meets Pop Idol. Bowing to the majority, I've decided to keep the sign up, except following zenithblue 's lead I will now regard it as a reminder of the inconvenient but crucial fact ( Read more... )

OK, I have a piece of awesome news.  An awesome new, if you will.  On Friday I'm going to Canada to see Hannah's sister, who lives in Ontario.  I have NEVER BEEN TO NORTH AMERICA BEFORE.

But what makes this twenty times more exciting is that while we're there, we're going to be flying over for a weekend in New York!!  Hannah's uncle and aunt have a ( Read more... )

In case you missed this: Proust discovers LiveJournal.

In several ways this parody is somewhat better than actual Proust.