I’ve been meaning to post this for ages: Mike Lynch at Nannygoat Hill and Peter J Casey at Major to Minor share the process by which they construct palindromes for their regularly masterful Artwiculate ‘Word of the Day’ entries.
“When they want to write ‘Clusterfuck!’ in big letters on the front page but can’t because it’s a bit rude they can now reach for an alternative”
The Thick of It is a team-written show. The writers take it in turns to be on set for any last-minute changes that might be wanted… As these scenes tend to already be in pretty good shape, the notes from the creator, Armando Iannucci, at this stage are normally pretty brief… On this particular occasion he was in a hurry and all he said was:
Take a look at this.
Writer Tony Roche on how he came to add the word ‘omnishambles’ — which has gone on to become the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year for 2012 — to the already rich lexicon deployed by fictional communications director Malcolm Tucker in the BBC Two political comedy.
My micro life: 11:55am, 4 October 2009
The delivery label for my IKEA goods had them addressed to “chris miks”. Which I guess is appropriately minimalist and Scandinavian.
Computer reveals stone tablet ‘handwriting’ in a flash
A computer technique can tell the difference between ancient inscriptions created by different artisans.
My micro life: 11:36am, 17 April 2009
Comments I’d rephrase for clarity if I had my time again (#14): “Daddy’s just going to wipe his bottom and make you a sandwich.”
My micro life: 1:32pm, 23 January 2009
The rate at which my daughter is acquiring new words is exceeded only by the rate at which my vocabulary is diminishing.
My micro life: 8:57pm, 15 December 2008
Predictive text on my last phone interpreted ‘cous cous’ as ‘anus anus’. I shudder to think what Google Voice Search will make of it.
My micro life: 4:11pm, 4 December 2008
Apparently Axl Rose has gone missing. Maybe he’s gone looking for the errant apostrophe in “Guns N’ Roses”
The secrets of storytelling
From Scientific American, research into the ways in which stories can "enhance social skills by acting as simulators for the brain" and can help people "make sense of increasingly complex social relationships"
My micro life: 8:03pm, 26 June 2008
In the 70s, people truly believed that the identity of a man named Mott could be clarified by the addition of the cognomen ‘the Hoople’
My micro life: 3:51pm, 24 June 2008
C-3PO is not only fluent in 6 million forms of communication, he also manages to sound like an asshole in every one of them
Compendium of lost words
A list of over 400 of the rarest modern English words, including a long list of unusual adjectives of relation.