More Words. CRUCIVERBALIST A compiler or solver of crossword puzzles. If you encounter the clue “crossword puzzle fan (14 letters)”, this is the answer. It seems to have appeared in English about 1980 (the first reference I can find is to the Compleat Cruciverbalist of 1981 by Stan Kurzban and Mel Rosen, subtitled “how to

Read More »

Words, via Mike. World Wide Words. The Word Detective (has an interesting book for sale called Making Whoopee: Words of Love for Lovers of Words). Miskatonic University Press (a complete section on Hardboiled Slang, and the Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot ).

Read More »

Whee! I took Ray to her first carnival last night. She rode the elephant ride all by herself, and she was twenty feet off the ground. Of course we rode the carosel. She ran full-tilt into one of the mirrors in the funhouse maze. We rode on the Ferris Wheel. I think this is the

Read More »

Received at work. (It might just be worth being a high school English teacher if you get this stuff from time to time.) Excerpts from some high school essays: Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master. His thoughts tumbled in his head,

Read More »

Creepy. I don’t have a good illustrative example handy; one of the usual a**holes said this today and it struck me enough to write it down. “Did you like that? Did you like that? Huh?” I hate it when people stand over you and feed off your reaction. It’s like they get a sexual thrill

Read More »