A PLACE FOR SIDEWAYS TRAINS OF THOUGHT
Twice in my life, I have been at a meeting where a French person has stood up and said very seriously that it is obvious that French should be the global form of communication since French is the most logical of all languages. To this, I have a number of replies, but one will suffice:... Continue Reading →
The 14th of March, we are told, is π day because that the beginning of that amazing number in decimal notation is 3.14. I'm not sure how you celebrate π day. Dance round in circles? Go on and on (as many of us are wont to do) without ever repeating ourselves (not something I can... Continue Reading →
This post is for people who have already grown as old as they want to be. As a result they don’t react as positively to questions about their age as the five-year old in the poem and sometimes can become extremely glum. Some people seem to go actively looking for this kind of reaction. They... Continue Reading →
Some tribes are supposed to have a counting system which consists of the numerals one, two, three and many. This tends to make us chuckle, but I wonder if we do not at times deceive ourselves with the devices we have invented to count up to the sky and beyond. We can write huge numbers... Continue Reading →
My Concise Dictionary of 26 Languages (not that I want in any way to vouch for its reliability) tells me that "tie" in Japanese is the charming ネクタイ (nekutai). In Russian it is галстук (Galstuk) which comes from German Halstuch (neckcloth), but German itself has Kravatte and then French has cravate, Spanish corbata, Italian... Continue Reading →
Out of every hundred people those who always know better: fifty-two. Unsure of every step: almost all the rest. Ready to help, if it doesn't take long: forty-nine. Always good, because they cannot be otherwise: four -- well, maybe five. Able to admire without envy: eighteen. Led to error by youth (which passes): sixty, plus... Continue Reading →