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Feats of St. Nicholas
When TOF was a TOFling, it was the practice of Haus Flynn to set one's shoes outside the bedroom door in order to collect goodies left there by Good St. Nick. Later, after there were too many shoes cluttering up the hallway, this took the form of socks hung under the mantlepiece. TOF's maternal relatives, by which he means virtually the entire ( Read more... ) -
The Engineer Discourses Upon His Love
A change of pace. The first poem I ever sold for cash money was "The Engineer Discourses Upon His Love," now appearing for a limited engagement on the Preview Page. It appeared in ANALOG, March 1989 and was reprinted in the Rhysling anthology for that year as a nominee, and again in the collection Captive Dreams.
It ends in a pun of dread and ( Read more... ) -
Microagression
The latest fad among the bien pensants on campus is the notion of "microagression." It is never too clear of what this offense consists but, like Potter Stewart's obscenity, "you know it when you see it." Of course, "seeing it" is always after-the-fact, which means those accused seldom know they are doing it until the after accusation is itself ( Read more... ) -
Germanobeastnaming
German, the Legoblock language, can construct new words from old. For example:
Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänis a fine example, should you ever need a single word to designate the captain of a Danube steamship for a travel company. He (or she, we hasten to add) would be a Danubicsteamshiptravelcompanycaptain. Think how this would reduce ( Read more... )
