background preloader

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Related:  Word FunRead, Write, Reflect

Goodmorning & Goodnight | A refreshing dose of interesting Free eBooks - All Our Classic Books and Novels All our literature is entirely free for you to download, print, share, or whatever. Please share the love and let your friends know! (Also see our O-Z titles .) 1984 by George Orwell A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Aesop's Fables by Aesop Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche Bleak House by Charles Dickens Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell Dracula by Bram Stoker Dubliners by James Joyce Emma by Jane Austen Erewhon by Samuel Butler For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Origins Of Popular Jewish Surnames Correction, Jan. 29, 2014: Some of the sources used in the reporting of this piece were unreliable and resulted in a number of untruths and inaccuracies. The original post remains below, but a follow-up post outlining the errors, as well as further explanation, can be found here. Ashkenazic Jews were among the last Europeans to take family names. Some German-speaking Jews took last names as early as the 17th century, but the overwhelming majority of Jews lived in Eastern Europe and did not take last names until compelled to do so. The process began in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1787 and ended in Czarist Russia in 1844. In attempting to build modern nation-states, the authorities insisted that Jews take last names so that they could be taxed, drafted, and educated (in that order of importance). Until this period, Jewish names generally changed with every generation. Jews distrusted the authorities and resisted the new requirement. MATRONYMICS (daughter of …) Let us close with a ditty:

Josiah Bounderby in Hard Times Bounderby is a successful capitalist who owns a factory and a bank in Coketown. He brags about having grown up an orphan, and marries Louisa Gradgrind hoping to make her a trophy wife. In the end, she leaves him, his stories about his childhood turn out to be lies, and he dies of a fit in the street. The novel doesn't really beat around the bush with this one. Bounderby is awful. And yet, Bounderby is actually just one giant contradiction. Yes, it turns out that Bounderby actually grew up in a normal, loving, probably over-indulgent family that helped him get a start in life. Josiah Bounderby Timeline Explain that stuff! Science and technology made simple List of Latin phrases (I) This page lists English translations of notable Latin phrases, such as veni vidi vici and et cetera. Some of the phrases are themselves translations of Greek phrases, as Greek rhetoric and literature reached its peak centuries before the rise of ancient Rome. This list covers the letter I. See List of Latin phrases for the main list. Notes Sources

the Anarchist Library Liberty - Mother, not Daughter of Order "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." Samuel Adams, (1722-1803) U.S. Anarchist Thinkers Mikhail Bakunin, a founding father of Anarchism. Miscellaneous Essays, Articles, etc. Review of the "Anarchist" Cookbook, raises doubts about this classic piece of disinformation. Short list of Anarchist Links - Large page of Anarchist Images - Return to Flag Home

19 amazing English words we've totally forgotten about 1. Twirlblast A tornado, according to people in the 1700s. Why we switched to tornado, I’ll never understand. 2. Chork The act of making the sound your shoes make when you’re walking in them and they’re full of water. 3. This actually does not refer to the activities of a successful third date, but rather refers to a specific punctuation mark that is a mixture of a question mark and an exclamation mark (‽). 4. This amazing word refers to the Medieval belief that a woman in labor could be made to feel better by giving her some cheese. 5. Poor handwriting. 6. One who gives their opinions on things they don’t know about. 7. To put a live eel up a horse’s butt. 8. Things that look nice, but are actually pretty worthless. 9. A dishonest public official. See 10 more amazing forgotten English words on page 2 >>

Virtual Domicile of Steven K. Baum Global Dynamics Processes: the Pattern which Connects from KaliYuga to Tao 85 Famous TV / Movie Fonts | MadTuts Browse By Author: P 12 Letters That Didn't Make the Alphabet You know the alphabet. It’s one of the first things you’re taught in school. But did you know that they’re not teaching you all of the alphabet? There are quite a few letters we tossed aside as our language grew, and you probably never even knew they existed. 1. Have you ever seen a place that calls itself “ye olde whatever”? Thorn, which was pronounced exactly like the "th" in its name, is actually still around today in Icelandic. 2. Another holdover from the Futhark runic alphabet, wynn was adapted to the Latin alphabet because it didn’t have a letter that quite fit the “w” sound that was common in English. Over time, though, the idea of sticking two u’s together actually became quite popular, enough so that they literally became stuck together and became the letter W (which, you’ll notice, is actually two V’s). 3. Yogh stood for a sort of throaty noise that was common in Middle English words that sounded like the "ch" in "Bach" or Scottish "loch." 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Related:  Survival, Health, & LivingCreepy and Oddjust plain interestingwordsHUMANITIES SITES GENERALWritingaudrymosbruckerDictionaries/Thesaurithings to readreadersJust plain coolWebsites I HearttimothybrownWordsSome Cat's ReaperWriting ToolsDictionaries