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Hole Justice
Today, we describe someone as “in the hole” if they are in debt, upside down on their mortgage, or more generally in dire circumstances, but in medieval Germany that might literally be a description of your day in court. Imagine receiving a court summons that reads: You are hereby ordered to appear before the court…
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Chesterton’s Fence
Few things are easier to ridicule than a regulation. Republicans have made a meal out of this since Ronald Reagan mockingly said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’” Nobody wakes up in the morning excited about fire codes. No one tells friends…
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You probably don’t need to know this
We have already established that as a young boy I was rubbish at sports. It wasn’t for lack of trying. My father, may he rest in peace, had me “try out” for everything, but when it came to a ball, I was simply no good at kicking one down a lawn, hitting one with a…
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Then there’s this
Think, thoughtful reader, about something you use everyday, that everybody uses everyday. If you are Taylor Swift, the Pope, or Vladimir Putin, you use it. Got a PhD in Physics or just completed your training on the deep fryer at McDonalds and are finally moving up from the drive-thru window – you use it. The…
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Two Tribes
I have long wondered what makes contemporary Republicans tick. It is sophomoric to dismiss them outright because their leader is a vulgar half-wit, but, I’ll admit, Donald Trump’s Svengali-like hold over them confused me. After all, this is the party that has been banging on about family values ever since Dan Quayle launched a crusade…
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The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist
It’s time for another of my “curiosity” posts. I have a confession to make: I really enjoy these. An esoteric question pops into my head, like why are there so many ways to say going to the toilet, or I come across some obscure fact like corn flakes were originally developed by John Harvey Kellogg…
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Money
It’s time to answer one of those questions you didn’t know you had. There are things we all say or do because we always have. Call it growing up. Call it socialization. Call it inculturation. Some of them are practical: don’t put baked beans on a paper plate at a picnic or you’ll soon be…
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More Fool Me
Well it’s here. April Fools’ Day. I didn’t post anything for it last year. And the year before that, I mimicked the BBC’s 1957 Swiss Spaghetti Harvest story from the news program Panorama. So I thought this year I would talk about the origins of the day. Seriously, no joke. Despite its widespread popularity across…
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Remember The Captain and Tennille?
I have always said I “grew up” in the 80s. But chronologically that’s not entirely true. I “came of age” in the 80s, but the boy to teenager progression – what we typically mean by “growing up” – took place in the 70s; in fact, I became a teenager just as the decade was changing:…
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Beware the Ides of March
Today is the the Ides of March, observed on March 15. Its origins are in the ancient Roman calendar, and it has become one of the most famous dates in the history of the world. Though originally a routine marker of time in the Roman civic and religious calendar, the day became immortalized because of…
Your mileage may vary.