Software naming has power. I first became aware of this when a friend commented how much he enjoyed starting Windows 3. “Win,” he said. “I just love typing that!” I felt this this again recently with just. just lint Can you feel it? just build Actually, I just like to say “Just…” just test
Loved this Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani scene where Ranveer asks, “Chinese ko Chinese bol sakte hai?” हम बहनदी भी नहीं बोल सकते? आंटी, मैं दिल्ली से हूँ। मैं कैसे नहीं बहनदी बोलूं बहनदी!? कैसा जमाना आ गया है? फैट-ों को फैट नहीं बोल सकते, ब्लैक-ों को ब्लैक नहीं बोल सकते, ओल्ड-ों को ओल्ड नहीं बोल सकते, मुँह खोलने से डर लगता है मुझे! आप मुझे बताओ, चाइनीज़ को चाइनीज़ बोल सकते हैं? ...
I just learned that any word made of just these letters beighlosz can be spelt on a calculator. That includes Hobbes! 538804 upside-down looks like this: I’m surprised I never knew that. The longest, by far, appears to be hillbillies – 53177187714
I built an internal app that nudges people to respond to calendar invites in Gramener. A colleague replied, “… this is really helpful for improving hobbits”. #Autocorrect is delightfully serendipitous. I promptly watched all three #films in the Peter Jackson Hobbit series 🙂 LinkedIn
Contronyms are words that have two meanings that are the opposite of each other. Sanction, for example, may mean restricting something (e.g. sanction against imports) or approving something (e.g. sanctioning imports). Scan may mean to look at cursorily (e.g. scan a document) or look at in detail (e.g. scan an X-Ray) Fine may mean excellent (e.g. fine wine) or average (e.g. the wine’s fine). I enjoyed this list of 75 contronyms.
In November 2000, I visited Paris one weekend. Two classmates, Anand Binani and Ram Venkat were studying there, and we roamed around the city. At around 6:00pm, we went over to Montmartre. It’s up a hill, and there’s a cable car that takes you up there. We went all the way up, and got out when a lady behind us asked: “Is that yours? We’d left something behind. Went back to retrieve it. The car was almost leaving for it’s return journey. We just got out in time… ...
From Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. These are the quotes I found most… how shall I put it… eye-opening. Paradigm-shifting. “..the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury found it advisable-” “Found WHAT?” said the Duck. “Found IT,” the Mouse replied rather crossly. “Of course you know what ‘it’ means.” “I know what ‘it’ means well enough, when I find a thing,” said the Duck: “it’s generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?” ...
A non-verbal dictionary.
To those who’re curious about what’s happening in Russia, Pravda has been online in English for a while.
Cliches. Tells you what cliches like ass backwards mean.