Category Archives: Orbilius

Never Send A Machine To Do A Man’s Job

Posted on Thursday: October 20, 2005 by Michael Hendry

James Lileks finds some coded Latin on a website, but concludes that it must be gibberish, since the online Latin translator couldn’t handle it. That just shows how stupid machines are. It’s not quite classical Latin, but close enough to … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture: Poetry, Orbilius | 1 Comment

Is This A Pun?

Posted on Wednesday: August 17, 2005 by Michael Hendry

From the picture of the book jacket on Blogographos, it appears that Harry Potter in Greek is APEIOΣ ΠOTHP. Assuming the accents match, that also means “Warlike Drinking-Cup”. Perhaps those who have dipped into the Greek version can tell me … Continue reading →

Posted in Nachleben, Orbilius | 1 Comment

Oops!

Posted on Sunday: June 19, 2005 by Michael Hendry

One of the larger Spanish publishers (Espasa-Calpe) has just published a translation of twenty-three tales of “William Sidney Porter, más conocido como [= better known as] O’Henry”. The web-page includes a picture of the cover of the book: though blurry, … Continue reading →

Posted in Orbilius | 1 Comment

Fooling the Gods?

Posted on Tuesday: June 14, 2005 by Michael Hendry

Language Hat has an interesting post on the etymology of ‘theodolite’, which he treats as some kind of exotic or obsolete scientific instrument. I have used one on the job, though not in the last quarter-century. From 1978 to 1982 … Continue reading →

Posted in Etymology, Orbilius | 1 Comment

Pedantic Mondegreen

Posted on Wednesday: May 11, 2005 by Michael Hendry

A few days ago, the same friend whose book I so gravely defaced (see previous post) told me about Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words site,* which looks likely to fill many hours of my time in the next few weeks, … Continue reading →

Posted in Jokes, Orbilius | 2 Comments