If you didn't know, now you know.

In the hallway outside my office on campus today, the temperature (°F) is the same as the decibel level, thanks to a ridiculous blowing vent. 64!!!

This snippet is from the preface of the textbook I had for intro #linguistics in 1992. Today I learned that my kid, who is taking intro linguistics in 2023, is using the 9th edition of the same textbook. AND THE PASSAGE IS EXACTLY THE SAME. The extent of your 'contemporariness' has been limited by the fact that you haven't changed a word in 30 years.

Four overlapping meetings this Wednesday afternoon. I must have done something to deserve this, right?

Anyone else out there have a designated office guardian? This fellow is Brian the sock monkey, who has been with me since I was a newborn, and who for the past 15 years at Wayne State has kept vigil over my office and its contents. After two years of pandemic and a year of sabbatical, I'm back in here regularly to help him keep things in good order. Also shown: the spine of my 655-page dissertation, which I guess I keep as a memory of many tears.
@academicchatter

Here's a nonce-word for you #lexicography and #wordplay fans: kirkpaxfordy. Apparently developed by the penmanship / #calligraphy teacher Eleazer Huntington, it occurs only in his 1821 Art of Penmanship, on p. 16 and then again in similar context on p. 17. From context, it's a word coined specifically to train students in more complex letter combinations. As far as I can see, never used by anyone else. Maybe we can make up a definition for it? Anyone out there named Kirk Paxford?

Here's a bit of an interpretative #mystery from a 15th century copy of a #medieval #manuscript originally from the early 12th century. Any guesses? I have one, but nothing definite.

Some folks are surprised there are as many as 100 different numerical notations used over the past 500 years. A small minority asks 'why so few?'. Every year there are new things published that show us just how much there is out there in the world of notations that hasn't been adequately documented or explored yet. Here are some of the new findings in my little corner of the world from 2022:

Why yes, it is -30 here today with the wind chill and gusts of 80 km/h but that has not stopped Argo the World's Stupidest Boy here from demanding more than his regular quota of in-and-out privileges.