Monthly Archives: January 2019

Odin and Thor

Posted on January 16, 2019 | 1 comment

 

Odin…
…Thor

Listen to this coffice space review, complete with ambient background sound, for free on Patreon

The bottom of the heart of central Toronto is guarded on either side by two Norse gods so important each has a workday named after him: Odin and Thor. On the east side, on King by River Street, is Odin, the god who gave us hump day (Wednesday is Odin’s day, by way of another version of his name, Wotan). On the west side, on Bathurst at Niagara – two blocks south of King – is Thor, the god who gave us Thursday.

Each god is represented by an eponymous coffice space. Continue reading →

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erwartungstorte

Posted on January 16, 2019 | 2 comments

Look at this word. Just look at it. You just have to love it, don’t you? It’s long. It’s German. It must mean something that English speakers wish they had a word for. Continue reading →

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sprunt

Posted on January 14, 2019 | 1 comment

I was just flipping through my paperback abridgement of Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, as one does on a leisurely Sunday evening, and I happened on this stub of a word: sprunt.

Well, now. What could it was? It starts with the spr that we see in spring and sprinkle and spruce and sprain and sprawl, and it ends with the unt that we see in hunt and shunt and bunt and punt and runt. The word as a whole looks like an irregular past participle of sprint – as in I sprint, I sprant, I have sprunt. There are several ways it could go. Or, of course, the meaning could be entirely unrelated to what it sounds like it means, although with two sound clusters that have vivid associations, that’s not so likely; even if it started out unrelated, the sense would tend to drift towards what people think it should mean. Continue reading →

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yarringle

Posted on January 12, 2019 | 1 comment

We use words to spin many a yarn. But a word, in turn, spins yarns around it: all the uses and places and users and senses it’s had, wound or twisted or balled up and ready to be ravelled for revelry or pulled piecemeal for prose. Even the way it’s balled up can be different from time to time, not always telling a true tale of where it came from, and the same word for the same meaning and function can have different shapes over time, some plain for function, some fancy for curiosity or to show ingenuity and splendour. A word is in this way a yarringle, and yarringle is such a word. Continue reading →

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Dineen

Posted on January 10, 2019 | Leave a comment
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Isn’t it pretty? …Pretty busy

Listen to this coffice space review, complete with live ambient audio in stereo, for free on Patreon

Dineen is an easy walk from where I live. It’s right at the corner of Temperance and Yonge, occupying a site that used to have an optical dispenser whereat I bought several pairs of spectacles. I think right now I’m sitting almost exactly where I first saw the frames of the pair I’m wearing right now. (I have newer glasses, but I use the older, weaker ones for close-up work.)

I seldom work in Dineen. Continue reading →

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legion

Posted on January 10, 2019 | 3 comments

“My name is Legion, for I am many.”

I first read that when I was a child. I wondered how it could make sense. For one thing, in the little town I lived in, there was only one Legion. Continue reading →

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12 Gifts for Writers ebook

Posted on January 9, 2019 | 4 comments

As promised, I have made an ebook (in PDF) of 12 Gifts for Writers. You can download it for free, pass it around to your friends, and – I hope – gain something from it. Just click on the link:

12 Gifts for Writers (PDF, 4.2 MB)

12_gifts

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Posted in editing, writing

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cutchyrun

Posted on January 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

Does cutchyrun sound like someone who might cut and run? Perhaps it’s more like someone you would prefer to cut and run from. It’s not a cushy role to play, that’s for sure, and I don’t know whether it’s really something that’s catching.

A cutchyrun is one of the world’s Charlotte Bartletts (for those familiar with A Room with a View) – specifically in the sense that they always say “Don’t trouble yourself” or “Don’t stand on ceremony” when you know damn well that they will be quietly but tangibly disappointed if you don’t; they always say “It’s no problem at all” and they never complain but somehow you just know that it’s truly the most grievous problem, whatever it is you’re asking. Continue reading →

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12 Gifts for Writers audiobook

Posted on January 8, 2019 | 1 comment

I’ve recorded my 12 Gifts for Writers as an audiobook, in separate chapters and as one big 64-minute binge-listen. It’s available now to everyone who sponsors me on Patreon at the $2-a-month level or higher, even for just one month! I’m making chapter 11 (“Everyone’s a writer”) free for everyone… just as a teaser. Here it is.

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16 insights for photographers

Posted on January 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

I don’t earn much of my income through photography. People don’t pay me for advice on how to take pictures. However, I’ve been taking pictures – with proper full-control cameras in several film sizes – since I was about six years old.

I learned photography, including darkroom developing and printing, from my dad, who was a professional photographer at the time. I love photography, I look at a lot of photographs, I take a lot of photographs. I also love photographic equipment and I know a lot about it.

So, as a little cherry to put on top of my 12 days of gifts for writers, here – in one day – are 16 insights for photographers. If you’re a lifelong serious photographer, each of these is probably something you already either know or disagree with (or both). If you don’t care about photography, skip this. If, however, you like taking pictures but would like more thoughts and insights, here are some things I’ve observed that might be useful to you. (If you don’t like frank language, well, be forewarned.) Continue reading →

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