"I kept thinking about how fun and clichéd and pervasive the periodic table framework has become, and I thought, 'Hey, there's no periodic table of periodic tables.' I Googled it and I was right. So I made one." Voilà: The Periodic Table of Periodic Tables. Mouse over each cell in the table for notes and links. (Via Diane Fischler.)
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Homer Simpson's "D'oh!" is, according to "[unnamed] international linguists," the greatest contribution to the English language made by The Simpsons. Also on the list: craptacular, sacrilicious, introubulate, and meh. The linguists were surveyed by London-based Today Translations. I was surprised to see that two of my favorite Simpsonisms, embiggen and cromulent, didn't make the top ten.
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Google has been denied trademark protection for Nexus One, the name of its Android-based mobile phone. (As I noted back in January, it wasn't a very good name for other reasons as well.) Maybe a new name will help revive slack sales.
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Curious George, the mischievous monkey of children's literature who was introduced to the world in 1941, was originally named "Fifi." In England he's called "Zozo"—because "the suggestion of 'strange George' would have also seemed a tasteless allusion to George VI, then the British king." A new exhibit about Curious George and his creators, Margret and H.A. Rey—German Jews who met and married in Rio de Janeiro, moved to France, and escaped to the United States just before the fall of Paris in 1940—is on view through August 1 at New York's Jewish Museum; it later moves to the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. (New York Times.)
That is extremely curious about Curious George. Fifi sounds feminine; was he Georgette?
On a somewhat related note, I recently learned that the parents of a guy I've known forever but not well wrote numerous Golden Books, including the Saggy Baggy Elephant. The Golden Books authors and illustrators were a really interesting crowd. There's actually a book about them: http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Legacy-Childrens-Publishing-American/dp/0375829962
Posted by: Michele Hush | March 26, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Fifi,dated French slang for gay man, would not have flown either.
Posted by: Duchesse | March 29, 2010 at 06:01 AM
> I was surprised to see that two of my favorite Simpsonisms, embiggen and cromulent, didn't make the top ten.
I'm surprised as well. "Embiggen", in particular, has been seized upon by Language Log for its illustrations and diagrams: "Click to embiggen". There can be no higher praise of a word!
Posted by: Alan Palmer | March 31, 2010 at 06:15 AM