Sorry, that was rude of me. Although we associate the pronoun thou with high-fallutin’ fancy talk since nobody says it anymore, it was in practice used informally. Basically an anglicized equivalent of tu (it was originally spelled thu), as seen in French, Spanish and Latin, it would have been used to address a close friend, …
Author Archives: adamrinsky
Fighting World War 2 in the 1970s
For most of the world, the second world war ended in 1945. Many Japanese soldiers, however, were not so lucky. Left behind in their stations, they struggled out a harsh existence battling against hunger and disease. Some were able to find their way home eventually. But for the most famous of these soldiers, Hiroo Onoda, …
The story behind robot callers
Have you ever gotten a call from a telemarketer that’s just a little bit off? I received one like this a while back: “Hello?” “Hi, this is Robert from (somewhere). How are you today?” “I’m doing well, how about yourself?” (2 second pause) “It’s good! I just wanted to tell you about…” *HANG UP* They …
What’s that hat called?
Ski masks are called balaclavas. Robin Hood is commonly depicted wearing a bycocket. Napoleon is commonly depicted wearing a bicorne. Pilgrims are commonly depicted wearing capotains. Keystone cops wore custodian helmets. Sherlock Holmes is commonly depicted wearing a deerstalker. The newsy hat has like 8 names, ranging from apple cap, to baker boy, to gatsby. …
Bizarre Facts about North Korea
North Korea is kind of an obsession of mine. For a country filled with brutal oppression and horrifying human rights abuses, it has some very interesting and often amusing quirks. But first, a brief history of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (their official name) if anyone needs to be brought up to speed. Korea …
Adam Rinsky 