Died in an explosion while on assignment for Combustibles magazine.

Tue, 22 May 2007 11:05:29 +0100

In conversation with John Wiseman about RID yesterday he mentioned that some of the dictionary data that we raised our eyebrows about might be Mountweazels. I'd never come across this term before although I immediately guessed what it might be from the context. The truth is rather beautiful I think. Here is the Mountweazel entry from Wikipedia:

Lillian Virginia Mountweazel is a fictional character, a copyright trap[1] inserted into the 1975 New Columbia Encyclopedia. Her biography indicates she lived from 1942 to 1973, and was a U.S. fountain designer and photographer, best known for her collection of photos of rural American mailboxes, Flags Up!. She was born in Bangs, Ohio, and died in an explosion while on assignment for Combustibles magazine.

Priceless. In our case I'm more inclined to believe the data was a little carelessly put together but you never know. I also enjoyed The Daily Blague on esquivalence:

Ms Lindberg took a French verb, esquiver, meaning "to dodge or evade something," and tacked on an ending that, according to the dictionary's editor-in-chief, "could not arise in nature." ... The esquivalier - rhymes with "cavalier" - isn't just shirking any old thing. He's shirking his official responsibilities.

Isn't language wonderful?

Curiouser and Curiouser! on mountweazels

Died in an explosion while on assignment for Combustibles magazine.