3 Strange Things

Lest it appear that this blog is getting too serious all of a sudden, Old Ken is back with some customary silliness. First up, look closely at this sign, which has not been doctored in any way. Why are all of those letters white?



Secondly, this is a drawing (hence the poor image quality, as it's hard to photograph drawing) of an etching I came across today in John Ogilby's 1665 "The Fables of Aesop." The print is by Wenceslaus Hollar and it illustrates a lesser known fable by Aesop apparently called "The Rebellion of the Hands and Feet." Basically, the body, which has grown the disturbing face visible in the image above, gets uppity and cuts off its own head. Yup, that's right: we do see a dog barking at the severed head in the foreground. As the Italians would say: "Strano."



Finally, I've been waiting to share this one for some time. Thank you Cut Spelling Society for making my day! Or, to translate it into the spelling that these visionaries imagine: "Thank u Cut Spelng Society for makng my day!" Some of this stuff needs truly to be quoted to be properly appreciated. Such as the following query about punctuation:

"2.3. Apostrofes redundnt because problmatic? Th apostofe on th othr hand has in theory been subject to strict rules in th twentieth century, and misues is usuly regardd by skild riters as a serius mistake demnstrating shameful ignrnce of gramaticl structurs." (p. 166)

That's so much easier, isn't it? Or, should that be the beloved "innit"?