Cruel to be kind?

With thanks to microwaved_bear
(click on the image to see it full size)

I'm so glad there's a word for this

"I wouldn't dream of suggesting, of course, that P M is a shifty, manipulative power-monger. And as for the allegations that there was something dodgy about his mortgage arrangements - well, those don't bear repeating."

Apophesis, apparently.

From the "Dictionary For Today"...

Bigamist (n): (i) an incorrigible optimist; (ii) a masochist.

Sinister leanings

Ciotóg, it turns out, is the Gaelic for "left handed"... the original or underlying meaning being "the strange one". I, for one, would not argue with that.

I admit to a certain fascination with my vague Irish ancestries. Apparently if you go back a few generations you will find a link to the O'Bleege family, one of whom suffered an appalling agricultural accident with a baling machine. "Nobless" O'Bleege, he was known as, after that.

Is it safe?

It occurs to me to wonder why, in some countries at least, we spend many formative months of our children's lives doing all we can to convince them that bears are cute and cuddly.

At the German bookstore

I went to the bookshop last time I was in Germany looking for some Lewis Carroll... the only German-language version I could find was "Alice in Ordnung".

Modern malapropism

Overheard recently:

"Well, yes, I did hear him say that, but I think it was just a Freudian slit".