There, but for the grace of God, …

I used to make music with Leon and Jurgen (2003), and that rather nice sceptre was promised to me one evening by Hennie the painter. Henk (1982) played a mean snare-drum and is greatly missed; I think I would also be dead by now if that life had continued.

No more French language education in Algeria

At least in Catalonia you’re still allowed to run a private school in your language of choice. Algeria’s jefe just removed that right from those who chose to educate their children in French. Let’s hope his gastric ulcer makes a swift return.

Cinderella’s slippers: glass, squirrel or amber?

Mark Liberman wonders whether Cinderella slipped two dead squirrels round her tootsy-toes that night, while Chris Waigl does not. I think glass is a reasonable interpretation, although it may not have been the material used. DH Green (Language and History in the Early Germanic World) notes that both Pliny and Tacitus used glaesum/glesum to refer…

Cinderella’s slippers: glass, squirrel or amber?

Mark Liberman wonders whether Cinderella slipped two dead squirrels round her tootsy-toes that night, while Chris Waigl does not. I think glass is a reasonable interpretation, although it may not have been the material used. DH Green (Language and History in the Early Germanic World) notes that both Pliny and Tacitus used glaesum/glesum to refer…