Friday, May 08, 2009

Hang It All, Robert Browning

Apparently, the great poet (whose work is on our "get to know better now that we're old enough" list) was under the impression "that 'twat' was a kind of medieval headgear for elderly nuns."

This delicious tidbit, which we fully intend to repeat after a few beers at the synod assembly,  is from a review of the well-titled Origins of the Specious, by Patricia T. O'Conner.  We mention the book mostly because of our own last post, since reviewer Alexandra Mullen complains that O'Conner is snide, especially for a descriptivist.  As if only prescriptivists had character flaws!

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