Like the first Canadian geese going south for the winter...
Tonight I got my first freshman of the year looking for information about a team. For a change I was able to help out with ease. Simple connection of email to email. If they were only all that simple.

Only five little words, but how random they are when brought together.
I love the way words form ideas, the way that English is nuanced to the hilt, the way that words with nothing in common become ludicrous when joined. If you love the wrong answer list, this is the reason you love it. And if you're looking for why I write for NAQT, the freedom to string phrases like "In deference to Johnny Lemaster" into questions would easily be one of the prime reasons. Today, two examples of wonderfully dadaist phrasing came together. First, a phrase culled from today's Daily Prospectus: "a huge ziggurat of lint" Second, a phrase taken from an episode guide for The Rockford Files: "Dwarf in a Helium Hat" The former is the essence of nuance. Pile, boring. Pyramid, interesting, but the plausibility of that shape for lint diminishes the joke. Ziggurat, amusing name, and an impossible shape for a lint pile, perfect for the purpose. The latter is one of those phrases which had been rattling in my brain ever since I saw it. (this was at least a year ago.) It drove me nuts, what the heck does it mean? Well, finally, after the quest for meaning had driven me to compulsively watch several weeks of Rockford Files episodes, I'll at least know what it means.