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According to the internet, he is considered the father of archeology. Talking about Ciriaco de’ Pizzecolli (born 633 years ago / died 572 years ago). He walked the Earth when the sun, according to the religionists, was barely a few thousand years old. Much water has gone under the bridge since. Though time is relative, 600 years is relatively long. The religionists may have reluctantly changed their beliefs since then, partly because of the work

According to Wikipedia, Hasan Ibn Al-Haytham (born 1059 years ago / died 1000 years ago), “is sometimes described as the world’s first true scientist.” Whether that’s true I guess is for the scientists after Hasan to decide. TAKEAWAY In the context of what I’m the author of, the story of words, it means science has recently celebrated its 1,000th anniversary. It also means the past has progressively been the domain of the science for the

Hunger stones… …are large stones in riverbeds. In bygone times, they used to warn those word-users able to read of not enough to eat. Did you know when the printing press was invented ,584 years ago, only 8% of the then-400 million world-wide population of word-users could read and write? (The number of word-users is meanwhile 9 billion with no end in sight) “Who sees me will weep”… …used to be written on the hunger

The next time a word-user starts telling you everything it knows isn’t a word, ask it what that is without naming it. I should know it’s impossible because in my workshops, I ask groups of word-users if anything they know isn’t a word, and in a heartbeat, without thinking twice, they start convincing themselves and each other that’s not true (only to then change their convictions, that’s what my workshops are for). Fact, nothing is

Contrary to popular belief, words don’t matter. I should know. Of course, I may be wrong for I’ve studied words during the past 8 years only. 8 years doesn’t even compare to those word-users that made the study of words their careers from the start — the linguists, lexicographers, publishers of dictionaries, etymologists, grammarians, semanticians, semioticians, and translators, to name a few. Being none of the above, I’m simply a word-user — a user of

I guess only a few readers will have guessed today’s post is about the… Typewriter The typewriter allowed for the writing and dissemination of more words faster than anything invented for that purpose in the previous 4.65 billion years. Printing press Invented 429 years before the invention of the typewriter, the printing press, invented 584 years ago, had been a fast distributor of words, but only 8% of the then-400 million world-wide population of word-users

Taste 1 of our 6 senses we have in common with many of the estimated 8.7 to 16 million species of wordless animals, is taste. This is not about the good taste or the bad taste word-users accuse each other of having. This is about the only place where taste is sensed, by our tongue’s taste buds. How do the wordy animals respond to food? When word-users taste food or drink, we respond with either

In the wordless world As you’d expect, in the wordless world that’s void of schools, sound of silence doesn’t exist because the wordless are also void of words. In the wordful world In the wordful world where words are taught at school… Wikipedia considers sound a vibration, and silence the absence of audible sound. AI considers sound a type of energy, and silence the absence of sound or noise. The proof is in the pudding