20 August 2007

Learning from one's mistress

(From a discussion with Philalethe, in the college bar, on the subject of undergraduates who think that it's appropriate to cite to Wikipedia in papers: as my interlocuter put it, "They need to learn that the reference room is one's wife and Wikipedia is one's mistress.")

By means of that wonderful electronic concubine, I learned today:
1) that deodands were abolished by statute, 9 & 10 Vict. c. 62, after coroner's juries began reviving them as a means of getting around the legal impunity of railway companies for fatal accidents;

2) that "A Swiss Army knife is commonly called "Macgybar Chakku" in Bangladesh, "Maekgaibeo Kal" in South Korea, and "Pisau MacGyver/Pisau Lipat MacGyver" in Indonesia/Malaysia".
There was, in fact, a reasonable path that got me from (1) to (2), but that's of no moment.

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