And I’ll bet the vieheisters are all meshed up too

Hi, I’m selling “Stalingrad” Campaign in Russia, 1941-45. Made by Avalon Hill in 1963. The game seems to never been played with because the chaf’s are all intacked.

-- from eBay via Joe Scoleri

How many Poles does it take to change a lightbulb?

The failure of the Vale of Leven Gas Company to get ahead with the street lighting scheme was discussed. Treasurer Rose has been and is most energetic to see that Inverary is not left in the dark this coming winter, particularly with so many Polish soldiers stationed in the place.

-- The Oban Times, Scotland, circa 1943

We’ve come a long way

Today the free system of postal delivery will be commenced. It will no doubt be welcomed by citizens generally. The carriers will appear in uniform in due course of time. There will be three deliveries each day. Notice giving full instructions in regard thereto have been published for the information of the public.

-- - The Ottawa Times, Canada 1 May 1875

Well, no, you could also assume that it’s not complete

From charmtails@aol.com:

This is a vintage 1964 game from Avalon Hill called Midway. It is a WW2 Battle Game. The game appears complete, although the manual does not say how many cardboard pieces there are but there are quite a few so I can only assume it is complete.

-- [Enough -ed.]

Apologia

The issue of profanity, vis-a-vis bullshit above, has finally come up. Well, in the first place, profane means serving to debase or defile what is holy. I suppose I should be less literal-minded (as well as less bloody-minded), but on the other hand, one ignores history at one’s peril, and clearly the original usage of profane was religious.

So unless we’re talking about Holy Shit here, bullshit is by no stretch of the imagination profane.

Now it could be argued that words such as bullshit, although not offensive to religion or holiness, offend sensibilities; that overuse could render the words innocuous; that there are more refined and cultured ways of speaking. It could be argued, but not by me. In the first place, if a word or phrase is over used to the point of becoming a cliché, then the problem becomes moot.

I’m a firm believer that words are tools, with a use and a place in our lexicon. The fact that a portion of the populace may take offense is their problem, not mine. I would like to help them, but I won’t pander to them.

A bit of history is in order here. I designed it as a rubber stamp and had it made up for me in 1976. What you see above is the final result, approximately full size. I owned that stamp for years, but used it in sturm und drang only once.

A bureaucrat had sent me a letter, and I had wasted all morning trying to write a reasoned response. I finally realized that I couldn’t, simply because the letter was bullshit. I stamped the letter and returned it (as only a cocky Young Turk with unlimited job prospects and an inflated sense of his own worth could do), and there was pandemonium, and hair was pulled, and clothes were rent.

And it was good. My (quite coincidentally) new boss cleaned up the mess I’d made, and then took me behind the figurative wood shed. I gave him the stamp and he has it to this day. When it was safe to talk about it, I discovered that my action had made me notorious, but had also created a huge cheering section.

In the meantime, the guy who had written the letter had been gond (bureaucrats will understand my quaint phrasing).

Rather than being a demagogue about it, I’ll let the readership decide. I have one vote for eliminating the Bullshit above. On 31 December 2001 I will accede to the wishes of the majority of those who express an opinion.

-- Editor