Kurt Kaletka

Cripes. It’s all about freedom of speech, unless the right wing disapproves. Has this country really fallen this far?

I remember it well. It was a perfect day, weather-wise. It was my first day back in my lower Manhattan office after vacation. What a day to come back…

I've even heard Canadians say, "I plead the Fifth" in casual conversation. Unlike in the United States, Canadians can be compelled to give testimony. Canadian courts do guarantee protection to the witness when they are. In both Canada and the US, defendants are expected to tell the truth.

To plead the Fifth refers to the 5th Amendment of the US Constitution, which gives everyone in the US the right to a fair trial and the right to remain silent. In popular speech, people often say they'll plead the Fifth if they don't want to comment on something, even if it's not a legal matter.

Word is that Trump promised to make Adams ambassador to Saudi Arabia if he dropped out. Bribes like this used to be illegal, and both parties used to find them distasteful. Now only one party does. As to what’s legal or not… does that matter anymore?

A picture of a happy golden retriever.

Dog is a word that entered the English language around the 16th century. Its meaning has never changed. Before that, English used the word hound. Strangely, this word is not related to any other. No one knows where the word came from. You might as well ask a dog. They like it when you talk to them.

Confessions of a Fraudulently Literate Schoolboy I still don't know if I ever became a reader.

Am I a reader? Or am I just pretending?

trueorbetter.substack.com/p/confession...

Josh Fruhlinger is right about many things. Especially Mary Worth, but certainly about old malls, too.

Grawlix is the word for symbols used in cartoons to show swearing, like "!!#&*!". Grawlixes first appeared in a 1901 cartoon, but the term dates from 1980, created by cartoonist Mort Walker. Walker's book The Lexicon of Comicana is a tongue-in-cheek taxonomy of comic strip drawing conventions.

In the panel above, you can see the Sea Hag speaking to Alice using a mixture of English and Goon language. Goon language is represented in the strip by squiggles, and humans generally can't pronounce it. The Sea Hag figured it out, apparently.

Goon means "hired thug" and entered the language in the 1930s. The Goons are a race of strong hominids that Popeye encounters in his Thimble Theater comic strip. Alice the Goon is hired by the evil Sea Hag, but Goons are not fundamentally evil. Anyway, the word originated in Thimble Theater.

AI death panels? Those are worse than whatever it was that Sarah Palin freaked out about.

Alcohol is of Arabic origin. It originally meant a powder that comes from distilling liquids, and referred to makeup. Today it refers to intoxicating spirits, which can also help make someone look better.

Why’d you come in here, cookin’ like that?
With buttery cheddar sauce all over that mac?

He was giving away 2,000 year reductions to your Purgatory sentence to four lucky winners. I entered, but no luck. Please pray for me. After I die, I mean.

Back to the Arcade They used to take pocket change. But they've changed.

I remember 1980s video arcades fondly. But you can never go home again. Arcades are someone else's home now.

trueorbetter.substack.com/p/back-to-th...

BC means Before Christ, as in before Jesus is said to have existed. After 1 BC is 1 AD. There is no year zero. The Romans, who created this system, didn't have the concept of zero. BCE--Before Common Era--is the preferred term today, since not everyone who uses our calendar system is a Christian.

AD stands for Anno Domini, Latin for "Year of our Lord". AD 1 is the first year, since that's the year Jesus is said to have been born. (No known birth certificate exists.) CE stands for Common Era. This is more considerate and accessible because everyone who uses this system is not a Christian.

I don’t know. You should see what one load of breadware did to my dishwasher.

I vastly prefer bourbon to Canadian whiskies. But if I were living in Canada, I’d happily do without. I’ve consumed quite a bit of alcohol in Canada and Europe, and never has one drop of it been American. Why seek out stuff from your own country when you’re traveling?

The word "rice" came to English from French--and to French from Spanish--and to Spanish from Arabic. We never changed couscous around, though.

The Legend of Blue-Blue "History is a set of lies agreed upon."--Napoleon Bonaparte

We didn't eat poultry much in the house I grew up in. There were reasons.

trueorbetter.substack.com/p/the-legend...

The word jungle entered the English language via Hindi, first recorded in 1776. The Hindi word jangal refers to arid places with little vegetation and few trees. By 1849 the word could also include places of lush, overgrown vegetation. The original definition is rare these days.

The Napoleon Complex is attributed to short men who are aggressive, presumably to compensate for their height. In fact its namesake, Napoleon Buonaparte, was 5'7" (163 cm) tall--about average for a man of his time. The height myth was the creation of British cartoonists. It did get under his skin.

Kurt Kaletka (@trueorbetter) I always figured that more goes into corporate logos than we ever see. But jeez, I never imagined that it would go on like this!

I'd love to see the internal documents about the Cracker Barrel logo redesign. I bet it's got nothing on Pepsi's 2009 documents!

substack.com/profile/2750...

True or Better | Episode 3 | Cuba Since the early days of the republic, the United States has had its eye on the large island to the south. The United States has sent its own troops--and it’s sent other troops--to Cuba more times than

Ever wonder why the US wanted to annex Cuba so bad? They made a number of attempts in the 19th century. They had their reasons. They weren't good reasons, but they were reasons. Find out more on episode 3 of True or Better: Extra Stars: Cuba!

soundcloud.com/wcatvpodcast...

The Pain of Crazy Cow Cereal The persistent bowlful of sugary agony

I'll tell you, Proust had nothing on my memory of a bad sugar trip from over forty years ago.

trueorbetter.substack.com/p/the-pain-o...

"Are we having fun yet?" is a quip written by Bill Griffith, creator of the Zippy the Pinhead comic strip. It suggests cultural fatigue, when someone is telling you you should be having fun, but you just can't tell. Griffith made the mistake of never trademarking this line. Otherwise he'd be loaded.

Filibuster comes from an 18th century word for pirate. Today it means to refuse to vote on a bill in a legislature. It's not seen as the same thing as piracy. It's a legitimate tactic, sure as piracy is illegal. It's like a crime, but legal.

Handschuhschneeballwerfer is German for "glove-wearing snowball thrower". The term is used to describe someone who hurls insults under the guise of a false persona. If you've ever spent much time interacting on line, you probably know the type.