Or, from 1874:
There was a young farmer named Logan,
He put on his currency brogan,
But he tripped his little feet, O,
On an obstinate veto,
And blank, blankety, blank, said Logan.
There was a young farmer named Logan,
He put on his currency brogan,
But he tripped his little feet, O,
On an obstinate veto,
And blank, blankety, blank, said Logan.
The past: read all about it.
The largest online newspaper archive. Used by millions every month for historical research, family history, crime investigations, journalism, and more.
newspapers.com
December 10, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Or, from 1874:
There was a young farmer named Logan,
He put on his currency brogan,
But he tripped his little feet, O,
On an obstinate veto,
And blank, blankety, blank, said Logan.
There was a young farmer named Logan,
He put on his currency brogan,
But he tripped his little feet, O,
On an obstinate veto,
And blank, blankety, blank, said Logan.
"Blankety Blank" seems to be from about the 1870s, euphemistically. e.g. "...as they were lifting a piano [... it] slipped from their hands and Mr. Wayland went on-"Ow-w! Murder ! Murder! Murder! Fire! Police! Help! Oh! Mother! Mother! Doctor! Ow-w! Blank the blank, blank thing to blankety blank!"
December 10, 2025 at 10:03 PM
"Blankety Blank" seems to be from about the 1870s, euphemistically. e.g. "...as they were lifting a piano [... it] slipped from their hands and Mr. Wayland went on-"Ow-w! Murder ! Murder! Murder! Fire! Police! Help! Oh! Mother! Mother! Doctor! Ow-w! Blank the blank, blank thing to blankety blank!"
Oh, Tower Bridge was originally chocolate brown, but pre-jubilee it was still camouflaged in wartime battleship grey. Imagine the shock of Londoners in 1977, who had never noticed there had been a bridge there all that time!
December 9, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Oh, Tower Bridge was originally chocolate brown, but pre-jubilee it was still camouflaged in wartime battleship grey. Imagine the shock of Londoners in 1977, who had never noticed there had been a bridge there all that time!
I suspect the thick layers of grime we remember had been there since before the 1956 clean air act (at least, I don't remember seeing freshly scrubbed walls). But yes, now they can clean them *and* they stay clean.
December 9, 2025 at 9:46 AM
I suspect the thick layers of grime we remember had been there since before the 1956 clean air act (at least, I don't remember seeing freshly scrubbed walls). But yes, now they can clean them *and* they stay clean.
That's when Tower Bridge changed from some dingy colour (mud brown, I think) to more or less its current colour scheme.
December 9, 2025 at 8:52 AM
That's when Tower Bridge changed from some dingy colour (mud brown, I think) to more or less its current colour scheme.
Not mine but a favourite story with very prominent dogs: Jonathan Carroll's The Land of Laughs.
December 7, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Not mine but a favourite story with very prominent dogs: Jonathan Carroll's The Land of Laughs.
No, that was the 1944 version.
December 6, 2025 at 9:04 PM
No, that was the 1944 version.
Quorn custard? Is it vegan?
December 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Quorn custard? Is it vegan?
Tablet 12 of the Standard Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh is... (well, OK, Wikipedia does use the word 'prequel' but seems like it's more a collection of earlier work).
December 6, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Tablet 12 of the Standard Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh is... (well, OK, Wikipedia does use the word 'prequel' but seems like it's more a collection of earlier work).
I can't find any earlier (that one is actually in the online OED too). There's another example in a newspaper book review in 1926 but it doesn't really seem to have caught on until Tolkien.
December 6, 2025 at 11:43 AM
I can't find any earlier (that one is actually in the online OED too). There's another example in a newspaper book review in 1926 but it doesn't really seem to have caught on until Tolkien.
Oh, Silmarillion was reported as a prequel as early as 1970; his publisher later said it was the word Tolkien used himself. By 1979 it was everywhere in movies, notably in promotion for "Butch and Sundance : The Early Days." All examples in the same sense : a story published later but set earlier.
December 6, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Oh, Silmarillion was reported as a prequel as early as 1970; his publisher later said it was the word Tolkien used himself. By 1979 it was everywhere in movies, notably in promotion for "Butch and Sundance : The Early Days." All examples in the same sense : a story published later but set earlier.
Used in 1973 in announcement of plans to publish The Silmarillion, but it is earlier. The OED cites this Publishers Weekly ad from 1922 : "A prequel not a sequel. Dorothy Canfield's new novel Rough Hewn is the story of Neal and Marise before they appeared in The Brimming Cup.”
December 6, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Used in 1973 in announcement of plans to publish The Silmarillion, but it is earlier. The OED cites this Publishers Weekly ad from 1922 : "A prequel not a sequel. Dorothy Canfield's new novel Rough Hewn is the story of Neal and Marise before they appeared in The Brimming Cup.”
Is it trying to claw its own eyes out?
December 5, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Is it trying to claw its own eyes out?