Irregular Verbs II

Actually some of those verbs in the list are quite interesting.

You know it hadn't occurred to me that if there is an adjective "handwritten", then there must be a verb "handwrite" (rather than the phrase "write by hand") or that the adjective "forlorn" was even derived from a verb ("forlese").

Irregular Verbs I

A couple of years ago I had a student who had, from somewhere, got his hands on an old French-English dictionary. Included in it, as there often is, was a table of French and English irregular verbs. You will all have seen them often enough : take, took, have taken; speak, spoke, have spoken; that kind of thing.
Anyway, he was, completely against my advice as his teacher, trying to learn the entire list. From time to time he would wander up and ask me the meaning of a verb. They were always words that were rare, archaic or obsolete. I recall him asking me about forsake, abide and beseech, for example.

Now, for like minded students, for those who wish to learn every obscure and ancient irregular verb they can find, I have come across this on Lexiophiles, one of the blogs I subscribe to.

Learn them by all means but I beseech you forego the temptation to bestrew your your conversation with them so that you do not mischoose your terms.

From the Department of Out-of-Context Quotes

From the interview in today's Metro with comedian Tim Vine.

"It's like golf - there are times when you think you're pretty good and other times when it feels like you've never thrown a dart before."

Too much of a good thing?

I've discovered, to my surprise, that it's possible to take a love of Alice in Wonderland too far. I reached this surprising conclusion last night when I saw the new TV program from celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal. Those who don't know of him (perhaps because they live on the wrong side of the Atlantic) should be aware that he's an odd chap who owns a restaurant that serves his signature dishes of bacon and egg flavoured ice-cream and snail porridge.
Anyway he was creating a Victorian feast inspired by the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. His aperitif was a pink drink that tasted by turns of cherry tart, buttered toast, toffee and turkey. His soup course was a frozen condensed "mock turtle soup" that was a) in the form of a watch, b) made from boiled cows head and c) turned into soup on the addition of boiling water. His main course was an "edible garden" with soil made from ground black olives, stones made from potatoes and a selection of deep fried bugs. His desert was absinthe flavoured jelly made to wobble constantly by the inclusion of vibrators bought after extensive research in a sex shop.

I knew already, of course, that he was bonkers, but somehow he managed to find enough bonkers people to attend his party and eat the meal. Braver people than me.