"The famed 19th-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson was a lover of learning. As the dictionary maker once wrote, he dedicated his life "wholly to curiosity," with the intent "to wander over the boundless regions of general knowledge." (He was additionally a lover of getting bored and moving on, writing of how he "quitted every science at the first perception of disgust." Respect.) Perhaps Johnson's greatest legacy, though, was his ardent belief that one didn't have to know all the answers so long as one knew where to find them."
"Monday, November 10, 2025 The film Bugonia takes its name from the ancient belief that a cow's carcass could spawn what pollinators, whose numbers have declined dangerously in recent years? - From Shirley Li's "An Intimate Portrait of Humanity at Its Worst" Hours before the government shutdown caused millions of Americans to lose their food stamps, Donald Trump hosted a decadent Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago with what F. Scott Fitzgerald novel as its theme? - From Jonathan Chait's "Senate Democrats Just Made a Huge Mistake" Mark Twain once said that when a speaker of what language dives into a sentence, you won't see him again until he reaches the other side of the ocean, carrying in his mouth the verb-which this language frequently places much later in a sentence than where it would occur in English? - From Ross Benjamin's "The Costs of Instant Translation""
"And by the way, did you know that interpreting by whispering real-time translations into someone's ear is known as chuchotage? The word is French, so soften those ch's into sh's, make that g into a velvety zzzhh, and recognize just how whispery the word itself sounds; that's why the Fren"
Samuel Johnson dedicated his life "wholly to curiosity" and sought "to wander over the boundless regions of general knowledge," while admitting he often "quitted every science at the first perception of disgust." Johnson valued knowing where to find information over possessing all answers. A trivia roundup presents three questions dated November 10, 2025: one about bugonia and pollinators, one about a Mar-a-Lago Halloween party themed on a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, and one about Mark Twain's remark on a language that places verbs late in sentences. The French term chuchotage names whisper interpreting.
Read at The Atlantic
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