The Lexicographer's Rules

ÒWhen pulsars were first found by English astronomers in 1967, there was confusion about what they were. Initially dubbing their discovery LGMs, for Little Green Men, the astronomers considered, semi-seriously, that they might have tripped upon alien broadcasts. Months passed, and only when it became clear that a natural explanation for the pulsing signals was in the offing did the astronomers make their find public.Ó"

—Space.com. A more logical response would be to run around being bossy until Tom Skerritt comes in and takes all the credit.

ÒFrankly, I don't know what to say to someone who has no soul, no conscience, no morality, no heart.Ó"

—New York Post. New York State Supreme Court Justice Joan Sudolnik sentenced Arohn Kee to three life sentences without parole for three rape-murders and an additional 400 years for four rapes. His victims were all teen-age girls.

ÒWe don't all wear our hair in buns and braids. Most people wouldn't know we were plural wives if they sat next to us on the bus or in a movie.Ó

—AlterNet. Three women in separate polygamous relationships have written a book, Voices in Harmony: Contemporary Women Celebrate Plural Marriage, intending to undermine the ostracization and misunderstandings about polygamy. Thomas Green, under prosecution for the practice, sounds curiously like a gay pride activist: "It was very courageous of them to come out of the closet, to say this is our life, we're here and we're proud of it."'

ÒWhat do we need seat belts for?Ó Ashraf Ismail, a taxi driver, bellowed over the cacophony of horns that accompanies the incessant jockeying for advantage measured by the inch. ÒWe never really get moving in these endless traffic jams; I'm lucky if I get out of second gear all day.Ó

"

—New York Times. Neil MacFarquar braves the streets of Cairo as drivers and passengers use fake belts and sheer numbers to foil the efforts of traffic police trying to protect the public from itself.'

ÒHe knows no details, has only got half the picture in his mind, talks absurdities, and makes my blood boil to listen to his nonsense. The wonderful thing is that three-quarters of the population of the world imagine Churchill is one of the great strategists of history, a second Marlborough, and the other quarter have no conception of what a public menace he is.Ó"

—The Age. The new book War Diaries 1939-1945: The Diaries of Field-Marshal Lord Alanbrooke reveals a peculiarly out-of-sync opinion of the normally lionized Winston Churchill.