Widows and Orphans
Posted by in Living at 5:04 p.m. on Feb. 13th, 20052 Comments 0 Pings
Just a factoid for the stream:
In typesetting, you generally want to avoid leaving a line of a paragraph by itself on a page. When it’s the first line, it’s called a widow When it’s the last line, it’s called an orphan. In German, you called the first line a Cobbler’s boy (Schusterjung), and the last line ‘son of a whore’ (Hurenkind).
Carry on.
Comments
torchpraise
February 15, 2005 at 3:45 a.m.:Fascinating.
Torchpraise fancies himself a linguist... just fascinating.
English being the crossroads for the mongrel tongues of Celts and Picts, with a full measure of German, and a spoonful of French.
Jump lively, Torchpraise! English etymology... YouBitch has opened the door.
bitterman
February 14, 2005 at 3:27 a.m.:Hurenkind..........right on. Hits a little to close to home for me, but I will absorb it; after a few whiskeys chased down with an Oxycotin or two, but that's just me.........