Werds 2

We all know Helen Of Troy as "The face that launched a thousand ships". According to Isaac Asimov, the amount of beauty required to launch a single ship, then, is a millihelen. (While he may have come up with the gag independently, there's evidence to suggest he wasn't the first.)

Saw a member of the "M:TG" online community tweet that a light-rail system in a city implies the existence of a dark-rail system. Nice. Struck me as a very Neil Gaiman idea, as might be found in "Neverwhere".

I'm a fan of polyglot videos on YouTube. Not the show-offy sort - "Watch me converse in 14 languages in a row" or "Win [cash prize] if I can't speak your language". I prefer the type where the host puts their extra language to use in everyday situations. Asking for directions, ordering food or just having a general chat. My fave polyglot 'Tubers are Xiaomanyc, Oriental Pearl and Chris Lewis. Anyway...

Xiaoma's latest vid sees him practising the Oromo language of Ethiopia and Kenya. After they converse, a young chap tells him, "If you speak to a man in a language he knows, it'll go to his head. If you speak to a man in his mother tongue, it'll go to his heart." A lovely sentiment. Has a familiar ring. Like, "If you give a man a fish..." That doesn't diminish its appeal for me.