Happy Birthday, Doctor J!

Not the basketball player, but the amazing Dr. Johnson (who has appeared before in these magical pages). Creator of the first modern English dictionary.

Today he would be 300 years old and still bitching. Bitching, that is, in the most witty and quotable way.

Go read some of his dictionary.

Today’s word is pickapack, which we don’t use anymore, today’s version being piggyback.

Some articles about him: Here and here.

[All links were found on the Britannica blog.]