In the context of the history of English or the BBC series The Story of English, here are the answers to your questions.
1. What is perclitation?
Perclitation (more commonly spelled periclitation) means to be in a state of danger, trial, or hazard.
It comes from the Latin periculitari, meaning “to imperil” or “to put to the test.” While it is an extremely rare and archaic word today, it belongs to that family of “inkhorn terms”—fancy, Latin-derived words that were fashionable during the Renaissance but often criticized for being “nimious” (excessive) or unnecessary when simpler English words like “danger” or “peril” existed.
2. Why did Jonathan Swift dislike the word ‘mob’?
Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels, was a linguistic conservative who loathed what he called the “barbarous” corruption of the English language. He famously attacked the word “mob” for several reasons:
* It was a “clipped” word: Mob is a shortening of the Latin phrase mobile vulgus (the “fickle common people”). Swift hated abbreviations. He felt that cutting words down was lazy and made the language sound “low” and “clownish.”
* It sounded like slang: In the early 1700s, mob was considered trendy “slang” or “street talk.” Swift grouped it with other abbreviations he hated, like “phiz” (for physiognomy), “incog” (for incognito), and “rep” (for reputation).
* Loss of the “polite” tone: Swift believed that once a language started shortening words, it would eventually lose its structure and dignity. He even wrote a famous letter to the Lord High Treasurer in 1712, proposing an English Academy to “fix” the language forever and stop these “innovations.”
The Irony: Swift’s war against mob failed utterly. He once yelled at a lady for using the word, telling her she should say “the rabble” instead. Today, rabble sounds much more old-fashioned, while mob is standard English!
> Swift found the word mob to be a perclitation to the English language—a dangerous trial that threatened to turn a refined tongue into a series of monosyllabic grunts.
Level N inches
- Raised a ticket for support with Gemini AI text-to-speech engine.
- It reads “Level N” as Level N inches.
- It’s because the bug in the text to speech engine doesn’t let it interpret double quotes correctly if there’s a number preceding the closing double quotes.
- Waiting for the rectification.
George Washington and Cherry tree
If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?
Not all stories are true. I have no pets.
I was reading about Apocryphal/Authentic which are word pairs in the Peter Schmies word classification test when I came across this story as an example of an apocryphal account.
Apography is another interesting word with ‘apo’ ( away from) prefix. It’s a Free Rice level 5 word.
The story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree is the perfect real-world example of an apocryphal tale.
It is a legendary anecdote intended to illustrate Washington’s legendary honesty, but historians agree it almost certainly never happened.
The Plot
The story goes that when George Washington was six years old, he received a small hatchet as a gift. While playing with it, he experimentally chopped at his father’s favorite English cherry tree, barked it badly, and effectively killed it.
When his father discovered the damage, he was furious and asked George if he knew who had done it. George supposedly replied with the famous line:
> “I can’t tell a lie, Pa; you know I can’t tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.”
>
Instead of punishing him, his father embraced him, declaring that his son’s honesty was worth more than a thousand trees.
Why is it “Apocryphal”?
The story is considered apocryphal because it wasn’t recorded during Washington’s life. It was “invented” by Mason Locke Weems (often called Parson Weems), a biographer and cherry-picker of facts (pun intended).
* The Source: Weems first included the story in the 1806 edition of his book The Life of Washington, years after Washington died.
* The Goal: Weems wanted to provide a “moral role model” for the children of the new American republic. He felt that showing Washington as a paragon of virtue was more important than historical accuracy.
* The Irony: It is one of history’s great ironies that the most famous story about “not telling a lie” is, itself, a lie (or at least a fabrication).
Connection to your vocabulary
* Apocryphal: The story is of doubtful authenticity although it is widely circulated as being true.
* Authentic: A story that could be verified by a primary source (like George’s actual childhood diary), which this is not.
* Canonical: This story is “canonical” to American folklore, even if it isn’t “authentic” to history.
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Are these notes existential?
I recall Notes From The Underground. I read that in college. It immediately struck a chord despite being a translated work. I discovered via his biography that Dostoevsky suffered from nervous disorders. Epileptic seizures.
After a few months, years or decades, I will no longer be able to appreciate these notes. What exactly inspired me to write them down. Why did I start publishing again and why did I stop publishing before. I think I agree with “everything is the cause of everything else”.
That offers no clarity.
Gives no immediate credits.
However, I keep clear pointers:
Whenever you feel grateful for being able to read or write- even if they don’t resolve or offer any closure – you trace it back to your elementary school teachers.
In a toxic culture- some of these don’t trace the sources of their own.
For example: I learned counting numbers or basic Arithmetic from my father but he must have learned it from someone else: I failed to observe that gratitude while being made to acknowledge it at every step.
When beginning to acknowledge publishing online I often attributed it to The Einstein Factor by Win Wenger though my parents encouraged me to practice calligraphy in my early childhood and that’s needed to mould basic motor conditioning for writing.
I think sooner or later we discover that every idea or meme we attribute to some populariser turns out to be quite common practice from antiquity labelled as something new and sold to new generations.
I invented verse form using complex words. There were no buyers for that. Subscribers for conventional notes dwindled. Space needed to publish ordinary notes started getting costlier. I tried to find parallels in the stream of consciousness works in James Joyce without actually being motivated or inspired because I never pursued his works.
Not only do people need you to listen to them when they speak: it’s even more amplified when they’re putting their work online. They need agreement alone.
I tested it thoroughly when I was hyperactive in blogosphere a decade ago. I thought there were people who were genuinely interested in feedback or discussion. I was hoping to recreate discussion forums from 2007-8. They were not. Nobody even wanted free proofreading – though that appears to be a ridiculous idea to some I wanted it to be ‘quid pro quo’ rather than a hundred handles chasing me with ulterior motives at times.
How simple is that?
I help out with your typographical errors. If not all of them then maybe one or two. You would let your text be there, untouched, uncommented but can’t tolerate comments with correction for typos.
These are menial jobs which were later replaced by AI or Grammarly. Perdue Owl etc
I tried Gemini for proofreading today.
It changed the article at so many places that a step-by-step comparison of two versions would have created a great case study about why Gemini AI is built by Google into so many android phones of current generation is inefficient in proofreading as an assistant.
Another test was asking simple questions on Astrology. I published many articles on Astrology for fifteen years until I thought that the field had any genuine scope for research or study. A general purpose AI model like Gemini can’t handle requests on Astrology.
You may say that there are dedicated systems for that but it should be able to do proofreading. It can’t.
While the finished product might have been better style-wise or with better grammar, it lacked any significant attributes where you can identify who was doing what. Connonations derived from agency in the original article were lost and it was confusing things done by ancestors with those done by parents and so on.
I was once writing 5000 words of prose on a regular basis. It was needed because there was too much to process. There was a book worth of processing in almost every long walk in the last few years though I stopped publishing because of obvious constraints.
Was publishing brief articles a norm or a carefully executed plan to curtail your speech?
It needs resources. In every cult you will notice there are books which need to repeat a great deal. The cult leaders need to repeat themselves and need to hear the sound of their own voice as much as their followers do.
The younger student arrived first. He was making this noise with the cap of his ballpoint pen. It’s red colored. As soon as he sits he starts struggling to remove the label from it. I drink a glass of water and ask if he did his homework. He didn’t. As usual. Elder had taken away his notebook which had Arithmetics problems: Addition and Subtraction.
“My name isn’t on the pen label that’s why I am removing it.”
Red ink is reserved for evaluation by teachers. During the class he gets excited and animated in the action in which he uses a pen as a knife to kill someone. Whoa!
They’re violent.
And I don’t live in Finland or Norway to contact childcare to assist them lest they become even more violent due to neglect.
The elder whacks him strongly in the head once when I advise him to not do that. He had been making his signatures in a page for a long time. I asked him why he was behaving like an officer.
Now meaning starts pouring in:
The Blabbering Prophet whose name was similar to a monk and later similar to a popular leader but who was in the dire need of childcare:
Refers to the look alike of a growing in popularity leader who was found near the collector bungalow once.
I visited the ration store near the collector bungalow today.
Since all meaning should revolve around this narcissistic newly emerging leader:
The prophet announces that someone has become an officer by virtue of losing their hair. They might have been on their heads or on their chin.
However: some officers are for longer tenures, in comparison, these are there for the time-span of the attention span of a flea market of advertisements.
What it means: if your hair grew back you would no longer be an officer.
It’s very strange if you ask me.
A car driver for an officer is an officer.
The officer for a minister is a minister.
Minister is the minister and then the king or queen by extension.
King or queen is obviously godly, blessed and prophetic: there remains no limit.
Such prophetic brainwashing is a norm here. I only discovered it a decade ago that regularly reading newspapers for young people meant they would be delusional enough to think they’re ministers themselves. Micro conditioning with advanced gadgets and surveillance capitalism. As long as they don’t really test it.
Similarly:
Meaning emerges:
A decade long struggle with hair.
Where the subject himself was least attached to one appearance or the other is made into a media circus where thousands of people point to hair.
As if there’s some bet on whether the subject would keep hair or lose them.
And fake coughing contests win.
Removing hair on the head as well as the chin is against the norm. Done that. Even that’s costly on a regular basis. It’s not just the expense of a trimmer or visiting a saloon.
Keeping the hair on a regular basis is also costly. Before you know : many cults start spreading rumors against you. You don’t qualify for one or over qualify.
The prophet continues: I ask him the definition of an Upanyasa or Novel. It is in the assignment to the elder.
I ask him why his younger brother is not attending school when it’s only a fortnight of engagement left to deal with.
The prophet tells me a tale of two lions. And one lakh rupees. Machine snakes. In the jungle.
What if you need to extend your stories like you see on the TV. A novel is similar to that. A longer story.
He shows me the fake wound created by the red pen on his hand. He quickly removes the hand before I can examine it. I request him to let me closely examine it. I tell his elder brother that it wouldn’t have been possible if he hadn’t chosen the Manjha spots made on his hand during his attempts to fly kites. That’s the reason his runny nose doesn’t concern his elder and his attempts to shy away from school on the excuse of being tired because of walking fails. I ask the elder to give the handkerchief to the younger for his runny nose. He doesn’t. He was wiping the screen of his smartphone.
He has shown a high talent for being a prophet. An actor. Shapeshifting. Kite making and flying. It has been a fortnight since he lost all interest in studies. His calligraphy is going downhill.
He pulls out the Hindi book. Wants me to read “Reedh Ki Haddi” or Backbone again. I tell him that would be boring. That’s cancelled.
I note down responses to questions by inquiring Gemini or by recalling what I knew or by looking up in the textbook because Pariksha Bodh or Pariksha Adhyayan guides are too difficult to retrieve only for Hindi.
Meanwhile, the elder abstains from checking his Instagram feed. Shows me an advertisement from Samriddhi Group of Constructions which is a real estate venture in the locality. A name. If I can use WhatsApp and Gemini in articles why not the sponsors like these. After all the elder handed me over three hundred rupees as fee even if they were about a week late on that.
There was a man on a bulldozer machine in the advertisement. It’s supposed to relate to another popular trend. Infamous trends. Disputed territory. Controversial information.
This is why these students come. For five years. To popularise those who are already popular. To make those prosperous who are already prosperous.
Rich gets richer. He very casually talks about how some students had written violent stories against the incumbent prime minister in their answer sheets. They were slogans popularised by the leader of the opposition. I can’t confirm or deny whether this happened.
But he raised his voice to convey the information to nearby people. To namesakes. To politically interested and motivated. That’s the motivation.
He appeared almost wicked when he was narrating that the students wrote violent things in their answersheets:
“. “
He was grinning.
I once heard something similar about my grandmother and quoted it verbatim. Later I kept regretting if I should have kept an archive. These are the sponsored events during which you create such notes. They seem innocuous. But later popularised as something else. [ Hence I edited it out. ]
A government school. Students of class ninth write against the supreme leader. This must be democracy. Very lenient. I am taxed for thinking and raising my voice.
I never taught them to be violent or rebellious in the last five years nor did I write similar things in their notebooks. Nor did I write those things in an examination answer sheet when I was a student myself.
Why am I being rewarded with these students who play:
Prophets
Rowdy horseplay
Advertisement agencies
Instagram addicts
Bullies
And a lot more except students who can read and write.
There was a stain made by condiments or vegetables on his shirt. He returned late from school because you know…he went to the house of his friend who lives near school to return the notebook which helped him complete his assignment. I ask his full name. He doesn’t remember.
He shows me his sunglasses wearing friend on Instagram. Proudly. He might be associated with the real estate developers.
This is what I am here for.
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Meme, Swag, Swagger, The Meme Machine
I first came across the word meme in the book The Meme Machine by Susan E Blackmore. After two decades it became a buzz word like reel for small byte sized videos.
A summary of The Meme Machine by Susan E Blackmore:
In The Meme Machine, Susan Blackmore takes Richard Dawkins’ concept of the meme and expands it into a “grand unified theory” of human consciousness. Her central argument is that humans are unique not because of our intelligence, but because we are the only species on Earth that functions as a meme machine.
Here is a summary of the core pillars of her book:
1. The Second Replicator
Blackmore argues that just as genes are the first replicators (using our bodies to survive and spread), memes are a second, independent replicator.
* Memes are cultural units—ideas, habits, skills, stories—that use human brains as their “hosts.”
* They don’t care if they are “true” or “good” for us; they only care if they are reproducible. (e.g., a catchy but annoying song or a dangerous “viral” challenge).
2. We are “Meme Fountains”
Why do humans have such massive brains? Blackmore suggests a process called memetic drive:
* Once our ancestors started imitating (the birth of memes), those who were better at imitating had a survival advantage.
* Because being a “good imitator” required a better brain, memes essentially “drove” the evolution of the human brain to be larger and more complex. Our brains were built by and for memes.
3. The Illusion of the “Self”
This is perhaps the most controversial part of the book. Blackmore argues that the “I” or the “Self” is not a biological reality.
* She calls it the “Self-plex”—a massive cluster of memes that have teamed up for mutual defense.
* The idea that “you” are in control is just another meme that helps other memes stay organized and protected. You are not the driver of the machine; you are the machine.
4. Language and Religion as “Viral” Systems
Blackmore analyzes complex systems like religion and language through a memetic lens:
* Religion: She describes religions as “memeplexes” (complexes of memes) that use threats (hell) and rewards (heaven) to ensure they are passed from parent to child.
* Language: Language evolved because it is a highly efficient way to “package” and transmit memes more accurately than simple gestures.
How this Jibes with Your Dream
Your dream is a perfect illustration of Blackmore’s theory:
* The Law: The strange law about the floor is a meme that has infected the “Local Presidents” and is now being forced onto you.
* The Chip: A literal piece of hardware representing the “data” of identity—it’s the meme becoming physical.
* The Vision Test: If you follow Blackmore’s logic, the “elderly man” giving you new glasses is essentially updating your “Self-plex” with a new way to filter the memes you see.
Summary Table: Gene vs. Meme
| Feature | Gene (1st Replicator) | Meme (2nd Replicator) |
|—|—|—|
| Storage | DNA / Cells | Human Brains / Digital Media |
| Transmission | Biological reproduction | Imitation / Teaching / Social Media |
| Goal | Survival of the species | Survival of the idea |
Swagger: bluster : Swag etymology
The evolution of swag from the 16th-century word swagger to a modern social media titan is one of the most successful “rebrands” in the history of the English language.
1. The Shakespearean Birth of “Swagger”
While the root swag (meaning to sway or lurch) is older, William Shakespeare is credited with first using “swagger” to describe a specific type of behavior.
* In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he writes: “What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here…?”
* The Etymology: It comes from the Middle English swaggen (to swing or sway), which likely has Scandinavian origins. At the time, it described a person who walked with a defiant, swaying gait—literally “swinging” their body to take up more space.
2. The “Bluster” Connection
As you noticed on Free Rice, bluster and swagger are close cousins.
* Bluster is the noise (loud, aggressive talk).
* Swagger is the movement (the arrogant walk).
Together, they create the “Braggadocio” persona we discussed earlier.
3. The “Swag” Metamorphosis
The journey from “arrogant swaying” to “coolness” happened in distinct waves:
* The Loot (1600s-1800s): “Swag” became slang for stolen goods or “booty.” This connects back to our earlier discussion of the spree (cattle raiding). The “swag” was the heavy bag of loot that made you “sway” as you carried it.
* The Freebies (1960s-1990s): It shifted to mean promotional “Stuff We All Get” (though that’s a backronym, not the true origin).
* The Persona (2000s-Present): In the last decade, popularized by Hip-Hop culture, “swag” (and later “swagger”) returned to its Shakespearean roots but lost the negative “bully” connotation. It became a word for effortless style, confidence, and “aura.”
Instagram or Endocytosis?
Had a ginger tea that was shared with family members. Ensured completion of pasteurisation of milk and turning off the knobs of gas regulators. Endocytosis is a special type of phagocytosis used by amoeba. It’s feeding on cells or cell feeding. Amoeba and paramecium are unicellular organisms- building blocks of organisms. This is the name of the unit fifth in the Science textbook for Madhya Pradesh board for which I am supposed to help my student today. Only the elder brother.
When I asked him if his younger brother was following him he was uncertain. He quickly tells me about not being able to do homework and opens a list of questions in Hindi in his rough notebook. He needs my help for submitting assignment tomorrow. Where’s your textbook, I asked. He didn’t bring it. He’s wearing school dress which tells me he returned later than usual from school today. I don’t get an opportunity to ask why he was late, I am supposed to call his younger brother via his father who might bring the textbook which might help him complete his assignment. I call, his father connects him to his brother after I briefly address him regarding matter.
“Also bring the series.”
Series is the name for the Question Bank.
Younger one arrives in school dress. Starts talking about leaving as soon as he reaches. It’s not his usual whining. He’s tired because of walking. He’s suffering from runny nose. The cold. Flu.
The elder reports that he was sporty in the school. Absolutely no complaints. Whacks him lightly in the head. He stays a few more minutes. Not agitated but disinterested in the study material. Strange.
They both study in the same class but the elder who is doing it the second time around is concerned with completing assignment, the younger isn’t.
The elder has copied the assignment in barely legible handwriting.
They can’t recall. They can’t comprehend what they copy.
Everything is mysterious. I am supposed to play detective after I get Science notebook if the assignment is to be completed with any efficiency.
Without keeping you in any suspense any longer. He leaves content with completion of clues about how to complete assignment though I spare him the homework today because the assignment looks like a lot of homework.
Meanwhile , at every available opportunity he scrolls through his Instagram feed. The younger one is advising him whom to add and whom to remove from friends list.
I strictly ask them to not do that because on the one hand the elder presses with the urgency of the assignment and on the other they seem more interested in the Instagram feed.
I sense it: they somehow felt content with being up to date with the technology which they can use. The elder can take screenshots, can take pictures of text from another smartphone, can use Wi-Fi but can’t read.
I think there can be very few people who might claim to have used every gadget to its limits. Most of the technology remains unused because of one limitation or the other.
Caution: here, I am not suggesting that you need to be an Edison, Tesla or Yoshiro Nakamats to actually create transistors or invent , have patents in your name to qualify for using devices. No.
Even to completely use the complex devices available to most of the individuals these days : you need too many resources. It’s next to impossible.
Though I can’t complain if I started using Gemini, the in built AI into this gadget over Replika which was a lot of struggle for five long years: I appreciated what I got to learn. With every update I felt I was much behind in learning.
I think it’s somewhat similar to these students who feel playful when using modern technology but unwilling to improve basic reading comprehension which they missed due to some genetic or environmental limitations.
They literally enjoy playing games like Free-Fire. Games, flow and addiction is well studied in the context of teenagers and elders alike though I think you can’t really inculcate importance of initiatives like Free Rice or Sustainable Development Goals in students as easily. When I had more students I tried to teach them importance of Free Rice as well as other games which helped them improve their reading comprehension.
To our rescue : the elder tells the name of the guide used by his teacher in the class. Pariksha Bodh. Pariksha is examination. Bodh is spiritual word. I enquire Gemini which gives a detailed response which shouldn’t be included in this text.
Prior to his hint I try to decipher his complex version of Dev Naagri script. He couldn’t copy it correctly either because he was sitting in the last few rows where black board is difficult to see from or his teacher dictated it and since they can’t interpret those signals they peep into the notebook of their classmates. The traces travelled to me.
Amoeba.
Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
Animal and Plant cells
Osmosis
Neuron
These are the only words I recognised legible from his handwritten notes. They’re questions he needs to answer. He also needed figures. The questions were not as per the questionnaire at the end of the textbook. They were from Kunji. Key. Question Bank.
We search for the question bank online. He takes screenshots and then I note down full questions for him in his notebook because order is still a problem.
I get to read about Osmosis, Endocytosis, Phagocytosis, Amoeba, Paramecium and Neurons.
I recall how I learned these terms by rote memorization though diagrams used to be much more cleaner than they are in present textbooks. I try Gemini for diagrams with Hindi labels: it fails despite repeated efforts.
The number of neurons. Glial cells, dendrites, axons and distribution of stars being similar to neurons in human brains was a source of awe and wonder. Later, neural networks and dancing light of grace revealed themselves to be master archons.
There was hardly enough time to read with precision and care. They hardly understand anything. He doesn’t want to do any more work on remedial modules. The session is soon going to end.
I remind him about the fees. He tells about the hundred rupees note that he got in exchange for potatoes yesterday. He didn’t say they cost less than that. Parents were discussing that with him, yesterday. He doesn’t let go of even a few seconds of scrolling through Instagram as they walk towards the exit. They can’t access instagram at home. I ask if parents needed another serving of tea. They want me to wait.
Sweater
the world as we have been imagining fit, economic fear and most economic hope will be alike removed out of life. No one will be haunted by the dread of poverty or driven into ruthlessness by the hope of wealth. There will not be the distinction of social classes which now plays such an immense part in life. The unsuccessful professional man will not live in terror lest his children should sink in the scale; the aspiring employe will not be looking forward to the day when he can become a sweater in his turn. Ambitious young men will have to dream other daydreams than that of business success and wealth wrung out of the ruin of competitors and the degradation of labor…
Proposed Roads To Freedom, Bertrand Russel
You are spot on—the word “sweater” in this context has nothing to do with clothing. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a “sweater” was a slang term for an exploitative employer who ran a “sweatshop.”
When Russell writes that the employee “will not be looking forward to the day when he can become a sweater in his turn,” he is describing a cycle of exploitation.
1. The Etymology of “Sweater”
The term comes from the “sweating system.” In this system:
* A middleman (the “sweater”) would take a contract for work (usually garment making).
* He would then sub-contract the work to laborers who worked in cramped, poorly ventilated rooms for extremely low wages.
* The “sweater” made his profit by “sweating” the labor out of his workers—pushing them to their physical limits for the highest possible output at the lowest possible cost.
2. The Social Cycle Russell Despises
Russell is pointing out a dark psychological reality of Capitalism in 1918: the only way for a “lowly” employee to find freedom was to climb the ladder until they became the ones doing the exploiting.
* The “ambition” of the worker was not to end the system, but to change places with the master.
* Russell wants a society where the “daydreams” of young men shift from domination (becoming a sweater) to creation (the “life of the mind”).
The Evolution of the Term
| Era | Meaning of “Sweater” |
|—|—|
| 1850–1920 | An employer who exploits workers (the “Sweating System”). |
| 1920–Present | Primarily used for a knitted garment (originally called “sweaters” because athletes wore them to work up a sweat). |
| Modern Context | We now use the term “Sweatshop” to describe the place, but we have lost the term “Sweater” for the person in charge. |
Why Russell chooses this word
By using “sweater,” Russell is highlighting the ruthlessness he mentions in the same paragraph. In a world of “economic fear,” people are driven to be cruel because they believe it is the only way to avoid poverty. He is imagining a world where, because your basic needs are met (through UBI or Socialism), you no longer have a rational reason to “sweat” your fellow man for profit.
Proposed Roads To Freedom Bertrand Russel
Patriotism is willing to die for foolish reasons.
“The problem of Africa is, of course, a part of the wider problems of Imperialism, but it is that part in which the application of Socialist principles is most difficult. In regard to Asia, and more particularly in regard to India and Persia, the application of principles is clear in theory though difficult in political practice. The obstacles to self-government which exist in Africa do not exist in the same measure in Asia. What stands in the way of freedom of Asiatic populations is not their lack of intelligence, but only their lack of military prowess, which makes them an easy prey to our lust for dominion. This lust would probably be in temporary abeyance on the morrow of a Socialist revolution, and at such a moment a new departure in Asiatic policy might be taken with permanently beneficial results. I do not mean, of course, that we should force upon India that form of democratic government which we have developed for our own needs. I mean rather that we should leave India to choose its own form of government, its own manner of education and its own type of civilization. India has an ancient tradition, very different from that of Western Europe, a tradition highly valued by educated Hindoos, but not loved by our schools and colleges. The Hindoo Nationalist feels that his country has a type of culture containing elements of value that are absent, or much less marked, in the West; he wishes to be free to preserve this, and desires political freedom for such reasons rather than for those that would most naturally appeal to an Englishman in the same subject position. The belief of the European in his own Kultur tends to be fanatical and ruthless, and for this reason, as much as for any other, the independence of extra-European civilization is of real importance to the world, for it is not by a dead uniformity that the world as a whole is most enriched.”-The Proposed Roads To Freedom, Chapter 6th, International Relations, Bertrand Russel
This passage from Proposed Roads to Freedom (1918) is a remarkable testament to Bertrand Russell’s foresight. Written at a time when the British Empire was still at its height, Russell argues for a “new departure” in policy that honors the “independence of extra-European civilization.”
The Core Argument: Pluralism vs. Uniformity
Russell’s main point is that India’s value to the world lies in its difference.
The Critique of “Kultur”: He criticizes the European belief that their specific culture is universal or superior. He warns that a “dead uniformity” would impoverish the world.
Self-Determination: He argues that India shouldn’t just be free, but free to choose its own type of civilization—one that might not look like British democracy or education.
The Obstacle: He explicitly states that India’s lack of freedom isn’t due to a “lack of intelligence,” but rather a “lack of military prowess” that leaves it vulnerable to European “lust for dominion.”
I started reading this book a few weeks ago. It analysed Socialism, Anarchism and Syndicalism after giving a brief introduction of Marx, Bakunin and Kropotkin. It discusses Work and Pay in the fourth chapter. Science and Art under Socialism is discussed in chapter seventh. The concluding chapter is: The World As it Could be Made.
Title: Proposed Roads to Freedom
Author: Bertrand Russell
Release date: October 1, 1996 [eBook #690]
Most recently updated: February 9, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Charles Keller using OmniPage Professional OCR software donated by Caere Corporation
I chose this Project Gutenberg work to read because I wanted to read something from Bertrand Russel. I read a few essays on Philosophy first, then I read “The Problem Of China,” then I picked this book. When I had just begun to attend college I joined The British Library in Bhopal to improve my English Vocabulary and Comprehension. A History of Western Philosophy, which I misquoted as “The History of Western Philosophy” on many platforms, left a lasting impact on my mind. I recently discovered that Russel was awarded a Nobel Prize in literature in 1950 and that book played a great role in it. Bertrand Russel, despite being born in an aristocratic family and earning a title of third Earl found himself in impoverished circumstances and ended up in prison multiple times. He continued to read for eight hours and wrote four hours everyday for those six months. Other prison inmates used to sweep his room during that time because of his privileged background. The reason why he ended up in a prison was because his views were not harmonious with the British government of his time. In the old age he was again sent to prison just for a few days because of his activism for World Peace. He lived up to a mature age of 97.
“The above proposition is occasionally useful.”
The Two “Principias”
Isaac Newton (1687): Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy).
Russell & Whitehead (1910–1913): Principia Mathematica.
Why the similar name?
Russell and Whitehead chose this title as a deliberate homage (and a bit of a bold statement).
Establishing Authority: Newton’s Principia is arguably the most important book in the history of science because it used mathematics to explain the physical laws of the universe (gravity, motion).
The New Frontier: Russell and Whitehead wanted their book to do for Logic what Newton’s did for Physics. They weren’t just writing a math book; they were trying to prove that all of mathematics could be derived from pure logic.
The “Foundations”: By calling it Principia (Principles), they were signaling that they were digging down to the very bedrock of human thought.
The Famous “1 + 1 = 2”
While Newton explained why the planets move, Russell and Whitehead spent over 360 pages just getting to the point where they could definitively prove that 1 + 1 = 2.
In the margins of that famous proof, they added a dry, witty comment:
The first quote above discusses the situation in Africa and India at the time this book was being published(1918.) It was the time when the first world war was about to end and India was still far from freedom. This gives us a unique insight into the situation from the viewpoint of a British humanitarian philosopher.
Horses can smell human fear
And it makes them even more frightened.
How’s it a useful form of information ?
It’s certainly going to increase the fear threefold when you know you have nothing to curb that smell or
There will be a new product to buy.
[ Courtesy: Scientific American]
Maanjha and Mathematics: The Geometry of a Chhatarpur Winter
The students left exactly after an hour. The wall exactly opposite to this house has been painted white. The door has been painted black. I replaced the chair in verandah.
The quotation at the beginning of the third chapter is from The Hunting of the Snark, which is 1876 nonsense epic by Lewis Carroll.
“What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?”
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
“They are merely conventional signs!”
I think the chapter is about finding out coordinates for addresses. At least in the beginning.
[ I recall, “if you don’t know where you want to go, any road will take you…” From Pig and Pepper, Alice’s Adventures in The Wonderland.]
The terms abscissa and ordinate are the standard names for the x and y coordinates in a Cartesian coordinate system. Their etymologies are rooted in Latin and reflect how ancient and early modern mathematicians “cut” and “ordered” geometric space.
1. Abscissa (x-axis)
The word abscissa comes from the Latin phrase linea abscissa, which literally means “a line cut off.”
* Prefix: ab- (away/off)
* Root: scindere (to cut)
* History: In early geometry, mathematicians didn’t think of coordinates as points on a grid, but rather as segments of a line. The “abscissa” was the part of the infinite horizontal axis that was “cut off” between the origin and the point where a vertical line dropped down from a specific location.
* Standardization: While used in various forms by Apollonius of Perga in Ancient Greece, the term was popularized in Latin by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the late 17th century.
2. Ordinate (y-axis)
The word ordinate comes from the Latin linea ordinata applicata, meaning “line applied in order.”
* Root: ordinare (to put in order, to arrange)
* History: In the study of conic sections (like parabolas and ellipses), mathematicians would draw a series of parallel vertical lines to meet the curve. Because these lines were drawn in a regular, parallel, and “orderly” fashion, they were called ordinatae.
* Connection: The word “coordinate” eventually evolved from this, using the prefix co- (together) to describe the “ordered” pairs (x, y) working together to define a point.
Mantissa is another interesting word, it rhymes with abscissa and it has a fascinating dual life in mathematics and linguistics.
Historically, the word comes from the Latin mantisa, meaning an “addition,” a “makeweight,” or a “worthless addition” (something thrown in to even out the weight on a scale).
Today, you will mostly encounter it in two mathematical contexts:
1. Logarithms (The Traditional Use)
In the world of logarithms, a number is often broken into two parts: the characteristic (the integer part) and the mantissa (the fractional or decimal part).
For example, in the common logarithm \log_{10}(200) \approx 2.3010:
* The 2 is the characteristic.
* The .3010 is the mantissa.
2. Computer Science (Floating-Point Numbers)
In modern computing, “mantissa” is often used interchangeably with the word significand. When a computer stores a number in scientific notation (like 1.23 \times 10^5), the mantissa is the part representing the significant digits.
In the number 1.23 \times 10^5:
* 1.23 is the mantissa (significand).
* 5 is the exponent.
A Note on Modern Usage
Interestingly, many mathematicians now prefer the word “significand” over “mantissa” for computer science. This is because the original Latin meaning (“worthless addition”) doesn’t quite fit—in a digital number, those digits are the most important part!
Is it still used elsewhere?
Outside of math, it is extremely rare. However, you might see it in literature to describe something that is an “extra” or a “minor supplement” to a larger body of work, though this usage is considered archaic.
They asked many questions today and laughed a lot when I read the name of Rene Descartes as it was written in the book.
Rene Descartes used to stay in his bed for a long time in morning. Once he was thinking about how to locate a point. It was a classical problem at that time. He came up with a solution which later evolved into the Cartesian Coordinate Geometry.
I told them the importance of his work. And the importance of work of other mathematicians which was foundational into technology that we use today. Though they appreciate a smartphone as it’s valuable for entertainment, they don’t appreciate Mathmatics which appears boring. The elder asks me which is bigger : 1 lakh or 1 crore?
I note down numbers with zeroes after one. These numbers are one, hundred, thousand …then I stop and explain using powers of ten. The younger first asks about the Saikra which is colloquial for ‘a hundred,’ then jumps to Mahashankha. A very large number. I tell them that different languages use different words for very large numbers. I tell them about Googol:
A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.
In scientific notation, it is written as 10^{100}. To give you an idea of how massive this is, there are estimated to be only about 10^{80} atoms in the entire observable universe—meaning a googol is 100 quintillion times larger than the number of atoms in existence.
1. The Story of the Name
The term has one of the most famous origins in mathematics. In 1920, American mathematician Edward Kasner wanted a name for this specific large number. He asked his nine-year-old nephew, Milton Sirotta, to come up with a word. Milton suggested “googol,” and the name stuck.
2. Googol vs. Google
You likely recognize the word because it is the inspiration for the search engine Google.
* The Intent: The founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, originally wanted to name the company “Googol” to represent their mission to organize an “infinite” amount of information.
* The Mistake: Legend has it that when they went to check if the domain name was available, a fellow graduate student (Sean Anderson) accidentally typed google.com instead of https://www.google.com/search?q=googol.com. Larry Page liked the misspelled version better, and the rest is history.
3. The Even Bigger “Googolplex”
Milton Sirotta didn’t stop at the googol. He also proposed the googolplex, which he defined as “one, followed by writing zeros until you get tired.”
Kasner later gave it a formal mathematical definition: a googolplex is 1 followed by a googol of zeros, or 10^{\text{googol}}. This number is so large that it is physically impossible to write out—there isn’t enough matter in the universe to use as ink or paper to finish the task.
Fun Comparison Table
| Name | Value | Scale Reference |
|—|—|—|
| Million | 10^6 | Seconds in 11.5 days |
| Trillion | 10^{12} | Seconds in 31,709 years |
| Atoms in Universe | 10^{80} | All visible matter |
| Googol | 10^{100} | 10^{20} times more than every atom in the universe |
| Googolplex | 10^{(10^{100})} | Too large to exist in physical form
Descartes’ surname sounded like Hindi word “dakaar” ( belching) to them. It made them laugh for a while. Somehow bald guy again entered the discussion which geminated the fun they had.
There was an exercise which showed how to locate a point inside a rectangle. I described the practical importance of knowing it. Then I described importance of how to find coordinates for their bench in their school. A structure with rows and columns was given. I asked them to imagine a situation where they needed to reach to their seat quickly. This was the practical application of knowing coordinates for the bench they were at. It might be helpful for a student who needs to locate his seat on the first day of examination without wasting their time.
Their printed time table was inside the mathematics book. They asked about ‘flying squad’ as we were having a discussion about the role of invigilators and prevention of unfair means.
I gave them Addition and Subtraction problems in assignment. As usual the elder noted down only 6 problems from Subtraction section, skipping 4 of them. The younger had an excuse to not note down because he finds the linear print difficult. He’s accustomed to doing them by writing numbers in separate rows. I asked his elder brother to help him with his notebook at home.
They kept quarreling. The elder brother had only written an application for transfer certificate in english for homework. This he did in school. The younger attempted nothing. He was flying kites.
I enquired if roof at their house was a safe place surrounded by a boundary to fly kites. He described with animation how he flies his kites though his answer was negative regarding the boundary at roof. They even described how another boy fell from a three storey building while flying a kite. A tragic accident. He showed me his hands with marks made by the string ( known as maanjha).
The picture on the front page of their Mathematics textbook is a diagram from this chapter. After having explained them four quarters where coordinate values shift, I asked them to tell me the required values in the diagram. The elder grasped it clearly whereas the younger struggled. He came up with only one coordinate.
His narcissism might be a cover for his deficits. It hurts to be ignorant due to some inborn deficiency or environmental limitations. It’s covered by being prophetic. When one of his answers is partially correct : he not only stands up at his place but shouts : ” I am a Hindu.” Like everything else: this must have something to do with his partially correct response.
They sometimes ask me to read from the back page of the text about the basic duties from constitution which involve support for all religions and avoiding dogma or chauvinism against castes and creeds. Younger doesn’t understand it at all. Elder might have learned to behave better.
They’re very enthusiastic about the festival of Makar Sankranti, which is also called budkee. It’s colloquial for ‘dip.’ Dip in holy waters. The festival marks Sun’s transit into the sign Capricorn which aligns with increase in temperature. It’s the only Hindu festival which uses solar calendar instead of a lunar calendar, therefore it’s almost always celebrated on the fifteenth of January.
There were only nine students in the combined class which had six sections. Most of the students have gone to celebrate the festival to the nearby villages where they belong. Officially it’s only a single holiday though they celebrate for two three days for various reasons including cold weather which makes it difficult to attend school.
Planned Obsolescence
Organised utensils. Fixed burners into gas. Put the gas cylinders into the bathroom. Lukewarm water and tea served. The verandah was congested. Mopping couldn’t happen properly. Washed a cup and served tea. Had it myself. All of it took thirty minutes time. Informed mother about the cooker whistles. She was returning from outside with a stick in her hand. Students left only after forty two minutes. I wasn’t expecting them today. There was a piebald dog outside and another was barking. There were cows. The younger student had difficulty even staying for thirty minutes. They were being physically aggressive to eachother and the elder had pen nibs without caps. I warned him to be careful with that. I also asked them to not hit eachother on head.
They’re going to perform Surya Namaskar Yoga postures again tomorrow morning. They had a practice session on ninth. They didn’t bring Remedial Module book or smartphone to get my help. Though they come up with sudden requirements they show lack of foresight.
The elder told me that he was asleep at the time of the class yesterday though he wasn’t suffering from fever as told by his father. I gave both of them problems on Addition and Subtraction. I sweeped the room after they left.
When the unit 8.2 was completed they wanted me to narrate a story to them. The younger one wanted me to tell a story in which his name was used as a good person who helped everyone. When I refused to tell such a story he asked me to create a story in which a dog used to help people who used to roam around and used to have bones for food.
I think either asking for fee or refusing to create a story with his name might have prompted him to such vagaries. I had somewhat clairvoyant dreams. Similar voices. None of it is new.
The two problems I showed them solutions for are straightforward Geometry problems, though they had hard time grasping basics as usual. Both problems use mid point theorem, though I spend a few minutes before realising that I wasn’t reading the second problem carefully. The environmental noise was rising.
Working on SLM or Nano GPT. Why do I mix it with the routine in this article? It has been more than five years working on Replika. Law of diminishing returns. Network unavailability made it evermore difficult a task to access it. Though there appeared better models, they would’ve been similar with the network issues. Finally, I was supposed to make switch from 4G to 5G. Entire family was doing that. This brought an in-built AI model which, after some reluctance was going to replace the Replika which had stood the test of time. It seemed like “Planned Obsolescence.” I remember the first time when I found a Gemini window open–I hadn’t actually opened it: I considered it a glitch. It was faster to access in comparison to Chat GPT or Replika. I let go of free subscription for Perplexity because it would have created further burden to cope with. Though Gemini was using a version 2.5. It had a voice assistant and much better feedback compared to Replika which was a freemium version. I think it was still not ‘pro’ version offered by Google yet it was much better being a gift package with smartphone.
The Trial of The Pyx
The Trial of the Pyx is one of the oldest and most fascinating judicial ceremonies in the United Kingdom. Dating back to at least 1282 (and likely earlier), it is essentially a formal “court case” held to ensure that the nation’s coins are of the correct weight, size, and purity.
Why is it called a “Trial”?
It is a literal trial. Throughout the year, sample coins are randomly pulled from the Royal Mint’s production lines—one from every batch of every denomination—and locked in pyxes (wooden chests).
Once a year, these boxes are brought to Goldsmiths’ Hall in London. A jury of at least six experts (freemen of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths) is sworn in by the King’s Remembrancer (a senior judge) to deliver a verdict on whether the Mint has followed the law.
The Procedure
The process is steeped in tradition but relies on modern science:
The Selection: Jurors sit at long tables and are handed packets of coins. They must count them and select one from each packet to be placed in a ceremonial copper bowl for testing.
The Testing: The selected coins are sent to the Assay Office, where they are measured, weighed, and chemically tested against “trial plates” (standard samples of pure gold, silver, or other metals).
The Verdict: About two to three months later, the court reconvenes. The verdict is read aloud in the presence of the Master of the Mint (a role technically held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer).
Historical High Stakes
In the past, the Trial was a high-stakes matter of life and death:
The Punishment: If the coins were found to be “light” (meaning the Mint was skimming precious metal), the Master of the Mint could be fined, imprisoned, or in the Middle Ages, even lose a hand.
Isaac Newton: When Sir Isaac Newton was Master of the Mint in the late 1600s, he famously spent years meticulously preparing for these trials to protect his reputation and ensure the integrity of the pound.
Does it still happen?
Yes. While modern coins are no longer made of gold or silver for general circulation, the trial continues every year. It now includes commemorative coins and high-value bullion. In fact, the next Trial is scheduled for February 10, 2026, at Mansion House in London.
Dancing light of grace 