steeple bumpstead and chignal smeally

The always marvellous Nag on the Lake poses the question why many British toponyms are so odd, eliciting sniggering or a blush but also some really fascinating history of occupation, migration and conquest.
A Sunday drive through the Midlands connecting Wednesbury, Newton Burgoland and Ashby-de-la-Zouch also conveys one through ages from the Celts, the Romans, the arrival of the Scandinavians, through to Norman times. Despite all the diverse influences and upheavals, these place names are retain a certain Englishness whether or not original rooted in that language, which is just as adaptive and with the same pedigree. Many others, of course, are later Anglicisations of places on the peripheries of the isle. I recall when we were travelling in County Cork passing through a fine and picturesque village called in Irish Béal Átha Leice (meaning the flat stone at the mouth of the bay) which was unfortunately transliterated as Ballylickey on the road signs. There is also a fun, interactive map that gives select etymologies of England’s town and villages.

i’m lovin’ it

Although the global fast food franchise has stirred controversy beforehand with a very similar advertisement back in 2010 for French markets (ahead of the country’s landmark decision to recognise same-sex marriages), the café division of this restauranteur, as Super Punch informs, is facing a boycott at the urging of some religious authorities in Taiwan over its latest iteration of this theme.
Despite seeming to be an unlikely medium for coming out to one’s father, a teen pens in the dialogue balloon of his coffee cup the admission that he likes guys—to which, his father angrily departs. After a beat the father returns, conciliatory, writing on the cup, “I accept that you like guys.” What do you think? Click through for more details and to watch the commercial. The company deserves praise for this, I think, and will weather protests, but should international businesses such as this be expected to remain neutral on cultural norms or do they have obligations to take a stance?

forge and foundry

If you are acquainted with the writing of Roald Dahl doubtless you are familiar too with the award-winning illustrations of cartoonist and writer Sir Quentin Blake. Kottke reports a digital foundry has crafted a type face in deference to Blake’s unique penmanship, with variants for each character to make text displayed in this font seem more natural and like real handwriting. That’s really a nice look for certain occasions, I think.

in the year 2525 or ecumenical patriarch of splayhair

Thanks to the Happy Mutants’ ansible—though a somewhat defective model, sort of like a TARDIS without a functioning chameleon drive—the wondrous Boing Boing is occasionally able to furnish us with dispatches from the far distant future (in Wikipedia article format, which is comforting for the coming generations) and has we’ve rendered over the millennia Cæsar to Kaiser and Tzar, Tzump may be a future high office. Hopefully this future is not pre-destined.