Holy Toledo - 10 February 2025
In 1944, an Italian scientist discovered a drug that he later named for his wife. His wife’s name was Marguerite, but she went by Rita — which is why this now familiar drug is known as Ritalin. Plus, a poem about churning butter shows how a writer can draw astonishing beauty out of the most everyday of tasks. And the exclamation holy Toledo! probably refers to a city thousands of miles from the one in Ohio. Also: anapodoton, white sepulchre, why various languages have different words for with, a...