Bill Bryson - "the mother tongue - english and how it got that way"

The Cree Indian language has a special that [for] things just gone out of sight, while Ilocano, a tongue of the Philippines, has three words for this referring to a visible object, a fourth for things not in view and a fifth for things that no longer exist.
[The Story of Language]

"An earlier meaning of prove was to test, which makes "the exception proves the rule" suddenly make sense."

"The names of Britain's 70.000 or so pubs cover a broad range, running from the inspired to the imporbable, from the deft ot the daft. Almost any name will do so long as it is at least faintly absurd, unconnected with the name of the owner, and entirely lacking in any suggestion of drinking, conversing, and enjoying oneself. At a minimum the name should puzzle foreigners - this is a basic requirement of most British institutions - and ideally it should excite long and inconclusive debate, defy all logical explanation, and evoke images that border on the surreal. ... the present quirky system dates mostly from the Middle Ages, when it was deemed necessary to provide travelers, most of them illiterate, with some sort of instantly recognizable symbol."

It's a fun book, but entire chapters are dedicated to summing up examples of something strange or illogical, groundless claims are based (the Dutch preferring their "almost invariably palpably inferior" shows to British shows... Maybe, but can we have some sort of example that shows how Dutch shows are invariably palpably inferior?

onomastics: the study of names.

Bill Bryson - "A Short History Of Nearly Everything"

Cool book, lots of facts, but more something you should not read in one go: too many factoids and stories jumbling together. This is not a fault of mr Bryson in my opinion, it is simply an overload of data.

• oxygen: used by white bloodcells to kill bacteria
  
• stromatolites: "living rock", emerged 3.5 billion years ago, still in existence today
  
• slime molds: single cell organisms when conditions are good. Group together into a slug when impoverished. Can become a plant, with a stalk and a fruiting body, full of spores for the single cell organisms
  
• opabinia: 5 eyes and snout with claws