Meme nicked from ianthefira

[active_apathy]

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal...along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

Right. So, the closest book is the Collins Australian Pocket English Dictionary; it's the 1986 reprint of the 1981 edition. A thrilling read, for some. A useful reference for everyone else.

The fifth sentence is:

Callisthenics (kal'əs then'iks) n.pl. [ < Gr. kallos, beauty + sthenos, strength ] exercises to develop a strong, trim body —cal'listhen'ic, cal'listhen'ical adj.

Thrilling, isn't it. The second-closest - and much more fun - book is Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves (at exactly one inch closer than Pyramids). And this time, the quote is:

However, so long as there remain sentences on this earth that begin with capital letters and end with full stops, there will be a place for the semicolon.

Disregarding that last inch, we come to Mr Pratchett who, in this particular copy of Pyramids (which I am, in fact, yet to read), gives us:

That's one of the signs of real royalty, not having any money.

Comments

[mrpyro.livejournal.com]

A thrilling read, for some

A few months ago I was visiting London, and while travelling on the Tube I ended up sitting next to somebody who appeared to be reading a copy of the dictionary from cover to cover.

He'd got as far as Su. I'd admire his patience if I didn't suspect that he was crazy.

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

That's... beyond words, really. Reading the dictionary is the silliest thing I can think of to do - even ahead of Scientology.

[mrpyro.livejournal.com]

Reading back on the post I made about it closer to the time, he was only up to Se.

People on the Tube are often crazy. That's why nobody talks to anybody else. Although I was amused by the time a random guy jumped on at one station, pulled out some balls and gave us all a random juggling performance, then got off two stations later (after asking us for money, natch). He was funny.

[active-apathy.livejournal.com]

Things to do before dying, #13515: The Tube.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

I read a pocket dictionary once.

I was really bored. Youth will do that to you.

It did my vocabulary wonders though.