I almost forgot that today marks twelve years since the first LH post — Mark Woods (speaking of “marks”) often reminds me of the anniversary with a great black-and-white photo of a crowd of men wearing hats, but he’s taking a (well-deserved) break until early August, so I’m on my own. I don’t have much to say besides thanks for all the comments and post ideas over the years, and I hope you’ll all stick around and keep making this habit I’ve fallen into worthwhile. (When I made that first post, I was still living in NYC; I’ve moved three times since then, and changed blog platforms twice. But as a result of the move to WordPress, all twelve years of posts are open for comment, so make yourselves at home in them!)
Only twelve years! Was there really a world before LanguageHat?
Felicitations! Twelve years is quite an achievement, and I’m delighted to have been around for most of them. Thanks for all you’ve taught me, and for being a steady friend and companion in this corner of the online world.
Is the first message really first, or were some whole messages lost in the Blogger > Movable Type migration?
It took me years of reading your blog to realize that I was thinking of you as the character Hat in Naipaul’s Miguel Street. I don’t think of you like that anymore.
Congratulations! Here’s to 12 more years! 12 MORE YEARS! 12 MORE YEARS! 12 MORE YEARS!
Happy Birthday!
Is there such a thing as Linguist’s Dozen 🙂 ? Congrats!
hear, hear, many happy returns!
Sto lat, sto lat,
Niech żyje Language Hat!
It’s lunchtime in the west of Ireland and I raise my mug to you and your merry band of Hatters in thanks and esteem. Here’s the next dozen.
(Here’s to the next dozen. Obviously my tea needs strengthening.)
كل ام وانتم بخير
Since internet-years are to dog-years as dog-years are to …um… year-years, you’ve been around for, wow, ever!!!
Happy b’day!!
I read somewhere that the “1 dog year = 7 human years” model is wrong. Since it takes humans about 20 years to grow up and dogs only a single year, that needs to be deducted from both sides. After that, 1 dog year = 4 human years is more like it. So at the flourishing age of 56, I am about 10 dog years old, or middle-aged, whereas my daughter is only about 3 dog years. 20-year-old dogs are old but not unheard-of, unlike 140-year-old humans; they correspond in the revised model to a more plausible 96 years.
“Curse of the Dog People”. My comment to the effect that I was living in the same building as Bill Rice at the time (and still am, though Bill has since died) and lived an entirely separate life from his (contrary to what he claims to remember) has apparently been deleted. I did, however, see his play, performed in the community garden next door (with magnificent trees, all cut down in the name of “security”; the space is now a parking lot). It was pretty damn funny in a stupid sort of way.
Is the first message really first, or were some whole messages lost in the Blogger > Movable Type migration?
Not sure what you mean by “message.” No posts were lost, but many comments were, with the result that I have no idea if the first comment remaining on that post is the first that was made.
I meant “posts”. Good, then, or as good as can be.
Thank you LH.
Happy blog-birth day!
John Cowan,
I knew that the dog-years had to be graded on a curve, but I figured that since the internet seems to grow exponentially any discrepancy could be fudged.
A lot can happen in twelve years:
Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,
Thy father was the Duke of Milan and
A prince of power.
Conversely, in the same amount of time LanguageHat has risen from humble Beginnings to a ducal position in the Empire of the Internet. Congratulations!
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; am an attendant lord, one that will do to swell a progress, start a scene or two, advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool, deferential, glad to be of use, politic, cautious, and meticulous; full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; at times, indeed, almost ridiculous—almost, at times, the Fool.
I’ve read this blog for ten years or so and I don’t comment much so I don’t know if I’ve bothered saying that it’s a quite lovely one and that I’m grateful it’s still around. Hoping for many more years of Languagehat.
In which grade are you?
Congrats on your longevity! As a fairly recent visitor to your blog, I hope you’ll stay the course for at least another dozen years. I have a lot of catching up to do in the meantime. ¡Saludos!
Thanks for always making me feel welcome. I mostly sit quietly to listen, once in a while adding a little note. When I do pipe up, I’ve always felt kindly treated.
Happy dozen.
I always welcome your comments — keep piping up!
Thread won.
Jeszcze raz! Jeszcze raz!
Many of the blogs I’ve started reading at the same time as yours have fallen by the wayside, so I’m really glad you’re still around. Here’s to the next twelve years.
Herzlichen Glückwunsch!
Thank God Hat is not a slave to fashion, otherwise we would now be trying to keep up with Language Twit (or somesuch). Congratulations on reaching the magic number 12!
I hope this doesn’t mean that as the blog approaches age 13 it becomes sullen, moody, and highly embarrassed by having to be in the presence of grownups.
I’ve already told it it can’t have the keys to the car.
It’s going to ask again soon…
At this point you can tell the blog to buy its own damn car. Or move to NYC. Of naar Amsterdam.