This final note today, which begins with the observation that this is the 612th anniversary of the death of Geoffrey Chaucer. He of “The Canterbury Tales,” yes — but so much more.

Including this: We learned via The Atlantic Wire today and the Twitter feed of the Oxford English Dictionary that among the words Chaucer is credited with coming up with is “twitter.”

“To utter a succession of light tremulous notes,” the OED says, “to chirp continuously.”

So there you go.