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.
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