Leeds's Singing Organ-Grinder
@organgrinder.bsky.social
SingingOrganGrinder.com: Far Headingley, Leeds/Kazoo Academy & Barrel Organ Disco/Yorkshire Almanac/translator Romance & Germanic languages & Russian/trad jazz trombone & vocals/brass bands/allotmenteer/childminder. Elorganillero at the other place.
Pinned
Perfect Christmas present for the anti-communist reformer/brutal dictator among your friends: silver medals designed by Chilean sculptor Matías Vial in 1974 to celebrate the first anniversary of the Pinochet coup elorganillero.com/product-tag/...
Why no one takes West Yorkshire Police's Operation Snap seriously road.cc/content/news...
"Hardly a deterrent at all": Cyclist left with injuries and broken bike after being hit by van driver denounces "disappointing" police action and conduct of insurance company
Despite the cyclist wearing lights and high-vis, the van driver didn’t give way – and was sent on a driver awareness course for the offence
road.cc
December 2, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Why no one takes West Yorkshire Police's Operation Snap seriously road.cc/content/news...
Calverley Library. Public buildings are a marker of civilization, but when the ability to generate a surplus declines, & central authority, shared ideology & collective identity are weak, you can pick em up cheap, & the best outcome is another Spoons
s7usk.mjt.lu/nl3/zxOkmiDt...
s7usk.mjt.lu/nl3/zxOkmiDt...
December 2, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Calverley Library. Public buildings are a marker of civilization, but when the ability to generate a surplus declines, & central authority, shared ideology & collective identity are weak, you can pick em up cheap, & the best outcome is another Spoons
s7usk.mjt.lu/nl3/zxOkmiDt...
s7usk.mjt.lu/nl3/zxOkmiDt...
Punning isn't a big deal in Anglo-Saxon, so how did dads get by?
December 2, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Punning isn't a big deal in Anglo-Saxon, so how did dads get by?
Can't believe that Wormwood is left unaltered in the Spanish translation of Roald Dahl's Matilda when vermut (< wormwood) was there for the taking
December 1, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Can't believe that Wormwood is left unaltered in the Spanish translation of Roald Dahl's Matilda when vermut (< wormwood) was there for the taking
A Cookridge woman knows in the early hours what the weather is doing without consulting forecasts or peeping out of the window: if the illegal night flights from Leeds Botox are incredibly loud, the wind is westerly & it will be warm & wet; if they are quieter, she adds a blanket
December 1, 2025 at 8:35 PM
A Cookridge woman knows in the early hours what the weather is doing without consulting forecasts or peeping out of the window: if the illegal night flights from Leeds Botox are incredibly loud, the wind is westerly & it will be warm & wet; if they are quieter, she adds a blanket
Lycra lightweight strikes again
December 1, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Lycra lightweight strikes again
Gwilym William on FB has "had enough of this A303 Stonehenge tunnel nonsense. Time for a proper solution"
December 1, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Gwilym William on FB has "had enough of this A303 Stonehenge tunnel nonsense. Time for a proper solution"
The notion that horror vacui is a mental illness, & that Phil Spector should have been locked up when he came up with his Wall of Sound
November 30, 2025 at 9:56 PM
The notion that horror vacui is a mental illness, & that Phil Spector should have been locked up when he came up with his Wall of Sound
Ah, Velké Pavlovice
November 29, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Ah, Velké Pavlovice
Welcome to my first degree
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 29, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Welcome to my first degree
Re Rub-a-dub-dub: literary Leeds has Alan Bennett (butcher), Tony Harrison (baker), but where in the tub is the son/daughter of the candlestick maker?
November 27, 2025 at 6:44 AM
Re Rub-a-dub-dub: literary Leeds has Alan Bennett (butcher), Tony Harrison (baker), but where in the tub is the son/daughter of the candlestick maker?
The infant has on her door her beloved Black Knight, so some place will be found for my Franciscan sisters from Denekamp's Nicolaasstichting
November 26, 2025 at 12:11 PM
The infant has on her door her beloved Black Knight, so some place will be found for my Franciscan sisters from Denekamp's Nicolaasstichting
Completion of Leeds Town Hall renovation always seems to be two years away. Time for the council to fund its SEND taxi budget by adding ACV (music) status to the Grade 1 listing & selling it to Tim Martin for a MegaSpoons: concert hall, 90 en suites & a pub as big as Ramsgate
November 25, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Completion of Leeds Town Hall renovation always seems to be two years away. Time for the council to fund its SEND taxi budget by adding ACV (music) status to the Grade 1 listing & selling it to Tim Martin for a MegaSpoons: concert hall, 90 en suites & a pub as big as Ramsgate
The latest theft of York stone paving is at the north end of Brookfield Road, opposite the house with the new extension:
- Good riddance - it's a significant cause of injuries in the wet or cold.
- It's easy to maintain.
- What budget?
- Good riddance - it's a significant cause of injuries in the wet or cold.
- It's easy to maintain.
- What budget?
November 25, 2025 at 9:55 AM
The latest theft of York stone paving is at the north end of Brookfield Road, opposite the house with the new extension:
- Good riddance - it's a significant cause of injuries in the wet or cold.
- It's easy to maintain.
- What budget?
- Good riddance - it's a significant cause of injuries in the wet or cold.
- It's easy to maintain.
- What budget?
One way of quantifying the development lag between London & Leeds: A certain avocado-green bathroom suite was installed in Leeds in 1979, while Alan Coren says in 1979 that such things were typical in London in 1965. 14 years?
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 PM
One way of quantifying the development lag between London & Leeds: A certain avocado-green bathroom suite was installed in Leeds in 1979, while Alan Coren says in 1979 that such things were typical in London in 1965. 14 years?
"In politics all that ends well is soon forgotten" - a happy moment in the translation of Milovan Đilas's Conversations With Stalin (1961).
I hadn't realised that the split between Belgrade & Moscow was in part due to the campaign of rape & pillage to which the Red Army subjected even its allies.
I hadn't realised that the split between Belgrade & Moscow was in part due to the campaign of rape & pillage to which the Red Army subjected even its allies.
November 21, 2025 at 9:36 AM
"In politics all that ends well is soon forgotten" - a happy moment in the translation of Milovan Đilas's Conversations With Stalin (1961).
I hadn't realised that the split between Belgrade & Moscow was in part due to the campaign of rape & pillage to which the Red Army subjected even its allies.
I hadn't realised that the split between Belgrade & Moscow was in part due to the campaign of rape & pillage to which the Red Army subjected even its allies.
- The heating engineer did exactly what you said using the spare part you got from City Plumbing and we've got heat again. I said to him, I could kiss you!
- Thank you, a kiss is never amiss.
- No, I tried to kiss the plumber.
- Thank you, a kiss is never amiss.
- No, I tried to kiss the plumber.
November 21, 2025 at 7:15 AM
- The heating engineer did exactly what you said using the spare part you got from City Plumbing and we've got heat again. I said to him, I could kiss you!
- Thank you, a kiss is never amiss.
- No, I tried to kiss the plumber.
- Thank you, a kiss is never amiss.
- No, I tried to kiss the plumber.
giallo/yellow explained
The explanation is this: Old French 'jalne' was pronounced with the j sound of 'giallo'. Italian borrowed it, turned the highly unfrequent consonant cluster ln into ll, and added its -o ending.
Had Italian borrowed the word from any Germanic dialect of that era, it would've become *ghelvo.
Had Italian borrowed the word from any Germanic dialect of that era, it would've become *ghelvo.
November 20, 2025 at 11:33 AM
giallo/yellow explained
Never heard an explanation of the great similarity between yellow and its Italian cognate giallo, which unconvincingly is said to come from the French jalne (= jaune) rather than straight from Germanic dialect
‘Yellow’ is related to Dutch ‘geel’ and German ‘gelb’, but their ends are quite different. Why?
Their common Germanic ancestor had different stems for different case forms.
‘Yellow’ and ‘gelb’ come from the stem that was used in most cases, while ‘geel’ continues the nominative case.
Here’s more:
Their common Germanic ancestor had different stems for different case forms.
‘Yellow’ and ‘gelb’ come from the stem that was used in most cases, while ‘geel’ continues the nominative case.
Here’s more:
November 19, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Never heard an explanation of the great similarity between yellow and its Italian cognate giallo, which unconvincingly is said to come from the French jalne (= jaune) rather than straight from Germanic dialect
That gas fires are harder to light in cold weather seems an essential design flaw
November 19, 2025 at 10:57 AM
That gas fires are harder to light in cold weather seems an essential design flaw
Tbf, a drop in support from 34% in the 2024 GE to ca 20% now doesn't leave a few supporters
November 19, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Tbf, a drop in support from 34% in the 2024 GE to ca 20% now doesn't leave a few supporters
- What do you want to do after school today?
- Come home, make a Scratch film, and then do Lego.
- And what do you want to do at school today?
- Make models.
There's a sense of direction.
- Come home, make a Scratch film, and then do Lego.
- And what do you want to do at school today?
- Make models.
There's a sense of direction.
November 18, 2025 at 2:53 PM
- What do you want to do after school today?
- Come home, make a Scratch film, and then do Lego.
- And what do you want to do at school today?
- Make models.
There's a sense of direction.
- Come home, make a Scratch film, and then do Lego.
- And what do you want to do at school today?
- Make models.
There's a sense of direction.
Obvious metaphor for a Russian plot against Judi Dench
November 18, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Obvious metaphor for a Russian plot against Judi Dench
Guardian sub unable to resist pairing a headline featuring lingchi with a photo of someone of East Asian heritage, even though it was a South Asian who spoke the fatal words
November 18, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Guardian sub unable to resist pairing a headline featuring lingchi with a photo of someone of East Asian heritage, even though it was a South Asian who spoke the fatal words
One rather nice thing about the attempt to ban KPop Demon Hunters' neo-exorcist ditties is the name of the (state) school involved
November 18, 2025 at 9:28 AM
One rather nice thing about the attempt to ban KPop Demon Hunters' neo-exorcist ditties is the name of the (state) school involved