Ghost sign and word nerd glee

Walking home tonight

Remember the ghost sign seminar I went to last month? The one that I haven't got around to blogging about? Well, I finally sat down yesterday with my notes and googled some of the names that came up at the seminar. 

The first speaker, Sam Roberts from the UK, started his talk by mentioning some of the pioneers of the ghost sign movement (I think I can call it a movement). One is William Stage, an American journalist, author and street photographer who published Ghost Signs: Brick Wall Signs in America in 1989.

Another is Frank H Jump, also American, who started photographing vintage signs in New York City in the late 1990s and maintains the Fading Ad Blog. Yesterday I liked the Fading Ad Facebook page and also followed Frank on Twitter. I mention all of this so I can tell you that he sent a request to follow me back and I'm a little bit chuffed. I'd better start tweeting more about my ghost sign finds.

I'm not going to write much else about the seminar now, but I've included a bunch of links if you want to find out more. I haven't had a good look at them yet myself.

Another gem from Let's Bring Back...The Lost Language Edition: quockerwodger, literally a marionette, but figuratively, a term for someone - a politician - whose strings are being pulled by someone else.

Ooh! I just remembered! The Inky Fool (author of The Etymologicon) is coming to Australia! Yay! But he's heading for Sydney for the Sydney Writer's Festival, not to Melbourne. Boo! I'm contemplating flying up there to see him at his Saturday afternoon gig. Return flights and the ticket would cost about $150... I think I'll sleep on it.