This Day in History Entry #158
February 21st, 2012 by Wordsman
“Comrade Engels, as sure as dog barks
This great work derives from your brain’s sparks!”
“Comrades, please, it’s no crime
My name just doesn’t rhyme!
So let’s give all the credit to Marx”
Event: The Communist Manifesto is published
Year: 1848
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_manifesto
Posted in This Day in History | 
4 Comments »
February 21st, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Combining history and knowing something about Japanese, can the Wordsman identify “Kido Butai”?
How about “shoribyo”?
Both feature prominently in the book A Fan is now reading. What would that book be about?
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:51 am
Combining a knowledge of history and having access to Japanese dictionaries, the Wordsman will guess that A Fan is reading Pacific Crucible by Ian W. Toll. This book is a shameless rip-off of Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, set on a Pacific island so that Hollywood producers will be more likely to pick up the movie rights.
February 23rd, 2012 at 9:02 am
The Wordsman hits it on the nose.
Is there a literal translation of “Kido Butai”?
February 23rd, 2012 at 3:02 pm
My online dictionary (fairly reliable but hardly a Japanese OED) gives it as “mobile troops; mechanized unit; mechanised unit; naval task force”. Japanese Wikipedia defines it as “a combat unit possessed of mobility and composed of forces from one or more branches of the military.”