*Ø* Blogmanac January 27, 1832 | Lewis Carroll

1832 Lewis Carroll, English mathematician and author (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), (d. 1898)
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Carroll's words
The English mathematician coined dozens of words in Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and his nonsense poems, many of which have become part of the English language, such as 'chortle' (a cross between a chuckle and a snort) and 'galumph'. He called them 'portmanteau' words, a term still used by linguists today, and wordmongers today still use Carroll?s technique of combining two words to form a new one, as in 'smog' and 'brunch'.

Questions over his sexual preferences
Evidence abounds that Carroll was a paedophile though not whether he ever indulged his sexual preference. He photographed many pretty little girls – some languidly stretched out on beds, and some nude. He is famously quoted as saying, "I am fond of children (except boys)?. However, according to all evidence, Carroll remained beyond reproach in his behaviour and the girls without exception seem to have adored him.

Morton Cohen, a pre-eminent Carroll scholar conducted interviews in the 1960s with several elderly women who were once Carroll's child-friends, but even when pressed for details of possible indiscretions, all of them affirmed that Carroll was the nicest, most gentle, and kindest man they had ever known. Perhaps the Victorian English scholar is often judged harshly by 21st-Century values. Maybe Chicka is chortling in his grave.

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