Most people write for others. I write for myself. But this blog is me writing for myself in public so two brids, one stone. (Actually I’d never intentionally kill a bird.)

Frequently given answers

What is Ojisan Seiuchi?

おじさんセイウチ in hiragana, one of the Japanese syllabaries. It means “Uncle Walrus.” That’s a long story.¹

What do you do for a living?

I’m a bon vivant.

That’s it?

Of course not.

I’m a frequent contributor to the Russian language section of en.wiktionary.org. From my user page you can take a look at my contributions.

I think I may know you. Are you the guy that…?

You’ll have to ask me. See How can I reach you? below. I don’t like posting detailed identifying information online.

Why do you write so much about U.S. politics if you live in Canada?

I’m a U.S. citizen and even though I live in Canada, they still make me file taxes in the U.S. So as long as I pay taxes in the U.S. I feel free to vote there and offer my opinions.

Can I like you on Facebook?

Yes and no. I have an account. I log in once-a-day or less to check-in on a group that I nominally manage. I no longer look at anything in my feed. I’m sure Facebook can still infer things about me. But good luck using my online behaviour as the raw material for your capitalist extraction and manipulation projects.

What about other social platforms?

For a while I looked at Instagram, but I deleted the app. I’m sure everything I’ve ever posted is out there to live in perpetuity, though. Don’t even ask about the roiling cauldron of hate called Twitter. I do miss interacting with friends on these platforms, especially the folks I met solely because of them. But I also realize how much happier I am when I put boundaries around what I read and what I’m willing to accept as a trade.

How can I reach you?

Use my contact page. You can reach me too through my Talk page on Wiktionary.

You write about a lot of stuff. Why?

I’m opinionated and I don’t sleep enough.

How can I comment on an article?

You can’t. At least not right now. Why? When I had comments turned on previously, the time spent managing comments was more than I had available. You can contact me as above if you need to.

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1. Here’s the long story. When I was a kid, our school offered a Russian language class. It was during the Cold War and a Soviet takeover seemed to be on everyone’s minds; so why not? In the class, we learned that they call Santa Claus “Дед Мороз” which means “Grandfather Frost.” I thought it was a funny name because it sounds like “дядя морж” which means “Uncle Walrus.” So there. ↩︎