Mother of God, It's More Milton Blogging

Mixolydian Don, in jumping on the Hugh Hewitt Modern-Novels-I-Have-Read-More-Than-Once meme, lists Terry Pratchett's The Light Fantastic.

This caught my eye not because I've read the book (I haven't), but because "tripping the light fantastic" is one of those expressions which I've always found particularly aggravating. People, there is no such thing as a "light fantastic" and you cannot "trip" it no matter how hard you try.

In fact, the original was "light fantastic toe" and comes from Milton's L'Allegro:

"Come, and trip it as ye go,
on the light, fantastic toe"

In other words, let's dance.

Somewhere or other, I recall once reading that the Bible is the single greatest source of quotations in the English language. I also read that John Milton's poetry is perhaps the second greatest.

But let's keep the quotes straight. Let this sort of thing slide and the next thing you know you'll need Captain Kirk to explain your own writings to you like he did for the Yangs and the Coms.

Meanwhile, go read Milton's poem for the pure pleasure of the man's work.