Out of Sorts

In the 1800's, when hand-worked printing presses were in operation, 'sorts' were the technical term for individual letters. Solo characters became words and words became sentences.

The modern frustrated phrase, "I'm out of sorts", originates when the master printer looked down at his empty trays and lamented he could go no further in his work as all of his letters were used.

This is why I changed the blog title from "Amnesia" to "Out of Sorts", because it seems like I'm always looking for words and I'm constantly running out. :)

I am Podcast Director at Clarkesworld Magazine.