'You're pulling my leg' mean to deceive someone in a humorous or playful way.  It would be nice to be able to say that I've discovered the origin of 'pulling your leg', which is one of the holy grails of etymology.  Regretfully, not.  Like those other 'leg' phrases 'an arm and a leg', 'shake a leg' and 'break a leg', there's no evidence to show that the limb in question when the phrase was coined was anything other than imaginary.  Find the two most commonly repeated of the literal 'leg pulling' theories at https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/pulling-ones-leg.html

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

reeve  (reev)  verb tr.:  To pass (a rope or the like) through.  noun:  A local official.  For verb:  Of uncertain origin.  Earliest documented use:  1600.  For noun:  From Old English gerefa (high official).  Earliest documented use:  before 12th century.

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day

From:  Elaine Clow  Subject:  Hog Reeve  Here in colonial NH we still have an elected municipal official called a hog reeve.  The purpose of the position is to oversee damage done by wandering animals.
From:  Stan Hingston  Subject:  reeve  I wrote about the history of the word reeve and its derivative sheriff in a blog post in 2011.
From:  Bill Venables  Subject:  reeve  A reeve is also a female ruff, a migratory shorebird.

"I swear the ocean has a different sky than the rest of the world."  "The swirl of people, it's heaven."  Saint Mazie, a novel by Jami Attenberg  book inspired by life of a woman profiled in the essay Mazie, appearing in Joseph Mitchell's essay collection Up in the Old Hotel

Jami Attenberg, after “getting the heck out” of suburban Illinois, studied writing at Johns Hopkins University, where her senior fiction professor, the novelist Robert Stone, “hated” her writing.  “Right before I graduated he was like, ‘You know, honey,’--honey!--‘you can still work in publishing.  You can be a publicist.’  After a stint working at HBO, Attenberg made a decision to commit to fiction, so she quit her job and interspersed novel writing with temp jobs.  She completed three well-reviewed books--Instant Love, The Melting Season, The Kept Man--but had, she wrote in 2012, “what is politely called a ‘challenging track record’ in the publishing industry.  Getting three books published means I am technically a success, but if you ask some people, my empty bank account unequivocally means I am a failure.”  She lived in 26 different homes over a decade, reliant on the kindness of friends and cheap rent where she could find it.  In 2012, two things changed everything:  first, Attenberg moved publisher.  “Before, I was being marketed as women’s fiction, and now I’m with a publisher who said, ‘No, this is literary fiction, and we won’t ever put a woman looking wistful on your covers.’  And that was huge for me.”  The next was that The Middlesteins became a bestseller, helped, she thinks, by Jonathan Franzen giving a quote for its front cover, praising Attenberg’s “sympathy and the artistry of her storytelling”.  This, she says, “was mentioned in every book review, sexist as that probably is, and it gave me a whole new level of credibility.”  Hadley Freeman   https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/mar/24/jami-attenberg-interview-women-all-grown-up

During the late nineteen twenties and early thirties the development  of large apartment complexes began in New York City.  Knickerbocker  Village was among the first to be developed.  The block on which it  was built was a notorious slum.  Fred F. French, a real estate magnate  known for his expansive lifestyle, constructed Tudor City, a multi-building  complex at 42nd Street and First Avenue in the nineteen twenties.  He  followed that with Knickerbocker Village. Construction began in 1933  and was completed in 1934.  He also gave New York City one of its most beautiful office buildings, the Art Deco Tower at 45th Street and 5th  Avenue known as "The French Building".  Designed to attract the young urban crowd of the times, nearly two-thirds  of the Knickerbocker apartments are one-bedrooms.  Kitchens were designed  small, with the thought that they would have limited use.  Many of the early residents were socialists and the complex was a  hotbed of tenant activism at the time.  Hand in hand with activism, tenants also organized clubs around various interests and there was  a strong social element in the complex.  http://www.knickvill.com/en/aboutus.php  Knickerbocker Village is located on the block bounded by Catherine Street, Monroe Street,  Market Street and Cherry Street.  Traditionally thought of as the  Lower East Side, this neighborhood has come to be considered part  of Chinatown in recent years.  Located within a short distance are City Hall, the Civic Center Areas and the South Street Seaport.  The complex is actually situated between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges,  a neighborhood sometimes referred to as Two Bridges.  http://www.knickvill.com/en/faq.php

Stella D'oro Style Anisette Toast Biscotti by Dawn Peralli   https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/dessert-cookies/stella-doro-style-anisette-toast-biscotti.html

Chocolate-Cherry Biscotti by Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez 

https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/chocolate-cherry-biscotti

What is hurst, hyrst, herst or hirst?  A wood or grove of trees  http://thelawdictionary.org/hurst-hyrst-herst-or-hirst/

November 25, 2017  Toledo has fared well with the Historic Tax Credit. The list is important within Toledo:  the Valentine of course, with its associated housing, the LaSalle Apartments, St. Clair Village; the Steam Plant; Hensville; Standart Lofts and the Berdan Building, and the Hillcrest and Commodore Perry.  This is but a short list of more than 100 projects.  These projects are an example of smart investment and growing the tax base.  Toledo can point to more than $145 million of projects linked to this program.  Unlike a simple tax dodge for those seeking a way to hide money, the Historic Tax Credit is an economic driver.  In the state of Ohio, since 1976, it has helped fund 1,898 projects with $4 billion in investment.  In short, the program more than pays for itself.  Between 2012 and 2016 there were 24,616 jobs associated with it.  The tax credit is taken by the private sector, and only after 100 percent completion of the project’s construction.  According to a report from the Rutgers Center for Urban Policy Research, the Historic Tax Credit has provided $29.9 billion in federal tax revenue.  This translated into a return of $1.20 on every dollar awarded.  Historic preservation is a vital part of the sustainability movement.  It keeps buildings from being demolished.  The greenest building there is, is the one that already exists.  Historic preservation helps keep our urban fabric and city intact. Most importantly, respect for our history and culture assures an enriching life for those who come after us.  It is in the nation’s, our state’s, and particularly our city’s best interest to see this program kept.  The slash-and-burn mentality guiding the tax makers and takers currently tells us that all tax credits are bad.  But this is one program that has worked and is producing way more than it is costing.  We must let Congress know that the Federal Historic Tax Credit Program should be kept and be a permanent feature of our tax laws.  Please write to our leaders and encourage the support for the Federal Historic Tax Credit program.  Paul Sullivan  Read more at  http://www.toledoblade.com/Op-Ed-Columns/2017/11/24/div-class-libPageBodyLinebreak-Historic-Tax-Credit-needed-in-Toledo-div.html

The federal historic tax credit (HTC) was eliminated in the tax reform bill passed by the House of Representatives, and the Senate Finance Committee approved a version of tax reform that keeps the HTC at the current 20% level, but does make changes that reduce the value of the incentive.  The legislative process is not over, however, and preservationists must continue their outreach.  https://savingplaces.org/historic-tax-credits#.WhlxyFWnGUk

Find out how to contact current members of the 115th U.S. Congress at https://www.congress.gov/members?q=%7B%22congress%22:%22115%22%7D  Ask that the HTC be preserved and share other ideas on tax reform if desired.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1804  November 27, 2017  On this date in 1896, Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss was first performed.  On this date in 1924, the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_27        

Thought for Today  When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. - Jimi Hendrix, musician, singer, and songwriter (27 Nov 1942-1970)