Geoffrey was to spend the next few years turning an archaic collection of press cuttings, index cards and random books into an effective newspaper reference service, providing valuable assistance during major events such as the Suez crisis.
That curious, archaic turn of phrase — rank strangers — evokes an eerie old mountain lament of the same title, recorded by the Stanley Brothers.
While die-hard fans happily footnote the songs, more casual listeners pick up the atmosphere, sensing that an archaic turn of phrase or a vaguely familiar line may well come from somewhere else.
Put aside the archaic turn of phrase and one could imagine William Cobbett's words from 1832 on the lips of those criticising the police's recent handling of protest.
Make that hyperlocal in the case of the media industry -- the whole concept of news has been turned on its archaic ear with the advent of social media.
Over all, though, the shiny hyper-reality robs Middle-earth of some of its misty, archaic atmosphere, turning it into a gaudy high-definition tourist attraction.
In the real USSR, archaic factories turned out with difficulty basic dresses for the masses in plain white cotton for lack of dye.
"The shiny hyper-reality robs Middle-earth of some of its misty, archaic atmosphere, turning it into a gaudy high-definition tourist attraction," A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times in December.
Meanwhile, teachers and schools are being flooded with data, new startups pitching tools, software and apps at every turn, while still wrestling with archaic infrastructure, data in multiple formats — really, just a broken system.
Also close at hand was the fine collection of Auguste Rodin's sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, but Moore was already reacting against the European sculptural tradition and turning instead to "primitive" and archaic art.
