the buzz log

Today is Seuss' birthday! Sakes alive, that's 105!

The Web's observing "dr. seuss birthday" (+177%) with activities (+546%), books (+157%) and games (off the chart). Aside from dressing for the occasion (in a natty "dr. seuss hat," of course), searchers have been catching up on his many works: In the past seven days, the favorites have been "The Cat in the Hat," "Green Eggs and Ham," "Horton Hears a Who," "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," and "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish."

A proper celebration also calls for brushing up on the background of the Massachusetts author (and artist). To call back to an old Buzz Log when "The Cat in the Hat" turned 50, "Theodor Geisel took his pen name from Mum/And met with a challenge/To write primers less dumb."

And also less boring. Geisel took a list of 400 words and cut it to 220 to write about that cat. His addictive rhythm, anapestic tetrameter, stems from the Romantic period, which he'd shake up so readers never got too comfortable.

According to Mental Floss, he first adopted his Seussdonym after he got kicked off the college humor magazine for throwing a "drunken bash" (as befitting a descendant in a "long line of German brewmasters,") but continued to write using his mom's maiden name. Dartmouth didn't hold a grudge: His alma mater gave him the honorary title "Doctor," which probably made his father happy considering Geisel dropped out of his Oxford Ph.D. program in literature.

The salute to mom is especially fitting: She made up rhyme chants to sell her dad's pies to customers, and chanted them to Geisel when he couldn't sleep. Geisel, by the way, never had children ... unless you count the millions who adore his books.