May 16, 2020

4 min read

The Ollie Ollie Oxen Will Never Be Free: Learning to Live with COVID-19

Nobody is quite sure where we got the curious phrase “ollie, ollie oxen free” — which children have used for centuries to indicate that the game of hide-and-seek is over and it is now safe to come out. It might be a corruption of some German phrase like alle, alle auch sind frei which means something like, “everyone is also free.” Or maybe it just goes back to…

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Michael Austin is a former English professor and current academic administrator. He is the author of We Must Not Be Enemies: Restoring America’s Civic Tradition

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Michael Austin

Michael Austin

Michael Austin is a former English professor and current academic administrator. He is the author of We Must Not Be Enemies: Restoring America’s Civic Tradition

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