what kind of a word is "ovular"?

luser- -droog

unread,

Nov 25, 2011, 10:37:43 PM11/25/11

to

. . . I discovered a new analytical was of listening to music. The
unheard sounds came through, and each melodic line existed of
itself, stood out clearly from all the rest, said its piece, and
waited patiently for the other voices to speak. That night I
found
myself hearing not only in time, but in space as well. I not only
entered the music but descended like Dante, into its depths. And
beneath the swiftness of the hot tempo there was a slower
tempo and a cave and I entered it and looked around and heard
an old woman singing a spiritual as full of Weltschmerz as
flamenco, and beneath that lay a still lower level on which I say a
beautiful girl the color of ivory pleading in a voice like my
mother's as she stood before a group of slaveowners who bit for
her naked body, and below that I found a lower level and a more
rapid tempo and I heard someone shout. . .
-- Ralph Ellison, *Invisible Man*

%!

/notehead { %type x y notehead -
gsave
translate
{
-1 0 moveto
2 {
-1 .4 -.3 .8 .2 .8 curveto
.8 .8 1 .3 1 0 curveto
180 rotate
} repeat
closepath
.67 .78 scale
} repeat
eofill
grestore
} def

100 400 translate
40 40 scale
.22 setlinewidth
1 0 0 notehead %a filled note head
.9 0 moveto 0 5 rlineto stroke

2 3 0 notehead %a hollow note head
3.9 0 moveto 0 5 rlineto stroke

3 6 0 notehead %um...
6.9 0 moveto 0 5 rlineto stroke

4 9 0 notehead %...i don't know what to call these
9.9 0 moveto 0 5 rlineto stroke

tlvp

unread,

Nov 26, 2011, 12:52:19 AM11/26/11

to

Did you mean *Spanish* "ovular" (verbo intransitivo), to ovulate ?
Or *English* "ovular" (adj.), related to or having to do with (ova) eggs ?

Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

luser- -droog

unread,

Nov 26, 2011, 2:17:48 AM11/26/11

to

On Nov 25, 11:52 pm, tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlL...@att.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:37:43 -0800 (PST), luser- -droog wrote:

> > Subject: what kind of a word is "ovular"?

> Did you mean *Spanish* "ovular" (verbo intransitivo), to ovulate ?
> Or *English* "ovular" (adj.), related to or having to do with (ova) eggs ?
>
> Cheers, -- tlvp
> --
> Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

I was either quoting or mis-quoting Anthony Perkins from
Orson Welles' The Trial. It's the scene at the beginning
where he's arguing with the strange men (police?) who
show up in his room. One of them notices a shape on the
floor and the other one desribes it as an "ovular" shape.
So: egg-shaped, as a euphemism for anything "not quite an
ellipse".

tlvp

unread,

Nov 26, 2011, 11:00:54 AM11/26/11

to

On Fri, 25 Nov 2011 23:17:48 -0800 (PST), luser- -droog wrote:

> On Nov 25, 11:52 pm, tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlL...@att.net> wrote:
>> On Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:37:43 -0800 (PST), luser- -droog wrote:
>
>>> Subject: what kind of a word is "ovular"?
>
>> Did you mean *Spanish* "ovular" (verbo intransitivo), to ovulate ?
>> Or *English* "ovular" (adj.), related to or having to do with (ova) eggs ?
>

> I was either quoting or mis-quoting Anthony Perkins ...

Ah, so not a question at all. OK, IC. Now, back to sleep :-) .

Cheers, and happy post-prandial gobblings, -- tlvp

luser- -droog

unread,

Nov 27, 2011, 3:05:15 AM11/27/11

to

Finally! a chance to use my new OED.
"Men far advanced in postprandial potations." -- a gang of drunks

tlvp

unread,

Nov 27, 2011, 10:45:27 PM11/27/11

to

On Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:05:15 -0800 (PST), luser- -droog wrote:

> "Men far advanced in postprandial potations." -- a gang of drunks

Heh-heh ... make that "a gang of *after-dinner* drunks :-)
(generally far less aggressive, because much less hungry, because
far better fed, than the /pre/-prandial variety).

Cheers, -- tlvp

--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

(PS: /pranzo/: Italian -- "dinner")