fun words in what we're reading
Fiona Webster
Here's something I wish people would post more often to
rec.arts.books: sentences from books they're reading that
contain interesting and fun words.
Here's a few from the book I just read -- Theodore Roszak's
_The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein_:
But Lady Caroline had brought with her a relaxing potion
and chalybeate waters that eased me into sleep.
-----
I was soon debarrassed of all my childish diffidence before
this warm, jovial man who seemed to have an endless store of
games and stories to pass the time.
-----
A typical Medieval mingle-mangle of barren and neglected
holdings, it sprawled from its abandoned port on Lake Leman
far into the wild wastes of the Voirons.
-----
As abrasive as the artist's style may be, his subject matter
is even more rebarbative . . . I had never, either in art or
literature, come upon depictions of tribadic intercourse as
graphic as these.
Does anyone else, while reading, jot down the page numbers of fun
words? Care to share?
--Fiona
David J. Loftus
: Does anyone else, while reading, jot down the page numbers of fun
: words? Care to share?
: --Fiona
Sometimes. Not much lately. But I'll never forget that _Catch-22_ was
the first place I encountered that lovely word "callipygous."
Unfortunately, the dictionary insisted the accent goes on the third
syllable, not the second, where I would have preferred it.
There were a LOT of unfamiliar but terrific English words in John Simon's
collection of film essays, _Reverse Angle_, but I don't recall any
offhand, except for "neologism."
David Loftus
Ron Hardin
Hunsberger's _The Quintessential Dictionary_ (I. Moyer Hunsberger)
Hart Publishing Company, NY, 1978, is the finest collection of
words I know, with citations. One of the frequently cited
works was Thomas Berger's _Who Is Teddy Villanova?_
Long ago I put all the words on flash cards and learned them all,
and was able to use them in trouble reports, thus annoying the
bureaucracy by making them look them up.
You can read all of Wm. F. Buckley without learning any other words,
I think.
--
Ron Hardin
r...@research.att.com
On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.
Bruce McGuffin
In article <5ei5p6$8v4...@fi.smart.net> f...@oceanstar.comDeleteThis (Fiona Webster) writes:
Thus spake Fiona:
(deleted)
Does anyone else, while reading, jot down the page numbers of fun
words? Care to share?
--Fiona
I kept a word list when I was reading Durrell's Alexandria Quartet,
but its long gone. By the looks of it, it wasn't as good a list as you
are compiling anyway. I do remember it had cicisbeo in it, which I got
to use occassionally in conversation when a, shall we say eccentric,
older woman used to summer next door to my mother-in-law's house in
Saratoga.
Bruce McGuffin
Shane R Hoversten
Fiona Webster <f...@oceanstar.comDeleteThis> wrote:
>Here's something I wish people would post more often to
>rec.arts.books: sentences from books they're reading that
>contain interesting and fun words.
Read Darconville's Cat by Alexander Theroux for more weird,
welded-together word invention than anything else I've ever read combined.
Thsi book also has the distinction of being the most distinctive,
stylistically, of anything I've read aside from Douglas Adams.
It is also a book, and an author, that I cannot decide whether I
love or hate.
Shane
Vance Maverick
[Piggybacking off Shane Hoversten:]
> Fiona Webster <f...@oceanstar.comDeleteThis> wrote:
> >Here's something I wish people would post more often to
> >rec.arts.books: sentences from books they're reading that
> >contain interesting and fun words.
Lately I've been reading again in J.H. Prynne, who may be the most
difficult poet I know.* Douglas Clark sent me a book of his poems
nearly three years ago; I posted something hasty about it in thanks.
Through this posting, I got in touch with a Prynne specialist in the
Atlantic Provinces, and as a result have paid much better attention
than I did at first. One interesting thing about Prynne's poetry, for
all its complexity, is that he *doesn't* use unusual words, except for
the occasional technical term, applied scrupulously in context. But
many of his poems make you acutely conscious of certain words and
their several meanings, or the questions surrounding their meaning.
At the moment I'm looking at "On the Matter of Thermal Packing", from
_The White Stones_ (1969): the first block runs
In the days of time now what I have
is the meltwater constantly round my feet
and ankles. There the ice is glory to the
past and the eloquence, the gentility of
the world's being; I have known this
competence for so long that the
start is buried in light
The coins "glory", "eloquence", "gentility", "competence", are
presented in an edgy, dubious light, partly because they stick out in
the calm prosy matrix. [And phrases that seem awkward stick in the
memory, to be redeemed later -- whether later in the poem (it runs
about 90-100 lines) or late at night on making connections. "In the
days of time", for instance, may be clarified by an allusion to
Herbert's "Virtue" near the end, connecting to images in the other
poems of the same book.]
Vance (trying to expiate a pettiness)
* In a certain sense of "difficulty". Lord knows Herbert is difficult
enough, not to mention other big names.
Paul Ilechko
Speaking of Fun Words, here's a quiz - How many words can you think of
that contain the letters "HTH", in that sequence. I can only think of
one, which I will share later - maybe.
Paul.
Richard Harter
mcgu...@ll.mit.edu (Bruce McGuffin) wrote:
>Thus spake Fiona:
> (deleted)
> --Fiona
>Bruce McGuffin
Richard Harter, c...@tiac.net, The Concord Research Institute
URL = http://www.tiac.net/users/cri, phone = 1-508-369-3911
I'm a primatologist specializing in homo sapiens.
Their lack of true intelligence simplifies my studies.
Richard Harter
mcgu...@ll.mit.edu (Bruce McGuffin) wrote:
>In article <5ei5p6$8v4...@fi.smart.net> f...@oceanstar.comDeleteThis (Fiona Webster) writes:
>Thus spake Fiona:
> (deleted)
> Does anyone else, while reading, jot down the page numbers of fun
> words? Care to share?
> --Fiona
>I kept a word list when I was reading Durrell's Alexandria Quartet,
>but its long gone. By the looks of it, it wasn't as good a list as you
>are compiling anyway. I do remember it had cicisbeo in it, which I got
>to use occassionally in conversation when a, shall we say eccentric,
>older woman used to summer next door to my mother-in-law's house in
>Saratoga.
Mutter, mutter, I hate software. This is the real posting.
Durrell is good; Durrell will do wonders for your vocabulary. Some of
the older pulp writers had very colorful vocabularies. But cicisbo
any Georgette Heyer reader will recognize immediately. I myself have
always been fond of misapprehend, perhaps because it is so often
appropriate.
William Grosso
On Fri, 21 Feb 1997 18:37:29 -0500, Paul Ilechko <pa...@superlink.net>
wrote:
>Speaking of Fun Words, here's a quiz - How many words can you think of
>that contain the letters "HTH", in that sequence. I can only think of
>one, which I will share later - maybe.
>
If you parse it as ht-h or h-th and think "compound words," you can
find many.
Cheers,
Andy
(who narrowly avoided the deathtrap in the bathhouse by following the
nighthawk to the lighthouse).
"In the beginning, everything was even money"
--Mike Caro
brian r. mcdonald
Fiona Webster (f...@oceanstar.comDeleteThis) wrote:
: Here's something I wish people would post more often to
: rec.arts.books: sentences from books they're reading that
: contain interesting and fun words.
for many year - decades, actually - i have commonly used
the word "seriosity" when appropriate, and more than occasionally
when inappropriate as well. during said period, i never saw it in
print nor heard it used by anyone other than those of my friends
who picked it up from me. then. two weeks ago, the title of a
russell baker column in the NYT was "Hun Lacks Seriosity". i
thought that was thoroughly coolsome. despite being pathologically
shy, i am not particularly humble, so i felt that it would be
necessary to notify r.a.b of the above.
chiwito
who occasionally uses
"dispunctuality" and nearly
always exhibits it.
--
part-time longshoreman and full-time dilettente at the game of go
bibliophile, skeptic, oulipian, liberal, romantic
"if you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow"
FIDO
Paul Ilechko writes:
Speaking of Fun Words, here's a quiz - How many words can
you think of that contain the letters "HTH", in that sequence.
I can only think of one, which I will share later - maybe.
Righthanded? There must be many similar composites.
FIDO
Fiona Webster
Paul sez:
> Speaking of Fun Words, here's a quiz - How many words can you think of
> that contain the letters "HTH", in that sequence. I can only think of
> one, which I will share later - maybe.
Andy replies:
>(who narrowly avoided the deathtrap in the bathhouse by following the
>nighthawk to the lighthouse).
The ichthyologist was practicing a diphthong when he began to feel
lightheaded (or was it lighthearted)? He suspected the naphthalene, but
also wondered if he might have a touch of the phthisic. But then he
heard the chthonic rumblings coming from the eighth mountain on the
righthand side, and began to fantasize that he was in line for a
knighthood.
--Fiona
Paul Ilechko
Very Good ! Although i think words like righthand and lightheaded are
cheating to a degree, as they are composite words. The one I had in mind
was Eighth, which you used.
Paul.
Jeff Inman
Paul Ilechko <pa...@superlink.net> writes:
: Speaking of Fun Words, here's a quiz - How many words can you think of
: that contain the letters "HTH", in that sequence. I can only think of
: one, which I will share later - maybe.
Easy. "Eighth". Now come up with one that has 5 vowels in a row.
--
"It wasn't bad. He was in only a little above the knees and sinking
very slowly. As soon as he saw me he stopped hollering and relit his
pipe. Help, he said, simply and quietly."
-Mammel,L.H.
In article <5ei5p6$8v4...@fi.smart.net>,
Fiona Webster <f...@oceanstar.comDeleteThis> wrote:
>Does anyone else, while reading, jot down the page numbers of fun
>words? Care to share?
I had to consult the dictionary when I read in Peter Pan, that
Tinkerbell was "slightly inclined to the embonpoint." A bit
of a surprise to us Disney victims.
Lew Mammel, Jr.
Robert Devereaux
Paul Ilechko wrote:
: Speaking of Fun Words, here's a quiz - How many words can you think of
: that contain the letters "HTH", in that sequence. I can only think of
: one, which I will share later - maybe.
Are the rules more restrictive than you've indicated?
o hothead
o heath
o health
o heather
And those are just the printable ones!
--
Robert Devereaux
Author of DEADWEIGHT and WALKING WOUNDED (Dell)
http://www.cat.pdx.edu/~caseyh/horror/excerpts/walking.html
Uche Ogbuji
Paul Ilechko wrote:
> Speaking of Fun Words, here's a quiz - How many words can you think of
> that contain the letters "HTH", in that sequence. I can only think of
> one, which I will share later - maybe.
Hmm: I can think of a few:
eighth, chthonic, phthistic.
vale
--Uche
FIDO
I imagine that if one really wanted to get the Brothers Fowler
by the short and curlies one would subject them to the word "louche".
Except that I don't believe it achieved literary status much before
Aldous Huxley's use in *CHROME YELLOW* - still a book to read.
FIDO
Whilma Boyce
On Thu, 20 Feb 97 18:39:34 GMT, f...@oceanstar.comDeleteThis (Fiona
Webster) wrote:
>Here's something I wish people would post more often to
>rec.arts.books: sentences from books they're reading that
>contain interesting and fun words.
>
Unfortunately I didn't jot down the whole sentence, or the page number
- and I've even lost track of which book I found it in (still
looking), but this is my best find of recent months:
elephantocetomachia - a fight between an elephant and a whale
Obviously not easily to slip into conversation, but I have it stuck on
the wall to ponder and admire
will
Uche Ogbuji
In <33181e8b.2915583@news>, wi...@whilma.demon.co.uk (Whilma Boyce) writes:
>elephantocetomachia - a fight between an elephant and a whale
I prefer mobydickdumbopugily
vale
--Uche
JOYCEA228
>> for many year - decades, actually - i have commonly used
the word "seriosity" when appropriate, and more than occasionally
when inappropriate as well. during said period, i never saw it in
print nor heard it used by anyone other than those of my friends
who picked it up from me. then. two weeks ago, the title of a
russell baker column in the NYT was "Hun Lacks Seriosity". i
thought that was thoroughly coolsome. despite being pathologically
shy, i am not particularly humble, so i felt that it would be
necessary to notify r.a.b of the above.<<
Sorry but the phrase "In All Seriosity" was a sixties thing on the West
Coast from Calif to Canada. I first heard it at the Univ. of Washington in
1961. Probably originated at Berkeley - as everything else did since 1960.
JA
FIDO
JOYCEA228 writes:
A N Other writes:
OED2 treats "seiosity" with some distaste but does give examples
from 1673 through 1903. Russell Baker has always been something
of an archaeologist.
FIDO
Paris Flammonde
COMMENT and Contribution:
Is it still fashionable to say that "everything else," presumably of
value, in the 1960s, "originated at Berkeley?" How extremely quaint.
<P> Regarding "seriosity" and the OED, Vol II, p. 2737, bottom 2nd
column, I find no implication of "distaste," but the usual objective,
scholarly reference typical of this phenomenal work. It reads, for the
most part: "SERIOSITY. [late L. etc.]. Seriousness. 1637 Bastwick.
Lefany 1.6. 'It would ... move laughter to men though disposed otherwise
to seriosity.' 1693. Hunours Town. 'The grave starch'd seriosity of a
Sylogistical Argumentation. 1837. Frazier's magazine. XVI. p. 284.
'If I may claim from my readers a moment's seriosity, I will explain.'
Academy. 21 Feb. 168/s [?]. 'Few things are worthy of seriosity.' <P>
B. A serious saying, a piece of seriousness."<P>
I would think it was apparent that it, like other non-standard, if,
presently, ungrammatical, usages, are best confined to informsal speech
and writing, for as long as the word "seriousness" exists, and is the
proper expression of the intent, such colloquialisms in formal language
has little, if any, justification. (This, needless to say, this
excludes all varieties of diction appropriate to narrative DIALOGUE.)<P>
Flammonde ta...@coln.com
Robert Teeter
Paris Flammonde (ta...@noln.com) wrote:
: COMMENT and Contribution:
: Is it still fashionable to say that "everything else," presumably of
: value, in the 1960s, "originated at Berkeley?" How extremely quaint.
If it's fashionable, how can it be quaint?
: I would think it was apparent that it, like other non-standard, if,
: presently, ungrammatical, usages,
What's ungrammatical about "seriosity"?
: are best confined to informsal speech
: and writing, for as long as the word "seriousness" exists, and is the
: proper expression of the intent, such colloquialisms in formal language
: has little, if any, justification.
O, reason not the need: our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
-- Shakespeare, King Lear
The justification is more poetic, colorful, humorous diction. Poor
is writing that is so utilitarian it cannot take a little leavening from
colloquialism.
: (This, needless to say, this
: excludes all varieties of diction appropriate to narrative DIALOGUE.)<P>
That's very generous of you.
(BTW, what's with the HTML tags [<P>]? They look kinda strange
to those of us using text-based newsreaders.)
--
Bob Teeter (rte...@netcom.com) | "Write me a few of your lines"
http://www.wco.com/~rteeter/ | -- Mississippi Fred McDowell
"You might say that, but I couldn't possibly comment." -- Francis Urquhart
"Only connect" -- E. M. Forster
gun...@thor.cst.cnes.fr
I like "bitterly" in:
Night Watchman Hillyard: Mr Wills complained bitterly
to me this morning that last night he was denied entry
to the bar by you.
as found in the short story
"The Night Watchman's Occurrence Book"
by V.S.Naipaul
Jim Gunson
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
Robert Teeter
Back to fun words: Ronald Takaki, in _Strangers from a
Different Shore_, refers to the "liminality of the land" several
times, with regard to both Hawaii and California. "Liminality"
was not in a desk dictionary, so I checked the OED and it seems
to mean great potential in this case.
FIDO
Robert Teeter writes:
I wonder if he was not attempting to distinguish limnic from
paralic. These refer to two types of shoreline, inland and
coastal repectively.
FIDO
Vance Maverick
My desktop dictionary gives "of or related to a sensory threshold" as
the primary meaning of "liminal", and points to Latin "limin-, limen",
threshold, for the etymology. I'll hazard the guess that Takaki's
usage is one that has been rederived from the Latin, to mean just
"threshold-like". In the senses Takaki is interested in (peoples,
cultures, languages), I'd say California and Hawaii *are* like
thresholds. Robert, can you quote a sentence?
Vance
Robert Teeter
I wrote:
: > Back to fun words: Ronald Takaki, in _Strangers from
: > a Different Shore_, refers to the "liminality of the land"
: > several times, with regard to both Hawaii and California.
: > "Liminality" was not in a desk dictionary, so I checked
: > the OED and it seems to mean great potential in this case.
FIDO wrote:
: > I wonder if he was not attempting to distinguish limnic from
: > paralic. These refer to two types of shoreline, inland and
: > coastal repectively.
Vance Maverick (mave...@cs.berkeley.edu) wrote:
: My desktop dictionary gives "of or related to a sensory threshold" as
: the primary meaning of "liminal", and points to Latin "limin-, limen",
: threshold, for the etymology. I'll hazard the guess that Takaki's
: usage is one that has been rederived from the Latin, to mean just
: "threshold-like". In the senses Takaki is interested in (peoples,
: cultures, languages), I'd say California and Hawaii *are* like
: thresholds. Robert, can you quote a sentence?
Luckily for me, the word is actually in the index.
"America represented liminality, and the Asian immigrants'
actions enabled them to make history even in conditions they did
not choose. In their trans-Pacific odyssey, they 'crossed
boundaries not delineated in space'." (p. 18)
"Before they had come here, the Chinese could not have
fully anticipated what they would do to the new land and America
to them. Gam Saam ['Gold Mountain,' i.e. America] represented
liminality. Years after their arrival, they could marvel at
what they had achieved and wonder at what they had become." (p. 130)
"But, powered by the liminality of the islands [Hawaii],
they refused to allow the 'necessity' of the plantation to
determine their lives, and over the years, their feelings toward
the place had begun to change. As they worked in the fields, they
saw how their labor had transformed and enriched the new land."
(pp. 175-6)
"America seemed to offer a unique place for such a
pursuit [of freedom], for society in this 'fresh green breast
of the new world' was still an unfinished one. The land was
liminal. The 'riverbanks' of centuries of customs and
strictures had not yet been formed, inviting initiative and the
exercise of imagination." (p. 472)
The last usage seems to correspond to Francis'
suggestion of a shoreline. But the OED gives as its
definition of "liminal": "Of or pertaining to the threshold
or initial stage of a process." It gives as the root the
Latin *limen*, threshold. Words like "limnic" and "limnology"
come from the Greek *limne*, lake or marsh.
fra...@stanford.edu
Vance Maverick writes:
FIDO writes:
Robert Teeter writes:
Back to fun words: Ronald Takaki, in _Strangers
from a Different Shore_, refers to the "liminality
of the land" several times, with regard to both
Hawaii and California. "Liminality" was not in a
desk dictionary, so I checked the OED and it seems
to mean great potential in this case.
I wonder if he was not attempting to distinguish limnic
from paralic. These refer to two types of shoreline,
inland and coastal repectively.
My desktop dictionary gives "of or related to a sensory
threshold" as the primary meaning of "liminal", and points
to Latin "limin-, limen", threshold, for the etymology.
I'll hazard the guess that Takaki's usage is one that has
been rederived from the Latin, to mean just "threshold-like".
In the senses Takaki is interested in (peoples, cultures,
languages), I'd say California and Hawaii *are* like
thresholds. Robert, can you quote a sentence?
Vance's desktop dictionary appears to be quite misleading,
describing as they do a derived not a primary meaning.
Primarily liminal relates to threshold, yes, but threshold
in its near-original meaning of an edge, which in the case
of California and Hawaii is the shoreline, both of which are
indeed dominating and defining.
Obviously we may attach any meaning to Takaki that we wish,
but why begin with a modern derived sense? Start with the
straightforward general meaning and the others will be dragged
into the consciousness soon enough.
A part the problem is that Takaki has invented a form and it
doesn't do much for me. Limnicity would have been my choice.
FIDO
David Haan
(Cross-threading with "HTH")
from Bentham: Phthisozoics ... the art of destroying such of the
inferior animals, as, in the character of natural enemies, threaten
destruction, or damage, to himself, or to animals [useful to him]
OED describes etymology as erroneous; a bug crept in to what
should have been phthirozoics ... so is this entomology?
;D
Joann Zimmerman
[...]
> A part the problem is that Takaki has invented a form and it
> doesn't do much for me. Limnicity would have been my choice.
Why not "liminous" then? Sounds good to me. And no, Takaki has not
invented a word or usage. What's the date for this book? "Liminality" has
seen wide usage over the last fifteen or so years.
On the original point, what is the basic subject of Takaki's book?
Immigration to the US?
I am professionally interested in liminality, and in fact am involved in
some (understatement of the year) work dealing with the artistic
representation of Venice as both a physically and culturally (in the
ritual sense) liminal landscape. For me, the definition has to do not only
with thresholds or boundaries, but also with the state of transition
involved in crossing the boundary. I'm particularly fascinated by the
extended transition that takes place on bridges.
--
"The world exists in order to become a book."
-- Stephane Mallarme'
Joann Zimmerman jz...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
Robert Teeter
fra...@stanford.edu wrote:
: Vance's desktop dictionary appears to be quite misleading,
: describing as they do a derived not a primary meaning.
If so, Francis' beloved OED is misleading in the same
way. It makes no reference to the Greek root *limne* in its
entry for "liminal."
: Primarily liminal relates to threshold, yes, but threshold
: in its near-original meaning of an edge, which in the case
: of California and Hawaii is the shoreline, both of which are
: indeed dominating and defining.
When I made my first post about this, I was writing from my memory
that Takaki was writing specifically about California and Hawaii. But
take a look at the quotes I posted. Only one of them has anything to do
with a literal (or littoral!) meaning of shoreline. Moreover, the
quotes from pages 18, 130, and 472 are about America in general, not
just California or Hawaii.
: Obviously we may attach any meaning to Takaki that we wish,
: but why begin with a modern derived sense?
Because my main interest in this is understanding the book I
am currently reading. It was only later that I got interested in
the etymology.
After checking the OED, I also checked Webster's 3rd Unabridged,
looking up the word "limb," as well as "liminal" and "limnic" and
"limnology." In addition to the Greek root *limne* (lake or marsh,
*not* shoreline), there are Greek roots *leimon* (meadow) and
*limen* (harbor). So, it seems likely that there was a proto-Greek
or Indo-European root that meant "body of water." At some point --
either from I.E. or Proto-Gr. or Greek -- the Latin language seems
to have made a metaphorical switch to "threshold."
But wherever Latin got the word "limen," *English* got
"liminal" from the Latin, as the OED and Webster's 3rd agree.
"Limnic" and "limnology" come from the Greek.
: Start with the
: straightforward general meaning and the others will be dragged
: into the consciousness soon enough.
: A part the problem is that Takaki has invented a form and it
: doesn't do much for me. Limnicity would have been my choice.
Takaki apparently did not make up "liminality," as
Joann Zimmerman has attested. But even if he did, it's
not much a stretch from the adjective "liminal" (earliest
quote in the OED: 1884) to the noun "liminality."
If Takaki had wanted to refer to the shoreline, he could
have used "limnic" or "limnicity" (or better yet, "paralicity,"
since he would be talking about an oceanic shoreline, after all). But he
didn't. He wanted to write about cultural and psychological thresholds,
so he used a word with a straightforward general meaning of threshold.
Robert Teeter
Joann Zimmerman (jz...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) wrote:
: Why not "liminous" then? Sounds good to me. And no, Takaki has not
: invented a word or usage. What's the date for this book? "Liminality" has
: seen wide usage over the last fifteen or so years.
Takaki's book is dated 1989.
: On the original point, what is the basic subject of Takaki's book?
: Immigration to the US?
It's about Asian-American immigration to the U.S.
: I am professionally interested in liminality, and in fact am involved in
: some (understatement of the year) work dealing with the artistic
: representation of Venice as both a physically and culturally (in the
: ritual sense) liminal landscape. For me, the definition has to do not only
: with thresholds or boundaries, but also with the state of transition
: involved in crossing the boundary. I'm particularly fascinated by the
: extended transition that takes place on bridges.
Sounds fascinating. Joann, you've made occasional references
to your work. I'd like to hear more about it, either on another thread or
by e-mail.
Robert Teeter
fra...@stanford.edu wrote:
: Frankly, I think that Takaki is all fucked up. He knows subliminal
: - we all do in this post Macluhan/Vance Packard age - and then
: derives *his* root word liminal. Ugh.
I guess Francis hasn't seen the post where I point out that
the OED has quotes for "liminal" going back to 1884.
William Grosso
On Sat, 8 Mar 1997 02:28:42 GMT, rte...@netcom.com (Robert Teeter)
wrote:
>
> I guess Francis hasn't seen the post where I point out that
>the OED has quotes for "liminal" going back to 1884.
>
More likely he raised the same objections back then too.
ObBook: _Wry Martinis_ by Christopher Buckley. It's a collection
of his essays and columns. Some are actually funny but more
of them are vaguely humorous (as in "I know there's a joke in
there somewhere. And he came close enough to making it that
I'll grin and chuckle in a bemused way.").
Most interesting tidbit: Among the people who slept in the Lincoln
bedroom is Eppie Lederer (also known as Ann Landers).
Cheers,
Andy
fra...@stanford.edu
Robert Teeter writes:
FIDO writes:
Frankly, I think that Takaki is all fucked up. He
knows subliminal - we all do in this post Macluhan/
Vance Packard age - and then derives *his* root word
liminal. Ugh.
I guess Francis hasn't seen the post where I point out
that the OED has quotes for "liminal" going back to 1884.
Not my point which was - and I thought quite clearly stated -
that Takaki rederives the word. From the little evidence I have
- your posts - Takaki seems to have a rather miserable sense of
English.
FIDO
Fiona Webster
Here's a couple more from my recent reading (of horror fiction, per
usual): "enfilade" and "irredentist."
Webster gives "enfilade" as from the French _enfiler_ "to thread"
and defines the noun form as "1: an interconnected group of rooms
arranged usually in a row with each room opening into the next, and
2: gunfire directed from a flanking position along the length of an
enemy battle line." As a transitive verb, it means "to rake or be in a
position to rake with gunfire in a lengthwise direction."
The OED quotes Swinburne:
The trees have swelled out the line traced for them,
and destroyed the enfilade, by advancing in the
walks or retiring from them.
I lived one time in what's called a "shotgun apartment" in Texas.
I had no idea there was such a fancy word to describe an arrangement
where you always had to walk through the bathroom to get from the
bedroom to the living room.
---------------------------------
As for "irredentist," Webster gives that as from "irrendentism," (1883)
"a political principle or policy directed toward the incorporation of
irredentas within the boundaries of their historically or ethnically
related political unit" -- where "irredenta" is an Italian word meaning
"unredeemed Italy" (Italian-speaking territory not incorporated in
Italy), and is "a territory historically or ethnically related to one
political unit but under the political control of another."
The reference in the horror novel I'm reading (_The Bloody Red Baron_,
by Kim Newman) is to the irredentists in Sarajevo who caused all that
defenestration fuss that triggered World War I.
Does anyone know what "irredentism" might mean with regard to
contemporary Bosnia?
--just curious,
Fiona
Joann Zimmerman
In article <5fppol$7ff$1...@mh002.infi.net>, te...@infi.net (Ted Samsel) wrote:
> Robert Teeter (rte...@netcom.com) wrote:
> : Sounds fascinating. Joann, you've made occasional references
> : to your work. I'd like to hear more about it, either on another thread or
> : by e-mail.
> This just might be a troll.
Probably not, which is part of why I'm going to take it to e-mail; the
other reasons are that it's rather resoundingly art history-based, is my
poor old long-suffering dissertation, and is a work still in progress,
which last, I think, really rather rules it out from general discussion in
this group. (You may yet find bits of it discussed in comp.text.frame,
having to do with the inclusion and formatting of scanned images and their
associated text, if I discover further glitches.)
Will&Jane Duquette
f...@oceanstar.comDeleteThis (Fiona Webster) wrote:
Fiona Said:
>The reference in the horror novel I'm reading (_The Bloody Red Baron_,
>by Kim Newman) is to the irredentists in Sarajevo who caused all that
>defenestration fuss that triggered World War I.
What defenestration fuss? Archduke Ferdinand wasn't defenestrated,
he was shot. (Or was he blown up? I have the idea that he was
supposed to be blown up, but was shot instead. Anyway, he
wasn't defenestrated.)
Will
--
Will Duquette | It's amazing what you can
duqu...@cogent.net | do with the right tools.
http://www.cogent.net/~duquette | -- Me
brian r. mcdonald
Fiona Webster (f...@oceanstar.comDeleteThis) wrote:
: As for "irredentist," Webster gives that as from "irrendentism," (1883)
: "a political principle or policy directed toward the incorporation of
: irredentas within the boundaries of their historically or ethnically
: related political unit" -- where "irredenta" is an Italian word meaning
: "unredeemed Italy" (Italian-speaking territory not incorporated in
: Italy), and is "a territory historically or ethnically related to one
: political unit but under the political control of another."
: The reference in the horror novel I'm reading (_The Bloody Red Baron_,
: by Kim Newman) is to the irredentists in Sarajevo who caused all that
: defenestration fuss that triggered World War I.
: Does anyone know what "irredentism" might mean with regard to
: contemporary Bosnia?
sure. the serbs in bosnia believe that their territory is
part of a "greater serbia" which, by the definition ms. webster cites
above, is an irredenta or "unredeemed serbia". they intend to join
their territory (roughly 1/3 of bosnia) to serbia whenever such
a move becomes politically feasable. actually, six of the eight
"nations" of the former yugoslavia (all except serbia itself and
slovenia) have substantial serbian minorities who wish either to
maintain serbian domination of their respective geopolitical units
(serbia still controls three besides itself) or to partition these
areas and join the serbian occupied parts to serbia.
most of the croats living in bosnia are also irredentists,
but they've achieved a large part of their goals in this area
by fighting to protect the bosnians from the serbs (and, incidentally,
to use the croatian part of bosnia as a base from which to
reconquer parts of croatia held by serb irredentists) and by
joining the bosnians in a federated government which provides enough
local autonomy to satisfy all but the most extreme of nationalists
while maintaining the peace and not annoying the rest of the world.
chiwito
who assumes that the cheshire
cat had an eerie dentist
--
part-time longshoreman and full-time dilettente at the game of go
bibliophile, skeptic, oulipian, liberal, romantic
"if you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow"
John McCarthy
In article <5fsd4d$k...@cyclops.dsphere.net> duqu...@cogent.net (Will&Jane Duquette) writes:
>
> Fiona Said:
> >The reference in the horror novel I'm reading (_The Bloody Red Baron_,
> >by Kim Newman) is to the irredentists in Sarajevo who caused all that
> >defenestration fuss that triggered World War I.
>
> he was shot. (Or was he blown up? I have the idea that he was
> supposed to be blown up, but was shot instead. Anyway, he
> wasn't defenestrated.)
Jan Masaryk, the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia, may have been
defenestrated in 1948. It was claimed that he jumped.
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
Robert Teeter
John McCarthy (j...@Steam.stanford.edu) wrote:
: Jan Masaryk, the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia, may have been
: defenestrated in 1948. It was claimed that he jumped.
Also a common practice of the Red Guards during the Chinese
Cultural Revolution. It happened to a son of Deng Xiaoping, who survived
to become a leader in the movement for rights for the disabled.
Bruce McGuffin
Will Duquette wrote:
Fiona Said:
>The reference in the horror novel I'm reading (_The Bloody Red Baron_,
>by Kim Newman) is to the irredentists in Sarajevo who caused all that
>defenestration fuss that triggered World War I.
What defenestration fuss? Archduke Ferdinand wasn't defenestrated,
he was shot. (Or was he blown up? I have the idea that he was
supposed to be blown up, but was shot instead. Anyway, he
wasn't defenestrated.)
Perhaps Fiona was thinking of the 30 years war, which began with an
incedent known as the defenestration of Prague. Whats a few centuries
among friends?
Bruce McGuffin
FIDO
David Christopher Swanson writes:
I think books ought to be judged by the frequency with
which they use the word callipygian.
Thos. Browne perhaps put it best: "Callipygć and women largely
composed behinde." Ronald Firbank choice of words was always
interesting. Try *PRANCING NIGGER* or *CONCERNING THE ECCENTRICITIES
OF CARDINAL PIRELLI* -- they're both quite short.
FIDO
David Christopher Swanson
I think books ought to be judged by the frequency with which they use
the word callipygian.
DCS
David Christopher Swanson
In article <5fppol$7ff$1...@mh002.infi.net>
te...@infi.net (Ted Samsel) writes:
> Robert Teeter (rte...@netcom.com) wrote:
> : Joann Zimmerman (jz...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) wrote:
> :
> : : I am professionally interested in liminality, and in fact am involved in
> : : some (understatement of the year) work dealing with the artistic
> : : representation of Venice as both a physically and culturally (in the
> : : ritual sense) liminal landscape. For me, the definition has to do not only
> : : with thresholds or boundaries, but also with the state of transition
> : : involved in crossing the boundary. I'm particularly fascinated by the
> : : extended transition that takes place on bridges.
> :
> : Sounds fascinating. Joann, you've made occasional references
> : to your work. I'd like to hear more about it, either on another thread or
> : by e-mail.
>
> This just might be a troll.
Where? Under a Venetian bridge? What's he got, a gondola?
There's the pervasiveness of the Venetian cultural image for you.
DCS
Joann Zimmerman
In article <E6ux...@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>,
dc...@faraday.clas.virginia.edu (David Christopher Swanson) wrote:
> Where? Under a Venetian bridge? What's he got, a gondola?
>
> There's the pervasiveness of the Venetian cultural image for you.
Pervasive and mightily incorrect. It is estimated that c. 1550 there were
around 10,000 gondolas; I believe the current figure is roughly 500. Of
course, we don't count vaporetti, speed boats, and the fire dept. ...
ObBook: S. Morgenstern (aka William Goldman) _The Silent Gondolier_. Of
course this is fiction and may rot your brain.
--
"...when people are dead, they don't read books. This I find unbearable." --William Maxwell
Joann Zimmerman jz...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
FIDO
Joann Zimmerman writes:
It is estimated that c. 1550 there were around 10,000 gondolas;
I believe the current figure is roughly 500. Of course, we don't
count vaporetti, speed boats, and the fire dept. ...
What were the populations, then and now?
FIDO
Jim Hartley
Joann Zimmerman (jz...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) wrote:
> is my
> poor old long-suffering dissertation, and is a work still in progress,
> which last, I think, really rather rules it out from general discussion in
> this group.
Huh? You mean there is stuff that it is not appropriate to discuss on
r.a.b.?? Why was I never told this before?
And besides...it's your dissertation, right? When you are done that
organization in Michigan or wherever will print up a bound copy and sell
it to anyone who is interested--ergo, it is a book! Just sit back and
wait for those royalty checks....
The mandatory book reference: Zimmerman: _[Insert Title here]_
--
Jim Hartley
jhar...@mtholyoke.edu
Joann Zimmerman
In article <5g530s$3...@news1.mtholyoke.edu>, jhar...@mtholyoke.edu (Jim
Hartley) wrote:
> Joann Zimmerman (jz...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) wrote:
> > is my
> > poor old long-suffering dissertation, and is a work still in progress,
> > which last, I think, really rather rules it out from general discussion in
> > this group.
> Huh? You mean there is stuff that it is not appropriate to discuss on
> r.a.b.?? Why was I never told this before?
I make the rules; I keep them a secret, so that I can trot them out at
inappropriate times and outrage my friends.
I personally feel that works-in-progress go to misc.writing or other
venues where people post vast quantities of, well, stuff. And I also feel
bound by what passes for academic ethics to not discuss on the net the
immoral equivalent of a term paper while it's still being written.
> And besides...it's your dissertation, right? When you are done that
> organization in Michigan or wherever will print up a bound copy and sell
> it to anyone who is interested--ergo, it is a book! Just sit back and
> wait for those royalty checks....
Royalty checks, my eye! In any case, it's not gonna be available for at
least a year. *Then* we can discuss it. If we want to. I devoutly hope we
don't.
John V Ashby
In article 12039710...@slip-104-12.ots.utexas.edu, jz...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Joann Zimmerman) writes (in rec.arts.books):
>I personally feel that works-in-progress go to misc.writing or other
>venues where people post vast quantities of, well, stuff.
Aaaaaaaaghh!!!
My eye was caught in passing by the above statement and as an habitu\'e
of misc.writing I feel bound to gloss it. The posting of discussion of w-i-p,
particularly about the mechanics of their writing (rather than the specifics
of their subject matter) would be welcome in m.w. Posting of extracts,
drafts or complete w-i-p would not, particularly when accompanied by
requests for critiques. The response to such posting is likely to range from
a gentle tap on the knuckles and an offer of chocolate, to a thermonuclear
flame war which will immediately escalate into discussions on how to split
the group into a multitude of sub-groups (and several offers of chocolate).
The correct places for posting w-i-p is generally felt to be rec.arts.prose,
alt.prose or rec.arts.poems.
john (this has been a public service announcement on behalf of misc.writing)
Joann Zimmerman
> In article 12039710...@slip-104-12.ots.utexas.edu,
jz...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Joann Zimmerman) writes (in rec.arts.books):
> >I personally feel that works-in-progress go to misc.writing or other
> >venues where people post vast quantities of, well, stuff.
> Aaaaaaaaghh!!!
> The correct places for posting w-i-p is generally felt to be rec.arts.prose,
> alt.prose or rec.arts.poems.
> john (this has been a public service announcement on behalf of misc.writing)
Thanks. I read none of those groups, and was only going by what appear to
be a couple of catastrophically misguided referrals given in times so long
past as to almost have become part of my field of study.
Apologies placed as required.
Ed R
On 10 Mar 1997 14:12:32 -0500, mcgu...@ll.mit.edu (Bruce McGuffin)
wrote:
Having read down this thread with the increasing hope that no
one would come up with the 1618 event in Prague, I'm not going to let
the fact that Bruce scooped me prevent me from mentioning one of the
classic set pieces recited every European history prof since time
immemorial. I presume that this ritual is performed on the assumption
that freshmen will not only be amused by the contemporary argument ove
whether the survival of the Holy Roman Emperor's representatives
tossed out a castle window was due to their having been caught by
angels or having fallen on a manure pile, but also impressed by the
prof's erudite vocabulary.
Actually I'm not aware of ever having seen the word
"defenestration" applied to anything else except the Prague incident.
In the same vein, has anyone ever used "boggle", "boggled",
"boggling" etc. to apply to anything except a mind? And if not, why
not?
Ed R
ew...@enter.net
Do not go gentle into modern maturity!
Richard Harter
ew...@enter.net (Ed R) wrote:
> Having read down this thread with the increasing hope that no
>one would come up with the 1618 event in Prague, I'm not going to let
>the fact that Bruce scooped me prevent me from mentioning one of the
>classic set pieces recited every European history prof since time
>immemorial. I presume that this ritual is performed on the assumption
>that freshmen will not only be amused by the contemporary argument ove
>whether the survival of the Holy Roman Emperor's representatives
>tossed out a castle window was due to their having been caught by
>angels or having fallen on a manure pile, but also impressed by the
>prof's erudite vocabulary.
> Actually I'm not aware of ever having seen the word
>"defenestration" applied to anything else except the Prague incident.
>In the same vein, has anyone ever used "boggle", "boggled",
>"boggling" etc. to apply to anything except a mind? And if not, why
>not?
I do hope this won't boggle your veins but defenestration is part of
my working vocabulary and I had not hithertofore heard of the incident
in Prague. There is an SF story entitled IIRC "The defenestration of
Erminitrude Inch". In fantasy novels the assassin's guild often has a
special schedule of rates for defenestration.
Is the expression "God's foreskin" blasphemy or heresy?
Richard Harter, c...@tiac.net, The Concord Research Institute
URL = http://www.tiac.net/users/cri, phone = 1-508-369-3911
I'm a primatologist specializing in homo sapiens.
Their lack of true intelligence simplifies my studies.
Fiona Webster
David Swanson writes:
> I think books ought to be judged by the frequency with
> which they use the word callipygian.
Awww... are you lonely, David? (Just wondering.) I prefer
my callipygian pleasures in the flesh, not in books.
More fun words in what I'm reading, from Jack Cady's _The Off Season_:
We got werelight in November, but during October,
sun pries at clouds and fog.
She knew about elk and halibut, homesteading, berry
picking, how to strip cascara.
Walls shone pristine white, ceilings glowed with ormolu.
"You'll blow Point Vestal to flinders if you play
footsie with history."
The hand was work worn; a hand that canned garden sass,
tussled with broody hens, shook out feather beds--a
farmwoman's hand--now motionless.
In early mornings people feed airtight stoves with fir,
alder, madrona; and people, no less than ghosts, are
loath to go to work.
--hoping someone else will join in,
and report on fun words in what
*they're* reading,
Fiona
Ron Hardin
James Thurber's ``The Greatest Man in the World'' was an early
defenestration. ``My God, he's fallen out!'' I think it went.
--
Ron Hardin
r...@research.att.com
On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.
Michael L. Siemon
In article <332b57c5...@news.enter.net>, ew...@enter.net (Ed R) wrote:
+On Sat, 15 Mar 1997 19:05:40 GMT, c...@tiac.net (Richard Harter) wrote:
+>Is the expression "God's foreskin" blasphemy or heresy?
+ Now that's a question to boggle anybody.
Not familiar with theologians, are you? :-)
I suppose that the expression might be considered blashpemous by Jews
or Muslims. It is most certainly *not* heretical (a term used in relevant
manner only by Christians, so far as I am aware), in that the Chalcedonian
formula of "communication of attributes" between the two divine Natures
most definitely applies to that item we celebrate yearly in the Feast of
the Circumcision (that *is* what January 1st is all about, you know, it
being the 8th day after the Nativity. :-); we face each coming year there-
after with bristine enthusiasm...)
--
Michael L. Siemon m...@panix.com
"Green is the night, green kindled and apparelled.
It is she that walks among astronomers."
-- Wallace Stevens
FIDO
The OED has no problems finding examples to quote in English
English from 1670 to 1974.
FIDO
Ed R
On Sat, 15 Mar 1997 19:05:40 GMT, c...@tiac.net (Richard Harter) wrote:
>ew...@enter.net (Ed R) wrote:
>> Actually I'm not aware of ever having seen the word
>>"defenestration" applied to anything else except the Prague incident.
>>In the same vein, has anyone ever used "boggle", "boggled",
>>"boggling" etc. to apply to anything except a mind? And if not, why
>>not?
>
>
>I do hope this won't boggle your veins but defenestration is part of
>my working vocabulary and I had not hithertofore heard of the incident
>in Prague. There is an SF story entitled IIRC "The defenestration of
>Erminitrude Inch". In fantasy novels the assassin's guild often has a
>special schedule of rates for defenestration.
>
Don't know whether this means that SFers are more erudite
than historians or only -- although this boggles something -- more
verbose, but at any rate I stand humbled.
>Is the expression "God's foreskin" blasphemy or heresy?
>
Now that's a question to boggle anybody.
Ron
Just finished "The Blood is the Life" by F. Marion Crawford
and came across the word paronomasia. Appropriate for this
group!
RA
Whilma Boyce
On Sat, 15 Mar 97 22:14:58 GMT, f...@oceanstar.comDeleteThis (Fiona
Webster) wrote:
> --hoping someone else will join in,
> and report on fun words in what
> *they're* reading,
>
> Fiona
>
>
I note down words that need looking up, but I'm hopeless about writing
down whole sentences. Best of last week:
anthropophagi
(sorry no context - came out of the memoirs of a late 19th century
'great white hunter' - and concerns some negotiations about
reparations due after two of his bearers got eaten. )
"...the comparative rarity of elision and the great fondness for the
'hephthemimeral jerk' are conspicuous features"
- Critical introduction to Lucan's Civil War - the inverted commas are
the author's. The dictionary couldn't enlighten me as to its
jerkiness, but heptheminer is (quotes SOED) A group of 7 half feet;
part of a hexameter line preceding the caesura when this occurs in the
4th foot. Of course.
will
Michael Feld
In article <5gerv8$4...@news-central.tiac.net>,
#Is the expression "God's foreskin" blasphemy or heresy?
No; it's mere profanity, since January 1st is the Feast of the
Circumcision, marking the fact of God's having had, having lost, and
ever having regained just that appendage's appendage.
--
Michael Feld | E-mail: <fe...@cc.umanitoba.ca>
Dept. of Philosophy | FAX: (204) 275-2411
University of Manitoba | Voice: (204) 474-9136 (Office)
Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2M8, Canada (204) 269-9889 (Home)
William Grosso
Chiaroscuro.
Used in the Englsih translation of Primo Levi's _The Drowned and
the Saved_ (obOtherThread: so far,this is not a prim and genteel
book. On the other hand, it was written in 1986 and so maybe it
doesn't count).
Levi's translator also uses "unicum." Which is nowhere near as
nice as chiaroscuro, but is somewhat rare (the only other use of
unicum I can recall is in Larry McMurtry's _Cadillac Jack_).
Cheers,
Andy
Richard Harter
apul...@ix.netcom.com (William Grosso) wrote:
>Chiaroscuro.
frowst
Used in _Mother of Winter_ by Barbara Hambly. When I saw it I thought
at first it was a typo. My dictionary doesn't list frowst, only
frowsty, but I expect a larger one would list frowst as well.
TJ
William Grosso wrote:
>
> On Sun, 16 Mar 1997 21:27:28 GMT, c...@tiac.net (Richard Harter) wrote:
> >
> >frowst
> The primary meaning is, apparently, an extended stay
> in bed (say, sleeping late and then indolently remaining beneath
> the covers and watching the birds nesting).
> If you also nibble on some madeleines, then you have had a
> truly Frowstian morning.
> Cheers,
> Andy
Or you could lay abed and make a deal with the devil...that would be a
Frowstian morning as well. tj
William Grosso
This is not listed in any dictionaries I own. However, I was at a
(non-union) Bookstore this afternoon and sneaked a peek at the
OED.
Richard Harter
apul...@ix.netcom.com (William Grosso) wrote:
Odd. The Random House Dictionary, College Edition, 1968 lists:
frowsty (adj) brit. informal
1 dirty and untidy, slovenly
2 ill smelling, musty
var of frowzy
William Grosso
On Sun, 16 Mar 1997 19:57:51 -0800, TJ <sti...@nwlink.com> wrote:
>William Grosso wrote:
>
>> If you also nibble on some madeleines, then you have had a
>> truly Frowstian morning.
>>
>
>Or you could lay abed and make a deal with the devil...that would be a
>Frowstian morning as well. tj
>
What if your significant other served you a bowl of Frowstian
flakes ?
Cheers,
Andy
David Christopher Swanson
In article <332abedb...@news.enter.net>
ew...@enter.net (Ed R) writes:
> Actually I'm not aware of ever having seen the word
> "defenestration" applied to anything else except the Prague incident.
> In the same vein, has anyone ever used "boggle", "boggled",
> "boggling" etc. to apply to anything except a mind? And if not, why
> not?
Had a Carribean architecture professor who'd say things like "De
fenestration is OK on dis one now, if you rip de roof off."
DCS
Brian Pickrell
Ron (r...@webbnet.com) wrote:
: >More fun words in what I'm reading, from Jack Cady's _The Off Season_:
[ fun words deleted ]
: > The hand was work worn; a hand that canned garden sass,
: > tussled with broody hens, shook out feather beds--a
: > farmwoman's hand--now motionless.
Professor Cady is obviously more interested in the sounds of words than
their meanings, since everybody knows that broody hens don't "tussle,"
they sit absolutely still and put up with anything you do with them.
: > --hoping someone else will join in,
: > and report on fun words in what
: > *they're* reading,
: > Fiona
I'm surprised that more mention hasn't been made of Jack Vance, an
original Fun Word guy. It's especially tricky when coming across a fun
word in a science fiction book; you don't know if the word is made up or
is real but obscure. Extra points to anyone (except old India hands) who
can explain what a deodar (one of Vance's favorite words) is.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Pickrell Viewpoints expressed in this article are not
necessarily the opinions of the author. I
agree with whatever my employer thinks.
FIDO
William Grosso writes:
If you also nibble on some madeleines, then you have
had a truly Frowstian morning.
Positively Proustian. Now if you were to nibble on some
Madeleine ...
FIDO
Joann Zimmerman
In article <332ca27...@nntp.ix.netcom.com>, apul...@ix.netcom.com
(William Grosso) wrote:
> On Sun, 16 Mar 1997 21:27:28 GMT, c...@tiac.net (Richard Harter) wrote:
> >
> >frowst
> >
>
> This is not listed in any dictionaries I own. However, I was at a
> (non-union) Bookstore this afternoon and sneaked a peek at the
> OED.
> The primary meaning is, apparently, an extended stay
> in bed (say, sleeping late and then indolently remaining beneath
> the covers and watching the birds nesting).
Converted to a noun in many English fictions, as, "He's a frowster,"
implying "I'm suffocating over here and he won't open the window as any
decent fresh-air chap ought."
> If you also nibble on some madeleines, then you have had a
> truly Frowstian morning.
World's biggest fat pills. There is definitely some sort of unholy bargain
made every time I bake up a batch.
Uche Ogbuji
In <332abedb...@news.enter.net>, ew...@enter.net (Ed R) writes:
> Actually I'm not aware of ever having seen the word
>"defenestration" applied to anything else except the Prague incident.
Umm, I've found it a common word among bookish types. My favorite
defenestration, though, is that of Robert Graves' wife Nancy. The details
of why it's so intriguing are too dense for me to bother with here, but
I'd definitely recommend Graves as a biographical subject (and I usually
hate biographies).
vale
--Uche
Colin Rosenthal
Just read Robertson Davies "The Cunning Man":
"oleagenous" (sp?) and "scunner", lovely words.
--
Colin Rosenthal
High Altitude Observatory
Boulder, Colorado
rose...@hao.ucar.edu
Bruce McGuffin
Michael Siemon wrote, apropos god's foreskin:
formula of "communication of attributes" between the two divine Natures
most definitely applies to that item we celebrate yearly in the Feast of
the Circumcision (that *is* what January 1st is all about, you know, it
being the 8th day after the Nativity. :-); we face each coming year there-
after with bristine enthusiasm...)
But I thought that Jan 1 didn't become New Years Day until sometime in
the late middle ages/early rennaisance when Louis
somthing-or-other moved the start of the calender year from April
1 to Jan 1 (hence, an April fool is someone who continues to celebrate
the new year on April 1). Assuming this is true, would Louis the
whatever, who was presumably not circumcised himself, care when Jesus
bris occurred?
Bruce McGuffin
Mel Wilson
In article <332c376c.3221680@news>,
wi...@whilma.demon.co.uk (Whilma Boyce) wrote:
>I note down words that need looking up, but I'm hopeless about writing
>down whole sentences. Best of last week:
>anthropophagi
From Michael Flanders' song "The Reluctant Cannibal" (the "I won't
eat people" boogie):
He used to be a regular anthropopha gi.
Regards. Mel.
Fiona Webster
Andy wrote (about "frowst"):
> The primary meaning is, apparently, an extended stay
> in bed (say, sleeping late and then indolently remaining beneath
> the covers and watching the birds nesting).
My favorite expression for what you look like after
such an extended stay in bed: bed-raggled.
--Fiona
Michael L. Siemon
In article <vkohcho...@elmer.llan>, mcgu...@ll.mit.edu (Bruce
McGuffin) wrote:
+Michael Siemon wrote, apropos god's foreskin:
+
+ formula of "communication of attributes" between the two divine Natures
+ most definitely applies to that item we celebrate yearly in the Feast of
+ the Circumcision (that *is* what January 1st is all about, you know, it
+ being the 8th day after the Nativity. :-); we face each coming year there-
+ after with bristine enthusiasm...)
+
+But I thought that Jan 1 didn't become New Years Day until sometime in
+the late middle ages/early rennaisance when Louis
+somthing-or-other moved the start of the calender year from April
+1 to Jan 1 (hence, an April fool is someone who continues to celebrate
+the new year on April 1). Assuming this is true, would Louis the
+whatever, who was presumably not circumcised himself, care when Jesus
+bris occurred?
There was mass confusion of dates for New Years Day in European calendars
until the Gregorian reform. Probably the most common was "Annunciation
Style" -- Julian March 25th (with that itself lending to confusion; there
were nearby Italians cities using March 25th which were *a year off* from
each other in their relation of A.D. to A.U.C. :-)) Circumcision Style was
another popular one, and was the one settled on in the Gregorian reform.
(Of course, Jan. 1 had some numinous resonances with _Romanitas_, which
is part of the High Renaissance background...)
England adopted Circumcision Style (a.k.a. new style) as against its use
of Annunciation Style ("old style") in its 1752 adoption of the Gregorian
system. The Feast of the Circumcision, as the Octave of Christmas, has
been a feature of European Christendom throughout even those eras in which
effectively no (native, European) Christians were circumcised.
HTH :-)
Louie HALLIE
I actually have a lawyer friend who uses the word quite a bit. He
actually threatened to "defenstrate" a house guest for smoking in the
house--when he was on the second floor. We are also in a band and want
to call it The Defenstrators.
Lou
David Christopher Swanson
In article <5gg9en$3...@news.webbnet.com>
r...@webbnet.com (Ron) writes:
> >Awww... are you lonely, David? (Just wondering.) I prefer
> >my callipygian pleasures in the flesh, not in books.
Extremely.
DCS
Bryce Utting
No no no. De Fenestrators.
butting (do dey play de stratocastors?)
--
Bryce Utting http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~butting
the cross before me, the world behind me
no turning back