A Malini Nair has done her PhD on PG Wodehouse

[Dingbat]

A Malini Nair has done her PhD thesis on PG Wodehouse
In case there are any other Wodehouse fans interested in reading it:

https://docplayer.net/62900296-The-stock-english-comic-character-in-selected-novels-of-p-g-wodehouse.html
https://www.iitg.ac.in/hss/fac_profile.php?id=a3Jpc2huYQ==

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Why don't you tell us what _you_ think is interesting before asking
what others think? I have no idea who A Malini Nair is, and therefore
no idea whether I would find her analysis interesting.


--
athel

[Lewis]

Also, should have been posted to alt.fan.wodehouse

--
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain. But Trojans won’t arrive on the scene for another
300 years."

[Dingbat]

The objective was to inform people of the existence of this work, not
to discover what they think of it.

[J. J. Lodder]

There must have been dozens, if not hundreds of thesis
written on P. G. Wodehouse by now,

Jan

[Spains Harden]

...theses...

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Of course, and we still don't know what Ranjit thinks is special about
this one.

--
athel

[J. J. Lodder]

It's Indian, and anything Indian is special,
at least according to the Dingbat.
If we fail to see that it is entirely our fault.

BTW, this is what passes for Indian technology,

Jan

[Quinn C]

* Spains Harden:

Not thesises? Darn, English.

--
The average German would much rather salute a uniform than
have a vote ... The German is designed by history and nature
to provide mass material for dictatorship.
-- Stephen H. Roberts

[Dingbat]

The thesis is, I hope, not special in the respect of the English she uses
to write it. If someone can peg the author as an Indian just by her way
with English, I'd like to know that.

[Dingbat]

A curious observation. Many universities with "Institute of Technology"
in their name award PhDs in Literature and the Humanities. Try MIT:
https://shass.mit.edu/research/research-by-field

[Peter Moylan]

PhD theses are supposed to come up with ideas that nobody has thought of
before. That's obvious enough in scientific and technological fields: if
someone publishes a key part of your idea, then the topic is dead as a
thesis topic and you have to restart from scratch with a new topic.
(That happened to me in the first six months of my candidature. What was
published was not precisely what I was working on, but it was close
enough to make my own work unoriginal.)

I've never understood how this works in the case of an analysis of the
works of well-known authors. If there have been dozens of theses on
Wodehouse - something that I can well believe - then it must be almost
impossible to mine new nuggets of insight from what is left over.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[Jerry Friedman]

On 12/12/19 7:16 PM, Dingbat wrote:
> On Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 8:41:31 PM UTC+5:30, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
>> On 2019-12-12 12:31:46 +0000, J. J. Lodder said:
>>
>>> Athel Cornish-Bowden <acor...@imm.cnrs.fr> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2019-12-12 05:32:05 +0000, Dingbat said:
>>>>
>>>>> A Malini Nair has done her PhD thesis on PG Wodehouse

Something like "One Malini Nair" or "A woman named Malini Nair" would
have reassured me that "A" wasn't her initial and you hadn't fallen
victim to the Great British Punctuation Shortage (as Garret Wollman
called it).

>>>>> In case there are any other Wodehouse fans interested in reading it:
>>>>>
>>>>> https://docplayer.net/62900296-The-stock-english-comic-character-in-selected
>>> -novels-of-p-g-wodehouse.html
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.iitg.ac.in/hss/fac_profile.php?id=a3Jpc2huYQ==
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Why don't you tell us what _you_ think is interesting before asking
>>>> what others think? I have no idea who A Malini Nair is, and therefore
>>>> no idea whether I would find her analysis interesting.
>>>
>>> There must have been dozens, if not hundreds of thesis
>>> written on P. G. Wodehouse by now,
>>
>> Of course, and we still don't know what Ranjit thinks is special about
>> this one.
>>
> The thesis is, I hope, not special in the respect of the English she uses
> to write it. If someone can peg the author as an Indian just by her way
> with English, I'd like to know that.

I don't like the writing one bit, but I don't see anything particularly
Indian.

--
Jerry Friedman

[David Kleinecke]

On Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 7:46:35 PM UTC-8, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 12/12/19 23:31, J. J. Lodder wrote:
> > Athel Cornish-Bowden <acor...@imm.cnrs.fr> wrote:
> >
> >> On 2019-12-12 05:32:05 +0000, Dingbat said:
> >>
> >>> A Malini Nair has done her PhD thesis on PG Wodehouse In case
> >>> there are any other Wodehouse fans interested in reading it:
> >>>
> >>> https://docplayer.net/62900296-The-stock-english-comic-character-in-selected
> >
> >>>
> -novels-of-p-g-wodehouse.html
> >>>
> >>> https://www.iitg.ac.in/hss/fac_profile.php?id=a3Jpc2huYQ==
> >>>
> >>
> >> Why don't you tell us what _you_ think is interesting before
> >> asking what others think? I have no idea who A Malini Nair is, and
> >> therefore no idea whether I would find her analysis interesting.
> >
> > There must have been dozens, if not hundreds of thesis written on P.
> > G. Wodehouse by now,
>
> PhD theses are supposed to come up with ideas that nobody has thought of
> before. That's obvious enough in scientific and technological fields: if
> someone publishes a key part of your idea, then the topic is dead as a
> thesis topic and you have to restart from scratch with a new topic.
> (That happened to me in the first six months of my candidature. What was
> published was not precisely what I was working on, but it was close
> enough to make my own work unoriginal.)

In my case I had a job working on a government grant. I churned out
some results and after a while the professor who had the grant told
me I had enough for a thesis and I should write it up as one. Never
published any version of it. Bounced around too much.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

On 2019-12-13 03:59:01 +0000, Jerry Friedman said:

> On 12/12/19 7:16 PM, Dingbat wrote:
>> On Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 8:41:31 PM UTC+5:30, Athel
>> Cornish-Bowden wrote:
>>> On 2019-12-12 12:31:46 +0000, J. J. Lodder said:
>>>
>>>> Athel Cornish-Bowden <acor...@imm.cnrs.fr> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 2019-12-12 05:32:05 +0000, Dingbat said:
>>>>>
>>>>>> A Malini Nair has done her PhD thesis on PG Wodehouse
>
> Something like "One Malini Nair" or "A woman named Malini Nair" would
> have reassured me that "A" wasn't her initial and you hadn't fallen
> victim to the Great British Punctuation Shortage (as Garret Wollman
> called it).
>
>>>>>> In case there are any other Wodehouse fans interested in reading it:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://docplayer.net/62900296-The-stock-english-comic-character-in-selected
>>>> -novels-of-p-g-wodehouse.html
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://www.iitg.ac.in/hss/fac_profile.php?id=a3Jpc2huYQ==
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Why don't you tell us what _you_ think is interesting before asking
>>>>> what others think? I have no idea who A Malini Nair is, and therefore
>>>>> no idea whether I would find her analysis interesting.

Maybe when Boris Johnson has been, in power a bit longer he'll, bring
in a tax of 10p for each comma, which won't please, Janet. We learned,
at sci.lang the other day that in Switzerland each diacritical mark is,
charged at 10c. However, that's if you, buy 1000 at a time, it may be
more per each one if you, buy smaller quantities.

>>>>
>>>> There must have been dozens, if not hundreds of thesis
>>>> written on P. G. Wodehouse by now,
>>>
>>> Of course, and we still don't know what Ranjit thinks is special about
>>> this one.
>>>
>> The thesis is, I hope, not special in the respect of the English she uses
>> to write it. If someone can peg the author as an Indian just by her way
>> with English, I'd like to know that.
>
> I don't like the writing one bit, but I don't see anything particularly Indian.


--

athel

[charles]

In article <a7bf5836-4a1f-4364...@googlegroups.com>, Dingbat

and I have a Master of Arts degree - subject Engineering. (actually called
Mechanical Sciences, but nobody knows what that means.)

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Friday, December 13, 2019 at 3:24:26 AM UTC-5, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:

> Maybe when Boris Johnson has been, in power a bit longer he'll, bring
> in a tax of 10p for each comma, which won't please, Janet. We learned,
> at sci.lang the other day that in Switzerland each diacritical mark is,
> charged at 10c. However, that's if you, buy 1000 at a time, it may be
> more per each one if you, buy smaller quantities.

But that was from a Dutch publisher notorious for its high prices --
the head of its Oriental Division once told me that some books are not
meant to be owned by individuals, but only by libraries. (And that was
before ebooks.)

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Does it illustrate the rul that any discipline that has the word
"science" in its name isn't?


--
athel

[charles]

In article <h5n0f1...@mid.individual.net>, Athel Cornish-Bowden

don't think so. Daughter's degeree was in Natural Sciences and was real
science

[Kerr-Mudd,John]

On Sun, 15 Dec 2019 15:06:18 GMT, Athel Cornish-Bowden
<athe...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 2019-12-13 09:59:31 +0100, charles <cha...@candehope.me.uk> said:

[trimmed]

>>
>> and I have a Master of Arts degree - subject Engineering. (actually
>> called Mechanical Sciences, but nobody knows what that means.)
>
> Does it illustrate the rul that any discipline that has the word
> "science" in its name isn't?
>

I rather hope that rul extends to "Scientology". Kibo.
>



--
Bah, and indeed, Humbug.

[J. J. Lodder]

Agreed. It is like a Democratic Republic.

Some goes for churches. The more of 'Free' and like terms
they have in their names the narrower and closed-minded they are,

Jan

[J. J. Lodder]

Don't think so. 'Natural Sciences' isn't science.
It is some kind of umbrella term, with many real sciences under it,
like biology, geology, etc.

It was invented when universities thought that Philosofiae Naturalis
sounded to highbrow and oldfashioned.

They still grant PhD-s though,

Jan

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

I knew someone at Oxford who belonged to a church that had broken away
from the Wee Frees because they thought that the Wee Frees were too
liberal and loose-living. I think he may have started his own church
because the Wee-Free offshoot was too liberal and loose-living. He
thought that all of the capital offences listed in Leviticus should be
punished by execution. Someone (deliberately needling him, I think)
asked what should be done with a child of six years old who had killed
his mother by accident: hanged. What if the child wasn't heavy enought
to be killed by hanging: weight him down with weights.

--
athel

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

--
athel

[David Kleinecke]

The most extreme church group in the US is the Independent
Fundamental Baptists. There are many such churches. I have seen
no numbers but some of them may be large (over a hundred people
in the congregation.

[J. J. Lodder]

Van Vogt engaged those Rull in a war,
and won,

Jan

[J. J. Lodder]

Athel Cornish-Bowden <acor...@imm.cnrs.fr> wrote:

> On 2019-12-15 17:54:16 +0000, J. J. Lodder said:

[-]

> > Don't think so. 'Natural Sciences' isn't science.
> > It is some kind of umbrella term, with many real sciences under it,
> > like biology, geology, etc.
> >
> > It was invented when universities thought that Philosofiae Naturalis
> > sounded to highbrow and oldfashioned.
> >
> > They still grant PhD-s though,
> >
> > Jan

FYI, another empty posting.
Is it Unison, or is it you?

Jan

PS There will be another usenet client for Mac soon,
called Usenapp, both for text and binary, now in public beta.

[Arindam Banerjee]

On Thursday, 12 December 2019 16:32:09 UTC+11, Dingbat wrote:
> A Malini Nair has done her PhD thesis on PG Wodehouse
> In case there are any other Wodehouse fans interested in reading it:
>
> https://docplayer.net/62900296-The-stock-english-comic-character-in-selected-novels-of-p-g-wodehouse.html
> https://www.iitg.ac.in/hss/fac_profile.php?id=a3Jpc2huYQ==

She used the word "couriering" in the acknowledgment. Is this a first?

[Lewis]

Sounds like a lovely person. I wonder if he ever wore two kinds of
cloth?

--
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain, but why does a forklift have to be so big if all
it does is lift forks?"

[Lewis]

In message <1oinb2j.1ju...@de-ster.xs4all.nl> J. J. Lodder <nos...@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:
> PS There will be another usenet client for Mac soon,
> called Usenapp, both for text and binary, now in public beta.

slrn works very well unless you need purdy pictures for a text-only
medium

--
People only think for themselves if you tell them to.

[Peter Moylan]

Twenty years ago, or maybe longer, our university was given money for an
Engineering Science building. The catch was that the university didn't
have any discipline with such a name. The university decided that
Engineering was the faculty with the biggest space shortage, so the new
building was erected next to the Engineering complex and filled with a
couple of Engineering departments. It still had to be called Building
ES, though.

I sometimes get the impression that our politicians think that a
university is just like a high school, with one corner devoted to
"subjects I don't understand".

Our past Ministers of Science haven't seemed to know much about science.
The best-qualified was a high school teacher of History before he
entered politics. His main science qualification, and the thing that
made him famous, was that he was a long-running champion on Pick-A-Box,
a TV quiz show.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Years ago the BBC had someone they called "Our Science Correspondent".
He hardly ever said anything about science, but instead talked about
technology.


--
athel

[charles]

In article <h5oot6...@mid.individual.net>,

that's because he knew to pronounce the words, not that he knew anything
about the subject. I met him once.

[Peter Moylan]

Back then hardly anyone knew the difference between science and
technology. These days it's clearer: technology means Facebook, Twitter,
and Amazon. And science means cancer research.

[Arindam Banerjee]

> and Amazon. And science means cancer research.h

What bliss!
Lucky is this land that has no need for science.
Because selling provides.

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

No.

OED:

couriering, n.

Compare later courier v.

The action of sending a courier, or of being a courier.
1738....

courier, v.

Compare earlier couriering n.
1.
a. transitive. To send, transport, or disseminate (information,
goods, documents, etc.), esp. by courier.
In quot. 1835 punning on Courier in newspaper titles (see
courier n. 6), as likewise Chronicle, Express, and Telegraph.

1835 Standard 8 Dec. We see his signs and utterances..chronicled
in black letter; expressed by sun-rise; couriered in the evening,
and telegraphed to the utmost limits of the globe.
1844...
1950 Van Wert (Ohio) Times-Bulletin 19 July 1/3 He is accused of
couriering information, received from three others under arrest,
to Soviet agents.
....

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

However, today, technology is very much applied science.
The OED gives these three subsenses:

technology, n.
4.
a. The branch of knowledge dealing with the mechanical arts and
applied sciences; the study of this.

b. The application of such knowledge for practical purposes, esp. in
industry, manufacturing, etc.; the sphere of activity concerned
with this; the mechanical arts and applied sciences collectively.
Frequently with modifying word, as alternative technology,
applied technology, food technology, information technology,
space technology: see the first element.

c. The product of such application; technological knowledge or
know-how; a technological process, method, or technique. Also:
machinery, equipment, etc., developed from the practical
application of scientific and technical knowledge; an example of
this. Also in extended use.

[J. J. Lodder]

Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:

> In message <1oinb2j.1ju...@de-ster.xs4all.nl> J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-

ster.demon.nl> wrote:
> > PS There will be another usenet client for Mac soon,
> > called Usenapp, both for text and binary, now in public beta.
>
> slrn works very well unless you need purdy pictures for a text-only
> medium

With the predicted 'death of usenet' it is good to see
a new newsclient being developed.
(in full 64 bit, latest OS, and both text and purdy pics)

> --
> People only think for themselves if you tell them to.

That is not enough.
You must also tell them what they must think for themselves.

Jan

[Arindam Banerjee]

Thanks. iPad seemed to have some difficulty with that word, though. Didn't seem to know it.

[Peter Moylan]

In my student days, as an engineering undergraduate, we were never left
in doubt about this. Our job was to understand the science, and then to
apply it. Engineering meant designing things that worked, using
well-established theory. Technology, a subset of this, was about
inventing new things.

When I learnt that my old school had been renamed a Technology High
School I was initially puzzled, and then taken aback after looking into
what it meant. The state education department had established a number
of Technology High Schools that were apparently designed for those who
were not comfortable with traditional academic subjects. "Technology"
seemed to mean things like woodwork and metalwork. Not quite my image of
what the word meant. But the school has since been renamed again, so
perhaps the experiment failed.

This morning I was shocked again, by a front-page article in the local
newspaper about a girl who got the top marks in the state in an HSC
(Higher School Certificate) final exams. (The HSC comes at the end of
secondary school, and also serves as the qualification for university
entrance.) OK, a good achievement, but the subject in question was
Retail Services. Since when was Retail Services an advanced school
subject? Elsewhere in the paper there was someone else who got equal
first in Hospitality. Where are the high achievers in the hard subjects?

[Tony Cooper]

In this area (and, I'm sure in other parts of the country) some high
schools are "magnet schools" for a particular discipline. The high
school my grandsons attend is a magnet school for math and
engineering. One high school in the county is a magnet school for
arts and drama, and there's a music magnet school and a languages
magnet school.

A magnet high school has the same classes as all the other high
schools, but additional advanced classes in the magnet discipline.
Some of the advanced classes can count as university credit. By the
time my grandsons graduate, they will have completed most of the first
year university requirements and some second year requirements.

In this area, a student must attend the high school in the district in
which the student lives unless the student wants to attend (and
qualifies for) a magnet school. One grandson's girlfriend commutes 90
minutes each way to attend the high school where my grandson goes
because of the engineering and math program. (Her father's an
aerospace engineer) There's a high school within a few minutes of her
home, but it doesn't offer the advanced courses she wants.

The Orlando area is lacking what I'd call a "technical high school".
In my terminology, that's a high school that offers courses in the
trades for those who will not be university-bound. There are students
who would be better served learning how to weld or work in the retail
field than to be forced to read "Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard". Maybe taught how to make change without looking at the
register instead of Algebra.






--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

[Arindam Banerjee]

Here in Victoria you could have basket weaving as a subject. That is technology. Retail technology and Hospitality are good subjects for those who want jobs after passing school. These subjects are all so much better than Einsteinian physics, in every way.

[Peter Moylan]

On 17/12/19 12:23, Tony Cooper wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Dec 2019 11:35:21 +1100, Peter Moylan
> <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>
>> When I learnt that my old school had been renamed a Technology High
>> School I was initially puzzled, and then taken aback after looking

>> into what it meant. [...]

> The Orlando area is lacking what I'd call a "technical high school".
> In my terminology, that's a high school that offers courses in the
> trades for those who will not be university-bound. There are
> students who would be better served learning how to weld or work in
> the retail field than to be forced to read "Elegy Written in a
> Country Churchyard". Maybe taught how to make change without
> looking at the register instead of Algebra.

I approve of that sort of school, because it's obviously the best choice
for a large number of people. What annoyed me, in the case of my old
school, was the removal of options. It was the only public school in the
town; in the whole region, in fact, because it was the "local" high
school for everyone who lived within a 50 km radius. That meant that
nobody from that town or that region had any reasonable chance of ever
getting into a university.

On top of that, I was annoyed at what I saw was an abuse of language.
Does "Technology High School" mean the same as "Technical High School".
In my mind the latter has a focus on the manual trades, while the former
should have a focus on the advanced science and mathematics subjects
that are a foundation for a career in technology.

If the politicians screw up basic terminology, how can they possibly
hope to understand educated people like Greta Thunberg?

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Monday, December 16, 2019 at 8:23:48 PM UTC-5, Tony Cooper wrote:

> The Orlando area is lacking what I'd call a "technical high school".
> In my terminology, that's a high school that offers courses in the
> trades for those who will not be university-bound. There are students
> who would be better served learning how to weld or work in the retail
> field than to be forced to read "Elegy Written in a Country
> Churchyard". Maybe taught how to make change without looking at the
> register instead of Algebra.

NYC used to have lots of "vocational and technical" high schools for
training in the various skills needed in the city. Prominent near La
Guardia Airport was Aviation Trades High School, for instance. I suppose
they worked with and were supported by the respective trades unions
in lieu of the earlier apprenticeship system.

In the same category, of course, are ones like High School of Music and
Art, Performing Arts, etc. (I think the latter is now Jacqueline Onassis
High School.) The movie and TV series *Fame* is about that sort of
trade school.