Parvum Opus 349: Apocalypso

Dulce, utile, et decorum est pro patria scribere.

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CamelCase

I have written about the practice of inserting a capital letter in the middle of a word, usually a compound word, usually a product name, such as CafePress. As a writer and editor I find it annoying, although I’ve done it myself (KeithOps). I didn’t know there’s a name for it, though: Camel Case, because the second capital makes a hump in the word. Could have been called boa-eating-a-pig, too. Caleb Crain (coincidentally alliterative with Camel Case), writing for the New York Times, is against it, and also has some interesting things to say about the function of spacing in sentences. Certain poets think they’re being avant garde by eliminating capital letters, punctuation, and other conventions of print that aid comprehension. They can make only very limited points this way, but possibly the aim is to distract readers from the meaning of the words while at the same time attracting attention to them by novel formatting.

Crain’s objections also fit with what I’ve written in the past against what I call the Teutonization of English, i.e. forming compound words unnecessarily. Just because it’s been done doesn’t mean it must always be done. Just because a phrase is fairly common, especially a noun-as-adjective-plus-noun combo, that doesn’t mean it would be better off as one word. How about (to pick out possibilities from these paragraphs): capitalletter, compoundword, productname, oneword.

Apocalypso

Did you know “apocalypse” means, at its root, revelation or disclosure? We (or I) usually think of an apocalypse as the end of the world, or a world. I wasn’t aware of this meaning, but doesn’t it make you feel a bit more hopeful about the end of the world?

The name Calypso, a Greek sea nymph who kept Odysseus on her island for seven years, comes from the same root, to conceal.

Perhaps this means that Armageddon, in the classic, not the Hebraic, sense, is an illusion, or a revelation; each implies the other. This is the kind of etymological fiddling that’s more entertaining than instructive.

Dave Pitches In

Dave DaBee wrote:

Okay, THIS one is FASCINATING. A subject of which I'd never heard, and the ESL impact is particularly interesting.

He found this in Daily Writing Tips:

A phrasal verb is one that’s followed by an adverb or a preposition, and together they behave as a semantic unit. (The adverb or preposition following the verb is called a particle.) A phrasal verb functions the same way as a simple verb, but its meaning is idiomatic:

The numbers don’t add up.

That’s an offer he can’t turn down.

Call off the wedding.

Phrasal verbs are among the most difficult concepts for ESL students to grasp; the particle changes the verb in a way that’s entirely colloquial.

Some phrasal verbs are separable: their particles can be separated from the verb and a noun inserted. Others cannot be separated.

Separable:

She added up the numbers.

She added the numbers up.

Inseparable:

We have enough to fall back on.

He broke into the conversation.

Some are both separable and inseparable, depending on their meaning.

Separable:

She threw the ball up.

Inseparable:

She was so nauseated, she felt like throwing up.

The “nauseated” example is not correct, however. If the verb phrase has an object, you could say (though rather clumsily), “She was so nauseated, she felt like throwing her lunch up.” Or, “The soup was spoiled and she was throwing it up all night.” In fact, in the latter example, the phrase must be separated, since you can throw up the soup, but you can’t throw up it.

One of the biggest difficulties with phrasal verbs is that there’s no guideline for which ones are separable and which are not.

It’s true, these are rather daunting for my ESL students, so they just have to memorize the phrases, and accept that the prepositions may or may not be operating as prepositions.

Dave also wrote:

btw, "co-sleeping" has been in use for years. It's a subject that's FULL of blog posts on both sides equally characterized by ignorant certitude. I'd never heard of it until Ginny's granddaughter was born six years ago, but by then it was apparently in full bloom.

There’s even a web site for co-sleeping. Everything has to be authorized, professionalized, and expertized.

I LOVE "Click to embiggen." Thanks. CafePress needs to offer boxers with that imprint. I want.

“Embiggen” shorts are now available.

Post-Thanks

Here is the Thanksgiving Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln from 1863, when the Civil War was still going on. We have been at war for a long time, too. Our losses in blood have been much smaller than in the Civil War, and we don’t see or experience the war directly as Americans in the South did, but the strains are showing within. It’s hard to say whether the Union was at greater or lesser risk then than it is now, yet Lincoln was grateful:

The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart, which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggression of foreign states, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict, while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
The needful diversion of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense has not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship. The axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect a continuance of years, with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be reverently, solemnly, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and voice, by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and prayer to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

The Weekly Gizzard: Examiner.com

Thanks again

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

More to be thankful for in the USA, based on stories people have told me about their experiences here: A...
Be thankful for the USA

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

In the last six years I’ve worked with many people from all over the world, and I’ve learned quite a...
Chavez has an epistemological question

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez has doubts about whether or not Idi Amin of Uganda was really so bad. Was he...

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ONLINE PUBS

I’m publishing for the Kindle digital reader with Amazon and now also on Lulu.com for download to computer and for printing. Most of these titles are available in both locations. Search for Rhonda Keith on Amazon.com Kindle store and Lulu.com.

The Man from Scratch is about cloning, escort services, murder, and restaurants in Akron, Ohio, featuring Roxy Barbarino, writer for Adventuress Magazine. Novel.

A Walk Around Stonehaven is a travel article on my trip to Scotland. Short article with photos. (Lulu.com only.)

The Wish Book is fantasy-suspense-romance featuring the old Sears Roebuck catalogues. Novella.

Carl Kriegbaum Sleeps with the Corn is about a young gambler who finds himself upright in a cornfield in Kansas with his feet encased in a tub of concrete; how would you get out of a spot like that? Short story.

Still Ridge is about a young woman who moves from Boston to Appalachia and finds there are two kinds of moonshine, the good kind and the kind that can kill you. Short story.

Whither Spooning? asks whether synchronized spooning can be admitted to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Humorous sports article.

Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Cats: One woman's tale of menopause, in which I learn that the body is predictive; I perceive that I am like my cat; and I find love. Autobiographical essay.

Parvum Opus Volume I. The first year (December 2002 through 2003). You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll get PO’ed. Collection of columns.

10% discount on my Lulu publications:

Browse to: http://www.lulu.com/landing/lulu_coupon_10?a=4001629

Click "Buy" and enter 'BESTSELLER10' at checkout.

Save 10% on your order.

NEW PRODUCTS:

Scot Tartans: T-shirts and more (custom orders available).

T-Shirts & mug: FRESH PICT, with two ancient Pictish designs

BUMPER STICKER: FRESH PICT, white on blue, with 10th Century Pict-Scot Merman Cross (blue on white also available)

SIGG WATER BOTTLE, ORGANIC T-SHIRTS IN GREAT COLORS, MINI-CAMERAS, DENIM SHIRTS, MUGS, TOTE BAGS, MOUSE PAD, TEDDY BEAR, AND MUCH MORE AT Parvum Opus CafePress shop: (NOTE: There are problems viewing this site with Firefox but Earthlink seems OK.)

NEW: Click to Embiggen boxer shorts

FRESH PICT items

Graphic covers of my books

Dulce, Utile, et Decorum (Sweet, Useful, and Proper), title of new collection of Parvum Opus, Volume I

BUMPER STICKER: Dulce, Utile, et Decorum

No Pain, No Pain

Star o’ the Bar

Veritas Vincit (Truth Conquers) with Keith clan Catti insignia

Flash in the Pants

If you're so smart why aren't you me?

PWE (Protestant Work Ethic)

I am here maternity tops

I eat dead things (doggy shirt, pet dishes, and BBQ apron)

If you don’t see exactly what you want — a particular design or text on a particular item — let me know and I’ll customize products for you.

______________________________________________

Trivium pursuit ~ rhetoric, grammar, and logic, or reading, writing, and reckoning: Parvum Opus discusses language, education, journalism, culture, and more. Parvum Opus by Rhonda Keith is a publication of KeithOps / Opus Publishing Services. Editorial input provided by Fred Stephens. Rhonda Keith is a long-time writer, editor, and English teacher. Back issues from December 2002 may be found at http://www.geocities.com/keithops/; 2009 issues are at http://cafelit.blogspot.com.. Feel free to e-mail me with comments or queries. The PO mailing list is private, never given or sold to anyone else. If you don't want to receive Parvum Opus, please e-mail, and I'll take you off the mailing list. Copyright Rhonda Keith 2009. Parvum Opus or part of it may be reproduced only with permission, but you may forward the entire newsletter as long as the copyright remains.

Parvum Opus 348: Impedia

Dulce, utile, et decorum est pro patria scribere.

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Impedia

The Conservapedia is an online reference site built as an answer to Wikipedia, which may or may not host leftist interpretations of facts, but which definitely is a questionable source of information since there is no “authoritative” vetting of articles, only editing by, uh, other people. The Conservapedia is the same, but it openly names its political (and religious) slant up front. As such, it’s a good reminder to us to scrutinize language to understand the assumptions on which statements of fact about history, personalities, and theories are based. There is little that’s “neutral”.

The Conservapedia Bible Project plans to retranslate the Bible to replace unclear or misleading words with new words that also conform to a conservative perspective. This is a reaction to other translations that do things like make all the God pronouns gender neutral, or even female (e.g. Mother, Daughter, Holy Womb). The rationale is:

familiar terms change their meanings, so text using them becomes misinterpretable;

new, more precise terms appear at a rate of about 1000 per year.

However, if we keep replacing the old words with new or different ones, the original English words will be lost, their meaning transformed. Furthermore, “more precise” may be a matter of interpretation rather than translation.

Though the translator apparently is translating from the original Greek (and I don’t know Greek), I can tell that he oversimplifies or even alters ideas. For example:

The Greek phrase πνευμα αγιος (Pneuma hagios) literally means "Holy Breath." However, πνευμα also means a class of being not having a body, and usually having a certain amount of power. "Divine Guide" is descriptive of the function of this Entity.

“Holy breath” (Holy Spirit) is simple English. “Divine Guide” is an interpretation. Fred found a quite lengthy definition of pneuma hagios in one of his Greek dictionaries.

I don’t know if “son of David” is a more or less accurate translation than “descendant of David” but “descendant” is a more accurate statement of the ancestry of Jesus. On the other hand, “Abraham begat Isaac” is a stronger active statement than “Abraham was the father of Isaac”, and although “begat” is now archaic, it’s understandable to those who read the Bible. The Conservabible says, “The passive ‘was the father’ emphasizes the ancestry.” But it doesn’t particularly, and in fact it is not a passive construction. “Isaac was fathered by Abraham” would be passive.

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another." John 1:16 (NIV) "Grace" has become a female name and a sports term to refer primarily to smoothness in style. [Suggested replacements are] spiritual and majestic gift-giving; replace some instances of "grace" with "boundless generosity".

People use words and names like “grace” for a reason. To knock out the historical underpinnings is to weaken meaning. Likewise, the translator suggests replacing “liberal” with “generous” because of its current ubiquitous political meaning, but again, it’s a mistake to lose the history of the word liberal, which is related also to liberty, liberality, and libertine. (Compare and contrast.)

The comment on Matthew 1:9 is: “The inclusion of King Ahaz is truly remarkable, considering Ahaz' less-than-honorable history.” What does this have to do with translation? The Bible is full of ordinary human beings, from the noble to the reprehensible, but nearly all imperfect.

Other translation suggestions are simply idiotic:

homeschool: 1980s, relevant to Jesus teaching the younger Apostles

He may have taught them anyplace, and in any case this wasn’t an alternative to the public education system, which presumably didn’t exist at that time. “Teach” is sufficient.

media: 1841, relevant to prohibition against false idols

The Conservapedia’s definition of “media” is “businesses that report on scarce occurrences of interest to the public.” Occurrences of crime and political events are hardly scarce, and media don’t often qualify as false idols even though they report on false idols.

work ethic: 1951, relevant to the parable of the talents

Suggests “Protestant work ethic” (or Puritan work ethic). The phrase was coined by Max Weber, but early Protestant settlers in New England had a particular interpretation of “work and pray” which led to the famous PWE. (I sell PWE T-shirts, by the way; see below at CafePress.) In any case, “talent” was a type of money, though, not a gift or ability. If anything should be reworded, that’s the word.

Previous translations of the Bible do have inaccuracies, and every so often it’s useful to have a modern translation. While I sympathize with the conservative or preservative intent, these translators don’t seem to have a purely scholarly approach, and furthermore are not preserving either precise translations or the English language. I’d much rather see the old King James with a lot of footnotes. The commentaries on the Conservapedia entries are interesting and in some cases better written than the ’pedia page.

Andrew Schlafly founded Conservapedia in 2007 but it’s not clear who is the author of these translations and suggested language.

Sleeping Collaboration

A TV public service ad for safety tips with babies said: “Never co-sleep with your baby.” Why “co-sleep”? Did the writers think, perhaps, that “sleep with” has finally come to always mean “have sex with” in popular usage?

As for the advice, I don’t know what the statistics are on babies being crushed by co-sleeping parents, but my grandmother, who had eleven children, said if she hadn’t taken her babies into bed with her she never would have gotten any sleep.

Potemkin Color Guard

Bill Williams referred me to a news item about a color guard in the US Naval Academy, to point out the tongue-in-cheek mission statement masthead of Commander Salamander’s blog:

Proactively “From the Sea”; leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity.

Anyway, the news story is that someone fiddled with the Naval Academy color guard to represent the “diversity” of the Naval Academy. This representation is not, of course, statistical, and a careful reader of the above-linked news story asked:

Really? Where is the "geographical diversity" color guard? Where is the "religious diversity" color guard? Where is the "I like redheads, he likes natural blondes" color guard?

Oh, and the word, "needed." Who defined that need, and … who was the senior commissioned officer present who agreed to discriminate against two defined individuals on the basis of race?

A City Reader

Tom Simon pointed out a new blog about books by Bill Gunlocke, A City Reader. About books, by a teacher/editor/bookstore owner who likes books. Friend of yours, Tom?

Embiggen

I ran across “Click to embiggen” somewhere. It seems to be a new slang term of obvious denotation. Cute.

It is patterned after words like embolden and embrace, though those two are slightly different from each other. Embrace would be literally in arms. Embolden uses the prefix more as an intensifier for bolden, which actually is a verb, though not used now.

Math and Logic

Mike Sykes wrote about PO 347:

Many people seem to think that mathematics is all about arithmetic. But arithmetic is a largely mechanical skill, and it's undoubtedly valuable to be able to do it quickly and accurately in your head. But I was never much of an arithmetician, for all that I have a maths degree. Even at the elementary level, algebra and geometry are more educationally important than arithmetic, because they teach you to think logically, which is much more important than learning one's tables by rote.

I’m in favor of rote. But even the teachers who think their students won’t “need” to use algebra would agree that they will need to use logic at some point in their lives, and algebra and geometry are all about logic.

(Note that the British use “maths” where we would say “math”.)

The Weekly Gizzard: Examiner.com
POWs tried as civilians needn't be released at war's end

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Test late and seldom for breast cancer

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force now recommends fewer breast screenings, starting later in life, for women....
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Gitmo prisoners may be moved to a military wing of an Illinois prison. Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin says...
DIY gods

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

An article about liberation theology in today's Frontpagemag.com is illustrated with a rather startling image...
Kicking him while he's bowed down

Monday, November 16th, 2009

He did it again. Our President bowed at almost a 90 degree angle when meeting the Emperor and Empress of...
Today: Panel discussion on health care reform by health professionals at UC

Monday, November 16th, 2009

The public is invited to attend a panel discussion on health care reform at Kresge Auditorium in the U. of...

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ONLINE PUBS

I’m publishing for the Kindle digital reader with Amazon and now also on Lulu.com for download to computer and for printing. Most of these titles are available in both locations. Search for Rhonda Keith on Amazon.com Kindle store and Lulu.com.

The Man from Scratch is about cloning, escort services, murder, and restaurants in Akron, Ohio, featuring Roxy Barbarino, writer for Adventuress Magazine. Novel.

A Walk Around Stonehaven is a travel article on my trip to Scotland. Short article with photos. (Lulu.com only.)

The Wish Book is fantasy-suspense-romance featuring the old Sears Roebuck catalogues. Novella.

Carl Kriegbaum Sleeps with the Corn is about a young gambler who finds himself upright in a cornfield in Kansas with his feet encased in a tub of concrete; how would you get out of a spot like that? Short story.

Still Ridge is about a young woman who moves from Boston to Appalachia and finds there are two kinds of moonshine, the good kind and the kind that can kill you. Short story.

Whither Spooning? asks whether synchronized spooning can be admitted to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Humorous sports article.

Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Cats: One woman's tale of menopause, in which I learn that the body is predictive; I perceive that I am like my cat; and I find love. Autobiographical essay.

Parvum Opus Volume I. The first year (December 2002 through 2003). You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll get PO’ed. Collection of columns.

10% discount on my Lulu publications:

Browse to: http://www.lulu.com/landing/lulu_coupon_10?a=4001629

Click "Buy" and enter 'BESTSELLER10' at checkout.

Save 10% on your order.

NEW PRODUCTS:

Scot Tartans: T-shirts and more (custom orders available).

T-Shirts & mug: FRESH PICT, with two ancient Pictish designs

BUMPER STICKER: FRESH PICT, white on blue, with 10th Century Pict-Scot Merman Cross (blue on white also available)

SIGG WATER BOTTLE, ORGANIC T-SHIRTS IN GREAT COLORS, MINI-CAMERAS, DENIM SHIRTS, MUGS, TOTE BAGS, MOUSE PAD, TEDDY BEAR, AND MUCH MORE AT Parvum Opus CafePress shop: (NOTE: There are problems viewing this site with Firefox but Earthlink seems OK.)

NEW: FRESH PICT items

Graphic covers of my books

Dulce, Utile, et Decorum (Sweet, Useful, and Proper), title of new collection of Parvum Opus, Volume I

BUMPER STICKER: Dulce, Utile, et Decorum

No Pain, No Pain

Star o’ the Bar

Veritas Vincit (Truth Conquers) with Keith clan Catti insignia

Flash in the Pants

If you're so smart why aren't you me?

PWE (Protestant Work Ethic)

I am here maternity tops

I eat dead things (doggy shirt, pet dishes, and BBQ apron)

If you don’t see exactly what you want — a particular design or text on a particular item — let me know and I’ll customize products for you.

______________________________________________

Trivium pursuit ~ rhetoric, grammar, and logic, or reading, writing, and reckoning: Parvum Opus discusses language, education, journalism, culture, and more. Parvum Opus by Rhonda Keith is a publication of KeithOps / Opus Publishing Services. Editorial input provided by Fred Stephens. Rhonda Keith is a long-time writer, editor, and English teacher. Back issues from December 2002 may be found at http://www.geocities.com/keithops/; 2009 issues are at http://cafelit.blogspot.com.. Feel free to e-mail me with comments or queries. The PO mailing list is private, never given or sold to anyone else. If you don't want to receive Parvum Opus, please e-mail, and I'll take you off the mailing list. Copyright Rhonda Keith 2009. Parvum Opus or part of it may be reproduced only with permission, but you may forward the entire newsletter as long as the copyright remains.

Parvum Opus 347: The Weekly Gizzard

Dulce, utile, et decorum est pro patria scribere.

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Writers’ Groups

Dea Robertson asked about writers’ groups, where people get together to read and critique each other’s work. They can be fun for some people but I don’t recommend them (though I do recommend writers’ conferences and workshops), and Dea actually has a good handle on them himself:

We have a lot of writers’ groups around Berkeley, naturally being that it’s Berkeley. Also at SFSU where I graduated from their renowned Creative Writing Department heaped with lots of writing talent. There are groups for novels, short stories, poems, playwrights, tech and journal writing, etcetera. As the list redundantly goes on, I bet you can imagine what writers make up these groups. I suggest some classifications such as the Wine and Cheese group, or even a Group Therapy Writers’ Group. Or maybe you’ve seen my particular pet peeve, the Meditative Group. That’s where lots of Sky Blue Critiques occur but nothing gets down to earth.

I only tried an amateur writers’ group one time. I decided not to go back after a woman thought I shouldn’t use the word “caesura” because she didn’t know what it meant. I read words I don’t know all the time, but sometimes I look them up.

As for professional critiques, once a published mystery writer offered to read one chapter of my mystery novel, and his critique was: (1) There were too many characters in the first chapter, it was confusing. But I checked an early Agatha Christie book, The Body in the Library, and she introduced a lot of characters in the first chapter. (2) He didn't like the name I invented for one character, Jim Rainbolt; it made him think of rust. (3) He thought the name of the PR/media production company I invented, MassInterface, was unbelievable. I talked to a New York agent about the same novel at a writers’ conference, and when I told her the heroine was early-to-mid-20s, she said dramatically, "Make her 28!" and that was it, that was her professional advice for commercial success.

Fred is my best critic so far.

The American Canon

Thanks to John McCarthy for sending this YouTube clip of 100 famous lines from movies. Perhaps naturalization officials should give a quiz on these as a qualification for American citizenship, along with the test on the Constitution or whatever they require.

Fisking and Handwaving

Fisk is a new word to me. It means a detailed criticism or analysis, named for a man named Robert Fisk, who was a subject of fisking, not the author. While looking this up I ran across handwaving, which seems to be the opposite of fisking, a term for a kind of argument that sidesteps the issue. I seem to have been on the receiving end of a lot more handwaving than fisking in the Examiner items, but Parvum Opum readers are great fiskers.

Altered Calls

From a Facebook list of what people do not want at their funerals: “No alter calls.” In some Protestant churches, the altar (-ar) call is the part of the service where the pastor invites people to come kneel at the altar to accept Christ as their personal savior (in the words of some churches). That may indeed follow or precede alterations, but alter is the wrong word. I’d kind of like to see an altar call at a funeral, though. Would people kneel at the casket? A lot of pressure there.

Education Update

[|||] It’s not only students who think English and math are subjects they won’t really need in life. Educators created “student-centered” learning and the use of calculators in math classes, which have lowered academic accomplishment as well as expected standards in math, not just the fuzzable subjects like English and history. Read Sandra Stotsky’s article about it. One of my sons had to use a calculator in middle school, at a time when he still needed practice, practice, practice, since math wasn’t his strong point. His teacher’s explanation was that they were going to focus on, uh, ideas or something, on developing their own math systems, perhaps. My theory is that there are a lot of lazy teachers, and the younger ones, having been subjects of “student-centered” learning already, are ignorant as well.

[|||] Talk radio discussion: Some schools are not teaching cursive writing anymore, so some middle-school students cannot not read the original Declaration of Independence, and some adults cannot sign their name in cursive. The point about cursive writing is that it is faster than printing. And there is that historical angle. Cursive writing isn’t hard to learn or hard to do. It is not, as one teacher said, like hieroglyphics. It is the writing of our own language.

It’s enough to make you put your hands in your head, as someone said on the radio.

How do you feel about that?

Mark Steyn writes amusingly, as always, on the language of therapy seeping into business as it’s already infiltrated education and nearly everything else. We’ll be hearing a lot of it from Major Nidal Hassan’s legal defense. I get it. That boy’s not quite right in the head because he got his feelings hurt when people called him names. But it will be in pseudo-technical psychological jargon.

Reminds me of when I went to see the movie Judgment at Nuremberg as a teenager. One of the defendants in the trial, a doctor who’d been responsible for the deaths of Jews, felt some remorse though he’d knowingly participated in the Nazi program. I think he was the character played by Burt Lancaster, which made him more sympathetic. I was 15 and as soft-headed as I was soft-hearted and I told my date that I thought he ought to have gotten clemency because he was sorry. Even he laughed at me, but it took me years to figure out why.

Meanwhile, the language of the media isn’t as sharp and clear as in that movie. The incident at Fort Hood has been called a “tragedy”. “Tragedy” today so often is used to mean terrible misfortune. I prefer Chaucer’s classical definition:

Tragedy is to say a certain storie,

As olde bookes maken us memorie,

Of him that stood in great prosperitee

And is yfallen out of high degree

Into misery and endeth wretchedly.

The traditional understanding, or literary definition, of tragedy is a terrible outcome that stems from a person’s character. Thus I always thought that “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” is really the tragedy of the Montagues and the Capulets, not of the two young lovers.

The killings at Fort Hood were also not a tragedy of the victims. Major Hasan was a man of somewhat high degree, but not high enough in his own estimation, not high enough compared with the entire non-Muslim world in which he had flourished. I don’t feel much sympathy for him as protagonist of this drama. Who else is the tragic hero here, the person whose character and behavior led to this disaster, and who, like Oedipus, should now be putting out his own eyes?

This is not to detract from Major Hasan’s guilt (oh, I know, innocent till proven guilty but there’s no mystery about it). It’s just that if you want to take the soft “more to be pitied than blamed” or the pseudo-scientific psychological stance, you’ll have to come up with another guilty party. A lot of people in the Army knew exactly what Hasan was about.

Speaking of mythical Greek tragedy, I ran across this in Jok Church’s Sunday cartoon strip on science, “You Can”, of all things:

These days the word myth has fallen on hard times — if we use that word, people might think we’re talking about something fake, or lying. But humans think in at least 2 languages: mythos and logos. Ancients used mythos to explain things that were unknowable.

This is like the deterioration of the word rhetoric, which means skill in speaking, but has sunk to mean empty words. True, fine rhetoric is often empty, but simple language or even poor language is no guarantee of truth either.

The Gritty Bits: My Week on Examiner.com

Maybe I should call The Gritty Bits “The Gizzard”. Anyway, I want to point out that my October 31 prognostication that Obama-as-Mao T-shirts could be expected in the next presidential campaign. But China already came up with Oba-Mao shirts and buttons and more in honor of his visit. And someone is selling Oba-Mao T-shirts on Zazzle.com.

"Oba Mao" T-shirts appear sooner than predicted

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

On October 31, I wrote here that in the next campaign, we might see T-shirts with Obama as Mao, continuing the...

Trial by a jury of their peers in New York City

Friday, November 13th, 2009

The 9/11 hijackers — presumed innocent, of course, as civilians, not enemy combatants — are to be...

Change uncomfortable statistics with school busing and early prison release

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

In her City Journal article "There's a Quota for That," Heather MacDonald writes that Tucson's...

Major Hasan's pre-traumatic stress syndrome

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Apologists for the alleged Fort Hood murderer, Major Hasan, say, among other things, that he was traumatized by (1)...

Millions are behind the Fort Hood massacre

Monday, November 9th, 2009

The murders by Major Nidal Malik Hasan at Fort Hood last week were not the typical work of a psychotic mass...

Corex

I know there was a big glitch in last week’s PO. I could call it a technical glitch but it was my own carelessness in copying and pasting.

And this week I’m running late. Or is it early? I may be working my way back to my original mid-week schedule, which I would prefer.

______________________________________________

ONLINE PUBS

I’m publishing for the Kindle digital reader with Amazon and now also on Lulu.com for download to computer and for printing. Most of these titles are available in both locations. Search for Rhonda Keith on Amazon.com Kindle store and Lulu.com.

The Man from Scratch is about cloning, escort services, murder, and restaurants in Akron, Ohio, featuring Roxy Barbarino, writer for Adventuress Magazine. Novel.

A Walk Around Stonehaven is a travel article on my trip to Scotland. Short article with photos. (Lulu.com only.)

The Wish Book is fantasy-suspense-romance featuring the old Sears Roebuck catalogues. Novella.

Carl Kriegbaum Sleeps with the Corn is about a young gambler who finds himself upright in a cornfield in Kansas with his feet encased in a tub of concrete; how would you get out of a spot like that? Short story.

Still Ridge is about a young woman who moves from Boston to Appalachia and finds there are two kinds of moonshine, the good kind and the kind that can kill you. Short story.

Whither Spooning? asks whether synchronized spooning can be admitted to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Humorous sports article.

Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Cats: One woman's tale of menopause, in which I learn that the body is predictive; I perceive that I am like my cat; and I find love. Autobiographical essay.

Parvum Opus Volume I. The first year (December 2002 through 2003). You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll get PO’ed. Collection of columns.

10% discount on my Lulu publications:

Browse to: http://www.lulu.com/landing/lulu_coupon_10?a=4001629

Click "Buy" and enter 'BESTSELLER10' at checkout.

Save 10% on your order.

NEW PRODUCTS:

Scot Tartans: T-shirts and more (custom orders available).

T-Shirts & mug: FRESH PICT, with two ancient Pictish designs

BUMPER STICKER: FRESH PICT, white on blue, with 10th Century Pict-Scot Merman Cross (blue on white also available)

SIGG WATER BOTTLE, ORGANIC T-SHIRTS IN GREAT COLORS, MINI-CAMERAS, DENIM SHIRTS, MUGS, TOTE BAGS, MOUSE PAD, TEDDY BEAR, AND MUCH MORE AT Parvum Opus CafePress shop: (NOTE: There are problems viewing this site with Firefox but Earthlink seems OK.)

NEW: FRESH PICT items

Graphic covers of my books

Dulce, Utile, et Decorum (Sweet, Useful, and Proper), title of new collection of Parvum Opus, Volume I

BUMPER STICKER: Dulce, Utile, et Decorum

No Pain, No Pain

Star o’ the Bar

Veritas Vincit (Truth Conquers) with Keith clan Catti insignia

Flash in the Pants

If you're so smart why aren't you me?

PWE (Protestant Work Ethic)

I am here maternity tops

I eat dead things (doggy shirt, pet dishes, and BBQ apron)

If you don’t see exactly what you want — a particular design or text on a particular item — let me know and I’ll customize products for you.

______________________________________________

Trivium pursuit ~ rhetoric, grammar, and logic, or reading, writing, and reckoning: Parvum Opus discusses language, education, journalism, culture, and more. Parvum Opus by Rhonda Keith is a publication of KeithOps / Opus Publishing Services. Editorial input provided by Fred Stephens. Rhonda Keith is a long-time writer, editor, and English teacher. Back issues from December 2002 may be found at http://www.geocities.com/keithops/; 2009 issues are at http://cafelit.blogspot.com.. Feel free to e-mail me with comments or queries. The PO mailing list is private, never given or sold to anyone else. If you don't want to receive Parvum Opus, please e-mail, and I'll take you off the mailing list. Copyright Rhonda Keith 2009. Parvum Opus or part of it may be reproduced only with permission, but you may forward the entire newsletter as long as the copyright remains.

Parvum Opus 346: A Practical Education

Dulce, utile, et decorum est pro patria scribere.

_________________________________________________________________________

Without Literary Merit

I sent my l limerick from PO 344 (“There was a young girl named Begonia”) to cartoonist Tony Cochran, who kindly wrote back: “I love it!!! It is useless and without literary merit, just like me! I will probably steal it. Tony Cochran”

I am huge fan of his cartoon, Agnes, and hope he does steal it.

A Practical Education

Thanks to Pat Geiger, a sister English grad student and teaching colleague when we were mere tadpoles, for this item about a new class at The U. of Akron, Profiling Serial Killers. I guess it’s another step in becoming a high-level trade school. As Bill Habbeck, a 20-year-old student from Hartville, said, ''Compared with math and English, this is stuff you can actually use.'' Another student, Anthony Tomei of Akron, said, ''She teaches you to guess. You can't figure out anything if you don't guess.” Yep, you don’t need to speak, write, or calculate as long as you can guess. Somehow I think the students misunderstood the instructor. But logicians need not enroll.

The journalist, who possibly graduated from Akron U. without needing language or logic, wrote that the teacher profiles serial killers as people who have no “controls on their inhibitions”. As Rod Stewart sang to a “virgin child”, “Just let your inhibitions run wild.” I would think serial killers already have their inhibitions thoroughly suppressed, but I’m just guessing.

Nonument

I don’t know who coined this word but a Cinci blogger recorded “nonument” as an empty store or building left standing too long.

And Now for a Hymn

In Hank Williams, Sr.’s great song “I Saw the Light” he sings “for strait is the gate and narrow the way”. Strait here is not to be confused with straight. Strait means tight and narrow, like a strait jacket or the Straits of Gibraltar.

You Can’t Say That or That

Politics always makes everyone crazy one way or another. In this week’s off-year election, people find it hard to speak or to listen clearly.

A Cincinnati Enquirer headline read, “Tuesday's voter: Older, whiter”. The idea is that in off-year elections, most of the people who bother to vote on things like city councilmen and local taxes and other uninteresting but locally important issues are older, and also white, and often live in the suburbs. That’s a fact. But several people were mightily offended at this headline and complained to the paper. Imagine if the headline was “Voters are blacker”, they whined. Well, what if it was? Where’s the insult? Do readers imagine that voters were individually becoming more white? Are they offended by the facts of voter turnout? I don’t get it.

And then there was the return of the “retardation” squeamishness. This week’s election presented a tax levy for an MRDD program because it was too late to legally change the agency name to DD. “Developmentally Disabled” includes “Mental Retardation” but it is felt (not thought) that “retardation” is offensive. The term “mentally retarded” was a pseudo-scientific sounding replacement for old terms such as simple, backward, slow, or natural (just as “developmentally disabled” replaced the earlier euphemism “handicapped”). But now the MR euphemism grates on some people’s ears, as if it’s an insult. You might as well say that “broken bone” is offensive to people who break a bone.

Some people can’t speak the truth without twisting themselves into a knot. The truth is that some disabilities are mental. Nobody’s fault, but many can’t be cured, corrected, or changed. Perhaps there used to be more acceptance of this kind of natural “diversity” when people weren’t so exercised as to how to speak of different kinds of people.

There will always be people who abuse others verbally, as when schoolyard bullies call each other “tards” whether or not they are in fact mentally handicapped. If the term “retarded” is retired and replaced with something more vague, the bullies will find other words.

The Poetry Corner

We’ve had mice and bought mouse traps. So far we’ve caught half a dozen mice and carried them, both live and late, over the hill at the end of the street to give them a natural burial in piles of leaves, or possibly a chance for escape and recovery in a couple of cases. I feel sympathy for the little guys, yet we can’t have mice in the kitchen. The live trap didn’t attract any mice.

Robert Burns turned up mouse’s home with his plough and wrote the famous poem “To a Mouse” expressing the human sense of compassion for the fellow creatures we disturb and kill. At one time, I even left house spiders alone, thinking they would eat other insects, until I saw that they bit my children. I had a friend who was a very clean nurse but also a Buddhist and like Albert Schweitzer, who escorted the flies outside, would carry cockroaches outside. It’s not a matter of whether spiders and mice have a right to live, it’s a matter of self-defense.

Last year in Scotland, Carol Anderson, owner of Bridgefield Books in Stonehaven, mentioned Robert Burns and said no girl would have a defense against a man with such poetry. True. But Burns had to farm, and we have to keep vermin out of our house. (I’m not sure but I think the book Carol is holding in the photo in the link maybe be about Burns; can’t quite make it out.)

Go-To Brit

Mike Sykes wasn’t familiar with the expression “go-to” as in “my go-to Brit”. I explained that it means my expert source (on British English).

As such, he says he’s never heard “to shop around the corner” meaning to be gay, though he searched around and found one example in the Guardian. He also found more on kludge, and also dug up a long list of programming epigrams, one of which is,

Get into a rut early: Do the same processes the same way. Accumulate idioms. Standardize. The only difference (!) between Shakespeare and you was the size of his idiom list — not the size of his vocabulary.

I think not. Shakespeare originated a lot of idioms, but he did more than that.

Regarding movie remakes, Mike commented on a very early Hitchcock movie, The 39 Steps, which he thinks is awful. I’ve seen it and it has a weak plot (and I don’t think it’s been remade), but has a period charm for me. But you’d probably have to be a huge Hitchcock aficionado to really like it.

Interestingly, both Mike and Dave DaBee were surprised at the Acorn story. I wouldn’t expect Mike to be at all aware of Acorn, and American Dave has been very busy with his big new projects and can’t keep up with all the news. So Dave didn’t know the story — perhaps it was skipped past quickly in the major media — and Mike couldn’t quite believe it. Regarding which, see my Examiner story below, “News sources editorialize by omission”.

The Gritty Bits: My Week on Examiner.com

News sources editorialize by omission

Friday, November 6th, 2009

The Cincinnati Enquirer ran two stories this morning about the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, yesterday by an...

Rally for Rifqa Bary in Columbus on November 16

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

A rally is scheduled to support Rifqa Bary, the 17-year-old girl who said her life was threatened after she...

Anita Dunn speaks for Obama

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

Obama's communications director, Anita Dunn, said her favorite "philosophers" are Mother Theresa and...

______________________________________________

ONLINE PUBS

I’m publishing for the Kindle digital reader with Amazon and now also on Lulu.com for download to computer and for printing. Most of these titles are available in both locations. Search for Rhonda Keith on Amazon.com Kindle store and Lulu.com.

The Man from Scratch is about cloning, escort services, murder, and restaurants in Akron, Ohio, featuring Roxy Barbarino, writer for Adventuress Magazine. Novel.

A Walk Around Stonehaven is a travel article on my trip to Scotland. Short article with photos. (Lulu.com only.)

The Wish Book is fantasy-suspense-romance featuring the old Sears Roebuck catalogues. Novella.

Carl Kriegbaum Sleeps with the Corn is about a young gambler who finds himself upright in a cornfield in Kansas with his feet encased in a tub of concrete; how would you get out of a spot like that? Short story.

Still Ridge is about a young woman who moves from Boston to Appalachia and finds there are two kinds of moonshine, the good kind and the kind that can kill you. Short story.

Whither Spooning? asks whether synchronized spooning can be admitted to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Humorous sports article.

Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Cats: One woman's tale of menopause, in which I learn that the body is predictive; I perceive that I am like my cat; and I find love. Autobiographical essay.

Parvum Opus Volume I. The first year (December 2002 through 2003). You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll get PO’ed. Collection of columns.

10% discount on my Lulu publications:

Browse to: http://www.lulu.com/landing/lulu_coupon_10?a=4001629

Click "Buy" and enter 'BESTSELLER10' at checkout.

Save 10% on your order.

NEW PRODUCTS:

Scot Tartans: T-shirts and more (custom orders available).

T-Shirts & mug: FRESH PICT, with two ancient Pictish designs

BUMPER STICKER: FRESH PICT, white on blue, with 10th Century Pict-Scot Merman Cross (blue on white also available)

SIGG WATER BOTTLE, ORGANIC T-SHIRTS IN GREAT COLORS, MINI-CAMERAS, DENIM SHIRTS, MUGS, TOTE BAGS, MOUSE PAD, TEDDY BEAR, AND MUCH MORE AT Parvum Opus CafePress shop: (NOTE: There are problems viewing this site with Firefox but Earthlink seems OK.)

NEW: FRESH PICT items

Graphic covers of my books

Dulce, Utile, et Decorum (Sweet, Useful, and Proper), title of new collection of Parvum Opus, Volume I

BUMPER STICKER: Dulce, Utile, et Decorum

No Pain, No Pain

Star o’ the Bar

Veritas Vincit (Truth Conquers) with Keith clan Catti insignia

Flash in the Pants

If you're so smart why aren't you me?

PWE (Protestant Work Ethic)

I am here maternity tops

I eat dead things (doggy shirt, pet dishes, and BBQ apron)

If you don’t see exactly what you want — a particular design or text on a particular item — let me know and I’ll customize products for you.

______________________________________________

Trivium pursuit ~ rhetoric, grammar, and logic, or reading, writing, and reckoning: Parvum Opus discusses language, education, journalism, culture, and more. Parvum Opus by Rhonda Keith is a publication of KeithOps / Opus Publishing Services. Editorial input provided by Fred Stephens. Rhonda Keith is a long-time writer, editor, and English teacher. Back issues from December 2002 may be found at http://www.geocities.com/keithops/; 2009 issues are at http://cafelit.blogspot.com.. Feel free to e-mail me with comments or queries. The PO mailing list is private, never given or sold to anyone else. If you don't want to receive Parvum Opus, please e-mail, and I'll take you off the mailing list. Copyright Rhonda Keith 2009. Parvum Opus or part of it may be reproduced only with permission, but you may forward the entire newsletter as long as the copyright remains.