Parvum Opus 360: Warmist Wishes

Dulce, utile, et decorum est pro patria scribere

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Commas Save Lives

Plucked from the slush pile:

Commas, they save lives!

Example:

Let’s eat Grandpa!

Let’s eat, Grandpa!

Keep in mind that “let’s” means “let us” thus needs an apostrophe:

Speaking of apostrophes, Dave DaBee wrote:

Parse this airport sign:

Courtesy Storage of Passengers

Baggage is Not Permitted

As is, it looks like you can store passengers for free, but they can’t have baggage. Does that help? An apostrophe in “Passenger’s” might.

Carnival

Joanna Bogle is a British author who hosts a TV show called Feasts and Seasons, where she explains the significance and traditions of various church holidays and cooks suitable food for each occasion, sort of a Catholic Julia Child. This week she explained that Carnival (as in Rio and Mardi Gras) comes from roots meaning “meat” and “remove”.

Redistributive Justice

I passed a semi the other day that said:

REDISTRIBUTING SUCCESS

SAALFELD

At first I confused this with the Saalfield Publishing Company in Akron, Ohio, a publisher of children’s books where one of my aunts worked when I was a kid. Sometimes she’d visit and bring stacks of coloring books, paper doll books, and other exciting stuff. Unfortunately Saalfield is no more.

Saalfeld Redistribution, coincidentally located in Loveland, Ohio, is a company that buys large miscellaneous inventory to resell in smaller lots to businesses. Its slogan makes sense in a b.s. slogan kind of way, but “redistributing” now inevitably brings to mind “redistribution of wealth”. Reselling products is an innocent pastime; less so is redistribution of anything. You can take away people’s material stuff, and money, and give it to someone else, with the implication that wealth and material goods were “distributed” in the first place, sort of handed around randomly by the Great Distributor. To redistribute success, you would have to imagine that success is distributed. But while a successful business owner, for instance, may share profits with employees and shareholders, success itself can only be earned.

Mank Ind

Maeve Maddox writes on gender neutral language in Daily Writing Tips. The best comment is from one Daniel:

Any discussion of “mankind” cannot be complete without a reference to Jack Handey’s “deep thoughts” on it:

“Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Mankind. Basically, it’s made up of two separate words—’mank’ and ‘ind’. What do these words mean? It’s a mystery, and that’s why so is mankind.”

Recently I permitted myself to use the traditional male pronoun as a generic instead of trying to include every possible gender or twist a singular into a plural (example: “Everyone would like to speak his piece” instead of “speak their piece” or “speak his or her piece”).

Suppose we made sure always to say “he and she” instead of “he”, someone would complain that these two pronouns are heteronormative and leave out shemales and eunuchs, etc.

No problemo inshallah

Bill Roberts wrote about “No problem”:

Some years (okay, decades) back, I did a UNITAS deployment, which involves circumnavigating South America and operating with all of the navies on the way. The standard response was No problemo para mi. They were always right—it never was a problem for them…

… It’s almost as annoying as inshallah—if God wills. If the harbormaster says the tugs will be there at 0830 tomorrow, you have a chance. If the harbormaster says the tugs will be there at 0830 tomorrow inshallah, it’s going to be a long morning at sea detail.

My response to Bill was that the tugs would be there if they weren’t blown up, but then I’m bitter and clinging to my Bible, Beretta, and blog.

From the Uke

Mike Sykes wrote:

About victuals/vittles:

I had the same problem, but, pace Gabby Hayes, the word may be more common in UK. I'm not sure whether it's still true, but the association of inn-keepers was the licensed victuallers, and it's not unusual to come across the phase "pay and victuals", though "pay and rations" is probably more common.

I don’t think victuals is used anymore in the U.S. in licensing departments or much of anywhere; it seems to be archaic.

About bloody:

Curiously enough, it was when I reported for service in the RAF (of which today just happens to be the anniversary) that I discovered how widespread was the use of obscenity. Since then I have some come to tolerate more in others, especially in TV programs that have compensating merits, but still have difficulty articulating some of the words myself. "Bloody" I never had a problem with, though my parents did. I was always rather amused by "abso-bloody-lutely" — does any other language have this kind of intensifier?

I’ve read or heard “abso-f***ing-lutely” over here.

There is a theory, possibly etymythology, that "bloody" was originally a corruption of "by Our Lady", in the same way as "zounds".

About leazing:

By the way, I learned a new word a couple of weeks back, in an episode of this TV series, set in the 1890s. From the context, "leazing" was clearly a synonym of "gleaning", but it's not in the OED. Moreover there are only very few results from Google (other than misspellings of "leasing").

About the scarlet letter:

I'd never heard of the scarlet letter, but I gather it's a badge of the letter "A" for adultery, so it's a badge of guilt. The dead albatross is also a badge of guilt, but it's an attempt to transfer the supposedly collective guilt, and the curse that came with it, from the rest of the crew, who had previously implicated themselves by approving the mariner's action. In actual fact (Wikipedia cites a reference) sailors used to kill them for food.

French Milieu

Bob Oberg wrote:

A French word that I thought had been thoroughly adapted into English is “milieu” (even Word autocorrects the spelling, as I just discovered). But I was startled by this translator’s note for Chardin’s “The Divine Milieu”:

“All Teilhard’s works involve grave problems for the translators, and the present version of The Divine Milieu is the result of much discussion and collaboration. Perhaps what most needs explanation is the retention of the word ‘milieu’ from the original French title. This has been done more by necessity than by choice. The word ‘milieu’ has no exact equivalent in English, as it implies both centre and environment or setting; and even the normal use in English of the word ‘milieu’ has insular associations. One suggested title, In the Context of God, did not meet with the approval of the French committee in charge of the publication of Teilhard’s works and I myself did not feel that another, The Divine Environment, was close enough to the original. As we could reach no agreed solution, we left the word ‘milieu’ in the title.

“As a result of this, it was decided to retain the word ‘milieu’ throughout the text also. Readers are asked to understand this word in the precise French connotation in which it was used by the author.”

I don’t use “milieu” often but now I don’t think I should use it at all. Nevertheless, it may be safe to say that it has assumed an English definition apart from the original French.

Warmist Wishes

First we had global warming (a decade or so after the global cooling scare). That didn’t pan out, so global warming became climate change (“The sky is changing! The sky is changing!”) Thus the evil flat-earther “global warming deniers” (patterned after “Holocaust deniers”) became slightly more respectable “global warming skeptics”. Now that we see that the scientific foundation for the global warming theory has been built on shifting sand, the word “warmists” is popping up more frequently to refer to those of the global warming persuasion. The “ist” suffix may suggest an ideologue or a fanatic.

ymOM

Angie the Anti-Theist posted herself videotaped while having a live chemical abortion on YouTube. She wrote that you can find other “positive abortion stories” online.

Questions: Is “positive abortion story” an oxymoron? Why is her first child not a “parasite”? Note that her YouTube URL ends in “ymOM”.

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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

Eschew Obfuscation bumper sticker

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. 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 2010. 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.

Translate into 12 languages, including two forms of Chinese, using Babelfish.

Parvum Opus 359: The World in a Grain of Silicon

Dulce, utile, et decorum est pro patria scribere

______________________________________________________________________

Funny Valentines

It’s a little late for Valentine’s Day, but if you forgot the day, like some persons who could be named, celebrate by reading what Mark Steyn, the sharpest and funniest political writer around, wrote about the inadequacy of the word “love” for rhyming, as compared to “amour”. Rhymes are somewhat limited: "above," "dove," "glove," "shove," and "of” (which for some reason he calls a half-rhyme). What can we do with that?

Critters and Vittles

Tom Simon wrote about mispronunciations:

most likely it has to do with the phonetic method of teaching reading.....many children today have been taught by that method (me too).....fine example is the word victuals* which I knew the meaning of but did not learn the correct pronunciation of until many years later. Found out that Gabby Hayes had been using that word all along and not another, when he would ask the cowboys to come for dinner at the chuck wagon. Lots of French words are easily mispronounced and some French phrases are still used now from earlier times, including one heard at every square dance....do-se-do....literally back to back...

Some French words have been Anglicized and some haven’t, at least not entirely, depending usually on how long they’ve been part of the English language.

Tom is also looking for a book, so I pass this along in case anyone has a copy:

…anyone who might have a Missale Romanum, the one published by Benzinger, something I could get fairly inexpensively or free? I am looking for a small hand sized one, not the large version. thanks....

* For those of you who weren’t cowboy fans, “victuals” (food) was always pronounced “vittles” in cowboy movies. Sort of like “critters” for “creatures”.

Bye Bo

When its last speaker died in India, the Bo dialect died. The news report did not say whether or not the language has been preserved in writing or recorded, or how it differed from dialects in the same tribe, though the writer gave a passing slap to Europeans whose diseases decimated tribes. Since the speakers of Bo did not pass it on to their descendants, only linguists (probably mostly Europeans) care that Bo’s time has come and gone.

How many other languages have come and gone in the history of human beings? Any language whose speakers did not create a written language has an expiration date stamped on it.

So much has lived and died that we’ll never know about, languages, cultures, animal species. We would like to know them. We would like to keep them. But all may be considered ephemera.

I’ve been watching the reality series Hoarders, a fascinating intrusion into the lives and homes of compulsive hoarders whose extreme OCD has led them to the brink of losing their houses, mates, and children. It’s not that every scrap in their house hasn’t had some meaning or usefulness at some time, or at least they imagined it did, but no one life can maintain everything that’s ever touched it. Likewise, the earth cannot sustain every bit of creation that sprang out of it, every sparrow’s bones.

Bad Words

Here’s a tolerant take on the word “retarded” as an insult, which came into public earshot recently when Rahm Emmanuel used it. The word simply means slow and also replaced old words such as feeble-minded and simple to describe the mentally handicapped, but because children will use anything as an insult, it was replaced by mentally challenged, developmentally disabled, and other clumsy, pseudo-scientific terms. Emmanuel probably should have just said “stupid” since he was talking about politics.

Apparently he used the F word too, which Paul Schlichta says is going the way of the British “bloody”, so common it’s no longer offensive. There’s a difference, however, because “bloody” simultaneously had a literal and inoffensive meaning (lots of blood) while the F word has for a long time been offensive.

Targets and Albatrosses, No Problem

• Found in an article about layoffs: “Recent hires will be targeted first.” Targeted as a verb always bothers me, although it is a respectable usage. People being targets when they’re not in a shooting war and are unarmed, for instance on the job, is worrisome. Logically, you could say, “Recent hires will be targets first.”
• An even more annoying instance of an annoying substitute for “You’re welcome”: Clerk: Have a nice night. Me: Thank you. Clerk: No problem. It wasn’t a problem for him to wish me a nice night?
• Overheard but I can’t remember where or why: “I’ve got my scarlet letter on. Or is it an albatross?”

The World in a Grain of Silicon

Bill Gunlocke wrote a Luddite rant against Kindle and other such e-book readers (Rage Against the Machine) in his blog A City Reader. I left this comment (I edited slightly here):

I love physical paper books too and I don't think they're going away. But the sheer physical mass is overwhelming sometimes. Paper is heavy. I live in a small place amidst several thousand books. I always wanted to live in a library, but even organizing them is a problem since I arrived after my husband had been accumulating this, his third library, for years.

One good thing about the fact that more people bought Kindle books on Christmas Day than real books is that the last-minute shopper can deliver a gift immediately and not wait for the book to be mailed. And it is a book.

Full disclosure: I'm biased since I have published for Kindle (search Rhonda Keith), and also for Lulu.com, which allows downloads to a computer rather than a special e-book device. The technology allows a writer to bypass the slow publishing process that can eliminate a lot of good writers while a lot of more commercially promising writers get ink. (Not that I'm against the commercial aspects of publishing.)

We should look at e-books as an addition to print, not as a substitute. It's true that the printing press almost completely did away with handwritten manuscripts, but the benefits were worth it. Instead of having to travel across the continent to lay eyes on one of maybe three copies of a manuscript, hundreds or thousands of people had access to any given book. Now the Web makes even rare out-of-print books accessible to almost everyone. Printed paper books are also getting cheaper because of new technology. I don't think we'll be running out of them any time soon.

I think the e-book readers will become more popular as the technology improves and the cost goes down. There’s a great advantage to having lots of books, papers, and magazines at your fingertips in a small package. If you think of it, you can download it. Something like an iPod, but for books. This doesn’t mean the iPod is superior to an LP with great cover art, or to a live musician. Paper books are esthetically more pleasing to the hand and eye than a piece of plastic-encased electronics. But the scope is incredible.

Cellar Door

“Cellar door” has been judged the most euphonious word(s) in the English language, obviously on sound alone, not on the basis of its meaning, though I have some pleasant memories of cellar doors in my grandmothers’ houses, and also of a brand of cookies called Stella Doro which don’t seem to be available in my neighborhood. Grant Barrett wrote about this and other words in The New York Times, some of which have to qualify as onomatopoeic, like hush and lullaby. We have to listen to speech or song in a foreign language to fully appreciate words without meaning, but you can drive the meaning out of any word if you repeat it enough.

The Weekly Gizzard: Moi on Examiner.com

Obama's dark vision

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Jonathan F. Keiler writes about Obama's decision to cut funding for NASA in "The Last Shuttle and the Rise...
Commander in Chief of the Corpses

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Why the media flap about Sarah Palin’s writing speech notes on her palm? Because she had referred to Obama as...

______________________________________________

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

Eschew Obfuscation bumper sticker

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. 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 2010. 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.

Translate into 12 languages, including two forms of Chinese, using Babelfish.

Parvum Opus 358: L'esprit d'scalier

Dulce, utile, et decorum est pro patria scribere

______________________________________________________________________

Bryan Garner on Legal Language

I have often quoted Bryan Garner in PO; I subscribe to his Usage Tip of the Day. Garner is a lawyer, the editor of Black’s Law Dictionary, and is most meticulous and lucid. He’s written more than 20 books on law and language and I own a copy of Garner’s Modern American Usage. I was happy to learn that he’s on YouTube, where he interviews Chief Justice John Roberts on legal writing, and presents segments of his courses on Legal Writing and Ethical Communications for Lawyers (#1: Don’t lie). See http://www.legalprose.org.

Did you know there’s something called a sit and squirm test?

For you lawyers out there on the PO list, and everyone else who has any contact with legalese (alert Dan Erslan):

For his forthcoming Gobbledygook Awards, Bryan A. Garner invites you to send him published examples of particularly bad prose that appeared in 2009, especially examples originating in state and local governments. Extra points if you supply a translation. Please send them to: bgarner@lawprose.org.

There are other Gobbledygook Awards out there, though, including one with Rich Lederer on the Panel, but I’m sure there’s enough gobbledygook to go around.

OTUS

Harry Holland wrote:

POTUS, yes, it's been around a while. I saw it on many a telegraphic cable while with the US Foreign Service. Mostly when he was to visit post.

That had to have been the previous POTUS.

And Mike Sykes wrote:

I've known it for some time, like years. And FLOTUS, SCOTUS though not as common, of course. Could I have got them all from "The West Wing", I wonder?

I don’t watch The West Wing. I had to look up FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States) and SCOTUS (Supreme Court etc.). If POTUS sounds powerful, FLOTUS sounds more floaty and floral and feminine. SCOTUS sounds Scottish.

Then there’s TOTUS — Teleprompter etc. I’ve avoided commenting on Barack Obama’s use of language, as I seldom commented on George W. Bush’s gaffes, but two items of interest arose last week.

The first is the media flap about Sarah Palin’s speech notes she wrote on her palm. Because she had referred to Obama as a “charismatic guy with a teleprompter” she became fair game or at least game for commentators who don’t like her. But there are several weaknesses in their heavy-handed attacks. Her notes have been called “cheat sheets” and “crib notes” but you can’t really “cheat” on your own speech, even if you have a speechwriter. Also, using notes is not the same as reading an entire speech from a teleprompter, as Obama does. I’ve often used notes to organize what I will say to a classroom, and on the few occasions when I’ve talked to other groups, I’ve used notes, brief outlines or keywords, to remind me of what I want to say, except when I’ve read excerpts from something I or someone else wrote. I can talk on my feet, especially if I plan ahead. Someone even referred to the Palin palm notes as “handgate” as if it is in any way in the same moral universe as Watergate. On the other hand, I thought someone was a bit witty in calling Palin’s palm notes the “redneck teleprompter”, not that she qualifies as a redneck.

The second, earlier incident last week was when Obama pronounced “corpsman” (as in Marine Corps) as “corpse-man” three times in one speech. We all have a bigger reading vocabulary than a speaking vocabulary, which is why we might mispronounce a word we know perfectly well but have never heard. In my fifth grade reading class I labored mightily to say “Nova Scoteeya” and years later as a graduate student, I said something about “Eedin-burg” to a professor, who immediately corrected me: Eddin-boro.

But how can one not have heard of the Marine Corps (core), and of Corpsmen (coremen), especially if you’re commander in chief (CICOTUS)? Could it be a Freudian slip? Perhaps a subliminal message?

Which leads me to a longtime confusion I’ve had with subliminal and sublimate. I’ve heard way more psychobabble in my life than I have chemical terms: subliminal is like subconscious, you’ve got your sub, your under-thoughts, ergo subliminal, but no matching verb. How would you go subliminal? Not sublimate, which means to go from a solid to a gas without a liquid intermediate state, i.e. raise or elevate matter. Maybe there’s a metaphor there for the mind, but I dunno.

Subliminal and sublimate come from Latin roots meaning below and threshold. Brian Charles Clark has a detailed explanation of the development of these words. I will still always think of subliminal as going under and sublimate, like sublime, as going up.

Crème de la Creme

Mike Sykes also wrote about meditating on “English is the crème de la crème of languages” (which must be done in French):

It can certainly be elegant, eloquent, easy for non-native speakers to learn (so I'm told) and all those good things, but it is difficult to spell, and can be slovenly, ugly and ambiguous. We have more words than most others, but we stole many of them.

I would certainly say it seems to be the most useful language, simply because it's the most widely known second language. It was a polyglot Belgian who told me many years ago that English is the lingua franca of (what was then) the Common Market. I assumed he was punning of franca/francais because French used to be the language of diplomacy.

I wouldn’t say we “stole” words. (The French have stolen plenty of English but the Academie francaise wants to give it back.)

Reminds me of a story I though I told in PO but can’t find, about a black friend who complained to me about white people using the black (she said) phrase “back in the day” (compare to the conventional phrase “back in the old days”). And then a few years later, a black student in an English 101 class I taught was quizzing my knowledge of black slang: “What if I said you’re phat?” Luckily I knew what it meant, and he was disappointed that the proprietary black slang had leaked out via the media. Picture it: Reporters anxious to get a scoop hanging out on the fringes of groups of black youth, eavesdropping, or perhaps a racially ambiguous reporter trying to blend in, to steal the latest slang to pad out a feature on contemporary culture.

In l'esprit d'escalier,* it occurred to me too late that I should have said we (meaning white like me) won’t use your slang if you’ll stop speaking English.

* The spirit of the staircase, i.e., the clever ripostes that occur to you after you’ve already left the room.

The Amish Cook

A little plug for a cooking column I like, The Amish Cook, whose editor is selling several Amish cookbooks. A good deal and a good read, even if you’re not into cooking.

Sound Smarter with a Click

From Overheard in New York:

Guido #1, in thick Staten Island accent: Yo, yo bro, I found this thing on Word, it makes you sound smarter.

Guido #2 in same accent: No way, bro! What is it?

Guido #1: I don't know, it's this thing, you click it and it gives you all these words that make you sound smarter.

Guido #2: What's it called?

Guido #1: Sin... Sinono... Sino-somethin, but I swear to god, bro; it makes you sound smarter.

—St John's University, Staten Island

Tragic

A good column by Alan Fraser, called “A Tragic Use of Language”, on the use, overuse, and misuse of the word tragedy as applied to murder provides classical definitions, one of which is:

a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror

Despite the fact that 9/11 elicited terror, I agree that it’s not a good idea to call these repeated cases of mass murder “tragedies” unless we make the murderer the protagonist. We should be the protagonists, the ones who act, to pursue justice, not therapy. Justice is more cathartic than “How do you feel about that?”

The Weekly Gizzard: Moi on Examiner.com

Muslim-Americans are forced to suffer in wordy silence

Friday, February 5th, 2010

In the Friday, February 5 Cincinnati Enquirer, Momitul Talukdar, a Walnut Hills High School student, wrote...
The truth is out there: OFA

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

The previous article about the Democrat's Organizing for America Internship program (picked up from the Atlas Shrugs blog) was attacked as phony....

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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

Eschew Obfuscation bumper sticker

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. 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 2010. 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.

Translate into 12 languages, including two forms of Chinese, using Babelfish.

Parvum Opus 357: Crash Blossoms

Dulce, utile, et decorum est pro patria scribere

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Mucidity

The simplest of word puzzles must be the Word Seek, where you find words in a square of letters; there are a few little variations on this puzzle. One from a March Penny Press magazine is a list of archaic adjectives. Some you can figure out, like otherguess and museful. Some are familiar, such as enow [enough] which I remembered in this verse from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness —

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

I recognized “acold” too, from Shakespeare: “Poor Tom’s acold.”

Some of them I can’t make a secure guess at and would have to look up, but won’t:

Alible

Cramoisy

Curtal

Eyesome

Frontless

Immane

Irriguous

Litten

Mucid

Rathe

Reechy

Scrannel

Selcouth

Soothfast

Unblenched

You could make a new Jabberwocky from this list (though not as good as last’s week’s parody Nazi Jabberwocky from the WWII era, sent by Mike Sykes:

`Twas reechy, and the mucid toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All scrannel were the borogoves,

And the rathe raths outgrabe.

Poets at Play

Yvonne Prete wrote:

Amazon has Poets at Play: a Handbook of Humorous Recitations for $37…. You can also get it from a place in India, in a currency I didn't recognize and hadn't the time to chase down.

She also alerted me to bookfinder.com. But there’s more than one book called Poets at Play. Mike Sykes’ book was edited by Cyril Alington.

The Handbook of Humorous Recitations harks (harkens?) back to the days before TV and radio when students recited poems in school, people memorized stirring patriotic recitations for public events, and the family read or recited to each other in front of the fire.

Incredulous

If I wrote about this before, someone didn’t learn the lesson: I heard someone on TV say “It’s incredulous that…” Incredulous means unbelieving, so it cannot be incredulous, only people can. Incredible means unbelievable, and it can be incredible.

POTUS/SOTUS

The acronym POTUS (President of the United States) seems to be fairly recent, at least I never noticed it before the current incarnation. Used without the article “the”, it’s a particularly effective acronym because not only is its pronunciation easy to figure out (alternating consonants with vowels) but POTUS is reminiscent of the Latin root potens meaning power or ability, which we recognize in words such as potent, potentate, potential, and so on.

SOTUS popped up when POTUS gave the State of the Union Speech, ordinarily called the State of the Union Address. SOTUS makes a nice parallel to POTUS, which SOTUA wouldn’t.

So True

Mediate on this: “English is the crème de la crème of languages.”

We could say “English is the cream of languages” but we don’t. We would not say “English is the cream of the cream of languages” because we are too modest.

Don’t Fear the Reaper

Jerome Salinger and Howard Zinn both died last Wednesday, January 27.* They were both tall, good-looking writers who fought in World War II.

Salinger was 91. I was one of those who loved The Catcher in the Rye and read a lot of his writing when I was in college. However, I haven’t continued to re-read his work as I have with a number of other writers. I can’t relate to an adorable adolescent who thinks almost everyone is phony, though I could when I was 20. More recently, I also read a couple of bios of Salinger: Dream Catcher: A Memoir by his daughter Margaret, and At Home in the World by girlfriend Joyce Maynard. A writer’s work should stand alone, but he was such a creepy guy that I don’t think I could start reading him now if I didn’t already know his work.

Howard Zinn was 88. I read none of his work on linguistics, and little on politics, but I did hear him give a talk at a university in the early ‘90s, when I was more likely to agree with his views. But I left the lecture feeling like I wanted to slash my wrists. That can’t be a testimonial to truth. His post-WWII anti-war stance is understandable, but as a Jew, why didn’t he appreciate the necessity of stopping the Nazi war machine? His Wikipedia bio says he wanted to be known as "somebody who gave people a feeling of hope and power that they didn't have before." He didn’t do it for me and it’s not because I’m one of the powerful elite.

Pax.

(* As I noted in PO some years ago, oddly enough John F. Kennedy, Aldous Huxley, and C. S. Lewis all died on the same day, November 22, 1963.)

Mike the Sykes

Mike wrote:

Soundex is a boon when you're not sure of the spelling, especially when transliteration is involved; but a bane when the search engine doesn't give you the option. "Did you mean ... ?" can be helpful, but I yearn for the ability to search for something exactly.

If you enter your search term surrounded by quotation marks, in the Google search box, for instance, you will turn up the exact term.

As recently as 3 December 2009, I said:

Apocalypso

OED says it comes from "Gk apokalupsis, f. apokaluptein uncover, f. APO- + kaluptein cover", hence "reveal".

So "apocalyptic" means the sort of event that was revealed in the Apocalypse (aka the Book of Revelations), viz Armageddon, four horsemen &c.

Sorry I overlooked that. I didn’t use it in PO so I forgot you sent it, but then I ran into the words someplace else. Could it be a sign?

Regarding the story of the Norwegian priest:

Perhaps your tease was a bit unfair, not to the priest so much as to the people who live in the north. If I cared enough I'd look for figures on energy use/carbon footprint of them vs Hawaians — after all, the latter probably use quite a bit on aircon.

But, as you point out, the crucial question is: Who or what are we trying to ensure survival of?

Earth will survive, whatever happens to us, as it has for the past 4.6 billion years.

All the human race can do is try to ensure its own survival as long as possible. And biological diversity has considerable value to the human race.

But life of some sort been around for a billion years or so, and has survived even mass extinctions, even when most species were extinguished. If the dinosaurs thought at all, they must have thought that, after dominating the earth for tens of millions of years, they would last for ever. In comparison, humanity has only just got started.

So we might start by understanding what we mean by 'ecological', given that 'ecology' means the study of something. How can one behave ecologically? Any more than one can behave geographically. Remember 'winsomely' (to find the context, see Act II)?

Reminds me of the way some people (mis-)use the word 'organic'. Still, mustn't get started — life's too short ;-)

Act II of …? Anyway, you are right about the misuse of those words, and you can add “environmentally” to the list.

Crash Blossoms

“Crash Blossoms” is a term proposed for the funny headlines that result when functional words are omitted, as in “Gator Attacks Puzzle Experts”. Is “attacks” a noun or verb here? It makes a difference to the puzzle experts. Ben Zimmer explains:

Since English is weakly inflected (meaning that words are seldom explicitly modified to indicate their grammatical roles), many words can easily function as either noun or verb.

“Inflected” doesn’t precisely mean “modified” since a noun can be modified with an adjective and a verb with an adverb. Inflection is an alteration in the word itself to change its grammatical role, such as be-am-is-are-was or I-me-myself.

The Weekly Gizzard: Moi on Examiner.com

Obama Everywhere!

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Pamela Geller reports in her Atlas Shrugged blog that high school students in Massillon, Ohio (no doubt elsewhere...
Tim Tebow is offensive, insulting, and revolting to women, says NOW

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

College football star Tim Tebow wants to run a spot during the Superbowl telling the story of his mother, Pam...

______________________________________________

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

Eschew Obfuscation bumper sticker

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. 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 2010. 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.

Translate into 12 languages, including two forms of Chinese, using Babelfish.