AWADmail Issue 198
February 25, 2006
A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day
and Other Interesting Tidbits about Words and Languages
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From: Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
Subject: Interesting stories from the net
The Death of Handwriting:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1709128,00.html
American Accent Undergoing Great Vowel Shift:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5220090
Linguists Work to Rebuild Pequot Language:
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060223/NEWS01/602230306/1002
http://tinyurl.com/geawo
Towards a Bilingual Nation:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/education-news/towards-a-bilingual-nation/2006/02/18/1140151820165.html
http://tinyurl.com/gsue8
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From: Dave Aton (datonATgrahamroad.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--sextet
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/sextet.html
I love this quotation:
Books are the compasses and telescopes and sextants and charts which other
men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life.
-Jesse Lee Bennett
I thought it would be inspirational to have it posted in my kids' elementary
school library. It might encourage the students to read more. In March,
2004, I persuaded a local sign shop to donate their services to make a 2x3
foot poster in the school colors with the quotation on it. It hung in the
hallway just outside the school's library for a few months, but then it
disappeared.
I asked the librarian about it. She said she was asked to take it down
because . . . ready? . . . someone complained that it had the word "sex" in
it and some kids wouldn't understand what "sextant" means. I said, "That
sounds like a teaching opportunity." The librarian agreed, but said, "Well,
I just have to do what I'm told."
After I talked to the assistant principal about it (he thought the objection
was silly, too), I later saw the poster hanging near the back of the
library. Sigh. A small victory, I suppose.
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From: Nancy Bronwell (nancybromATsbcglobal.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--gyrovague
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/gyrovague.html
About gyrovague: there is a closely allied French word, colporteur.
My maternal grandfather, Richard Randolph Michaux, was one. He was a
retired Methodist minister, employed by the American Bible Society. He
climbed on his horse and made his rounds, selling Bibles and occasionally
preaching, in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina from about 1873
almost until his death in 1899. He was a learned man and wrote and had
published a small book about his experiences, "Sketches of Life in North
Carolina", (1896) at least one copy still available on the Net. What
happened to him and his faithful horse during his travels post-Civil War,
would make a movie equally as interesting as "Cold Mountain" which was
set in the same location, but during the Civil War. He was a proud man,
direct descendant of Richard Randolph of Curles, who emigrated from England
in the late 1600s, but a dreamer.
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From: Revathi Nataraj (revathi_natarajATearthlink.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--discommode
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/discommode.html
Today's word "discommode" reminds me of a synonym used by Professor
Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes's arch enemy, in The Final Problem. To quote:
"You crossed my patch on the 4th of January," said he. "On the 23d you
incommoded me; by the middle of February I was seriously inconvenienced by
you; at the end of March I was absolutely hampered in my plans; and now, at
the close of April, I find myself placed in such a position through your
continual persecution that I am in positive danger of losing my liberty.
The situation is becoming an impossible one."
They certainly knew how to express themselves in that era!
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From: Andrew Pressburger (andrew.pressburgerATprimus.ca)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--obsequy
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/obsequy.html
In that case it could be said that the New York Times Book Review was
somewhat obsequious with its obsequy of Anthony Powell.
............................................................................
Words are a commodity in which there is never any slump. -Christopher
Morley, writer (1890-1957)
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