AWADmail Issue 212
June 4, 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
Definition, D-E-F-I-N-I-T-I-O-N, Definition
http://nytimes.com/2006/05/31/opinion/31stagg.html?ex=1306728000&en=fc80dfa92f74fd2e&ei=5090
http://tinyurl.com/ocbcj
Free Chapter Added to Saga of E-books:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/06/02/free_chapter_added_to_saga_of_e_books/
Punishing Patients:
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2006/05/punishing_patients.html
----------------------------
From: Gary Muldoon (muldgATaol.com)
Subject: postpositive
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/manque.html
The legal world has a number of these, including court-martial and attorney
general, as you note, as well as condition precedent, letters patent. In
Peter M. Tiersma's excellent book, Legal Language, he notes that these are
remnants, as it were, of the Norman invasion of England in 1066. The
influence of the Law French (another postpositive?) is significant. Tiersma
notes that some French-derived terms used in Anglo-American law have the
adjective before the noun, e.g., petit larceny and grand larceny, but these
are exceptions. Adjectives like petit and grand in French precede the noun
as well, e.g. grand mal seizure.
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From: Bot Pert (bjpertATnbnet.nb.ca)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--redux
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/redux.html
I live in New Brunswick, Canada where the motto is "Spem Reduxit"
(Hope restored).
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From: Michael Tremberth (michaelt42ATtiscali.co.uk)
Subject: redux
Not to be confused with redox, chemical shorthand for reduction-oxidation,
as in redox potential. An example of a composite word made up of
complementary parts.
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From: Sally Boyson (ag8stacheATcomcast.com)
Subject: Redivivus/rediviva
This word brings to mind a very beautiful, tiny plant, Lewisia rediviva,
so-named because it disappears completely in the summer heat, only to return
in the spring. The genus is named for Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and
Clark expedition, who documented many new plants. You can see this treasure
at http://www.nargs.org/potm/potm_jun00.html
----------------------------
From: William S. Haubrich, MD (willhaubATaol.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--emeritus
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/emeritus.html
My friend Dr. J. Edward Berk, on the occasion of his retirement as chairman
of the department of internal medicine at the University of California
Irvine, explained the origin of "emeritus". He pointed out that the term is
taken from the Latin e-, ex- (out of) and meritus (deserves to be).
----------------------------
From: Michael Rothschild (mrothschildATbus.wisc.edu)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--emeritus
Your definition of emeritus is OK, but here's a better one:
When one of our faculty members was retiring, I was asked to say a few
words at the event. Most of the attendees were nonacademic, conservative
business people who had benefited from the retiree's assistance over many
years. I thought it would be appropriate to explain the derivation of
"emeritus".
I said that "emer" had a middle eastern derivation from emir, the wise
elderly leader of the community. "Tus" came from an Eastern European or
Slavic base, from which flatulence also derived.
Putting the two together, one could then see that emeritus meant "old fart".
----------------------------
From: Shrisha Rao (shraoATnyx.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--regnant
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/regnant.html
In the early 1950s when Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of the
UK, there were persistent rumors about Queen Elizabeth II being pregnant.
Finally, the Queen summoned her Prime Minister to Buckingham Palace to
scotch the rumors, upon which Churchill observed, "She may not be pregnant,
but she certainly is regnant," a remark suggestive of the verbal virtuosity
that won him the Nobel Prize in Literature.
----------------------------
From: John Allen (johnallenATxtra.co.nz)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--regnant
The similarity of this word to "pregnant" gives rise to some amusing
wordplay. When our secretary took maternity leave her temporary replacement
quipped, "I'm just here during the interpregnum."
----------------------------
From: Jacob Seliger (jseligerATclarku.edu)
Subject: Postpositive words
I actually just had an email exchange with a writer at Language Log
about the postpositive plural issue. He posted some of our exchange at:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003195.html , which
may interest you in light of this week's theme.
I guess I'm not the only one who noted the linguistic oddities of Apple
products, since I was discussing the MacBook Pro and you cited the iPod
nano as an example of corporate branding that places adjectives after the
noun.
----------------------------
From: Theodore R. Buddine (trbfromncATaol.com)
Subject: postpositive
We were taught in French class that while the usual position for an
adjective was following the noun it modified, an adjective having a
figurative meaning often preceded the noun. The aide-memoire we were given
was: Napoleon n'etait pas un homme grand, mais il etait un grand homme.
----------------------------
From: Dix Franke (xidATkapik.com)
Subject: Theme of the week
Instead of "This week's theme: adjectives used postpositively." being at
the top of the page, you should have put "This week's theme: adjectives
postpositive".
----------------------------
From: David Trumbull (davidATtrumbullofboston.org)
Subject: postpositive words
I had occasion to use the word "postpositive" in my biweekly Boston
newspaper column:
Of late, the clerks at CVS pharmacy, presumably under instruction (perhaps
under duress) from the management, ask at the check-out, "Did you find
everything you were looking for?" I do feel sorry for the poor clerks who
daily repeat the question hundreds of times. Aside from that questionable
postpositive preposition (something up with which I will not put), there
is the whole tedious business of the wisecracking customer (probably the
third one already this shift) who tries to be witty. "Every thing I was
looking for? True love? World peace? The meaning of life?"
............................................................................
You can never understand one language until you understand at least two.
-Ronald Searle, artist (1920- )
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