AWADmail Issue 232
October 22, 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 (garg wordsmith.org)
Subject: Wordsmith.org online chats
Everything you wanted to know about etymology but were afraid to ask.
Our guest in this live chat is Anatoly Liberman, author of
"Word Origins and How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone".
The event will take place on Oct 29, 2006, 7 pm Pacific (GMT -8).
Why bother studying American dialects? Chat with Joan H. Hall, Chief Editor,
Dictionary of American Regional English on Nov 14, 2006, 6 pm Pacific (GMT -8).
For more details, please see http://wordsmith.org/chat
Mark your calendars.
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From: Ensorcellor (from the bulletin board)
Subject: Books Are Not As Attractive To Thieves
Reading your list on the merits of hardcover books brought back a memory
of my English teacher, MaryVirginia Rosenfeld, from John Adams High School
in South Bend, Indiana. She said she never bothered to lock her car because
"nobody steals books", and in 30 years she has never been proven wrong. In
1970 she distributed a bibliography entitled "Great Books For a Lifetime's
Reading"; I am still working on it. My dear Miss Rosenfeld, now curled up
in the most comfortable reading chair in the great beyond (it has excellent
light plus tea and cookies at hand), you are never forgotten.
Read the whole thread and discuss at
http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=166121
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From: Mary Cope (copem comcast.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--bibliopegy
There was a time when I would have agreed with you about paper books still
being OK with me. There is nothing like curling up with a good book any
time of the year.
Now that I am legally blind, however, and can no longer curl up with a print
book, this new scanner is a blessing. Most of my books I get on tape or I
download audio books. But there are books and articles that never make it
to an audio form. This is extremely frustrating. And not all print books
and magazines find their way into Braille (not that I can read Braille at
any really satisfying speed). So the scanning programs that convert text to
audio are really a godsend for those of us who can no longer read print
because of blindness, dyslexia, or physical handicap.
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From: Duncan A Hall (duncan.hall eds.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--bibliopegy
I remember reading an Isaac Asimov story about what an electronic book
should have:
>From http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_FAQ.html#others9
"What is the title of the essay that Asimov wrote concerning the
ultimate self-contained, portable, high-tech reading device of the
future which turns out to be a book? Where can I find it?
The title of the essay is "The Ancient and the Ultimate". It was first
published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in January
1973, and appeared in the Doubleday collections The Tragedy of the Moon
(1972) and Asimov on Science (1989)."
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From: Mark W. Feldman (mwfeldman sprynet.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--hornbook
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/hornbook.html
Gee, I always thought "hornbook" referred to a pornographic magazine
for horny guys...<grin>
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From: Katherine Day (kblday twcny.rr.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pericope
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/pericope.html
In Biblical studies, pericope is a term that is used constantly: most
commentary is on a small piece from one book of scripture, after all
(the whole being so very, very large).
Whether for preaching or for scholarship, the pericope is the most used
form of scripture. As a seminary-trained priest (Episcopal) with a
classical background, I have long been charmed by possible synonyms for
pericope. The Greek sense of something cut out of something larger
leads me to the English "cutlet", which in turn takes me to the German
"Schnitzel", and the non-Euclidean geometry term, via German, of
"Schnitt", a piece of a line cut off. It's a cheap thrill, enjoyed only
by dorky scholars like me, but I do like to think of myself as working
on a Schnitzel when I'm preparing the sermon. (I've never, ever laid
that on my congregation . . . )
............................................................................
It is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper
they burn. -Robert Southey (1774-1843)
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