AWADmail Issue 243
January 7, 2007
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: Matthew Male (matt mmale.freeserve.co.uk)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--hootenanny
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/hootenanny.html
An excellent choice of word for 1 Jan... here in the UK many of us
toasted the new year in by watching "Jools Holland's Hootenanny" on the
BBC! (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/show/index_hootenanny06.shtml ).
The format of the show almost perfectly fitted the definition given --
except that the music wasn't exclusively of the "folk" genre.
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From: David HB Drake (david davidhbdrake.com)
Subject: Hootnanny
Supporting the "Thing-a-ma-jig" definition of Hootnanny, I saw a tool used
by lumberjacks which was over 100 years old listed as a "Hootnanny" in the
Rhinelander WI Lumberjack Museum.
The sign implied no one knew what it was used for.
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From: Chris Hope (thehopes-chris kc.rr.com)
Subject: Hootenanny
Our favorite all-women bluegrass group is called "the Hootin' Annies", and
includes "Stephie-Annie, Blondie-Annie, Karla-Annie, Patti-Annie, and
Mary-Annie. They can be found in the MO, KS, IA area, or at
http://geocities.com/thehootinannies
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From: Tim Chavez (timchavez cox.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--hootenanny
Hootenanny has another specific meaning also, probably evolved from those
listed. A hootenanny is also a term for an old jalopy that had been tricked
up with fancy paint, loud horns, or frills - much like the jitneys of SE
Asia today. The term seemed to originate in the flatland and hillbilly
country, but the term was taught to me by my grandfather from NE Kansas.
I confirmed its usage many years later from Iowans, Indianans, and one
Kentuckian.
We heard it used in an old movie once, about the same vintage of the Music
Man. The part of its composure that made it loud, in color and in sound,
was what made it clownish and not a respectable conveyance for ordinary
folks. I think the Disney invention of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang could have
been a hootenanny if it had been from the N central plains of the US.
"Here comes old Jeb in his Hootenanny. He must be going to a parade"
----------------------------
From: Dan Leithauser (dleithaus gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--hootenanny
I am familiar with this word, as a chemist selling industrial water
treatment chemicals and products. In addition to the normal definitions,
hootenanny is also the informal name of an inexpensive piece of "equipment"
used to mix chemicals, usually a waste water treatment polymer, into a
stream of water. The hootenanny itself is a piece of pipe installed near a
mixing zone. Polymer or some other chemical is injected just prior to the
mixing zone into the stream of water. Inside is some "highly engineered"
chain; the chain provides turbulence and mixing. Some people sell more
highly engineered mixing surfaces. Some vendors prefer not to use the word
hootenanny, although they will know exactly what you are talking about if
you call them...
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From: George Miller (glmmrm hotmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--tohubohu
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/tohubohu.html
You took me back to my seminary days nearly fifty years ago. I always liked
this word. It makes its appearance in the first chapter of Genesis and
describes the condition of creation before the world was formed. It also
pretty well described us young seminarians, conscious of a calling but
also aware of chaos both around us and within. We were ready for forming.
I didn't realize it had crept into secular use, however. Our headlines
suggest that it should be right at home in our "modern" world. I might
add that we were taught to pronounce it "tohouvohou". A bit of chaos in
the very pronunciation, perhaps?
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From: Joel Mabus (joel.mabus pobox.com)
Subject: hullabaloo and hootenanny
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/hullabaloo.html
As it happens two of the words this week were also titles of American TV
shows in the early 1960s. First "Hootenanny" then "Hullabaloo" were live
music shows during the pop-folk era. I was just a lad then, but remember
well those shows with the odd names.
----------------------------
From: Rosemary Timoney (rtimoney bellsouth.net)
Subject: Nonagenarians
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/awad/awadmail242.html
Re last week's references to the world's oldest bloggers, I'd like to
add a short note. It is less than a year since a dear friend of mine
died, and I still miss our daily email exchange. This wonderful lady
had begun her computer experience only after she turned ninety. Because
she was an accomplished pianist, I happened to send her a week's worth
of words related to music when they appeared several years ago. She
enjoyed them so much that we established a practice that lasted
several years, right up to the days of her final and mercifully brief
illness at 95. I would receive A.Word.A.Day each morning and send it on
to her, commenting on its familiarity or its novelty and adding other
personal notes, sometimes brief, sometimes not. The only reason I did
not send her her own subscription was that the forwarded entry was our
shared experience. On most days, Helen (of delightful and undiminished
mind and spirit) wrote back with a wise and witty response. I was
unwilling to give up this treasured exchange. She is gone now, but I
still think of her daily when I read A.Word.A.Day. Thanks for that memory
as well as the pleasure provided by the words.
............................................................................
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe
with fur. -Doug Larson, Olympic Gold Medalist (1902-1981)
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