"Uptalk," "Vocal Fry," etc.

       There's worry about teenagers adopting certain speech traits which are au courant amongst their friends but offensive or annoying to their elders, including potential employers.

       One of these traits is an upward inflection at the end of declarative sentences, changing a statement into a question and doing it habitually.  The other is taking on a kind of gravelly voice into which meaningful utterances tend to disappear.

       This reminded me of when I was teaching speech to New York City college kids.  We tried to get rid of ng clicks ("Long  Gisland" ), intrusive r's ("Genar and Bob went to a movie"), saying "toime" for "time,"etc.

        A doctoral study found that those same kids who habitually spoke this way among peers would, without instruction, virtually eliminate these "faults" during job interviews.

"Parterre"

       I knew I wanted seats in either the orchestra or parterre for the Mark Morris dance concert the other night.  I was able to get good central seats in the parterre for son David and myself.

       David posed the question what does it mean, "on the earth"?  French in origin, exactly these two words par and terre, "on the ground" is probably best translation.  It's "the part of the ground-floor of the auditorium of a theatre behind the orchestra" (OED).

       In France in early 18th century, the parterre was the ground level where people stood and stood ready to "critique" the performance.  Some say seats were added after a time with the aim of discouraging demonstrative behavior and utterance.

"Popliteal Fossa"

       These couple words I remember from my teens, and they came back to me on the tennis court today.   The back of the leg behind the knee is what the two words refer to.  PAHP lih TEE-uhl  FAHSS uh   is a correct pronunciation, both words from Latin.

       The popliteal fossa can be a surprisingly sexy part of the female anatomy.

Compulsive? Or Something More

       Connie was characterizing what she heard from a nurse who had arrived from Chicago six weeks earlier.  The nurse, competent seeming and likable, was impressed with Kaiser and complained of ill-organized conditions in the Windy City, of too many patients per health worker, of it being impossible to attend a patient's needs in an orderly and exacting way; nurses would shortcut.

       "You're compulsive," said Connie.

       I waited for the nurse's response with interest.

       "Thorough," she said.

       Thankful I was, and for more than just the care of my wife.  There was dignity and pride in that word.

        


        

Cartoonist Punster

                                        Low depths puntooning.

I Recommend This Ecumenicism

       Ann Gartlan McArthur, childhood friend of our daughter Elizabeth and adult friend of Connie, Elizabeth, and mine, broke me up this morning on the phone by her declaration of sympathy with Connie for her back pain suffering:

       "Tell Connie a Holy Roller Catholic out in the Rocky Mountains wishes her all the Juju in the world."

"Ambrosia"

       Son David:  (To Wife Connie starting lunch at the skilled nursing facility which is giving her help for her severely pained back)  How is that?

       Wife Connie:  (Speaking of the almost but not quite mashed potatoey looking orangish substance in front of her)  Ambrosia!

       David:  What's that?

       Connie:  (PAUSE)

       Me:  Heavenly repast.

       Connie:  Look it up on your iPhone.

       David:  (Doing so) "Food of the gods."  Hmm.  I didn't know the word and actually thought it might apply to some smoothly mixed together vegetable concoction.

       Connie and I:  (Wry silence.)

       Yup, "ambrosia," from ambrotos Greek for "immortal."

Shakespeare's Birthday.

EARTH DAY: "i thank You God..."

                                

                                 Originally recorded April 22, 2012.

Cartoonist Punster on the Loose Again

                         

    

 

click on comic to enlarge

 

        Connie's back pain has been terrible the last couple days, and stronger pain pills are not touching it, and she's pretty much immobilized between our sun room in the morning in her Relax-the-Back chair and on the living room couch in the afternoon to read and watch some video.

         I normally guess wrong two or three times before I find Connie in the computer room or the sun room or the living room or the kitchen or the back yard.  I said to her late today, "I like better not knowing where you are in the house." 

"The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere"

Sandy Hook Says, "Shame!"

       Tonight Jon Stewart showed up some Republican Senators' contradictory arguments yesterday against having background checks for gun purchasers.


       Senator Grassley:  People who steal guns do not submit to background checks.

       Stewart:  But people who steal guns do not submit to our rules about stealing!  But we still have them.  The people in our country who spend millions of dollars to get elected to a legislative body known as the Senate are making the argument there's really no point in making laws because criminals are just going to end up breaking them....
                     

        And so with senators favoring background checks 54-46 and 86% of Americans supporting such a law, the Senate, (mis)guided by its own arcane laws and rules, rejected both a national consensus and the will of its own majority by scorning any just, reasonable, and compassionate gun control legislation.    

      

"Ferret" / "Weasel"

       A hand-printed sign left me wondering:  "Reward for Ferret (Weasel)," plus a phone number.  I didn't know such animals were being kept in California.  Was a ferret really the same as a weasel? 

       A ferret is a weasel, a weasel is a ferret, and apparently it takes one to know the difference.

       Now if a ferret has escaped, how do you "ferret out" a ferret?  This thing has "weaseled" its way out of its owner's confines.  "Weasel"'s obscure origin has implications of theft.  From the weasel's habit of sucking the contents out of an egg, Theodore Roosevelt invented the term "weasel-words," words which steal the force of a statement by purposely making it vague.

       And what if we try to ferret out the word "ferret"?  It goes back to Latin fer, "thief," from which we also get "furtive." 

       I hope this hasn't been too many weasel words.  It's tough ferreting out these things.  But do please note we owe a lot to the animals for clarifying our human behavior.

Creative Misreading? Moose Style

       Connie bought some delicious Denali Mint Moose Track ice cream with streaks and chunks of chocolate through green ice cream.  I have been enjoying it.

       But it reminded me of the All Agency Moose Advisory Committee in my home state of Minnesota.  With that name, I just can't help conjuring a roomful of moose, sitting around and giving advice.

       Unfortunately, rising temperatures are endangering the wonderfully antlered animals, who apparently are habituated and reluctant to move somewhere cooler to save their lives.

Connie's Bon Mot

       Reading through the journal of my West Coast-Southern Canada automobile trip in 1999, I was in the stretch from Vancouver to Calgary during which Connie flew up to join me.  We had had a day of walking around Lake Louise, a gondola ride above the town spotting a grizzly bear below us, a short ride to Banff with another lake visit and some surprising sitings of elk--at a street corner--and along a road, only feet away from us.

       When I asked Connie, city girl that she is, how she felt at dinner that night, she said, "I had a lot of fresh air today which screws up my entire constitution."

      

Warning: More Tongue Twisters

Say Each of These Aloud Five Times Fast.

mulchy mix that was the shtetl culture

(seen on the Queen Mary)

quadruple screw steam turbine engine



Chiropractic Readjustment of the Jaw Available upon Request.

"Interest" -- "Bizarro" by Dan Piraro

Click on Cartoon to Enlarge

        
        I love this cartoon!  But the word "interest" itself interests me.

        Inter esse --“to be between”--is the Latin root of the word.  To be interested in something is neither to dwell in the self nor be lost in the other but to revel in the connection between the two.  What interests us is what touches us, bears upon us.   

       To take the cartoon seriously for a moment, if you needed to borrow money, that would be your interest in this bank; if they loaned it to you, the percent they charge is their interest in making the loan.  If they have “interest-free checking,” then despite the insulting bank teller, their "interest" is in other income they can make from you once you decide to bank with them and do checking "free."

 

Warning: Tongue Twisters

       Say Each of These Five Times Fast

avid advocate

stuck in talk-show shtick

 Then Repeat for Your Mental and Physical Health

Cartooned "Etymology" / "Entomology"

   
Gk. etymon = "true"
                                 study of where a given word comes from, its history
       logos = "word"


Gk. entomon = "cut up"  (i.e. insect, which also means "cut into")
                                 study of insects                   
       logy  =       "study of"  (derived from logos)

"Dictionary"--the Game

       Here are five definitions of "byssus," including the true one, which I saved from a family party, thinking we were pretty bright in creating definitions of a word none of us knew.   Have a go at what you think is the real definition:


       byssus
 
       Any of the genus biffangeus, commonly referred to as mountain goats.

       Byssus is the Christian name James Joyce chose to call his granddaughter Nanette after he received acclaim for his novel Ulysses.

       An organic substance derived from the stomach lining of a salamander, reputed to have medicinal value; usually found in powdered form.
 
       A fine probably linen cloth of ancient times.

       The mythical "other side" that supposedly exists behind gaping black holes in space.


             To find the dictionary definition of "byssus," click here.

Unlikely Rhymes

       Speaking, as I was on March 29, 2013, of  rhymes that one is not likely to ever see again (the earlier one by a rapper was "righteous" with "might just"), I seem to have ferreted out in some old notes one I myself concocted:

                        You've got to have some chutzpah
                        To buy yourself a foot spa

       Canvas poetry the world over, my friend, you will not find that rhyme anywhere.

       (Well, maybe you will because the only rhyme either one in the pair can make is with the other.)

'Lingua'ge--the Word on the 'Tongue'

       I miss the days in which the word "cooperate" appeared with an umlaut ( ̈) over the second "o"; you knew it was pronounced "co-operate," and not "cooper-ate."  Even using the hyphen is fine with me.  You can tell right away how to say it.

       Today, noticing "biopic" in print, I was aware of the problem again.  Could be pronounced like "myopic," but it isn't.  This word refers to a biographical motion picture and so is a BI-o-pic not a bi-AH-pic.   In this instance,  I'd prefer to see the hyphen, "bio-pic," for clarity.

       We knew at once that "naive" had two syllables and not one when the "i" had the umlaut over it, meaning, from the German, "the sound changes around."    

"Magnanimous"--"Pusillanimous"

       One of the best traits of character is magnanimity--generosity--or, taking the derivation of the word literally--"large spiritedness."  It's a trait I admire greatly but don't often evidence.

       I'm far more likely to display the exact opposite trait, "pusillanimity," which is "small spiritedness."

       The two words share the root anima, --"spirit."

       So I guess we have this choice, and to expand on the differences between the two:  magnanimous--large souled, great spirited, noble, rising above pettiness, with the accent on generosity; pusillanimous--small souled, pettiness of spirit, very little courage of heart, cowardly.

       And our choice is?...

       

"Mairzy Doats"

       Connie and I were musing in bed last night about a "nonsense" song from our childhood:

                Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
                A kiddley-divey too, wouldn't you?
                     
       It had a pleasant nursery-rhymish tune along with the silly words.  Something must have clicked back then, and we each got the delight of the language:

               Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy
               A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?

       Wikipedia says that it was a 1943 novelty song by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston. 
                    

"Flatulent"

       I said to my wife, "I've been unusally flatulent tonight."  She said, "No, I'd say about normal."

       Merriam-Webster:  flatulent, "marked by or affected with gas generated in the intestine or stomach," from Latin flatus act of blowing, wind, from flare to blow, as in "inflated."

Who Wrote Shakespeare's Plays?

       It 's hard for me to get animated or make a big to-do (there's always one around the corner) whether or not Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's plays. The movie Anonymous not too long ago advanced the Earl of Oxford. The year before that a highly placed Jewess with both English and Italian background was proffered as certainly better positioned and equipped than Shakespeare to write his plays.

       My feeling is Shakespeare by any other name would smell as sweet.

"Eponymous"

       I come across the word twice in one day. I recognize it but cannot recall what it means.


Newspaper movie guide:

            "Le Havre--A bohemian shoeshiner meets and looks after a young African refugee in the eponymous French port city."


Liner notes for Barbra Streisand's music album.   Lyricist Alan Bergman writes:

            "Finally the day of the first session arrives. The eponymous Streisand Scoring Stage at Sony Studios is filled with Hollywood's finest musicians."


      "Eponymous" means "named after."  The second example is clear. In the first, I had to confirm:   sure, Le Havre in French is "harbor" or "port."

      Greek.  Epi--"after"; onyma--"name." 
      And consider.  An--"no"; onyma--"name" = anonymous.  

Etymology Online

       "Etymonline.com" is a website aimed at aggregating and assimilating online the roots of words from a number of etymological sources.

       Douglas Harper of Pennsylvania is the laborer of love here.  A college graduate in history and English, he is combining the fields by doing a "history of English"...word by word.

       As befits someone who chose this excellent preoccupation, Douglas writes well.  Here's a sample from his bio:


       In 1960, when I was born, my parents lived in a place in Pennsylvania called Exton, a village given that name, for all anyone can remember, because it was just a crossroads "X" on the map.  [T]heir house sat across the Swedesford Road from what is now the sprawling mothership of Exton Hall, but was, in 1960, a bog.


       You may check out Doug's website with a click. 

 
     

The Wits of Watts and Wilde

       A good pair of statements I came across in a 1997 page-a-day calendar I created:


               "Because you don't know who you are, you are never,
                        never, never going to be bored."
                                                                                     Alan Watts

               "Only the shallow know themselves."
                                                                                    Oscar Wilde