tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37390938411349858972024-03-14T17:06:43.140+11:00Six Degrees of Sir Thomas Urquhartmissjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.comBlogger230125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-19783097880726674852014-05-18T21:00:00.000+10:002014-05-18T21:00:00.987+10:00Adiabatic <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: not involving the transfer of heat, or im-pass-able to heat. An adiabatic process is one in which no heat is exchanged. It's related to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics" target="_blank">First Law of Thermodynamics</a> and consequently various other sciencey things, including weather. <br />
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<b> Logofascination</b>: 2. I'm still on a science-word kick. If I have made any sense of what I've read*, the weather part kicks in where you have changes in temperature caused by changes in atmospheric pressure, as opposed to changes in temperature because heat has been added or removed (e.g. by a desert wind or an Antarctic wind, both of which you will get in an average Melbourne day). Etymologically, it's from the Greek for "<a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-shall-not-pass" target="_blank">not to be passed through</a>".<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: Reading up on names of winds; wind-words are one of my special logofascinatorial sub-categories. The adiabatic process is influential in both a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foehn_wind" target="_blank">Foehn wind</a> and a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katabatic_wind" target="_blank">Katabatic wind</a>.<br />
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<b>Usefulness</b>: 5, unless you can wangle it convincingly into a conversation with a scientist, or meteorologist. I am tempted to stretch it to my bedroom: an adiabatic chamber, impassable to heat.<br />
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*amateur translation here; let me know if it's not quite right. </div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-1815468196778120942014-05-11T21:00:00.000+10:002014-05-11T21:00:04.384+10:00Attosecond<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: One quintillionth* of one second; a nanosecond is a mere <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeptosecond" target="_blank">billionth</a> of a second.<br />
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<b> Logofascination</b>: 2. I find the specificity of science words fascinating (though see below re: quintillion); yoctosecond and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeptosecond" target="_blank">zeptosecond</a> sound rather like someone made them up. I suspect whoever got to pick the prefixes for those ones went looking for the interesting sounds. In this case, <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attosecond" target="_blank">atto-</a></i> is from the Danish for 18.<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: In a gorgeous Nautilus piece on the <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/9/time/photographing-time" target="_blank">speed of photography</a> - apparently we're getting close to attosecond exposures. <br />
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<b>Usefulness</b>: 2. When a nanosecond is just too long: "I will be with you in an attosecond."<br />
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*to a certain value of <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quintillion" target="_blank">quintillion</a>. It's like billions - it depends who you ask.</div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-12417405027903961432014-05-04T21:27:00.001+10:002014-05-04T21:41:16.804+10:00Repulgue <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: It seems to be both the crimped hem on a pastry and the pattern crimped into it. It's from Argentinian Spanish, since the <i>repulgue</i> <a href="http://www.seashellsandsunflowers.com/2010/05/seal-deal-repulgues-for-empanadas.html#.U2YYj4GSxio" target="_blank">lets you know</a> what's inside your <i>empanada</i>.<br />
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<b> Logofascination</b>: 2, for the 'word for everything' factor. Of course, English has words for it; rather than hemming (<i>repulgar, </i>the source for <i>repulgue</i>) we have <a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=pie+edge+pastry&rlz=1C1CHMO_en-GBAU577AU577&oq=pie+edge+pastry&aqs=chrome..69i57.2158j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=0&ie=UTF-8#q=flute+pastry" target="_blank">fluting</a>* and <a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=pie+edge+pastry&rlz=1C1CHMO_en-GBAU577AU577&oq=pie+edge+pastry&aqs=chrome..69i57.2158j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=0&ie=UTF-8#q=crimp+pastry" target="_blank">crimping</a>. Where <i>repulgue</i> goes a step further is that it has become a specific noun; <i>repulgar </i>is hemming of fabrics and of pastry, <i>repulgue </i>is the pastry hem.<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: In the lovely-looking <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Argentinian-Street-Food-Enrique-Zanoni/dp/1743361866" target="_blank">Argentinian Street Food,</a> launched in Melbourne today on a sea of Malbec with a fleet of empanadas.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7TyFgD9kO4k/U2YiTa6iLKI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/iCXFkAWYaK4/s1600/photo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7TyFgD9kO4k/U2YiTa6iLKI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/iCXFkAWYaK4/s1600/photo1.jpg" height="200" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Or maybe just three. Braiding for the beef, lines for the leek-and-Roquefort.<br />
No repulgue for chorizo, perhaps because you could see the filling?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Usefulness</b>: 4, unless eating empanadas (coming soon to a food truck near you) or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty" target="_blank">pasty/ie</a>s. Of course, you do now have another 'did you know there's a word for..?'.<br />
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* On <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=fluting&searchmode=none" target="_blank">fluting</a>, I am rather fascinated that a slightly obscure <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=fluting&searchmode=none" target="_blank">architectural term</a> has been preserved in a very specific cooking term, not to mention back-formed into the verb 'to flute'.</div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-6586004526535446292013-10-30T21:00:00.000+11:002013-10-30T22:36:20.633+11:00Bandolier<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: Ammunition belt, although originally it meant anything worn across the shoulder 'scarfe wise'. This leaves the hands free, hence - presumably - the popularity with mountaineers and rifleers.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3tgk3r2JMP8/UnDeZS6AsvI/AAAAAAAAA04/MAQ2z55Nhng/s1600/Ottoman+bandolier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3tgk3r2JMP8/UnDeZS6AsvI/AAAAAAAAA04/MAQ2z55Nhng/s200/Ottoman+bandolier.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ottoman Bandolier: I'd like one. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b> Logofascination</b>: 2. Etymologically it's 'little band*'; a word that has wandered through German, Italian, Spanish and into English via French (but sometimes straight from <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=bandolier&searchmode=none" target="_blank">Spanish</a>). Its meaning shifted to ammunition container quite quickly, perhaps not surprising in 17th century Europe.<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: Hardly wild, but we're still in the Viennese museum of <a href="http://www.khm.at/en/visit/collections/collection-of-arms-and-armour/" target="_blank">Arms and Armour</a>. I discovered that the gorgeous bag I was coveting was, in fact, a bandolier and have been meaning to look up the etymology ever since.<br />
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<b>Usefulness</b>: 3. More useful is Cotgrave's <i><a href="http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cotgrave/search/094l.html" target="_blank">bandouillier</a></i>, one who wears anything 'scarfe wise'. I do this a lot.<br />
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*not related to <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=bandit&searchmode=none" target="_blank">bandit</a>, which is someone who is banned. </div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-33945308849875157902013-10-28T21:00:00.000+11:002013-10-30T22:36:31.034+11:00Chamfron<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: a horse's head-armour, or as Cotgrave has it:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
the front-stall, head-peece, or forehead-piece, of a barbed horse. </blockquote>
Bonus word: a horse's armour is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barding" target="_blank">bard(ing</a>), although no-one's quite sure why. This has since extended to the practice of wrapping bacon around poultry when roasting; good to see a useful word so deliciously recycled.<br />
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<b> Logofascination</b>: 2. Partly due to the 'there's a word for everything' factor, and partly because of the wide and wild variety of the <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chamfron#Alternative_forms" target="_blank">spelling</a>. I had it written down as chanfron, and Wikipedia has chanpron, but ngrams finds that <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=chamfrain%2Cchamfron%2Cchampron&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cchamfrain%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cchamfron%3B%2Cc0" target="_blank">chamfron</a> is most popular (using the word popular quite loosely) and the OED only gives us <i>chamfron </i>or <i>chamfrain</i>.<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: The Viennese museum of <a href="http://www.khm.at/en/visit/collections/collection-of-arms-and-armour/" target="_blank">Arms and Armour</a>, back in 2011. I told you I hoard words; I thought it was time to get onto my back-catalogue. It also turns up in <a href="http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cotgrave/search/177r.html" target="_blank">Cotgrave</a>, who I do recommend browsing.<br />
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<b>Usefulness</b>: 4, unless you're writing historical fiction, or touring an armoury museum.<br />
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-26631502631571980172013-10-14T21:00:00.000+11:002013-10-30T22:37:40.118+11:00Hook turn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: a counter-intuitive driving manoeuvre in which you turn across oncoming traffic from what feels like the wrong side of the road; in effect you join the traffic stream perpendicular to yours. Video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoUPGLn38-A" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b> Logofascination</b>: 4. It's a turn that looks like a hook. This word was only saved from a really boring 5 rating by functioning as a semi-<a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=shibboleth&allowed_in_frame=0">shibboleth </a>for Melbournians, and the ANDC taking so long to add it. It's not in the Australian National Dictionary yet, but we've had electric trams (why Melbourne needs hook turns) since 1908.<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: An <a href="http://ozwords.org/?p=5256">ANDC post</a> on the just-released seventh edition of <i>The Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary</i> mentions some new additions, and it turns out that 'hook turn' has entered those august pages (and that I have a first edition; for some reason most people didn't think that was as cool as I did). I'm sure the ANDC have done a better job of defining it.<br />
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<b>Usefulness</b>: 2. Declaiming the simplicity of the hook turn is one of the signs of a local Melbournian. You can avoid hook turns by going the long way around the block (which I did for some time) but running late in heavy traffic helps overcome any hesitations. It feels like you're <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_turn#cite_note-7" target="_blank">crossing the streams</a>, but after the first time they're straightforward. (No, really...)<br />
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-89962545341544551192013-10-04T21:00:00.000+10:002013-10-04T23:28:46.561+10:00Autarky<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: self-sufficiency; the <i>k</i> is a subtle signal that this is in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarky" target="_blank">economic sense</a>, as there is also autarchy, or self-rule, which is from <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=autarchy&searchmode=none" target="_blank">entirely different</a> origins.<br>
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<b>Logofascination</b>: 1. Greek origins, spiky consonants and the possibility of political or theological confusion; what's not to like? The OED citations include these gems:<br>
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<ul>
<li>1635, H. Valentine: "It may as well stand upon its bottome, and boast an Autarchie, and selfe sufficiencie."</li>
<li>1957, T. S. Eliot: "A general autarky in culture simply will not work: the hope of perpetuating the culture of any country lies in communication with others."</li>
</ul>
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<b>In the wild</b>: A pretty <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-30/das-the-new-economic-nationalism/4988690" target="_blank">boring post</a> on the apparent withdrawal to nationalism (note to markets: it doesn't work). I'm interested in economics and the free market, and I still skimmed it; that chap needs an editor to send it back asking for more jokes.<br>
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<b>Usefulness</b>: 2. "Want a drink / dinner / lift home?" "Nah, I'm an autarky tonight, thanks." "If the various attempts at Communism - in which I include France - have taught us anything, it is that autarky does. not. work. You may have your decorative farms on rolling hillsides, but you pay the price in riots in the quais and queues in the patisseries."<br>
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-20415915409271568272013-10-02T21:00:00.000+10:002013-10-13T22:54:50.264+11:00Boustrophedon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: "turning as an <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=boustrophedon&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">ox in plowing</a>"; writing which alternates left-to-right, right-to-left, left-to-right, right-to-left, etc, etc.<br />
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<b>Logofascination</b>: 1. <i>Bous- </i>is cow (which is why Bosphorus and Oxford are, <a href="http://virtuallinguist.typepad.com/the_virtual_linguist/2013/09/oxford-and-bosphorus.html" target="_blank">etymologically</a>, the same place), and -<i>strophe </i>is turning (which is why an <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=apostrophe&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">apostrophe</a> takes the place of something that has been turned away.)<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: Antony Green is Australia's premier <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=psephology&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">psephologist</a>*, and it's the casual use of words like '<a href="http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2013/08/voting-below-the-line-in-the-senate.html" target="_blank">boustrophedon</a>' that keep him that way. (Update: <i>boustrophedon</i> turned up in Stan Carey's <a href="http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/book-review-shady-characters-by-keith-houston/" target="_blank">review of <i>Shady Characters.</i></a>)<br />
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<b>Usefulness</b>: 2. My mother used to complain of us wandering about like <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/txt/s1837073.htm#mainContent" target="_blank">Brown's cows</a>; perhaps if she'd complained of our Boustrophedonitis we'd have paid more attention.<br />
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*one of the few good things about elections; political writers love dragging this word out. </div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-34917114030055272612013-09-30T22:30:00.002+10:002014-05-04T20:43:07.059+10:00Heterotopia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: "places and spaces that function in non-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony">hegemonic</a> conditions." Wikipedia helpfully continues: "neither here nor there." It's not in the OED yet, probably because <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault" target="_blank">Foucalt</a> is totes post-modern. We all know that's dead, but aren't quite sure <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-postmodernism" target="_blank">what to call this bit</a> yet, so best not take him too seriously*.<br />
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<b>Logofascination</b>: 2 (Other-place is not that interesting etymologically, but gets points for not being in the OED. This word is not merely in books, it's in <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=heterotopia&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1&oq=heteroto" target="_blank">book titles</a>, and they haven't noticed?)<br />
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<div>
<b>In the wild</b>: a <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/a-forgettable-passage-to-flight/279346/" target="_blank">piece</a> on the romance and pragmatism of the under-appreciated jetbridge. If you're a travel tragic, you'll also want to read Geoff Lemon on airports (and jetbridges) as <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/a-forgettable-passage-to-flight/279346/" target="_blank">ritual magic</a>, or maybe even an old piece of mine on <a href="http://janefrances.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/and-here-i-thought-my-next-post-would.html" target="_blank">airports as liminal spaces</a>. Yes, I wish I'd come up with heterotopia and the idea of flying as sacrament too. </div>
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<b>Usefulness</b>: 2 (Discuss: airports and shopping centres should have enough otherness to make you dissociate from realities like your bank balance, but not enough to induce psychosis.)<br />
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*in my spare room, a BA just disintegrated.<br />
<br />
-----<br />
If there are any of you still playing along at home, I've dusted off the cobwebs and am intending to try out some new posting formats.<br />
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I consider my Six Degrees theorem well and truly proven, but I still hoard words and would like to share them with you. I also hoard links to long-form pieces, so there'll be a bit of that snuck in along the way. Finally, my secret goal (less secret now, I suppose) of compiling an Urquhartian concordance also still exists; I'd like to try and bring you a word a week. The promise of a blogger is worth its weight in posts, so we shall see how that goes. If any of you aren't robots, (or my mother) I really would like to know what you think. (Although mum's feedback is always good too.)<br />
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-65814528189176931192013-08-28T08:43:00.000+10:002013-08-28T08:43:14.291+10:00Live from Cromarty <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the midst of the all the not-blogging I've been doing lately, there's been a bit of travel, and I've had the great joy of spending today in Cromarty. I'm staying in <a href="http://www.cromartyartstrust.org.uk/ardyne-house.asp" target="_blank">Ardyne House</a>; from my bedroom window I can see the Sutors (headlands), which feature in Sir Thomas' <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=encomium&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">encomium </a>of Cromarty and its Firth:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I have, or at least had, before I was sequestred, a certain harbour or bay, in goodness equal to the best in the world ... promontaries on each side, vulgarly called Souters ... ten thousand ships together may within it ride in the greatest tempest that is as in a calm; </blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HOSOIglFZjo/Uh0mSMbfQAI/AAAAAAAAAUM/UWJ4XBJ7Idw/s1600/IMG_4181.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HOSOIglFZjo/Uh0mSMbfQAI/AAAAAAAAAUM/UWJ4XBJ7Idw/s320/IMG_4181.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Souters from Ardyne House</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Sir Thomas wasn't exaggerating (well, not as much as usual): Cromarty Firth is very large. Over time it has held various Navy ships, and still holds several <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6411473.stm" target="_blank">oil-rigs</a> in various states of (dis)repair. Cromarty has had several booms (hemp, herring, oil), but never quite reached what Sir Thomas claimed he could do:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
By which means, the foresaid town of Cromarty, for so it is called, in a very short space, would have easily become the richest of any within threescore miles thereof; </blockquote>
Here are a few photos from around the village (a lovely spot in its own right); I'll eventually put together a definitive guide for the Sir Thomas pilgrimage.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--3VrpwEylrM/Uh0pzC8rjHI/AAAAAAAAAYc/pEHEPENVjBo/s1600/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--3VrpwEylrM/Uh0pzC8rjHI/AAAAAAAAAYc/pEHEPENVjBo/s320/photo.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Ekskybalauron engraving at the Stables<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aKC7-YgZ9Rc/Uh0nBNe7MNI/AAAAAAAAAUk/KwkwlJ3DDo8/s1600/IMG_4185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aKC7-YgZ9Rc/Uh0nBNe7MNI/AAAAAAAAAUk/KwkwlJ3DDo8/s320/IMG_4185.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sir Thomas in the Cromarty timeline</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sir Thomas in the Urquhart family tree, <br />displayed in the East Church</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Common on graves in Cromarty; experts say they're symbols of death <br />and nothing to do with pirates, but I have my doubts...</td></tr>
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0Cromarty, Highland, UK57.680609 -4.034677999999985357.672119499999994 -4.0548479999999856 57.6890985 -4.0145079999999851tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-30930795733845569202013-07-17T00:20:00.000+10:002013-07-17T00:46:38.114+10:00Hircocervus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: as the OED says "A fabulous creature, half goat, half stag." They are of course using fabulous meaning 'out of fable' but I like the ambiguity. <br />
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 2 (Perhaps as an insult? Unless you happen to be haunting the halls of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hircocervus" target="_blank">Winchester College</a>, of course.)<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 2 (The name is from the Latin for billy-goat and stag; another name is the <i>tragelaph</i>, from the Greek for the same creatures. The genus to which Kudu belong are called <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragelaphus" target="_blank">Tragelaphus</a> </i>for this reason.)<br />
<br />
<b>In the wild</b>: Michael Quinion found it in Umberto Eco, and has written it up <a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-hir1.htm" target="_blank">here</a>, and as mentioned in both that and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hircocervus" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> article, the hircocervus comes to us via philosophy. Plato introduced it as an example* and Aristotle takes it further; if you have the brain-power you can read up on the goat-stag in philosophy <a href="http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-17340267/another-god-chimerae-goat-stags-and-man-lions" target="_blank">here</a>. It also makes a brief appearance in my favourite passage of <i><a href="http://blog.inkyfool.com/2012/08/the-horologicon.html" target="_blank">The Horologicon</a>; </i>the hircocervus is one of the midnight creatures who gather around.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 2<br />
<br />
<b>Connections</b>: hircocervus - stag (I could've linked via <a href="http://sixdegreesofsirthomas.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/hirquitalliency.html" target="_blank">hirquitalliency</a>, or any of the other <a href="http://sixdegreesofsirthomas.blogspot.com.au/search/label/goats" target="_blank">goat words</a>, but I liked the stag quote.)<br />
<br />
<b>Which is used in</b>: G&P, Book the Third, XXXI: <i>How the physician Rondibilis counselleth Panurge</i>. <br />
The physician counselleth Panurge that if he stays active, he will be able to avoid lechery. He comments on Cupid's accuracy:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He is not, I believe, so expert an archer as that he can hit the cranes flying in the air, or yet the young <b>stags</b> skipping through the thickets, as the Parthians knew well how to do; that is to say, people moiling, stirring and hurrying up and down, restless, and without repose. He must have those hushed, still, quiet, lying at a stay, lither**, and full of ease, whom he is able, though his mother help him, to touch, much less to pierce with all his arrows. </blockquote>
Cupid's mother is, of course, Venus.<br />
<br />
<br />
*if anyone can give me a definitive source and/or a coherent explanation as to what, it'd be appreciated.<br />
** Lither is discussed <a href="http://sixdegreesofsirthomas.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/lurgy.html#more" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-82875352731002382102013-07-15T23:29:00.000+10:002013-07-15T23:31:33.089+10:00Hoghenhine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: a house-guest who stays three nights or more; in times past, after the third night the host had the same legal responsibility for them as for any other member of their household.<br />
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 1 (I've had house-guests* almost every day this year, and they all stayed at least three nights. I wish I'd known I could have called them <i>hoghenhines</i>.)<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (Etymologically, it's a bastardisation of Middle English <i>aȝen hine</i> or <i>oȝen hine - </i>own servant. There is something appealing in the notion that ancient laws held that three nights was enough to know someone. In a few word books, it has jumped from the legal responsibility for a guest - as for one of your household - to popular definitions like 'one of the family', or 'a member of one's family'.)<br />
<br />
<b>In the wild</b>: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Word-Lovers-Dictionary-Unusual-Preposterous/dp/0806517204/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373891470&sr=1-1&keywords=Dictionary+of+Unusual%2C+Obscure%2C+and+Preposterous+Words" target="_blank">Mrs Byrne</a> lists it as <i>agenhina</i>, "a guest at an inn who, after having stayed for three nights, was considered one of the family". <a href="http://www.polysyllabic.com/?q=node/53" target="_blank">Karl Hagen</a> does rather a good job of correcting this, although he fails to locate the source of her reference to an inn. Here we turn to <a href="http://historymike.blogspot.com.au/2007/03/rapid-rhetoric-hoghenhine.html" target="_blank">historymike</a> who quotes more of the original source than the OED does; <i>The Country Justice </i>says that <i>agenhina</i> "is used in ancient Saxon Laws for him that cometh to an Inne guest-wise". To give Mrs Byrne her due, she traced her words to original sources wherever possible, and considering she worked on her dictionary during the 1950s and 1960s while touring as a concert pianist, I think she can be forgiven. I do wonder at Eric McKean's "a member of one's family" (<i><a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=sWRBN4s44j4C&pg=PT53&dq=hoghenhine+weird+and+wonderful+words&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ienjUYG5CMTskgW204CYAw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=hoghenhine%20&f=false">Weird and Wonderful Words</a>, </i>2002), although it is qualified with "chiefly in legal contexts". Even the OED adds "a member of a household; a dependant" to the definition, the semi-colons suggesting additional meanings. There are no citations for these, though, and certainly none for its use to denote a member of one's family. It seems to be one of those words whose usefulness and potential for expanded meanings appeals more to lexicographers than to the populace.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 2<br />
<br />
<b>Connections</b>: hoghenhine - household<br />
<br />
<b>Which is used in</b>: G&P, Book the Second (Pantagruel), <i>How Epistemon, who had his head cut off, was finely healed by Panurge, and of the news which he brought from the devils, and of the damned people in hell</i>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Suddenly Epistemon began to breathe, then opened his eyes, yawned, sneezed, and afterwards let a great household fart.</blockquote>
Much as I'd like to attribute 'household fart' to Sir Thomas, it's Rabelais describes it as "un gros pet de ménage", <i>ménage</i> of course being French for household. I'm trying to come up with a way to describe a hoghenhine, three-night stayer, as a <i>ménage</i><i> a trois</i>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*All very lovely people; I'd hate to in any way imply a correlation between their presence and the absence of posts. </div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-67466429703582947452013-07-02T23:12:00.001+10:002013-07-02T23:12:45.524+10:00Lacunose<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: having many gaps or hiatuses; used particularly of manuscripts.<br />
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 1 (If one were, say, attempting to describe an unexplained gap in blog posts, or a particularly patchy period of posting.)<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (<a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=lacunose&searchmode=none" target="_blank">Lacuna</a>, meaning a gap in a manuscript - and a number of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacuna" target="_blank">other things</a> - is from the Latin <i>lacūna</i>, the diminutive of <i>lacus</i>, lake. From <i>lacus</i> we also get lagoon, originally used of pools of water around Venice - <a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lagoon&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">Captain Cook</a> was the first to apply it to tropical destinations.)<br />
<br />
<b>In the wild</b>: In my apology for being so terribly lacunose? Mind you, I make no rash promises of reformation, but I shall attempt to warn you of any looming lacunae. No lagoons were involved in this one, sadly.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 2<br />
<br />
<b>Connections</b>: lacuna - lake<br />
<br />
<b>Which is used in</b>: G&P, Book the Third, L: <i>How the famous Pantagruelion ought to be prepared and wrought</i>. I really will get to Pantagruelion, the original super food, but in the meantime, this is one of the things you should do to get it ready:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
...divest and despoil the stalk and stem thereof of all its flowers and seeds, to macerate and mortify it in pond, pool, or <b>lake </b>water, which is to be made run a little for five days together (Properly--'lake water, which is to be made stagnant, not current, for five days together.'--M.) </blockquote>
That last line is a note from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Motteux" target="_blank">Mr Motteux</a>, ensuring that the extravagance of Sir Thomas' translation does not spoil your preparation of the herb, however imaginary. In the previous phrase, Sir Thomas seems to have added words for alliteration's sake: "divest and despoil... stalk and stem... macerate and mortify." </div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-48426379416829610062013-06-18T23:23:00.000+10:002013-06-18T23:27:34.838+10:00Irredentist<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: with a lower-case i, someone who advocates seizing territory back* from another nation or state. With a capital, a member of a 19th century <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irredentist" target="_blank">Italian political part</a>y which advocated the annexation of Italian-speaking districts from surrounding nations.<br />
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 2 (Slightly abstruse, but you'll get points from the politically inclined. Could be useful if you were interviewing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Marani" target="_blank">Diego Marani</a>, who likes to discuss the attempts of nation-states to co-opt language as identity and/or delineator of borders, and the way that the EU is - possibly - undoing that. Podcast <a href="http://www.2ser.com/on-air/shows/item/3870-saturday-15-june-2013-etymology" target="_blank">here</a>, or interview <a href="http://www.listener.co.nz/culture/books/an-hour-with-diego-marani/" target="_blank">here</a>. He's also attempted a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europanto" target="_blank">universal language</a>, albeit a Euro-centric one.)<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 2 (From the Italian for 'unredeemed', as in 'unredeemed Italy'.)<br />
<br />
<b>In the wild</b>: A Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/17/5-insights-on-the-racial-tolerance-and-ethnicity-maps-from-an-ethnic-conflict-professor/" target="_blank">blogpost</a> on the issues with a study that supposedly mapped 'racial tolerance'.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 3<br />
<br />
<b>Connections</b>: irredentist - unredeemed - Redeemer<br />
<br />
<b>Which is used in</b>: <i>Logopandecteision</i>. I <i>think</i> Sir Thomas' point here is theological - a rejection of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenanter" target="_blank">Covenanters</a> on the basis that God is God, whatever form you worship under, so what's all the fuss about? It's not sound theology, and probably not even sound logic, but it's a popular argument.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
That the Catholick Romans have constantly, and yet doe, after the manner of the learned Paynims of old, most heartily relish variety of consecrations, plurality of invocations, and adoring one and the same thing under a great diversitie of titles, is apparent by the several names of churches, huge legend of saints, and different dedicaitons to one diete: as of one edifice to Christ the <b>Redeemer</b>, and of another to Christ the Mediator, of one to our Lady of Help, and of another to our Lady of Mercie; even as the warlike Romans devoted their temples to Iupiter Feretrius, and Iupiter Stator, to Diana Lucina, and Diana Fluena.</blockquote>
<div>
There are also political issues around using Catholics as an example to Covenanters, but they're a bit more complicated, and I think this post is long enough as it is. </div>
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*Or, in some cases, just seizing territory. </div>
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-64053902754461273892013-06-13T23:08:00.000+10:002013-10-29T18:56:23.586+11:00Vocitated<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: named or called.<br />
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 2 (It strikes me as a satisfyingly annoying way to ask someone's name "And what are you vocitated, old chap?" or introduce yourself: "I am occasionally vocitated as The Antipodean.")<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (The English version was invented by Sir Thomas, who is the sole citation in the OED.)<br />
<br />
<b>In the wild</b>: Occasionally; someone's already taken it as a Twitter handle, worse luck.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 0 (Rabelais had <i>vociter</i>, but Sir Thomas has Anglicised it, while retaining the required Latinate influence.)<br />
<br />
<b>Connections</b>: n/a<br />
<br />
<b>Which is used in</b>: G&P, Pantagruel, VI: <i>How Pantagruel met with a Limousin, who too affectedly did counterfeit the French language</i>. Welcome to our new Thursday chapter: since we've done all the -mancys, I am going to have a crack at the Latin, French, English and Scottish dialect that turns up in this chapter.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Upon a certain day, I know not when, Pantagruel walking after supper with some of his fellow-students without that gate of the city through which we enter on the road to Paris, encountered with a young spruce-like scholar that was coming upon the same very way, and, after they had saluted one another, asked him thus, My friend, from whence comest thou now? </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The scholar answered him, From the alme*, inclyte**, and celebrate academy, which is <b>vocitated</b> Lutetia.</blockquote>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutetia" target="_blank">Lutetia</a> is the Latin name for the Gaulish town that occupied the site where Paris now stands - the scholar is showing off his learning as well as his Latin.<br />
<br />
<br />
* Latinate French - Cotgrave: "Faire, beautifull, cleere; calme; gracious, propitious; nourishing." Related to the alma in <i><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Alma+Mater&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">alma mater</a>.</i><br />
<i>** </i>Fancy French again; from the Latin <i>inclitus </i>- Cotgrave: "Excellent, renowmed, famous, glorious."</div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-15311120330910632482013-06-12T00:16:00.000+10:002013-06-12T00:16:16.734+10:00Stentoriphonically<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: loudly; as if through a speaking-trumpet, or stentorophonic horn.<br />
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 2 (It's a bit of a mouthful, but useful if you're after something elaborate. Stentorophonic horn is rather useful as a more interesting name for hearing aids.)<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (In 1671 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Morland" target="_blank">Sir Samuel Morland</a> - academic, diplomat, spy, inventor and mathematician* - claims to have invented what we would call a megaphone, but he called the stentorophonic horn. <i>Stentoriphonically</i> appears in G&P <i>Le Tiers-Livre</i> in 1693, but Sir Thomas had died in 1660; this may be one of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Anthony_Motteux" target="_blank">Motteux</a>'s sneaking in. Sir Thomas might well have made an allusion to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stentor" target="_blank">Stentor</a>, mythical source for this and <a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=stentor&searchmode=none" target="_blank">stentorian</a>, but the suffix <i>-phonic</i> is not quite right.**)<br />
<br />
<b>In the wild</b>: No.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 2 (It's an odd one; it's in G&P, but I don't think it's Sir Thomas' word. There is a reference to Stentor in <i>Gargantua</i>, though, so I'm using that as the link. )<br />
<br />
<b>Connections</b>: stentoriphonically - Stentor.<br />
<br />
<b>Which is used in</b>: G&P, Book the Third, XXI: <i>How Panurge consulteth with an old French poet, named Raminagrobis</i>. As we read yesterday, Panurge is consulting a dying poet, and offers him various gifts:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
in imitation of Socrates, did he make an oblation unto him of a fair white cock, which was no sooner set upon the tester of his bed, than that, with a high raised head and crest, lustily shaking his feather-coat, he crowed <b>stentoriphonically </b>loud.</blockquote>
Socrates' last words were apparently concerned with a rooster he owed someone. This text is the only citation for this word in the OED.<br />
<br />
<br />
*Tony Stark is just a 17th century philosopher born a few centuries late.<br />
**I have no scientific basis for this judgement.<br />
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-12283495503336079032013-06-10T20:04:00.000+10:002013-06-10T20:22:30.217+10:00Mezentian<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="tr_bq">
<b>Meaning</b>: resembling <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezentius" target="_blank">Mezentius</a>, an Etruscan king exiled for cruelty (according to Virgil, anyway).</div>
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 1 ("An early meeting the day after a long weekend? A Mezentian idea!")<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (The OED has three citations between 1798 and 1874. The next is 1992, from Iain Banks' <i>Crow Road</i><i>. </i>Between Iain and Iain M. Banks, the late, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/09/iain-banks-dead-tributes-author-scotland" target="_blank">lamented</a> author has 136 citations in the OED, a number of them to do with whisky. Sadly, my favourite of his books, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Transition-Iain-M-Banks/dp/B0068EZ8U4/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1370856102&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Transition</a></i>, seems to have been lexicographically neglected by the OED. If you're interested, the list of the words with Iain / Iain M. Banks citations is at the end of the post.)<br />
<br />
<b>In the wild</b>: <i>Crow Road: </i>"It did occur to me he could have driven the bike himself with the body lashed to his back looking like a pillion. It's a bit Mezentian, but possible."<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 2 (Mezentian - Mezentius. I wonder if there's a classical character Rabelais didn't reference.)<br />
<br />
<b>Connections</b>: n/a<br />
<br />
<b>Which is used in</b>: G&P, Book the Third, XXI: <i>How Panurge consulteth with an old French poet, named Raminagrobis</i>. Pantagruel is urging Panurge to consult the poet, who is dying, claiming that those close to death frequently become prophetic:<br />
<blockquote>
I will not offer here to confound your memory by quoting antique examples of Isaac, of Jacob, of Patroclus towards Hector, of Hector towards Achilles, of Polymnestor towards Agamemnon, of Hecuba, of the Rhodian renowned by Posidonius, of Calanus the Indian towards Alexander the Great, of Orodes towards <b>Mezentius</b>, and of many others.</blockquote>
According to Virgil, Mezentius killed Orodes and rejoiced in it, but Orodes told him he would not rejoice for long, and was of course proven correct.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>OED entries with </b><b>Iain M. Banks </b><b>citations </b><br />
From the books <i>Against A Dark Background</i>, <i>Algebraist, Matter </i>and <i>Use of
Weapons. </i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
actuality, add, allegement, be, be, conservational, coolness, criminality, disable, do-gooding, galactic, gamma radiation, geekishly, maidenly, mend, millimetrically, narcotic, neuron-like, one-legged, path-side, re-equip, regarding, regretful, reinsert, remissness, rise, roquelaure, rotund, rub, run.</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<b>OED entries with </b><b>Iain Banks </b><b>citations </b><br />
From the books <i>Bridge, Crow Road, Raw Spirit, Walking on Glass, Wasp
Factory, </i>and<i> Whit.</i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
a roof over one's head, ABV, arsehole, as, bike, black box, black-haired, car ferry, centigrade, Cullen Skink, don't give up the day job, drop-dead, face paint, facing, footwell, friendly, info-dump, labour, mainline, marshalling yard, Mezentian, millimetric, mind, miraculous, monkey-puzzle, monocycle, monstrosity, mouldy-smelling, mourn, Mrs, mud, muffle, muffledly, multiple, mystically, Nazi, neck, ninja, no, noddle, now, number, observatory, off, old sport, om (verb), on (preposition), one potato two potato, one thing leads to another, on-ramp, opaqued, open-top, opiated, orthodontic, out-of-the-way, overshadow, pace, paint, palp, pan, paper streamer, paracetamol, pass, pavement, pellet, perfect crime, phrase, pillar, plain, poppadom, précis, Prod, purge, radiogram, raker, rare, rectangular, reeded, reflect, release, repast, repay, resin, restage, right-hander, righty-ho, roach, road end, road surface, ro-ro, rotundly, roundedly, Scottish Baronial, shit, skid mark, skoosh, small craft, socially, sorrow, Strat, tough, train, wacky baccy, well done that man, what next?, ya (pronoun).</blockquote>
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-69309093635003624522013-06-06T23:54:00.000+10:002013-06-07T00:20:49.380+10:00Myki<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: Old Norse for cow dung. No, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/myki" target="_blank">really</a>. See also <a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=muck&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">here</a>.<br>
<br>
<b>Usefulness</b>: 1. (Google tells me that there was a bit of press about this when the system first came out, but no-one told me.)<br>
<br>
<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (Etymologically related to <a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=muck&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">muck</a> and <a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=midden&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">midden</a>. Mainly of interest to those of us residing in Melbourne; <a href="http://ptv.vic.gov.au/application/MYKIcvm/manage/register.html" target="_blank">myki</a> is our public transport ticketing system. Its problems are so notorious that there's a hashtag: <a href="https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=mykifail&src=typd" target="_blank">#mykifail</a>. I suppose it provides the rest of you with a usefully obscure word for cow dung; "This report is sheer myki!")<br>
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<b>In the wild</b>: Of all places, I found it in a post on Lancashire dialect. I'm trying to figure out where <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Loomster" target="_blank">loomster</a> comes from.<br>
<a name="more"></a><br>
<b>Degrees</b>: 3<br>
<br>
<b>Connections</b>: myki - muck - manurers (It's been a while since we had a word this far removed; I think this is because Sir Thomas used Scottish vernacular rather than English - muck and midden - and the influences are different.)<br>
<br>
<b>Which is used in</b>: <i>Logopandecteision. </i>To over-simplify, Sir Thomas is arguing that you can verify how ancient his heritage is by considering that of his tenants:<br>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
both historie and the most authentick tradition we have, avoucheth the first labourers and <b>manurers</b> of the land to have come along with my ancestors Beltistos, Nomostor, and Lutork, and for their good service done, especially to the last of those three, received leases thereupon in the quality of yeomans, who were so well pleased with what they got that after they had most contentedly spent the best of their age, when decrepit years did summon them to pay their last due to nature, they bequeathed unto their children the hereditarie obedience they did owe their master, to whom they left their blessing and best wishes </blockquote>
<a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=manure&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">Manure</a> originally just meant cultivate, but of course manuring is one of the chief activities of cultivation, particularly before modern fertilizers. </div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-40046028896090888782013-06-04T23:42:00.003+10:002013-10-29T18:56:23.552+11:00Penitissim<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: Innermost.<br />
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 2 (Could lead to some confusion if used carefully, which Rabelais might have been counting on.)<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (Originating in <i>Pantagruel</i>, this is probably a Rabelaisian coinage, although it's from a common enough Latin root, <i><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/penitus" target="_blank">penitus</a>. </i>The OED has Sir Thomas' <i>Ekskybalauron</i> as the sole citation, since it is the main English source. I can't help but wonder if it's in the OED to help explicate Rabelais, much as most of Cotgrave exists for that purpose.<br />
<br />
The <u>really</u> fascinating thing about this word, though, is that <i>Ekskybalauron</i> was published <i>before</i> Sir Thomas' Rabelais translation - they are only a year apart, but this suggests that he was already working on the translation, and had thought about how to Anglicise this passage.)<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: Besides the piece on <a href="http://vunex.blogspot.com.au/2009/02/on-neologism-part-two.html" target="_blank">neologism</a> I linked to recently, it's also cited in a rather useful <a href="http://www.drbilllong.com/2008WordsV/Sublime.html" target="_blank">dissection</a> of the original.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 1 (Rabelais has <i>penitissimes, </i>Sir Thomas <i>penitissime</i>. We have to give this one to Rabelais.)<br />
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<b>Connections</b>: n/a<br />
<br />
<b>Which is used in</b>: Firstly in G&P, Pantagruel (Book Two), VI: <i>How Pantagruel met with a Limousin, who too affectedly did counterfeit the French language</i>. We've met the Limousin before, most notably in the "<a href="http://sixdegreesofsirthomas.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/flay-fox.html" target="_blank">Flay the fox</a>" post. We return to his explanation of the university student's days in terribly Latinised French (English, in our case):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Upon certain diecules we invisat the lupanares, and in a venerian ecstasy inculcate our veretres into the <b>penitissime</b> recesses of the pudends of these amicabilissim meretricules. </blockquote>
A lupunar is a brothel, so you can probably deduce the rest, although I think we will explore this chapter at depth: it's full of words coined by Rabelais and Sir Thomas, with some interesting questions of dialect to boot. If you're dying of curiosity, I refer you to the <a href="http://www.drbilllong.com/2008WordsV/Sublime.html" target="_blank">dissection</a> previously mentioned.<br />
<br />
It also turns up more tamely in <i>Ekskybalauron, </i>as Sir Thomas takes at least 800 words to describe the Admirable Chrichton's lady love, but assures us that those seeing her have not taken that long:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
All this from their imagination being convoyed into the <b>penitissim</b> corners of their souls in that short space which I have already told,</blockquote>
In other words, back to the action. </div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-18339651624606935232013-05-31T01:59:00.000+10:002013-06-13T21:44:47.229+10:00Orthovestia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: right dressing, right fitting, right looking: the pressure to wear what fits and flatters, whether literally, socially, culturally, fashionably or<a href="http://footpathzeitgeist.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/look-at-this-guy-and-know.html" target="_blank"> ideologically</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 1 (So useful I really don't know how we've got by without it. "I know I'm buying into orthovestia, but, seriously, tights are not pants!" "I don't think he's behind the times; I think your orthovestia can't look past his lack of a checked shirt.")<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (It's brand spanking new! And I know I might sound a bit over enthusiastic or - heaven forbid - ironic, but I really, truly think this is a word we can use. Also it is built from the Greek <i><a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=ortho-&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank">ortho-</a></i>, meaning correct or proper, and the Latin <i>vestir, </i>meaning to "dress, clothe, attire, wear, adorn, bedeck, embellish, disguise, cover up, make clothes for" and a <i>good</i> Greek / Latin hybrid is worth its weight in gold, however it is dressed up.)<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: No, because <a href="http://wheelercentre.com/dailies/post/1d0034dd0bfd/" target="_blank">Mel Campbell</a> only just invented it.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 2<br />
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<b>Connections</b>: orthovestia - vestment<br />
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<b>Which is used in</b>: G&P, Book the First, LVI: <i>How the men and women of the religious order of Theleme were apparelled</i>. <a href="http://sixdegreesofsirthomas.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Theleme" target="_blank">Theleme</a> is a combination of monastery, luxury hotel and theme park, and hence:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
there were certain gentlemen appointed to tell the youths every morning what vestments the ladies would on that day wear: for all was done according to the pleasure of the ladies.</blockquote>
So they could match, you see, according to the pleasure of the ladies; my kind of monastery.</div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-89140185410306020392013-05-30T00:27:00.000+10:002013-06-06T00:02:09.218+10:00Affabulatory <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: something that presents a moral; like or of the nature of a fable.<br />
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 2 (May depend on how much you read Aesop or Kipling, but could also be applied to the horror-stories you hear of work accidents. "I am sure I do not need to point out the affabulatory nature of this brief account of workers using their circular saws without sufficient <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_protective_equipment" target="_blank">PPE</a>.")<br />
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<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (A Sir Thomas original, with the only two OED citations both being Sir Thomas - it's unusual enough for Sir Thomas to use one of his words twice, even more so for the OED to quote both usages. The entry was revised in 2012, though, so it's possible that it was updated with the advantage of searchable texts - even if that is the case, it is pleasing to see that our present-day lexicographers remain as logofascinated by Sir Thomas as their predecessors. Etymologically related to <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=fable&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank"><i>fable</i></a>, of course, but also <a href="http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=affable&allowed_in_frame=0" target="_blank"><i>affable</i></a> - easy to talk to - and the rather lovely French <i><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/affabulateur" target="_blank">affabulateur</a> -</i> storyteller.)<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: No.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 0<br />
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<b>Connections</b>: n/a<br />
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<b>Which is used in</b>: <i>Logopandecteision </i>and <i>Ekskybalauron. </i>I forget at times that Sir Thomas is pretending to be anonymous - so does he, I suspect - and then he speaks of a writer "whose muse I honour, and the straine of whose pen to imitate is my greatest ambition", and I realise he means himself. Apparently he could, if he were really trying, also provide us with:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
allegories of all sorts, whether apologal, <b>affabulatory</b>, parabolary, aenigmaticak, or paraemial.</blockquote>
For the record, all of this would also be "accompanied by apostrophes" at no extra cost.</div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-84721864950386303952013-05-28T23:39:00.000+10:002013-05-28T23:41:41.287+10:00Vinomadefied<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: the OED says it's soaked with wine, the Inky Fool merely dampened; this may reflect their respective drinking habits. <br />
<br />
<b>Usefulness</b>: 1 (Especially at writer's festivals, although a word for being whisky-soaked would be even more useful - aquavitamadefied? uisgebaughmadefied?)<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (A Sir Thomas original - the reason for the disagreement on degree of dampness seems to be that the Latin root <i>madefacio </i>can mean a number of things, including, <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/madefacio#Latin" target="_blank">allegedly</a>, intoxication, so it is also possible Sir Thomas meant intoxicated by wine. Whether you prefer dampened, soaked or intoxicated, vinomadefied is one of those extra-useful words that suggests its meaning to most.)<br />
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<b>In the wild</b>: Another of Sir Thomas' <a href="http://sixdegreesofsirthomas.blogspot.com.au/search/label/sola" target="_blank">sole citations</a> in the OED, this also turned up in <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=bn3HoNcszWQC&pg=PT134&lpg=PT134&dq=vinomadefied&source=bl&ots=1jll6ISxED&sig=sNwCOreKbbLZ5mErLmrG3oWaAAM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Xa6kUZChOo3ylAWu7YGABQ&redir_esc=y" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">The Horologicon</a>. Also if you go through enough of the google results for it, you find <a href="http://blog.inkyfool.com/2010/09/heroines-on-heroin.html" target="_blank">the moment</a> where I first met Sir Thomas.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 0<br />
<br />
<b>Connections</b>: n/a<br />
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<b>Which is used in</b>: <i>Ekskybalauron. S</i>ome of Sir Thomas' most quoted words occur in the Admirable Chrricton story, possibly because the risqué nature of a few scenes make it the most read and therefore the most cited. Here we find the prince besieging Crichton's lady-love, unaware that he is with her, inspiring her to <a href="http://sixdegreesofsirthomas.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/hirquitalliency.html" target="_blank">hirquitalliency</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
the Prince, unwilling to miss his mark, and not having in all the quivers of his reason one shaft wherewith to hit it, resolved to interpose some authority with his argumentations, and where the fox's skin could not serve, to make use of the lyon's; to the prosecuting of which intent, he with his <b>vinomadefied</b> retinue, resolved to press in upon the page, and <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maugre" target="_blank">maugre</a> his will, to get up staires, and take their fortune in the quest of the chamber they aimed at;</blockquote>
In that context, I think Sir Thomas was using the intoxicated sense; he's finding a polite - and complicated - way to say they were drunk, not merely that they had been drinking, as this helps explains some of their subsequent actions.<br />
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-12941075416397246042013-05-24T21:00:00.000+10:002013-05-25T09:41:00.495+10:00Linkage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
Since I am, as mentioned, at <a href="http://www.swf.org.au/" target="_blank">SWF</a> being impressed by <a href="http://www.dabhoiwala.com/Faramerz_Dabhoiwala_-_Home.html" target="_blank">Faramerz Dabhoiwala</a>, brought to tears by an astounding <a href="http://womenofletters.com.au/" target="_blank">Women of Letters</a> session, developing a mild crush on <a href="http://davidastle.com/" target="_blank">David Astle</a> and of course listening to the <a href="http://blog.inkyfool.com/" target="_blank">Inky Fool</a> talk about all the words, today you just get a link or two to read.<br />
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Conrad H. Roth has a long, thoughtful and slightly quirky piece on neologism, which starts <a href="http://vunex.blogspot.com.au/2009/01/on-neologism-part-one.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Sir Thomas doesn't appear until the second part, but it's worth a read otherwise, and when it gets to Sir Thomas we also get some maths discussion - make sure you read the comments as well.<br />
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On the lighter - and shorter - side, <a href="http://www.wordnik.com/lists/rabelation" target="_blank">here</a> is a Wordnik list of words from Sir Thomas' Rabelais. I have my doubts about a few of them, but it's an entertaining list.</div>
missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-14696367718177715782013-05-22T21:00:00.000+10:002013-05-25T09:51:53.476+10:00Voltaire on Rabelais<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm gallivanting at the Sydney Writer's Festival for the rest of the week, so blogging may be intermittent (err, more intermittent?) due to my being overcome by logofascination, liquor, lack of sleep or all three. Fear not, though - I have a number of links and things which I shall foist on you in the interim.<br />
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To start you off, here is Voltaire's opinion of Rabelais - I'm afraid I've lost the referencing for it, but I will attempt to restore it later*:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The former has interspersed his unaccountably-fantastic and unintelligible book with the most gay strokes of humour; but which, at the same time, has a greater proportion of impertinence. He has been vastly lavish of erudition, of smut, and insipid raillery. An agreeable tale of two pages is purchased at the expense of whole volumes of nonsense. There are but few persons, and those of a grotesque taste, who pretend to understand and to esteem this work; for, as to the rest of the nation, they laugh at the pleasant and diverting touches which are found in Rabelais and despise his book. He is looked upon as the prince of buffoons. The readers are vexed to think that a man who was master of so much wit should have made so wretched a use of it; he is an intoxicated philosopher who never wrote but when he was in liquor.</blockquote>
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For one iconic French writer to have such a poor opinion of another has caused a number of people some difficulty, although it has also given them something to write theses and books about. Rabelais is considered by some to be an early champion of democracy, individualism, libertarianism or various other -isms as the writer saw fit. I suspect Rabelais would have made fun of -isms on general principle, but<a href="http://www.libertarianism.org/people/francois-rabelais" target="_blank"> here</a> is a link to a biography of Rabelais from a libertarian perspective, which claims that Voltaire eventually saw some worth in Rabelais' work.<br />
<br /><br />*Update: it's from Voltaire's <a href="http://www.literatureproject.com/letters-voltaire/letters-voltaire_23.htm" target="_blank">Letter XXII.--On Mr. Pope and Some Other Famous Poets</a>; thanks to a commenter for the link.<div class="MsoNormal">
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739093841134985897.post-80875718405173554332013-05-22T01:00:00.001+10:002013-10-29T18:56:23.622+11:00Pasquinade <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Meaning</b>: a lampoon, satire or libel. Cotgrave:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The name of an Image, or Poste in Rome, whereon Libels and defamatorie Rimes are fastened, and fathered; also, as <i>Pasquille</i>. A <i>Pasquill</i>; a Libell clapt on a Poste, or Image.</blockquote>
<b>Usefulness</b>: 2 (The reply-all email, the passive-agressive post-it, the anonymous online outburst, the aggrieved graffito; pasquinades all, and all potentially as comic.)<br />
<br />
<b> Logofascination</b>: 1 (Derived from the nickname of a statue in Rome, on which such things were posted - for more on the statue, and the etymology of <i>lampoon </i>as a bonus, see <a href="http://amoureuxdulangage.unblog.fr/2013/05/15/lampoon-pasquinade/" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br />
<br />
<b>In the wild</b>: First encountered at LTA (see <a href="http://laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/postcard-from-rome.html" target="_blank">here</a> for one in Latin) and then in the post linked to above, which mentioned Rabelais.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>Degrees</b>: 2<br />
<br />
<b>Connections</b>: Pasquinade - Pasquilli<br />
<br />
<b>Which is used in</b>: Book the Second (Pantagruel), VII: <i>How Pantagruel came to Paris, and of the choice books of the Library of St. Victor</i>. The wondrous library of St Victor is a pasquinade in its own right, lampooning academic texts so well that it could still apply today - titles include:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Snatchfare of the Curates.<br />
Reverendi patris fratris Lubini, provincialis Bavardiae, de gulpendis lardslicionibus*, libri tres. (Frame translates loosely as: Reverend Father Friar Gulligut Smellsmock, On the nibbling of bacon snacks, three books)<br />
<b>Pasquilli </b>Doctoris Marmorei, de capreolis cum artichoketa comedendis, tempore Papali ab Ecclesia interdicto. (Frame: Pasquin, the Marmoreal** Doctor, On eating roe-deer with artichokes in Lenten time when it is forbidden by the Church.)<br />
The Invention of the Holy Cross, personated by six wily Priests.<br />
The Spectacles of Pilgrims bound for Rome. </blockquote>
<br />
<div>
A number of these would now be considered Market Research. </div>
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*I should really trademark this. Bacon snacks called <i>Lardslicionibus</i> would sell.</div>
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**Of marble</div>
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missjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12743868006995532322noreply@blogger.com0