100th Post - Just Watch This!

I was thinking about my wristwatch the other evening and started wondering why we call small timepieces watches. Is it because we look at them to tell the time, or were they intended to tell the watches of the night?

I found that a watch related to people before it became a mechanical device. The job of the watch was — clearly enough — to watch, to stay alert in order to to keep guard and maintain order. It turned up especially in the phrase watch and ward, as a legal term that summarized the duties of the watchmen — to keep watch and ward off trouble. Sailors’ watches come from the same idea.

Watch began to be applied to a mechanical device in the fifteenth century, to start with to a form of clock-based alarm, either to wake the watchmen for their hours of duty or to mark the passage of the hours of a watch.

By the latter part of the following century it had started to mean what we would now call a clock-face or dial (early mechanical clocks often lacked both a dial and hands, the time being told by bells, which explains the derivation of clock from the French cloche, a bell; the first clock with a minute hand is from as late as 1475, which shows you how hard it was to make these early clocks keep reasonable time).

The first time watch is applied to a complete timekeeper, not just to an alarm bell, is in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labor’s Lost of 1588. Watches steadily became smaller in size down the centuries until they could be fitted into a pocket.

But it took until the end of the nineteenth century for them to be made small enough that they could be worn on the wrist and for the term wrist watch to be created as a term for them. At first they were a purely female accessory. A report in a Rhode Island paper in May 1888 remarked “I was not surprised to see that nearly all the fair sex were wearing the wrist watches which are now so entirely the fashion in London, but which I believe are very little worn as yet in America.” They also became known as wristlet watches from about 1910. Men didn’t wear them much until the 1920s, the associations of effeminacy only being dispelled as a result of soldiers and airmen finding them to be useful during the First World War.

All of this got me thinking about retronyms - terms renamed after something similar but newer has come into being. Perhaps you have never given a thought to how many words came to need modifiers that they never needed in the past. For example -

Acoustic guitar

Before the invention of the solid-body electric guitar, all guitars amplified the sound of a plucked string with a resonating hollow body.

AM radio

Before the introduction of broadcast FM radio, the AM broadcast band radio was simply as radio or wireless in the UK.

Analog watch

Before the advent of the digital watch, all watches had faces and hands. After the advent of the digital watch, watches with faces and hands became known as analog watches.

Cold water faucet/tap

Before the invention of the water heater, there was only the single faucet/tap at each sink.

Conventional oven

Before the development of the microwave oven, the convection oven and the toaster oven this term was not used. Now it is commonly found in cooking instructions for prepared foods.

Film camera

As opposed to digital camera. Oh how I miss the film camera!

Manual transmission (also standard transmission)

Automotive transmissions were all manual, of course, before the invention of the automatic transmission.

Prop plane

As jet aircraft became the primary people movers of the airways, the older propeller-based technology received this occasional shorthand nickname to distinguish it.

Can you think of more? Email me. As opposed to snail mail, of course!

Proofreading

Do you think that proofreading is a dying art? If you don't, please consider the following items.


Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter


I caught this in the Waterbury Republican awhile back and called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this. It took two or three readings before the editor realized that what he was reading was impossible! They put in a correction the next day.


Over the past few months friends and family have sent me the following items -


Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says


Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers


Miners Refuse to Work after Death


Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant


If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile


Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures


Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide


Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge


Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge


New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group


Hospital Sued by 7 Foot Doctors


But the best one (Thanks Dottie) is....


Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Oxymoron Parts and Practical Jokes

When I was in the Air Force stationed at RAF Bentwaters in England I worked in the Supply Squadron. My job, however, was not listed as Supply Clerk. The Air Force always used rather extravagant language for job titles. A Supply Clerk was, instead, an Inventory Management Specialist. This worked out especially well for some career fields. A Water and Waste Sanitation Processing Specialist was the one who went around the base unclogging toilets, pumping out septic systems and generally aiding and simplifying the flow of poop to whatever final destination it had.

The Air Force instructors that we had in both Basic Training and Tech School always told us that the career path we chose would also prove beneficial in civilian life. It certainly did in my life and in the lives of many of my friends. However, I have always found it rather curious how many of those Water and Waste Sanitation Processing Specialists went on to such lucrative careers in Washington, D.C.

The Air Force was also a great place to hone other skills. Practical joking, for example. One of the many jobs available to an Inventory Management Specialist was to work in Demand Processing taking calls from various squadrons around the base for parts they required to perform their duties and then processing those orders via computer to various warehouses for shipment to the appropriate squadron. This included aircraft parts for the fighter squadrons, vehicle parts for the Motor Pool and even kitchen parts for the Mess Hall.

When a new airman came to the base and started working there were certain initiation rites that he would experience. One of those rites would be to make a prank call or two to the new guy with phony parts orders. Most were easy enough to pick out as gags - the large cheese pizza to the Wing Commander, for example. But there were also some very well done calls. The new guy (often called a "Jeep" for reasons I have not yet figured out) would get calls ordering rather esoteric parts. Parts such as Thread-less screws (often known as nails), Bags of steam, Gallons of Dehydrated Water, Left-handed Hammers, Shelf Stretchers, Muffler Bearings, or Piston Return Springs for the Motor Pool, Skyhooks - Low Cloud Type, Bubbles for Levels, Jars of Elbow Grease or 55 Gallon Drums of Jet Wash or Prop Wash (depending on the type of aircraft that needed it).

Probably the best call ever done at Bentwaters was taken by a fellow from Alabama on his first day of duty. "Joe" took a call and heard a panic-stricken voice on the other end yelling that F-4, tail number 640901 (parts were always ordered for a specific aircraft) was headed in with no brakes and a landing gear that would not lock down. It was Priority 1 that 1,000 feet of "Runway, Concrete, With White Median Line" be issued and delivered to the north end of the runway ASAP. "Joe" immediately took to the task but panicked when he could not find "Runway, Concrete, With White Median Line" listed in the computer. He bolted from his chair and burst into his supervisor's office. To his credit, the super went along with the gag and sent "Joe" into see the Supplies Management Officer. Captain "X" also had a great laugh and I have never seen a redder face than that sported by "Joe" that day.

Gobbledegook Is Alive and Well

One man's gobbledegook is another's plain speaking.

At the top of this blog I placed the quote - "Many wise words are spoken in jest, but they don't compare with the number of stupid words spoken in earnest."

Consider the following...

The Plain English Campaign is a British pressure group that lobbies for public information to be presented in clear, straightforward language. It has a website that I stumbled across the other day.


Plain English Campaign



The home page states - "Since 1979, we have been campaigning against gobbledygook, jargon and misleading public information. We have helped many government departments and other official organisations with their documents, reports and publications. We believe that everyone should have access to clear and concise information. We have over 12,000 members in 80 countries and our Crystal Mark is now firmly established as a guarantee that a document is written in plain English. It appears on more than 18,300 documents."

But they also give annual awards. These include The Golden Bull Award and The Foot In Mouth Award. Here is a sampling of some of the "winners"from 2008.

The Golden Bull -

* HM Revenue and Customs for a letter to a customer

‘Thank you for your Tax Returns ended 5th April 2006 & 2007 which we received on 20th December. I will treat your Tax Return for all purposes as though you sent it in response to a notice from us which required you to deliver it to us by the day we received it.’

* VCA Midlands Centre for a letter

‘The requirement on each member State under Article 2 of the Directive to minimise the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to achieve a high level of collection of WEEE for treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal.’


The Foot In Mouth Award -

Bush leaves White House with Lifetime Achievement Award from Plain English Campaign

This award, which we first gave in 1993, is for a baffling comment by a public figure. Departing US President George W Bush does not leave the White House empty handed. We have awarded him a Foot in Mouth Lifetime Achievement Award for his services to gobbledygook.

“I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe – I believe what I believe is right.” (Rome, July 22, 2001)

The above has a similar ring to one of the previous Foot in Mouth winners, a fellow Statesman, Donald Rumsfeld, with his ‘known knowns’. But it could be said that President Bush made Foot in Mouth his very own, covering a wide range of subjects including clear communications.

“I hope you leave here and walk out and say, ‘what did he say?’” (Beaverton, Oregon August 13 2004)

Plain English Campaign believes that President Bush captures the spirit of every true gobbledygooker when he says, surprisingly plainly,

“Let me put it to you bluntly. In a changing world, we want more people to have control over your own life” (Annandale, Va August 9 2004)


But perhaps the classic example of goobledegook comes from -


US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for this back in 2003: “Reports that say something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know”. John Lister, the spokesman for the campaign, said: “We think we know what he means. But we don’t know if we really know”.

In the days since, journalists and academics have queued up to assert that Donald Rumsfeld was talking sense, moreover sense expressed in the simplest and plainest words available, ones that the Plain English Campaign should be applauding, not criticising. The trouble is, Mr Rumsfeld’s statement needs work to appreciate, because he’s talking philosophy. (You might argue that he left out one category, that of unknown knowns — things we know, but we don’t know that we know — but that’s perhaps a comment better reserved for a seminar on metacognition.)


It would seem that the PEC has put its own foot in its own mouth...

Just Fiddling Around

Recently I wrote a post on Toponyms. If you recall, the study of unusual place names is called Toponymy.


Fiddler’s Green was for many years just a name of a street in a town I once visited. Years later, I became acquainted with a folk group known as the Friends of Fiddler’s Green. The name bugged me for a few nights recently so I did an Internet search which revealed that for sailors, (and apparently, some cavalrymen) Fiddler’s Green was heaven — as in the sweet by-and-by. It is sailor’s heaven, the place where all good seafarers go, a paradise or Elysium where unlimited supplies of rum, women and tobacco are provided. Unlike Davy Jones’ Locker, the final resting place of sailors lost at sea, it is on land, the place where sailors go who die ashore. Its origins are rather obscure.

What I did find is that the term appears fully formed near the start of the nineteenth century. There’s an association behind it, I would guess, that is now lost to us, perhaps from a song that refers to a real English village green with a fiddler playing. As well as British sailors, the US Army has long claimed it. A famous ballad of the US Cavalry begins:

Halfway down the road to hell,
In a shady meadow green,
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddler's Green.

The author is unknown. It was first published in a US Cavalry Manual in 1923, but could possibly be a century older; I have no idea whether this is the original, or whether the author was drawing on something even older. I would guess the latter, for otherwise we have no way of explaining how by the 1830s it was so firmly set in British maritime usage. It looks as though both traditions are drawing on a common eighteenth century source, but I have to tell you that I have no idea what it is.

But, at least now I know where Fiddler's Green is and where the name came from.

Where The Heck Are We?

I was looking around on Ref Desk this morning when I found this tidbit - FACT OF THE DAY: In 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names declared that all city names ending in "burgh" should drop the final "h." But in 1911, after protests from citizens, the board said Pittsburgh, Pa., could keep the extra letter.

Was there really a government agency devoted to this stuff? I looked around and found U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

Why am I not shocked?

Then I decided to look around for some strange place names in the US. Among the many I found were these -


Unalaska, Alaska

Why, Arizona

Dunmovin, California

Yreka Zzyzx, California

No Name, Colorado

Weeki Wachee, Weewahitchka and Yeehaw Junction, Florida

Idaho Beer Bottle Crossing, Georgia

Diagonal, Iowa

Cuba, Denmark, Holland, Rome and Zurich Kansas

Typo, Kentucky ( I know MANY people from there!)

Ware, Massachusetts (I'm from Ware?)

Hot Coffee and Coffeeville, Mississippi (Bur I could not find a Decaf anywhere!)

Frankenstein, Missouri

Cat Elbow Corner, New York

Cookietown, Oklahoma

Potato Creek and Pringle, South Dakota

Vermont Bread Loaf, Utah

Imalone, Wisconsin

And here I thought I was starnge by living in Lake Nuncansee, CT.

I Found This Quite Amoosing

From The Telegraph


Moo-Arr! Westcountry cows moo in farmers' accents!

* Monday, 21 August 2006

There is something strange afoot in the country. Farmers in the West have noticed a distinctive Somerset twang to their herd’s mooing. Members of the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers group believe their own regional accent has influenced their cows’ pitch and tone so they now moo with an ‘oo-arr!’

The farmers couldn’t believe their ears at first, but it seems they are right to believe that the combination of their distinctive Somerset accent and the importance they place on spending quality time with their cows has led to this strange phenomena.

John Wells, Professor of Phonetics at the University College London, says: “This phenomenon is well attested in birds. You find distinct chirping accents in the same species around the country. This could also be true of cows. In small populations such as herds you would encounter identifiable dialectical variations which are most affected by the immediate peer group.”

In the winter the West Country cows are wrapped up in cow coats and they are played classical music to help them relax whilst being milked. These little perks help to create the perfect environment which ensures handmade West Country Farmhouse Cheddar is the best in the country.

West Country Farmhouse cheesemaker Lloyd Green of Glastonbury explains: “I spend a lot of time with my Friesians and they definitely moo with a Somerset drawl. I’ve spoken to the other farmers in the West Country group and they have noticed a similar development in their own herds. I think it works the same as with dogs - the closer a farmer’s bond is with his animals, the easier it is for them to pick up his accent.”

The group has also noted similar accent shifts in Midlands, Essex, Norfolk and Lancashire moos.

Dr Jeanine Treffers-Daller, Reader in Linguistics at the University of the West England, says: “When we are learning to speak we adopt a local variety of language spoken by our parents so the same could be said about the variation in the West Country cow moo. Standard English can often sound too posh for some people so we reject that in favour of a local accent which is often associated with fun nights out with our friends or, in this case, chewing the cud!




Mr. Wallace would have loved it!

"Serve The Port, Man! Doh!"

A "Portmanteau word" is a phrase used to describe a linguistic blend, namely "a word formed by blending sounds from two or more distinct words and combining their meanings."

Such a definition of "portmanteau word" overlaps with the grammatical term contraction, and linguists avoid using the former term in such cases. As an example: the words do + not become the contraction don't, a single word that represents the meaning of the combined words.

A distinction can be made between the two by noting that contractions can only be formed with two words that would otherwise appear in sequence within the sentence, whereas a "Portmanteau word" is typically formed by combining two or more existing words that all relate to a singular concept which the new portmanteau is meant to describe. An example being the well-known portmanteau word "Spanglish", referring to speaking a mix of both Spanish and English at the same time.

According to the The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the word portmanteau comes from French porter, to carry + manteau, cloak (from Old French mantel, from Latin mantellum).

Many neologisms are examples of blends, but many blends have become part of the lexicon. In Punch in 1896, the word brunch (breakfast + lunch) was introduced as a "portmanteau word." In 1964, the newly independent African republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar chose the portmanteau word Tanzania as its name. A spork is an eating utensil that is a combination of a spoon and fork.

Here are a few portmanteau words we all know...


Brunch = breakfast + lunch

Camcorder = camera + recorder

Chortle = chuckle + snort

Guestimate= guess + estimate

Heliport + helicopter + airport

Laundromat = laundry + automat

Motel= motor + hotel

Motorcade= motorcar + cavalcade

Newscast = news + broadcast

Oxbridge = Oxford + Cambridge

Paratroop = parachute + troop

Sci-Fi= science + fiction

Telecast= television + broadcast

Televangelist= television + evangelist


and a few more I "came across"...


antediluviantiquated = antediluvian + antiquated

arcticy = arctic + icy

babblecture = babble + lecture

ballyhoopla = ballyhoo + hoopla

blurbanize = blur + urbanize

breezephyr = breeze + zephyr

clapplause = clap + applause

depicture = depict + picture

drumble = drum + rumble

flashowy = flash + showy

fundertaking = fun + undertaking

gooze = goo + ooze

gyrateeter = gyrate + teeter

headministrator = head + administrator

humoriginality = humor + originality

legerdemaincantation = legerdemain + incantation

longhandwriting = longhand + handwriting

outrageousurious = outrageous + usurious

penclosure = pen + enclosure

pushove = push + shove

pushuffle = push + shuffle

scramblend = scramble + blend

shoutcry = shout + outcry

sirenchantress = siren + enchantress

stoperation = stop + operation (for Congress)

stoven = stove + oven

stupidiot = stupid + idiot

swerveer = swerve + veer

taxidermistuffer = taxidermist + stuffer

whimpulse = whim + impulse

And then my wife, Judy added...

floordrobe.

She says, "This is a form of clothing storage that does not require dressers, closets, or hangers. The clothing is stored on the floor and the user simply pulls out the desired item. This could also be called a walk-on closet."

Five Words - 1

Have you ever really thought about words? Maybe it has to do with being raised by a mom that was a librarian and a dad who, when asked "What does x mean?" would always reply "Look it up!" How many of you asked for a dictionary for your birthday?

Words often express simple ideas: a tree, a rock, water, and so on. But, sometimes a word describes a more complex or beautiful idea.

Have you ever found yourself wondering, "Wouldn't it be nice if there were a word for this?" Well, there is a word for almost everything under the sun.

Here are just a few neat words I have come across in my wacky web wandering -



acnestis

PRONUNCIATION:
(AK-nist-uhs)

MEANING: noun: The part of the body where one cannot reach to scratch.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek aknestis (spine), from Ancient Greek knestis (spine, cheese-grater).


####


lucubrate

PRONUNCIATION:
(LOO-kyoo-brayt)

MEANING: verb intr.: To work (such as study, write, discourse) laboriously or learnedly.

ETYMOLOGY: Here's a word that literally encapsulates the idiom "to burn the midnight oil". It's derived from Latin lucubrare (to work by lamplight), from lucere (to shine). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leuk- (light) that's resulted in other words such as lunar, lunatic, light, lightning, lucid, illuminate, illustrate, translucent, lux, and lynx.


####


eleemosynary

PRONUNCIATION:
(el-uh-MOS-uh-ner-ee, el-ee)

MEANING: adjective: Relating to charity.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin eleemosynarius, from eleemosyna (alms), from Greek eleemosyne (pity, charity), from eleemon (pitiful), from eleos (pity).


####


wifty

PRONUNCIATION:
(WIF-tee)

MEANING: adjective: Eccentric, silly, scatterbrained.

ETYMOLOGY: Of unknown origin.


####


omphaloskepsis

PRONUNCIATION:
(om-fuh-lo-SKEP-sis)

MEANING: noun: Contemplation of one's navel.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek omphalos (navel) + skepsis (act of looking, examination).


####

In the future I'll be posting more of these words that I come across. If you have some of your own, please feel free to send them along.


Now, if you will excuse me, it is time for my daily omphaloskepsis. Or is that too wifty?



Later I want to get outside and enjoy some astronomy. Although studying the Red Planet sometimes mars my evening plans.

Enjoying The Weekends - 2

These are my other entries in the Schott's Vocab Weekend Competition.

Remember, the instructions were

Weekend Competition: Imaginary Libraries

This weekend, co-vocabularists are invited to stack the shelves of imaginary libraries based upon themes of their choosing.

The libraries can hold books, music or movies, and may be ordered according to any taxonomical whimsy.

For example:

— Books
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; A Tale of Two Cities; The Three Musketeers …
The Sun Also Rises; The Glimpses of the Moon; Delta of Venus …
The Story of O; Dial M for Murder; A Void …

Here are the rest of my thoughts over the weekend…...


Where I went on my summer vacation…


The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Mercury in Retrograde: A Novel by Paula Froelich

The Forgery of Venus: A Novel by Michael Gruber

The Pillars of the Earth: by Ken Follett

Postcards from Mars: by Jim Bell

Dreaming of Jupiter: by Ted Simon

Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross

Zombie Bums from Uranus by Andy Griffiths

When Kambia Elaine Flew In From Neptune by Lori Aurelia Williams

Breakfast on Pluto: A Novel by Patrick Mccabe

Distant Wanderers: The Search for Planets Beyond the Solar System by Bruce Dorminey

Heart of the Comet by Gregory Benford, Bob Eggleton, and David Brin

Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson


####


Books to read while waiting for tonight’s World Series game…


A Yankee Girl at Fort Sumter by Alice Turner Curtis

Red Socks Don’t Work by Kenneth J. Karpinski

Next Spring an Oriole (A Stepping Stone Book) by Gloria Whelan

Rays of the Dawn : Natural Laws of the Body, Mind and Soul by Dr. Thurman Fleet

Bluejay in the Desert by Isao Kikuchi

Tigers In The Snow by Peter Matthiessen and Maurice Hornocker

White Socks Only by Evelyn Coleman and Tyrone Geter

Indians in Unexpected Places by Philip J. Deloria

Twinspiration by Cheryl Lage

Angels in My Hair by Lorna Byrne

The Ranger’s Apprentice Collection by John Flanagan

Mariner’s Compass Stars: 9 Easy Quilt Projects by Carol Doak

Athletics Growth & Development by BLANKSBY

Broken Seas: True Tales of Extraordinary Seafaring Adventures by Marlin Bree

Philly Stakes by Gillian Roberts

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

National Suicide by Martin L. Gross

Pirates Don’t Change Diapers by Melinda Long and David Shannon

The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy

Ultimate Cub Scout Sticker Book by DK Publishing

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Seventeenth Edition by John Ayto

The Seas of Doom (Astrosaurs) by Steve Cole and Woody Fox

The Red Tent: A Novel by Anita Diamant

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Cultographies) by Jeffrey Weinstock

Dodger and Me by Jordan Sonnenblick

Giants of the Frost by Kim Wilkins

Padre Pio: The True Story by Bernard C. Ruffin

Diamondback Cave by K.L. Fogg


####


Chess anyone?


Pawn of the Omphalos by E. C. Tubb
The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino
Murder at Red Rook Ranch by Dorothy Tell
The Bishop Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine
The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustaveli
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco
The King Must Die by Mary Renault


####


My final contribution was easy as PI

THREE Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
POINT Blank (FBI Thriller) by Catherine Coulter
ONE Second After by William R. Forstchen
The FOUR Loves by C.S. Lewis
ONE for the Money by Janet Evanovich
The FIVE People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
NINE by Andrzej Stasiuk and Bill Johnston
TWO-way Street by Lauren Barnholdt
SIX Suspects: A Novel by Vikas Swarup
The FIVE Love Languages by Gary Chapman
THREE Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg
FIVE Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly
EIGHT Men Out by Eliot Asinof and Stephen Jay Gould
NINE Dragons by Michael Connelly
SEVEN Days of Rage by Paul LaRosa and Maria Cramer
NINE Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
THREE Feet from Gold by Sharon L. Lechter
TWO Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, John Seelye, and Wes Davis
THREE by Ted Dekker
EIGHT Cousins, Or, The Aunt-Hill by Louisa May Alcott
FOUR-Star Desserts by Emily Luchetti

Enjoying The Weekends

As I mentioned in a previous post, I enjoy visiting Schott's Vocab. The weekend competitions there are always fun. Last weekend the competition was announced as -

Weekend Competition: Imaginary Libraries

This weekend, co-vocabularists are invited to stack the shelves of imaginary libraries based upon themes of their choosing.

The libraries can hold books, music or movies, and may be ordered according to any taxonomical whimsy.

For example:

— Books
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; A Tale of Two Cities; The Three Musketeers …
The Sun Also Rises; The Glimpses of the Moon; Delta of Venus …
The Story of O; Dial M for Murder; A Void …

With that in mind I had to write a few entries. One of them was this offering -

From A Meteorologist’s Libray Shelf

The PARTLY CLOUDY Patriot by Sarah Vowell
WITH the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge
A CHANCE Encounter by Mary Balogh
OF Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Sun and Moon, ICE AND SNOW by Jessica Day George
TEMPURATURES RISING by Sandra Brown
INTO Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
THE THIRTIES In Vogue by Carolyn. Hall
BY NIGHT. in Chile by Roberto Bolano and Chris Andrews
MOSTLY Harmless by Douglas Adams
CLEAR AND Present Danger by Tom Clancy
SUNNY Side Up by Marion Roberts
TOMORROW : Adventures in an Uncertain World by Bradley Trevor Greive
WITH the Lightnings by David Drake
Strangers on a Train by Patricia HIGHSmith
IN THE Woods by Tana French
FORTIES. Fashion: From Siren Suits to the New Look by Jonathan Walford
THERE IS a River: A Novel by Charlotte Miller
VIRTUALLY Hers by Gennita Low
NO CHANCE by Christy Reece
FOR the Love of Autumn by Patricia Polacco
PRECIPITATION: Theory, Measurement and Distribution by Ian Strangeways
FOR A FEW Demons More by Kim Harrison
DAYS AND NIGHTS. by Konstantine Simonov


and this one in memory of a great cat -

When our cat named Zero passed away a few years ago we had to sort through her belongings. This, of course, included her library. We found -

Cat is Watching by Roger A. Caras

A Cat on the Cutting Edge by Lydia Adamson

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

A Cat on a Beach Blanket by Lydia Adamson

Why Cats Don’t Bark by Edie Raether

Crazy Cat People: Through Feline Eyes by Skot Jonz and Carlos Sandoval

The Cat Bible: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know by Tracie Hotchner

When Cats Reigned Like Kings: On the Trail of the Sacred Cats by Georgie Anne Geyer

Cats to the Rescue: True Tales of Heroic Felines by Marilyn Singer and Jean Cassels

The Cat Who Saw Stars by Lilian Jackson Braun

Sleepwalking in Daylight by Elizabeth Flock

Permission to Nap: Taking Time to Restore Your Spirit by Jill Murphy Long

The Dream-Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Chasing Fireflies: A Novel of Discovery by Charles Martin

Zen Cat by Judith Adler and Paul Coughlin

Felinestein: Pampering the Genius in Your Cat by Cindy Ribarich and Suzanne Delzio

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife

The Best Cat Ever by Cleveland Amory

Ghost Cats: Human Encounters with Feline Spirits by Dusty Rainbolt

PS - Buried in the litter box we found - Outwitting Cats: Tips, Tricks and Techniques for Persuading the Felines in Your Life That What YOU Want Is Also What THEY Want by Wendy Christensen

But I was worried that folks may not be able to find the competition so I sang the following -

Directions To The Weekend Competition

Start from -

“Abbey Road” by The Beatles

and proceed south until you are

“Down on the Corner” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Turn right and head

“Up Around the Bend” by Creedence Clearwater Revival

“Under American Skies” by Tom Paxton & Anne Hills.

(It is best if this is done

“While You Are Alive” by Cantus)

Turn left and drive to the

“North Country” - Music From The Motion Picture by Gustavo Santaolalla.

Go past “Maggie’s Farm” by Bob Dylan

and do not go down “Desolation Row” by Bob Dylan

Soon you will arrive at

“The Ocean Blue” by The Ocean Blue.

Turn right and take the

“Roundabout” by Yes.

Ride around until thoroughly

“Dizzy on the French Riviera” by Dizzy Gillespie.

Proceed until you reach the

“South Pacific” by Richard Rodgers.

There you will find

“Words for You” by Various Artists.

“Enjoy the Silence” by Depeche Mode

as you sit at your computer

“Thinking It Over” by Liberty X.

You have

“Finally Woken” by Jem

and can finally

“Write the Vision” by Sharon Nesbitt.

Hopefully our buddy Ben will not find the

“Time To Write You Out” by Stories & Comets.

Sit down and enjoy! But remember -

“It Takes All Kinds” by Shed Theory!

Great fun!

Of Elephants and Castles - 2

Back on July 28 I posted a story about the Elephant and Castle pub and the publican there - Mr. Les Wallace. If you have not read that post, please do! I mentioned how we would occasionally get into discussions on language and the many differences between British and American English.

One wonderful night a question came up.

Why do they call it the loo?

(It's going to be hard to write this one without resorting to all sorts of unclever puns that were flushed out of the language that night, but I'm going to do my best.)


Mr. Wallace mentioned that he had heard the reason that the English "loo" is so named is because the toilet was commonly located in room 100 of buildings and the two ("loo" and "100") look very much the same. But he did not buy into this explanation.

He seemed to think that it could be a British mispronunciation of the French le lieu, "the place", a euphemism. He felt, however, that "the place" was a LOOse translation.

Mrs. Wallace came in and joined the conversation. She said that she had been told as a child that it derives from the term "gardyloo" (a corruption of the French phrase gardez l'eau (or maybe: Garde de l'eau!) loosely translated as "watch out for the water!") which was used in medieval times when chamber pots were emptied from a window onto the street.

A few of the other patrons chimed in with their thoughts.

Maybe loo is short for bordalou, "a portable commode carried by eighteenth century ladies". Or perhaps it comes from the French lieux d'aisances, literally "places of ease", once also an English euphemism, which could have been picked up by British servicemen in World War One.

Two of the stranger explanations were -

The word comes from nautical terminology, loo being an old-fashioned word for lee. The standard nautical pronunciation (in British English) of leeward is looward. Early ships were not fitted with toilets but the crew would relieve themselves over the side of the vessel. However it was important to use the leeward side. Using the windward side would result in the stuff being blown back on board.

and

It's short for "Lady Louisa," Louisa being the unpopular wife of a 19th-century earl of Lichfield. In 1867 while the couple was visiting friends, two young wiseacres took the namecard off her bedroom door and stuck it on the door of the bathroom. The other guests thereafter began jocularly speaking of "going to Lady Louisa." In shortened form this eventually spread to the masses.

One gent related his deep appreciation for the artist Two Loos Lautrec. This after four pints of Worthington "E".

The best point of the night came from Mr. Wallace. He pointed out the I, as a member of the military, should understand rank. He asked me to pronounce "l-i-e-u-t-e-n-a-n-t". I replied that it was not as the British pronounced it - LEFtenant - but as we Americans pronounced it - LOO tenant- and Mr. Wallace just smiled.

"To me, a LOO tenant is simply the tenant of a loo. One who resides in a loo".

That called for one final pint of Guinness.

As I left that night Mr Wallace smiled again and said, "Don't lose your way back to base. Toodle-loo Hoppy. Remember, even the Queen has to sit on the throne sometimes".

Would the last to leave please ring the bell?