Today is the anniversary of the publication of one of the most popular of all American poems. Casey at the Bat was first published in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888. The author of poem was Ernest L. Thayer, a college friend of Examiner editor William Randoph Hearst. Thayer had worked with Hearst in college as a member of the staff of the Harvard Lampoon. When the poem was published it did not have Thayer's name; instead, his Lampoon nickname "Phin" was used. This lead to future disputes about the actual author of the poem.
While Thayer was certainly the writer, another man should probably be given credit for popularizing the poem. The actor William De Wolf Hopper first performed the poem to an audience that included members of the New York and Chicago baseball clubs in August 1888. Hopper's recitation was met with enthusiastic reviews, and he continued to share "Casey" with audiences around the country until it became not just America's favorite poem about baseball, but one of America's favorite poems period.
CASEY AT THE BAT
The Outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair.
The rest Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -
We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.
But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.
Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.
From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And its likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.
With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."
"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.
The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.
--Ernest L. Thayer
Today's Challenge: Step Up to Bat and Recite!
Read through "Casey at the Bat"; then, get a group of people together to do a reader's theater rendition of the poem. Get everyone involved in sharing the narrative of Casey and his hubris as he steps up to the plate, certain that he will bring victory to Mudville. Have the kids recite it before a baseball game or at a family picnic.
Quote of the Day: If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base. --Dave Berry
Monday, June 03, 2013
Sunday, June 02, 2013
June 2: D-Day Crossword Puzzle Day
Today is the anniversary of the publication of a crossword puzzle that might have altered the outcome of World War II. In the spring of 1944 plans were being drawn up for the Allied invasion of France. This highly secretive plan was dubbed Operation Overlord by Winston Churchill, and the invasion was set for June 5, 1944 by the commander of the operation General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The element of surprise was vital for the success of the invasion, but in May of 1944, British intelligence officers discovered that one of the Daily Telegraph’s crossword puzzles contained two important code names for the beaches of Normandy: Utah and Omaha.
The military became even more concerned when on June 2, 1944, three days before the planned invasion, a crossword puzzle appeared with the name Overlord and Neptune – Neptune was the name of the secret naval operations plan. The author of the puzzle, a schoolmaster by the name of Leonard Dawe, was arrested and questioned. Investigators where unable, however, to determine any explanation, besides coincidence, for the presence of the words in the puzzle.
Forty years after D-Day the mystery was finally solved when National Geographic discovered that one of Leonard Dawe’s pupils had been eavesdropping on the conversations of Allied soldiers and had noted the words, not for malicious reasons, but simply because he thought the words were odd enough to work well in his teacher’s crossword puzzles (1).
Today’s Challenge: Not Quite Crosswords
Given a clue and the number of letters, try to determine the words in the ten problems below. For example: "Presidential Plant – 4 letters" would be Bush; "Presidential Car – 4 letters" would be Ford.
1. French Dressing - 5 letters
2. Musical Bikini – 7 letters
3. Crazy Bunch – 7 letters
4. "I found a palindrome!" – 3 letters
5. Silent Staple – 9 letters
6. Storm or Drain – 5 letters
7. Fruity Gossip – 9 letters
8. Peanut’s Gallery – 6 letters
9. King’s Peril – 9 letters
10. Month that Inspires Awe – 6 letters
Quote of the Day: Egotism, n: Doing the New York Times crossword puzzle with a pen. --Ambrose Bierce
Answers: 1. beret 2. G-string 3. bananas 4. aha 5. paperclip 6. brain 7. grapevine 8. comics 9. checkmate 19. August
1 – National Geographic http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0206/feature1/
The element of surprise was vital for the success of the invasion, but in May of 1944, British intelligence officers discovered that one of the Daily Telegraph’s crossword puzzles contained two important code names for the beaches of Normandy: Utah and Omaha.
The military became even more concerned when on June 2, 1944, three days before the planned invasion, a crossword puzzle appeared with the name Overlord and Neptune – Neptune was the name of the secret naval operations plan. The author of the puzzle, a schoolmaster by the name of Leonard Dawe, was arrested and questioned. Investigators where unable, however, to determine any explanation, besides coincidence, for the presence of the words in the puzzle.
Forty years after D-Day the mystery was finally solved when National Geographic discovered that one of Leonard Dawe’s pupils had been eavesdropping on the conversations of Allied soldiers and had noted the words, not for malicious reasons, but simply because he thought the words were odd enough to work well in his teacher’s crossword puzzles (1).
Today’s Challenge: Not Quite Crosswords
Given a clue and the number of letters, try to determine the words in the ten problems below. For example: "Presidential Plant – 4 letters" would be Bush; "Presidential Car – 4 letters" would be Ford.
1. French Dressing - 5 letters
2. Musical Bikini – 7 letters
3. Crazy Bunch – 7 letters
4. "I found a palindrome!" – 3 letters
5. Silent Staple – 9 letters
6. Storm or Drain – 5 letters
7. Fruity Gossip – 9 letters
8. Peanut’s Gallery – 6 letters
9. King’s Peril – 9 letters
10. Month that Inspires Awe – 6 letters
Quote of the Day: Egotism, n: Doing the New York Times crossword puzzle with a pen. --Ambrose Bierce
Answers: 1. beret 2. G-string 3. bananas 4. aha 5. paperclip 6. brain 7. grapevine 8. comics 9. checkmate 19. August
1 – National Geographic http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0206/feature1/
Saturday, June 01, 2013
June 1: Commencement Day
Today is the anniversary of a commencement address that really was not a commencement address. The story begins with Mary Schmich, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Chicago Tribune. On June 1, 1997 she published a column that was so insightful that it took on a life of its own.
Somehow an urban legend evolved that Schmich's words were a commencement address by author Kurt Vonnegut to the 1997 graduates of MIT. The truth is, however, Vonnegut did not present a commencement address to MIT in 1997, nor did he have anything to do with the writing of Schmich’s column.
The title of Schmich’s column was Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young, and here is an excerpt:
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself . . . .
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen (1).
The word commencement comes to English via Latin. It simply means a beginning or a start. This probably explains the tone of most commencement speeches, which honor the accomplishments of graduates but focus primarily on what is to come in the real world. As a result, most commencement addresses are full of advice.
Today’s Challenge: Commence with the Advice
What advice would you give to graduates? Imagine that have been asked to dispense commencement advice to a crowd of high school or college graduates. What advice would you give them? As you write, select your verbs carefully. Good advice hinges on vivid, precise verbs.
Quote of the Day: I have two last pieces of advice. First, being pre-approved for a credit card does not mean you have to apply for it. And lastly, the best career advice I can give you is to get your own TV show. It pays well, the hours are good, and you are famous. And eventually some very nice people will give you a doctorate in fine arts for doing jack squat.
--Stephen Colbert, 2006 Knox College Commencement Address
1- Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-970601sunscreen,0,4664776.column
Somehow an urban legend evolved that Schmich's words were a commencement address by author Kurt Vonnegut to the 1997 graduates of MIT. The truth is, however, Vonnegut did not present a commencement address to MIT in 1997, nor did he have anything to do with the writing of Schmich’s column.
The title of Schmich’s column was Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young, and here is an excerpt:
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself . . . .
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen (1).
The word commencement comes to English via Latin. It simply means a beginning or a start. This probably explains the tone of most commencement speeches, which honor the accomplishments of graduates but focus primarily on what is to come in the real world. As a result, most commencement addresses are full of advice.
Today’s Challenge: Commence with the Advice
What advice would you give to graduates? Imagine that have been asked to dispense commencement advice to a crowd of high school or college graduates. What advice would you give them? As you write, select your verbs carefully. Good advice hinges on vivid, precise verbs.
Quote of the Day: I have two last pieces of advice. First, being pre-approved for a credit card does not mean you have to apply for it. And lastly, the best career advice I can give you is to get your own TV show. It pays well, the hours are good, and you are famous. And eventually some very nice people will give you a doctorate in fine arts for doing jack squat.
--Stephen Colbert, 2006 Knox College Commencement Address
1- Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-970601sunscreen,0,4664776.column
Friday, May 31, 2013
May 31: Barbaric Yawp Day
One of the great contributions that Whitman made to poetry was his experimentation with free verse. Without regular meter or rhyme, free verse combines rhythm, repetition, and parallelism to create music for the reader’s ears. Whitman’s verses with their optimistic, robust tones, celebrated the individual, painted images of democratic America, and reveled in the colloquial language of its common people.
Characteristic of his break with traditional verse, Whitman begins his epic Leaves of Grass with no mention or invocation of a muse; instead, he audaciously focuses on himself:
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
Who can forget the scene in the movie Dead Poet’s Society, where Mr. Keating, played by Robin Williams, writes one of Whitman’s lines on the blackboard to inspire his students to leave self-consciousness behind and embrace their individual creativity?
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
Whitman died in 1892, but his poetry lived on, inspiring the unique voices of American poets of the 20th century.
Today’s Challenge: Famous First Lines
Below are the first lines of some of the best known American poems. Read each line and see if you can identify the poet.
1. O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
2. There is no frigate like a book.
3. Whose woods these are I think I know.
4. What happens to a dream deferred?
5. So much depends
6. The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day,
7. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
8. By the shore of Gitchie Gumee,
9. Hog butcher for the world,
Quote of the Day: Language is not an abstract construction of the learned or of dictionary makers, but something arising out of the work, needs, joys, tears, affections, tastes of long generations of humanity, and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground. --Walt Whitman
Answers: 1. Walt Whitman 2. Emily Dickinson 3. Robert Frost 4. Langston Hughes 5. William Carlos Williams 6. Ernest L. Thayer 7. Edgar Allen Poe 8. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 9. Carl Sandburg
Thursday, May 30, 2013
May 30: Mnemonic Day
Today is the anniversary of the celebration of the first Memorial Day in 1868. American General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, proclaimed May 30th a day "designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land."
It wasn’t until after World War I that the holiday became a national day, honoring not just the Civil War dead, but also those who served in any war.
On this day of remembrance a few mnemonic devices might be helpful. No, you can’t buy them in stores. A mnemonic device is a method of remembering something that is difficult to remember by remembering something that is easy to remember.
The word mnemonic is from the Greek goddess of memory and mother of the Muses, Mnemosyne.
In his book WASPLEG and Other Mnemonics, Bart Benne catalogs hundreds of mnemonic devices. To make things easy to remember, these mnemonic devices use different methods such as rhyme, acrostics, or acronyms. Another method is the nonsense sentence made up from the initial letters of what it is you are trying to remember. Here’s an example of a sentence that was created to remember the most important battles of Julius Caesar’s career:
Is Perpetual Zeal The Means?
I Ilerda
P Pharsalus
Z Zeta
T Thapsus
M Munda
Generations of school children have used the rhyme from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" to remember the start date of the American Revolution:
Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
Rhyming couplets are helpful in remembering key dates in English history:
William the Conqueror, Ten Sixty-Six
Played on the Saxons oft-cruel tricks.
The Spanish Armada met its fate
In Fifteen Hundred and Eighty-Eight
The acronym "BIGOT" helps in remembering the Marine campaigns in the Pacific in World War II:
Bougainville
Iwo Jima
Guadalcanal
Okinawa
Tarawa
Another mnemonic device helps both soldiers and civilians remember the order of the major rank structures in the U.S. Army from lowest to highest ranking.
Privates Can’t Salute Without Learning Correct Military Command Grades:
Private,
Corporal,
Sergeant,
Warrant Officer,
Lieutenant,
Captain,
Major,
Colonel,
and General (2).
Today’s Challenge: Rhyme, Acrostics, and Acronyms Oh My!
Think of something you need to remember, or something that everyone should remember, and create your own mnemonic device.
Quote of the Day: Many a man fails as an original thinker simply because his memory is too good. --Friedrich Nietzsche
Sources:
1 - http://www.usmemorialday.org/order11.html
2 - Benne, Bart. WASPLEG and Other Mnemonics. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1988.
It wasn’t until after World War I that the holiday became a national day, honoring not just the Civil War dead, but also those who served in any war.
On this day of remembrance a few mnemonic devices might be helpful. No, you can’t buy them in stores. A mnemonic device is a method of remembering something that is difficult to remember by remembering something that is easy to remember.
The word mnemonic is from the Greek goddess of memory and mother of the Muses, Mnemosyne.
In his book WASPLEG and Other Mnemonics, Bart Benne catalogs hundreds of mnemonic devices. To make things easy to remember, these mnemonic devices use different methods such as rhyme, acrostics, or acronyms. Another method is the nonsense sentence made up from the initial letters of what it is you are trying to remember. Here’s an example of a sentence that was created to remember the most important battles of Julius Caesar’s career:
Is Perpetual Zeal The Means?
I Ilerda
P Pharsalus
Z Zeta
T Thapsus
M Munda
Generations of school children have used the rhyme from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" to remember the start date of the American Revolution:
Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
Rhyming couplets are helpful in remembering key dates in English history:
William the Conqueror, Ten Sixty-Six
Played on the Saxons oft-cruel tricks.
The Spanish Armada met its fate
In Fifteen Hundred and Eighty-Eight
The acronym "BIGOT" helps in remembering the Marine campaigns in the Pacific in World War II:
Bougainville
Iwo Jima
Guadalcanal
Okinawa
Tarawa
Another mnemonic device helps both soldiers and civilians remember the order of the major rank structures in the U.S. Army from lowest to highest ranking.
Privates Can’t Salute Without Learning Correct Military Command Grades:
Private,
Corporal,
Sergeant,
Warrant Officer,
Lieutenant,
Captain,
Major,
Colonel,
and General (2).
Today’s Challenge: Rhyme, Acrostics, and Acronyms Oh My!
Think of something you need to remember, or something that everyone should remember, and create your own mnemonic device.
Quote of the Day: Many a man fails as an original thinker simply because his memory is too good. --Friedrich Nietzsche
Sources:
1 - http://www.usmemorialday.org/order11.html
2 - Benne, Bart. WASPLEG and Other Mnemonics. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1988.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
May 29: Words for Words Day
On this date in 1997, 13 year-old Rebecca Sealfon of Brooklyn, New
York won the National Spelling Bee. The winning word was euonym, which means “a name well suited to the person, place, or thing
named.”
The Greek suffix –onym meaning “name or word” is found in many words that identify categories of words. In short, these words ending in –onym are “words for words.”
Acronym: Words made up of the initials of other words, such as NASA or SCUBA.
Antonym: Words with the opposite meaning, such as love and hate.
Capitonym: Words that change pronunciation and meaning when capitalized, such as august or nice.
Contronym: Words that are their own antonyms, such as bolt or weather.
Eponym: Words derived from proper names, such as quixotic, which derived from the literary character Don Quixote.
Heteronym: Words that are spelled the same but have different meanings and pronunciations, such as produce and entrance.
Pseudonym: A pen name, such as Mark Twain for Samuel Clemens.
Retronym: An adjective-noun pairing that evolves because of a change in the noun's meaning, such as acoustic guitar. The adjective acoustic became necessary with the development of the electric guitar.
Synonym: Words with same, or nearly the same, meaning, such as buy and purchase.
Today's Challenge: You don't need the suffix -onym to categorize words. Grab a dictionary and create your own categorized word lists. For inspiration, visit My Vocabulary.com, which has nearly 500 word lists.
Quote of the Day: A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.
-Baltasar Gracian
The Greek suffix –onym meaning “name or word” is found in many words that identify categories of words. In short, these words ending in –onym are “words for words.”
Acronym: Words made up of the initials of other words, such as NASA or SCUBA.
Antonym: Words with the opposite meaning, such as love and hate.
Capitonym: Words that change pronunciation and meaning when capitalized, such as august or nice.
Contronym: Words that are their own antonyms, such as bolt or weather.
Eponym: Words derived from proper names, such as quixotic, which derived from the literary character Don Quixote.
Heteronym: Words that are spelled the same but have different meanings and pronunciations, such as produce and entrance.
Pseudonym: A pen name, such as Mark Twain for Samuel Clemens.
Retronym: An adjective-noun pairing that evolves because of a change in the noun's meaning, such as acoustic guitar. The adjective acoustic became necessary with the development of the electric guitar.
Synonym: Words with same, or nearly the same, meaning, such as buy and purchase.
Today's Challenge: You don't need the suffix -onym to categorize words. Grab a dictionary and create your own categorized word lists. For inspiration, visit My Vocabulary.com, which has nearly 500 word lists.
Quote of the Day: A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.
-Baltasar Gracian
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Persuasion Points 4
Which is better?
A. I’ve done it! I’m on the moon’s surface! Boo-yah!
B. That’s one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.
Sentence B features antithesis, contrasting the ideas small/giant, man/mankind, step/leap. It is also a balanced sentence.
Assignment: Write a single balanced sentence that uses antithesis. Use the list of opposites below to generate ideas:
success/failure
intelligence/stupidity
above/below
war/peace
present/past
early/late
order/chaos
fast/slow
Example:
Live as if you were to die tomorrow; Learn as if you were to live forever.
--Mahatma Gandhi
Terms to Know: antithesis, parallelism, balanced sentence.
A. I’ve done it! I’m on the moon’s surface! Boo-yah!
B. That’s one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.
Sentence B features antithesis, contrasting the ideas small/giant, man/mankind, step/leap. It is also a balanced sentence.
Assignment: Write a single balanced sentence that uses antithesis. Use the list of opposites below to generate ideas:
success/failure
intelligence/stupidity
above/below
war/peace
present/past
early/late
order/chaos
fast/slow
Example:
Live as if you were to die tomorrow; Learn as if you were to live forever.
--Mahatma Gandhi
Terms to Know: antithesis, parallelism, balanced sentence.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Persuasion Points 3
Which sentence is better?
A. If you are not enthusiastic, you will be fired.
B. If you are not fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.
Notice how be uses zeugma: the word enthusiasm is repeated, but it means the same thing in both cases; the word "fired," is also repeated, but it means something different in each case.
Term to Know: Zeugma
A. If you are not enthusiastic, you will be fired.
B. If you are not fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.
Notice how be uses zeugma: the word enthusiasm is repeated, but it means the same thing in both cases; the word "fired," is also repeated, but it means something different in each case.
Term to Know: Zeugma
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Persuasion Points 2
Which of the three sentences is best?
A. They’re not using the technology to replace their real-world social life; they’re using technology to augment it.
B. They’re not using technology to replace their real-world social life; instead, technology is simply augmenting their social life.
C. They’re not using the technology to replace their real-world social life; they’re using technology to augment their real-world social life.
Most students pick A because it is the most clear and most concise sentence. It is and example of a balanced sentence: a sentence with two parallel independent clauses.
It is also a very effective sentence for making a counterargument. The opponent's argument is set-up in the first clause and then countered in the second clause.
Assignment: Write a balanced sentence that reveals a contrast or that makes a counterargument.
Examples:
They’re not wasting time watching football; they’re savoring time, sharing the game they love.
It’s not a tax increase; it’s a revenue enhancement.
Essential Question: How can a balanced sentence be used to make a counterargument?
Terms to know: Parallelism, balanced sentence, anaphora, counterargument
A. They’re not using the technology to replace their real-world social life; they’re using technology to augment it.
B. They’re not using technology to replace their real-world social life; instead, technology is simply augmenting their social life.
C. They’re not using the technology to replace their real-world social life; they’re using technology to augment their real-world social life.
Most students pick A because it is the most clear and most concise sentence. It is and example of a balanced sentence: a sentence with two parallel independent clauses.
It is also a very effective sentence for making a counterargument. The opponent's argument is set-up in the first clause and then countered in the second clause.
Assignment: Write a balanced sentence that reveals a contrast or that makes a counterargument.
Examples:
They’re not wasting time watching football; they’re savoring time, sharing the game they love.
It’s not a tax increase; it’s a revenue enhancement.
Essential Question: How can a balanced sentence be used to make a counterargument?
Terms to know: Parallelism, balanced sentence, anaphora, counterargument
Monday, November 15, 2010
Persuasion Points 1
11AP
What’s the difference between the two sentences below? What’s the difference?
A. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, we shall bear any burden, we shall meet any hardship, we shall support any friend, we shall oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
B. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
The first features anaphora; the second features parallelism.
Re-write Sentence B to reveal the parallel phrases:
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall:
-Pay any price,
-Bear any burden,
-Meet any hardship,
-Support any friend,
-Oppose any foe,
in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.
Assignment: Write a mission statement for a person or organization of your choice, using at least 3 parallel verbs.
Essential Question: What is the difference between parallelism and anaphora?
Terms to know: parallelism, anaphora
9th Honors:
Which of the following is best?
A. Anacortes, Washington, is a great place to live. It has beautiful forestlands. It has a small town feel. It has a low crime rate.
B. Anacortes, Washington, is a great place to live because of its beautiful forestlands, its small town feel, and its low crime rate.
Notice that sentence B states a claim, three premises in a single fluent sentence.
Assignment: Write a single sentence that states a claim and three premises.
Essentail Question: What is the difference between claim and a premise?
Terms to know: claim, premise
What’s the difference between the two sentences below? What’s the difference?
A. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, we shall bear any burden, we shall meet any hardship, we shall support any friend, we shall oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
B. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
The first features anaphora; the second features parallelism.
Re-write Sentence B to reveal the parallel phrases:
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall:
-Pay any price,
-Bear any burden,
-Meet any hardship,
-Support any friend,
-Oppose any foe,
in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.
Assignment: Write a mission statement for a person or organization of your choice, using at least 3 parallel verbs.
Essential Question: What is the difference between parallelism and anaphora?
Terms to know: parallelism, anaphora
9th Honors:
Which of the following is best?
A. Anacortes, Washington, is a great place to live. It has beautiful forestlands. It has a small town feel. It has a low crime rate.
B. Anacortes, Washington, is a great place to live because of its beautiful forestlands, its small town feel, and its low crime rate.
Notice that sentence B states a claim, three premises in a single fluent sentence.
Assignment: Write a single sentence that states a claim and three premises.
Essentail Question: What is the difference between claim and a premise?
Terms to know: claim, premise
Monday, September 13, 2010
September 13: New Words for People Day
Today is the anniversary of the appearance of a new word in a letter to the editor in The Tampa Tribune on September 13, 1995. The word is gater, meaning a person who lives in a gated community, is an example of one of many neologisms that pop up each year to describe people in new situations in the ever-changing world in which we live.
The website Word Spy, founded by Paul McFedries, searches out all kinds of new words and phrases that have appeared in print but not yet in the dictionary. McFedries site documents hundreds of the neologisms, several of which are defined beginning with: "A person who . . . ." Here are a few examples:
-mucus trooper (MYOO.kus troo.pur) n. An employee with a cold or the flu who insists on showing up for work.
-salad dodger (SAL.ud daw.jur) n. An overweight person; a person who shuns healthy foods.
-thresholder (THRESH.hohl.dur) n. A young person on the threshold of adulthood, especially one who is anxious or depressed about leaving home or taking on adult responsibilities.
-zinester (ZEEN.stur) n. A person who writes, edits, and publishes a zine; a person who reads only zines (1).
Today's Challenge: A Visit to the -er
The words below are all examples of neologisms that refer to different types of people. See if you can match up each word with the definitions below.
fleshwriter
i-dotter
woodpusher
phrasemonger
piggybacker
kipper
typosquatter
fiver
1. A person who donates five percent of their income to charity and/or spends five hours per week doing volunteer work.
2. The person for whom a ghostwriter writes a book.
3. A fastidious, detail-oriented person.
4. An adult son or daughter, particularly one aged 30 or more, who still lives with his or her parents. From kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings.
5. A person who uses phrases or quotes that were coined by other people.
6. A person who uses a wireless Internet connection without permission.
7. A chess player of limited skill.
8. A person who registers one or more Internet domain names based on the most common typographical errors that a user might commit when entering a company's registered trademark name (e.g., amazom.com) (1).
Quote of the Day: One company, Amsterdam-based www.trendwatching.com, has a global network of more than 7,000 "springspotters" who troll their own neighborhoods and report back which trends, products and behaviors are brewing. --Shawna Vanness
Answers: 1. fiver 2. fleshwriter 3. i-dotter 4. kipper 5. phrasemoner 6. piggybacker 7. woodpusher 8. typosquatter
1 - http://www.wordspy.com/
The website Word Spy, founded by Paul McFedries, searches out all kinds of new words and phrases that have appeared in print but not yet in the dictionary. McFedries site documents hundreds of the neologisms, several of which are defined beginning with: "A person who . . . ." Here are a few examples:
-mucus trooper (MYOO.kus troo.pur) n. An employee with a cold or the flu who insists on showing up for work.
-salad dodger (SAL.ud daw.jur) n. An overweight person; a person who shuns healthy foods.
-thresholder (THRESH.hohl.dur) n. A young person on the threshold of adulthood, especially one who is anxious or depressed about leaving home or taking on adult responsibilities.
-zinester (ZEEN.stur) n. A person who writes, edits, and publishes a zine; a person who reads only zines (1).
Today's Challenge: A Visit to the -er
The words below are all examples of neologisms that refer to different types of people. See if you can match up each word with the definitions below.
fleshwriter
i-dotter
woodpusher
phrasemonger
piggybacker
kipper
typosquatter
fiver
1. A person who donates five percent of their income to charity and/or spends five hours per week doing volunteer work.
2. The person for whom a ghostwriter writes a book.
3. A fastidious, detail-oriented person.
4. An adult son or daughter, particularly one aged 30 or more, who still lives with his or her parents. From kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings.
5. A person who uses phrases or quotes that were coined by other people.
6. A person who uses a wireless Internet connection without permission.
7. A chess player of limited skill.
8. A person who registers one or more Internet domain names based on the most common typographical errors that a user might commit when entering a company's registered trademark name (e.g., amazom.com) (1).
Quote of the Day: One company, Amsterdam-based www.trendwatching.com, has a global network of more than 7,000 "springspotters" who troll their own neighborhoods and report back which trends, products and behaviors are brewing. --Shawna Vanness
Answers: 1. fiver 2. fleshwriter 3. i-dotter 4. kipper 5. phrasemoner 6. piggybacker 7. woodpusher 8. typosquatter
1 - http://www.wordspy.com/
Friday, September 03, 2010
September 3: Treaty of Paris Day
Today is the anniversary of the signing of the 1783 Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War. The treaty document was signed at the Hotel de York by David Hartley -- the British Representative -- and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, representing the colonies. In what was entitled "The Definitive Treaty of Peace between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America," Britain recognized the thirteen colonies as free and independent states for the first time (1).
From the beginning of the Revolutionary War until the end, from the Declaration of Independence to the Treaty of Paris, two synonymous words were paramount in the colonists’ struggle against the British: freedom and liberty. Since the French served as midwife for American independence, it's appropriate that one of these words is of French origin: liberty, from Old French via Latin. Freedom is of Anglo-Saxon origin.
The dictionary definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary are so similar as to be practically indistinguishable:
Freedom: The condition of being free of restraints.
Liberty: The condition of being free from restriction or control.
Today's Challenge: Freedom's Just Another Name for . . . Liberty
Memorable quotes don't resonate with the reader by accident. They are crafted using stylistic devices (also known as rhetorical techniques) that make them stand out like italicized passages. The eight quotes below all refer to either freedom or liberty. Each quote also features one of the seven rhetorical techniques defined below. From the three options given for each quote, see if you can identify the most prominent rhetorical technique.
Allusion: A passing reference to a proper noun from history, the Bible, mythology, or literature.
Antithesis: Contrasting ideas used in a parallel structure in the same line or same sentence.
Irony: Saying the opposite of what is meant or expected.
Metaphor: A figurative comparison of two unrelated nouns.
Parallelism: Repetition of grammatical structures in writing.
Personification: Using human attributes to describe things.
Simile: A figurative comparison of two unrelated nouns using "like" or "as."
1. Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. --George Washington
Metaphor, Allusion, Parallelism
2. Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed -- else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. --Dwight D. Eisenhower
Irony, Allusion, Simile
3. Another thing: What has liberty done for us? Nothing in particular that I know of. What have we done for her? Everything. We've given her a home, and a good home, too. And if she knows anything, she knows it's the first time she every struck that novelty. --Mark Twain
Parallelism, Allusion, Personification
4. Liberty, n. One of Imagination's most precious possessions. --Ambrose Bierce
Irony, Allusion, Parallelism
5. We Americans are the peculiar, chosen people--the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world. --Herman Melville
Irony, Allusion, Parallelism
6. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. --Thomas Jefferson Irony, Personification, Parallelism
7. Nothing brings more Pain than too much Pleasure; nothing more bondage than too much Liberty. --Benjamin Franklin Metaphor, Antithesis, Allusion
8. As long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think, free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress. --John F. Kennedy Metaphor, Parallelism, Antithesis (3).
Word of the Day: Revolution
This word, originally from French, emerged in the 14th century as an astronomy term referring to the movement of celestial bodies. It did not acquire a political meaning until the 1600s, where it was used to describe turnarounds in power as well as in planets. The word took on new connotations in 1987 when the song Revolution became the first Beatles song ever to be featured in a television commercial. The ad prompted Paul McCartney to say, “Songs like Revolution don’t mean a pair of sneakers, they mean Revolution” (4).
Quote of the Day: What other liberty is there worth having, if we have not freedom and peace in our minds -- if our inmost and most private man is but a sour and turbid pool? --Henry David Thoreau
Answers: 1. Metaphor 2. Metaphor 3. personification 4. irony 5. allusion 6. parallelism 7. antithesis 8. Parallelism
1- http://www.freedomshrine.com/documents/paris.html
2 - Klos, Stanley L. Treaty of Paris. http://www.treatyofparis.com/
3 - The Book of American Values and Virtues (Edited by Erik A. Bruun and Robin Getzen). New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1996.
4 – Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=r&p=14
From the beginning of the Revolutionary War until the end, from the Declaration of Independence to the Treaty of Paris, two synonymous words were paramount in the colonists’ struggle against the British: freedom and liberty. Since the French served as midwife for American independence, it's appropriate that one of these words is of French origin: liberty, from Old French via Latin. Freedom is of Anglo-Saxon origin.
The dictionary definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary are so similar as to be practically indistinguishable:
Freedom: The condition of being free of restraints.
Liberty: The condition of being free from restriction or control.
Today's Challenge: Freedom's Just Another Name for . . . Liberty
Memorable quotes don't resonate with the reader by accident. They are crafted using stylistic devices (also known as rhetorical techniques) that make them stand out like italicized passages. The eight quotes below all refer to either freedom or liberty. Each quote also features one of the seven rhetorical techniques defined below. From the three options given for each quote, see if you can identify the most prominent rhetorical technique.
Allusion: A passing reference to a proper noun from history, the Bible, mythology, or literature.
Antithesis: Contrasting ideas used in a parallel structure in the same line or same sentence.
Irony: Saying the opposite of what is meant or expected.
Metaphor: A figurative comparison of two unrelated nouns.
Parallelism: Repetition of grammatical structures in writing.
Personification: Using human attributes to describe things.
Simile: A figurative comparison of two unrelated nouns using "like" or "as."
1. Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. --George Washington
Metaphor, Allusion, Parallelism
2. Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed -- else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. --Dwight D. Eisenhower
Irony, Allusion, Simile
3. Another thing: What has liberty done for us? Nothing in particular that I know of. What have we done for her? Everything. We've given her a home, and a good home, too. And if she knows anything, she knows it's the first time she every struck that novelty. --Mark Twain
Parallelism, Allusion, Personification
4. Liberty, n. One of Imagination's most precious possessions. --Ambrose Bierce
Irony, Allusion, Parallelism
5. We Americans are the peculiar, chosen people--the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world. --Herman Melville
Irony, Allusion, Parallelism
6. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. --Thomas Jefferson Irony, Personification, Parallelism
7. Nothing brings more Pain than too much Pleasure; nothing more bondage than too much Liberty. --Benjamin Franklin Metaphor, Antithesis, Allusion
8. As long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think, free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress. --John F. Kennedy Metaphor, Parallelism, Antithesis (3).
Word of the Day: Revolution
This word, originally from French, emerged in the 14th century as an astronomy term referring to the movement of celestial bodies. It did not acquire a political meaning until the 1600s, where it was used to describe turnarounds in power as well as in planets. The word took on new connotations in 1987 when the song Revolution became the first Beatles song ever to be featured in a television commercial. The ad prompted Paul McCartney to say, “Songs like Revolution don’t mean a pair of sneakers, they mean Revolution” (4).
Quote of the Day: What other liberty is there worth having, if we have not freedom and peace in our minds -- if our inmost and most private man is but a sour and turbid pool? --Henry David Thoreau
Answers: 1. Metaphor 2. Metaphor 3. personification 4. irony 5. allusion 6. parallelism 7. antithesis 8. Parallelism
1- http://www.freedomshrine.com/documents/paris.html
2 - Klos, Stanley L. Treaty of Paris. http://www.treatyofparis.com/
3 - The Book of American Values and Virtues (Edited by Erik A. Bruun and Robin Getzen). New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1996.
4 – Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=r&p=14
Thursday, September 02, 2010
September 2: The Great Fire of London Day
Today is the anniversary of the start of the Great Fire of London in the year 1666. The fire broke out in the king's bakery in Pudding Lane on the morning of September 2nd and quickly spread throughout the city, raging for four days and nights (1).
In the 17th century there were no fire brigades in London, a city that had one year previously been devastated by the Great Plague. The best hope for containing the fire was to pull down houses in the fire's path to create firebreaks. Despite the lord mayor's orders to do so, many property owners refused to sacrifice their homes. By the time the fire finally died out, it had claimed 13,000 houses and 87 churches including St. Paul's Cathedral. There were only five documented deaths; however, nearly 200,000 people were left homeless (1).
Today's Challenge: Idioms on Fire
Many English idioms (expressions of two or more words that mean something different from the literal meaning of the individual words) feature fire. Given the number of words in the expression and the literal translation of the idiom from The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, see if you can identify the expression.
1. 2 words: To start to talk or ask questions.
2. 5 words: To worsen an already bad situation, as by increasing anger, hostility, or passion.
3. 2 words To become inflamed with enthusiasm.
4. 4 words: To combat evil or negative circumstances by reacting in kind.
5 3 words: A severe ordeal or test, especially an initial one.
6. 6 words: To pressure someone to consent to or undertake something.
7. 3 words: To take part in a dangerous undertaking.
8. 4 word: To function very well (2).
Word of the Day: Curfew
While today this word refers to laws which require people to be off the streets and in their homes by a designated time, the word’s definition once included the nightly ringing of a bell as a signal to inhabitants to cover their fires before going to sleep. Curfew originates from the Anglo-French coeverfu (1285) meaning “Cover fire” (3).
Quote of the Day: If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would have English Channels round every country. And the atmosphere would be such that anything which attempted to fly would be set on fire. --Winston Churchill
Write: Write about a personal experience with fire.
Answers: 1. fire away 2. add fuel to the fire 3. catch fire 4. fight fire with fire 5. baptism of fire 6. hold someone's feet to the fire 7. play with fire 8. fire on all cylinders
1 - http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/fire/map.html
2 - Ammer, Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.
3 – Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=curfew
In the 17th century there were no fire brigades in London, a city that had one year previously been devastated by the Great Plague. The best hope for containing the fire was to pull down houses in the fire's path to create firebreaks. Despite the lord mayor's orders to do so, many property owners refused to sacrifice their homes. By the time the fire finally died out, it had claimed 13,000 houses and 87 churches including St. Paul's Cathedral. There were only five documented deaths; however, nearly 200,000 people were left homeless (1).
Today's Challenge: Idioms on Fire
Many English idioms (expressions of two or more words that mean something different from the literal meaning of the individual words) feature fire. Given the number of words in the expression and the literal translation of the idiom from The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, see if you can identify the expression.
1. 2 words: To start to talk or ask questions.
2. 5 words: To worsen an already bad situation, as by increasing anger, hostility, or passion.
3. 2 words To become inflamed with enthusiasm.
4. 4 words: To combat evil or negative circumstances by reacting in kind.
5 3 words: A severe ordeal or test, especially an initial one.
6. 6 words: To pressure someone to consent to or undertake something.
7. 3 words: To take part in a dangerous undertaking.
8. 4 word: To function very well (2).
Word of the Day: Curfew
While today this word refers to laws which require people to be off the streets and in their homes by a designated time, the word’s definition once included the nightly ringing of a bell as a signal to inhabitants to cover their fires before going to sleep. Curfew originates from the Anglo-French coeverfu (1285) meaning “Cover fire” (3).
Quote of the Day: If the Almighty were to rebuild the world and asked me for advice, I would have English Channels round every country. And the atmosphere would be such that anything which attempted to fly would be set on fire. --Winston Churchill
Write: Write about a personal experience with fire.
Answers: 1. fire away 2. add fuel to the fire 3. catch fire 4. fight fire with fire 5. baptism of fire 6. hold someone's feet to the fire 7. play with fire 8. fire on all cylinders
1 - http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/fire/map.html
2 - Ammer, Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.
3 – Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=curfew
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
September 1: Author Rejection Day
Today is the birthday of Robert M. Pirsig, the author of the philosophical novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and holder of the world record for literary rejection.
Pirsing wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in 1968, but it was not published until 1974. Pirsig received a record 121 rejections from publishing houses. Since its publication, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has achieved cult status and sold more than 4 million copies.
The book is based on a motorcycle trip that Pirsig took from Minnesota to San Francisco with his 11-year-old son Chris (1).
Here are some other examples of authors who did not let publisher rejections discourage them:
-Richard Bach's book Jonathan Livingston Seagull was rejected by 26 publishers before it was finally accepted. It sold 30 million copies worldwide.
-J.K. Rowling received 14 rejections for her first Harry Potter book.
-Stephen King received more than 30 rejections for his first novel Carrie.
-Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time received over 30 rejections.
Today's Challenge: Authors' Last Laughs
The book titles and authors below all received rejection slips along with uncomplimentary words about their writing. See if you can match up the rejection with the author/title.
Carrie by Stephen King
The Diary of Anne Frank
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Crash by J G Ballard
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Lust for Life by Irving Stone
1. ‘The author of this book is beyond psychiatric help.'
2. ‘The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the “curiosity” level.’
3. ‘ A long, dull novel about an artist.’
4. 'We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.'
5. ‘I haven’t really the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say… Apparently the author intends it to be funny – possibly even satire – but it is really not funny on any intellectual level … From your long publishing experience you will know that it is less disastrous to turn down a work of genius than to turn down talented mediocrities.’
6. ‘It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.’
Word of the Day: Ostracize
A synonym for the word rejection, this word means specifically to banish or to send into exile. The word comes from the Greek ostrakon, meaning potsherd – a broken shard of pottery. The story behind the word relates to a practice in ancient Athens where citizens would vote to remove a person from the community by casting their ballots on a potsherd. Anyone receiving the requisite number of votes was then banished for a period of ten years (4).
Quote of the Day: Metaphysics is a restaurant where they give you a thirty thousand page menu, and no food. --Robert Pirsig
Write: What is your favorite book? Write a letter of acceptance to the author, explaining why you love the book so much.
Answers:
1. Crash by J G Ballard
2. The Diary of Anne Frank
3. Lust for Life by Irving Stone
4. Carrie by Stephen King
5. Catch – 22 by Joseph Heller
6. Animal Farm by George Orwell
1- This Day in History - September 1 - Literary - The History Channel
http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=9/1&categoryId=literary
2 - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Online version http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/Quality/PirsigZen/part1.html
3- Rotten Rejections http://www.writersservices.com/mag/m_rejection.htm
4 - http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=ostracize&searchmode=none
Pirsing wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in 1968, but it was not published until 1974. Pirsig received a record 121 rejections from publishing houses. Since its publication, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has achieved cult status and sold more than 4 million copies.
The book is based on a motorcycle trip that Pirsig took from Minnesota to San Francisco with his 11-year-old son Chris (1).
Here are some other examples of authors who did not let publisher rejections discourage them:
-Richard Bach's book Jonathan Livingston Seagull was rejected by 26 publishers before it was finally accepted. It sold 30 million copies worldwide.
-J.K. Rowling received 14 rejections for her first Harry Potter book.
-Stephen King received more than 30 rejections for his first novel Carrie.
-Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time received over 30 rejections.
Today's Challenge: Authors' Last Laughs
The book titles and authors below all received rejection slips along with uncomplimentary words about their writing. See if you can match up the rejection with the author/title.
Carrie by Stephen King
The Diary of Anne Frank
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Crash by J G Ballard
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Lust for Life by Irving Stone
1. ‘The author of this book is beyond psychiatric help.'
2. ‘The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the “curiosity” level.’
3. ‘ A long, dull novel about an artist.’
4. 'We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.'
5. ‘I haven’t really the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say… Apparently the author intends it to be funny – possibly even satire – but it is really not funny on any intellectual level … From your long publishing experience you will know that it is less disastrous to turn down a work of genius than to turn down talented mediocrities.’
6. ‘It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.’
Word of the Day: Ostracize
A synonym for the word rejection, this word means specifically to banish or to send into exile. The word comes from the Greek ostrakon, meaning potsherd – a broken shard of pottery. The story behind the word relates to a practice in ancient Athens where citizens would vote to remove a person from the community by casting their ballots on a potsherd. Anyone receiving the requisite number of votes was then banished for a period of ten years (4).
Quote of the Day: Metaphysics is a restaurant where they give you a thirty thousand page menu, and no food. --Robert Pirsig
Write: What is your favorite book? Write a letter of acceptance to the author, explaining why you love the book so much.
Answers:
1. Crash by J G Ballard
2. The Diary of Anne Frank
3. Lust for Life by Irving Stone
4. Carrie by Stephen King
5. Catch – 22 by Joseph Heller
6. Animal Farm by George Orwell
1- This Day in History - September 1 - Literary - The History Channel
http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=9/1&categoryId=literary
2 - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Online version http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/Quality/PirsigZen/part1.html
3- Rotten Rejections http://www.writersservices.com/mag/m_rejection.htm
4 - http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=ostracize&searchmode=none
Sunday, August 29, 2010
August 29: Akeelah and the Bee Day
Today marks the DVD release of the film Akeelah and the Bee. This 2006 film is a drama about 11 year-old Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) who overcomes personal struggles to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Directed by Doug Atchison, the film stars Laurence Fishburn as Dr. Larabee, an English professor who coaches Akeelah.
The film is an off-shoot of the 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary and surprise hit Spellbound, which profiled a number of the competitors in the National Spelling Bee. After the success of Spellbound, the Scripps National Spelling Bee was broadcast on network television for the first time in May 2005. The growing popularity of spelling has even entered the adult world with spelling competitions in bars around the country and even a senior national spelling bee sponsored by the AARP.
In addition, in 2005 the film Bee Season was released, and spelling even hit Broadway with the 2005 musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Today's Challenge: Prize Winning Bees
The eight words below are the winning words for the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee for the years 1998-2005. See if you can match up each word with its definition.
prospicience
logorrhea
succedaneum
demarche
chiaroscurist
appoggiatura
autochthonous
pococurante
1. 2005: grace note: an embellishing note usually written in smaller size.
2. 2004: of rocks, deposits, etc.; found where they and their constituents were formed.
3. 2003: Indifferent; apathetic.
4. 2002: prevision: seeing ahead; knowing in advance; foreseeing.
5. 2001: (medicine) something that can be used as a substitute (especially any medicine that may be taken in place of another.
6. 2000: a move or step or maneuver in political or diplomatic affairs.
7. 1999: pathologically excessive (and often incoherent) talking
8. 1998: a painter who cares for and studies light and shade rather than color (2, 3).
Quote of the Day: They spell it Vinci and pronounce it Vinchy; foreigners always spell better than they pronounce. --Mark Twain
Write: Should spelling count when you write essay in school? Make your case.
Answers: 1. apoggiatura 2. autochthonous 3. pococurante 4. prospicience 5. succedaneum 6. demarche 7 logorrhea 8. chiaroscurist
1 - http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17112481&BRD=1142&PAG=461&dept_id=568956&rfi=6
2 - http://www.spellingbee.com/bwg/statschamp.shtml
3 - wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
The film is an off-shoot of the 1999 Oscar-nominated documentary and surprise hit Spellbound, which profiled a number of the competitors in the National Spelling Bee. After the success of Spellbound, the Scripps National Spelling Bee was broadcast on network television for the first time in May 2005. The growing popularity of spelling has even entered the adult world with spelling competitions in bars around the country and even a senior national spelling bee sponsored by the AARP.
In addition, in 2005 the film Bee Season was released, and spelling even hit Broadway with the 2005 musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Today's Challenge: Prize Winning Bees
The eight words below are the winning words for the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee for the years 1998-2005. See if you can match up each word with its definition.
prospicience
logorrhea
succedaneum
demarche
chiaroscurist
appoggiatura
autochthonous
pococurante
1. 2005: grace note: an embellishing note usually written in smaller size.
2. 2004: of rocks, deposits, etc.; found where they and their constituents were formed.
3. 2003: Indifferent; apathetic.
4. 2002: prevision: seeing ahead; knowing in advance; foreseeing.
5. 2001: (medicine) something that can be used as a substitute (especially any medicine that may be taken in place of another.
6. 2000: a move or step or maneuver in political or diplomatic affairs.
7. 1999: pathologically excessive (and often incoherent) talking
8. 1998: a painter who cares for and studies light and shade rather than color (2, 3).
Quote of the Day: They spell it Vinci and pronounce it Vinchy; foreigners always spell better than they pronounce. --Mark Twain
Write: Should spelling count when you write essay in school? Make your case.
Answers: 1. apoggiatura 2. autochthonous 3. pococurante 4. prospicience 5. succedaneum 6. demarche 7 logorrhea 8. chiaroscurist
1 - http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17112481&BRD=1142&PAG=461&dept_id=568956&rfi=6
2 - http://www.spellingbee.com/bwg/statschamp.shtml
3 - wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Friday, August 27, 2010
August 28: New Words from the Workplace Day
On this date in 1984, a new word appeared in an article entitled "The New Baby Boom" published in the Washington Post. The word was flexplace, meaning a company policy that enables employees to work either at the office or from home (1).
Flexplace is just one example of the many neologisms, new words, that emerge and continue to emerge from the constantly evolving workplace. Flexplace is the offspring of an earlier neologism flextime (also flexitime) which appeared in print in 1972 to describe working conditions in which employees could vary their starting and finishing times as long as they worked the contracted number of hours in a week. As early as 1974 Economist magazine forcasted the technological explosion that would allow office staff to work from home. The word used here was telecommute: "As there is no logical reason why the cost of telecommunications should vary with distance, quite a lot of people by the late 1980s will telecommute daily to their London offices while living on a Pacific island if they want" (2).
The radical changes in the workplace over the last thirty years have spawned all manner of neologisms. A prime source for tracking these changes is the book and website called Word Spy. Founded by Paul McFedries, Word Spy searches out new words and phrases that have appeared in published sources multiple times. These neologisms are candidates for the dictionary. They won't all make it; nevertheless, these linguistic new kids on the block have their moment in the sun, used by people trying to communicate with each other in clear and concise ways about emerging ideas and new trends. In the book Word Spy, McFedries uses an excellent analogy to describe the volatile nature of the English language:
I view language not a solid mountain to be admired from afar, but rather an active volcano to be studied up close. This volcano is constantly spewing out new words and phrases; some of them are mere ash and smoke that are blown away by the winds; others are linguistic lava that slides down the volcano and eventually hardens as a permanent part of the language. But although volcanoes have periods of intense activity followed by periods of inactivity, word creation never stops (3).
Today's Challenge: Words at Work
The 8 words below are workplace neologisms being watched by Word Spy. See if you can match up the term with its definition.
modem cowboy/cowgirl
hot desk
corporate concierge
hotelling
touchdown center
virtual manager
to office
placemaking
1. noun. An employee whose job entails performing the personal tasks—such as making dinner reservations and taking in dry cleaning—of other employees who have no time to do these things themselves.
2. verb. To perform office-related tasks, such as photocopying and faxing.
3. present participle. An office setup in which mobile workers do not have permanent desks or cubicles and so must reserve a workspace when they come into the office.
4. noun. A person who lives and works out of a home located in the country.
5. noun. A desk that is not assigned to a particular employee, but rather is available for use and can be reserved in advance by a mobile worker whenever they are required to be in the office.
6. noun. A facility where business travelers can make calls, plug in their notebook computers, and connect to the Internet.
7. present participle. Designing a building or area to make it more attractive to and compatible with the people who use it.
8. noun A manager who directs employees from a remote location such as home or a central office.
Quote of the Day: The rapidity with which new verbs are made in the United States is really quite amazing. Two days after the first regulations of the Food Administration were announced, "to hooverize" appeared spontaneously in scores of newspapers, and a week later it was employed without any visible sense of its novelty in the debates of Congress. —H. L. Mencken
Word of the Day: funemployment - Check out the definition at Wordspy.com.
Write: What is the newest word you have heard or read? What does it mean, and how does it's creation reflect our changing world?
Answers: 1. corporate concierge 2. to office 3. hotelling 4. modem cowboy/cowgirl 5. hot desk 6. touchdown center 7. placemaking 8. virtual manager
1. http://www.wordspy.com/words/flexplace.asp
2. Ayto, John. Twentieth Century Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press,1999.
3. Paul McFedries. Word Spy: The Word Lover's Guide to Modern Culture. New York: Broadway Books, 2004.
Flexplace is just one example of the many neologisms, new words, that emerge and continue to emerge from the constantly evolving workplace. Flexplace is the offspring of an earlier neologism flextime (also flexitime) which appeared in print in 1972 to describe working conditions in which employees could vary their starting and finishing times as long as they worked the contracted number of hours in a week. As early as 1974 Economist magazine forcasted the technological explosion that would allow office staff to work from home. The word used here was telecommute: "As there is no logical reason why the cost of telecommunications should vary with distance, quite a lot of people by the late 1980s will telecommute daily to their London offices while living on a Pacific island if they want" (2).
The radical changes in the workplace over the last thirty years have spawned all manner of neologisms. A prime source for tracking these changes is the book and website called Word Spy. Founded by Paul McFedries, Word Spy searches out new words and phrases that have appeared in published sources multiple times. These neologisms are candidates for the dictionary. They won't all make it; nevertheless, these linguistic new kids on the block have their moment in the sun, used by people trying to communicate with each other in clear and concise ways about emerging ideas and new trends. In the book Word Spy, McFedries uses an excellent analogy to describe the volatile nature of the English language:
I view language not a solid mountain to be admired from afar, but rather an active volcano to be studied up close. This volcano is constantly spewing out new words and phrases; some of them are mere ash and smoke that are blown away by the winds; others are linguistic lava that slides down the volcano and eventually hardens as a permanent part of the language. But although volcanoes have periods of intense activity followed by periods of inactivity, word creation never stops (3).
Today's Challenge: Words at Work
The 8 words below are workplace neologisms being watched by Word Spy. See if you can match up the term with its definition.
modem cowboy/cowgirl
hot desk
corporate concierge
hotelling
touchdown center
virtual manager
to office
placemaking
1. noun. An employee whose job entails performing the personal tasks—such as making dinner reservations and taking in dry cleaning—of other employees who have no time to do these things themselves.
2. verb. To perform office-related tasks, such as photocopying and faxing.
3. present participle. An office setup in which mobile workers do not have permanent desks or cubicles and so must reserve a workspace when they come into the office.
4. noun. A person who lives and works out of a home located in the country.
5. noun. A desk that is not assigned to a particular employee, but rather is available for use and can be reserved in advance by a mobile worker whenever they are required to be in the office.
6. noun. A facility where business travelers can make calls, plug in their notebook computers, and connect to the Internet.
7. present participle. Designing a building or area to make it more attractive to and compatible with the people who use it.
8. noun A manager who directs employees from a remote location such as home or a central office.
Quote of the Day: The rapidity with which new verbs are made in the United States is really quite amazing. Two days after the first regulations of the Food Administration were announced, "to hooverize" appeared spontaneously in scores of newspapers, and a week later it was employed without any visible sense of its novelty in the debates of Congress. —H. L. Mencken
Word of the Day: funemployment - Check out the definition at Wordspy.com.
Write: What is the newest word you have heard or read? What does it mean, and how does it's creation reflect our changing world?
Answers: 1. corporate concierge 2. to office 3. hotelling 4. modem cowboy/cowgirl 5. hot desk 6. touchdown center 7. placemaking 8. virtual manager
1. http://www.wordspy.com/words/flexplace.asp
2. Ayto, John. Twentieth Century Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press,1999.
3. Paul McFedries. Word Spy: The Word Lover's Guide to Modern Culture. New York: Broadway Books, 2004.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
August 26: Women's Suffrage Day
Today is the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Coming in the aftermath of World War I, women's suffrage was a result of the key role that women played in the war, their work in the factories and their active participation in the war effort. In September 1918, a speech by President Wilson revealed that he was behind the movement to give women the vote:
We have made partners of the women in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of right?
In 1919 the House of Representatives passed a proposed amendment by a vote of 304 to 90. Then in June 1919, the U. S. Senate voted 56 to 25, sending the amendment to the states.
The fight for ratification was not easy. Thirty-six states had to vote yes before it became a full-fledged amendment, and there was substantial opposition to the amendment, especially in the South.
On August 18, 1920, in a close vote, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. The 19th Amendment was then made official in Washington, D.C. on August 26, 1920:
Section 1: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2: Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Today's Challenge: Puttin' It to the Man
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) of Purdue University has a number of guidelines for non-sexist language. One particularly sticky area is the generic use of MAN. For example, because many women deliver mail for the post office, using the term postman as a generic term for all workers is inappropriate; a better choice is postal worker or mail carrier. Given a number of terms below that contain the generic MAN, see if you can come up with a suitable alternative that is more inclusive.
1. mankind
2. man's achievements
3. man-made
4. the common man
5. man the stockroom
6. nine man-hours
7. businessman
8. fireman
9. steward or stewardess
10. congressman
Word of the Day: disinfranchise (verb) - deprived of the rights of citizenship especially the right to vote
Quote of the Day: Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison. --Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
Write: If you were to make a change to the U.S. Constitution, what would it be? Explain your reasoning.
Answers: 1. humanity, people, human beings 2. human achievements 3. synthetic, manufactured, machine-made 4. the average person, ordinary people 5. staff the stockroom 6. nine staff-hours 7. business executive 8. firefighter 9. flight attendant 10. congressional representative
1 - http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrage1900/a/august_26_wed.htm
2 - http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_nonsex.html
Coming in the aftermath of World War I, women's suffrage was a result of the key role that women played in the war, their work in the factories and their active participation in the war effort. In September 1918, a speech by President Wilson revealed that he was behind the movement to give women the vote:
We have made partners of the women in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of right?
In 1919 the House of Representatives passed a proposed amendment by a vote of 304 to 90. Then in June 1919, the U. S. Senate voted 56 to 25, sending the amendment to the states.
The fight for ratification was not easy. Thirty-six states had to vote yes before it became a full-fledged amendment, and there was substantial opposition to the amendment, especially in the South.
On August 18, 1920, in a close vote, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. The 19th Amendment was then made official in Washington, D.C. on August 26, 1920:
Section 1: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2: Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Today's Challenge: Puttin' It to the Man
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) of Purdue University has a number of guidelines for non-sexist language. One particularly sticky area is the generic use of MAN. For example, because many women deliver mail for the post office, using the term postman as a generic term for all workers is inappropriate; a better choice is postal worker or mail carrier. Given a number of terms below that contain the generic MAN, see if you can come up with a suitable alternative that is more inclusive.
1. mankind
2. man's achievements
3. man-made
4. the common man
5. man the stockroom
6. nine man-hours
7. businessman
8. fireman
9. steward or stewardess
10. congressman
Word of the Day: disinfranchise (verb) - deprived of the rights of citizenship especially the right to vote
Quote of the Day: Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison. --Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
Write: If you were to make a change to the U.S. Constitution, what would it be? Explain your reasoning.
Answers: 1. humanity, people, human beings 2. human achievements 3. synthetic, manufactured, machine-made 4. the average person, ordinary people 5. staff the stockroom 6. nine staff-hours 7. business executive 8. firefighter 9. flight attendant 10. congressional representative
1 - http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrage1900/a/august_26_wed.htm
2 - http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_nonsex.html
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
July 28: Near Synonym Day
Today is the anniversary of the debut of the first cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny. On July 28, 1940, Warner Brothers released the animated short A Wild Hare in technicolor. The cartoon did not identify Bugs by name -- that would come later -- but it did premier his catchphrase "What's up Doc?" and his nemesis Elmer Fudd (1).
Coincidentally, it is also the birthday of Beatrix Potter, born in London in 1866.
Potter had few playmates as a child, but she did have a menagerie of pets that included a tortoise, a frog, a snake, and a rabbit. A shy, quiet girl, Potter sketched, painted, and kept a journal in which she wrote in a secret code she invented. The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published in 1902. She published numerous other animal tales, but Peter Rabbit remains the most popular (2).
All this talk about rabbits begs the question: what is the difference between a rabbit and a hare? Well, according to Bernice Randall's book When is a Pig a Hog?, a hare is larger than a rabbit, with longer ears and legs; another difference is that hares live in the open, among rocks and thickets, while rabbits live in burrows. Many words in English feature these kinds of fine distinctions, especially since English has more synonyms than any other language. This expansive lexicon is a blessing for writers, but it also demands attention to detail, since there are very few truly synonymous words -- that is words that can be used interchangeably regardless of context.
For example, the words lectern and podium appear to have no significant difference in meaning, but subtle distinctions in each word's definition make them near-synonyms rather than true synonyms. A lectern refers to a stand that a speaker might use for holding notes, but it also refers to a slanted-top reading desk in a church from which the scriptures are read. Like lectern, podium is used for a speaker's stand, but it also refers to a low platform upon which a speaker or conductor might stand.
Today's Challenge: The Tortoise and the Hare or The Turtle and the Rabbit?
In English there is a literal menagerie of near-synonyms. Read the definitions below from When Is a Pig a Hog? See if you can identify which of the two animals listed fits the definition most closely.
1. This domesticated member of the camel family is prized for its long, silky brown or black wool. Llama or Alpaca?
2. A domesticated ass. Donkey or Mule?
3. An immature swine weighing less than 120 pounds. Pig or Hog?
4. A torpedo-shaped, small-toothed whale with a blunt snout. Dolphin or Porpoise?
5. A leaping amphibian with smooth and moist skin, able to live on either land or water. Frog or Toad?
6. A reptile with a soft body and hard shell that lives in the water, especially the sea. Turtle or Tortoise?
7. A large, flesh-eating lizard-like reptile that is more aggressive than its counterpart; it also has
a longer and more pointed snout, and its closed mouth shows teeth. Alligator or Crocodile?
8. An amphibian, not a reptile, with soft, moist skin and no claws. Lizard or Salamander? (3)
Quote of the Day: Q: What’s the difference between a fanatic and a zealot? A: A zealot can’t change his mind. A fanatic can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject. --Winston Churchill
Answers: 1. Alpaca 2. Donkey 3. Pig 4. Porpoise 5. Frog 6. Turtle 7. Crocodile 8. Salamander
1 - Hunter, Matthew. "The Old Grey Hare: A History of Bugs Bunny." http://toolooney.goldenagecartoons.com/bugs.htm
2- http://www.peterrabbit.com/
3 - Randall, Bernice. When Is a Pig a Hog?: A Guide to Confoundingly Related English Words. New York: Galahad Books, 1991.
Coincidentally, it is also the birthday of Beatrix Potter, born in London in 1866.
Potter had few playmates as a child, but she did have a menagerie of pets that included a tortoise, a frog, a snake, and a rabbit. A shy, quiet girl, Potter sketched, painted, and kept a journal in which she wrote in a secret code she invented. The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published in 1902. She published numerous other animal tales, but Peter Rabbit remains the most popular (2).
All this talk about rabbits begs the question: what is the difference between a rabbit and a hare? Well, according to Bernice Randall's book When is a Pig a Hog?, a hare is larger than a rabbit, with longer ears and legs; another difference is that hares live in the open, among rocks and thickets, while rabbits live in burrows. Many words in English feature these kinds of fine distinctions, especially since English has more synonyms than any other language. This expansive lexicon is a blessing for writers, but it also demands attention to detail, since there are very few truly synonymous words -- that is words that can be used interchangeably regardless of context.
For example, the words lectern and podium appear to have no significant difference in meaning, but subtle distinctions in each word's definition make them near-synonyms rather than true synonyms. A lectern refers to a stand that a speaker might use for holding notes, but it also refers to a slanted-top reading desk in a church from which the scriptures are read. Like lectern, podium is used for a speaker's stand, but it also refers to a low platform upon which a speaker or conductor might stand.
Today's Challenge: The Tortoise and the Hare or The Turtle and the Rabbit?
In English there is a literal menagerie of near-synonyms. Read the definitions below from When Is a Pig a Hog? See if you can identify which of the two animals listed fits the definition most closely.
1. This domesticated member of the camel family is prized for its long, silky brown or black wool. Llama or Alpaca?
2. A domesticated ass. Donkey or Mule?
3. An immature swine weighing less than 120 pounds. Pig or Hog?
4. A torpedo-shaped, small-toothed whale with a blunt snout. Dolphin or Porpoise?
5. A leaping amphibian with smooth and moist skin, able to live on either land or water. Frog or Toad?
6. A reptile with a soft body and hard shell that lives in the water, especially the sea. Turtle or Tortoise?
7. A large, flesh-eating lizard-like reptile that is more aggressive than its counterpart; it also has
a longer and more pointed snout, and its closed mouth shows teeth. Alligator or Crocodile?
8. An amphibian, not a reptile, with soft, moist skin and no claws. Lizard or Salamander? (3)
Quote of the Day: Q: What’s the difference between a fanatic and a zealot? A: A zealot can’t change his mind. A fanatic can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject. --Winston Churchill
Answers: 1. Alpaca 2. Donkey 3. Pig 4. Porpoise 5. Frog 6. Turtle 7. Crocodile 8. Salamander
1 - Hunter, Matthew. "The Old Grey Hare: A History of Bugs Bunny." http://toolooney.goldenagecartoons.com/bugs.htm
2- http://www.peterrabbit.com/
3 - Randall, Bernice. When Is a Pig a Hog?: A Guide to Confoundingly Related English Words. New York: Galahad Books, 1991.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
July 27: SMOG Day
Today is the anniversary of the coinage of the word smog. On July 27, 1905 the London Globe reported: "At a meeting of the Public Health Congress Dr. Des Voeux did a public service in coining a new word for the London fog, which was referred to as smog, a compound of smoke and fog" (1). Smog is just one example of a class of English words know as blends (a.k.a. portmanteau words).
The London fog of Dickens and Hollywood was certainly less romantic than it appeared. The major culprit of the city's dark fog was coal burning; it seems appropriate that a physician would be the one to appear on the scene to name the culprit and to try to clear it up.
When it comes to writing, there is another kind of SMOG know as the Simple Measure Of Gobbledygook. This type of SMOG is a test of a text's readability, based on a formula devised by reading researcher G. Harry McLaughlin. McLaughlin says he designed his formula in 1969 BC [Before Computers], to give educators an easy method of calculating the grade level of a given text.
The readability formula works like this: First, select three, 10-sentence samples from the text. Second, count the words in the text that are 3 or more syllables. Third, estimate the count's square root, and add 3. The resulting number will correspond to the estimated grade-level of the text.
The list below shows the SMOG levels followed by examples of periodicals that have text at the different grade levels:
-0 - 6 low-literate: Soap Opera Weekly
-7 junior high school: True Confessions
-8 junior high school: Ladies Home Journal
-9 some high school: Reader's Digest
-10 some high school: Newsweek
-11 some high school: Sports Illustrated
-12 high school graduate: Time Magazine
-13 - 15 some college: New York Times
-16 university degree: Atlantic Monthly
-17 - 18 post-graduate studies: Harvard Business Review
-19+ post-graduate degree: IRS Code (2).
Today, in the age of computers, you can use the SMOG Formula online by simply cutting and pasting your text. This post, for example, comes in at 11.02 on the SMOG Index.
The word gobbledygook, however, refers to more than just multisyllabic words. It means unintelligible language, especially jargon or bureaucratese.
The word was coined by Texas lawyer and Democratic Congressman Maury Maverick. He created the word in 1944 when referring to the obscure, smoggy language used by his colleagues. The used the turkey as a metaphor, since the bird is “always gobbledy gobbling and strutting with ludicrous pomposity.”
It should be noted that word origins ran in the Maverick family. Maury's grandfather was Samuel Maverick, the Texas rancher who became famous and eponymous for his unconventional practice of not branding his cattle. Of course today a maverick is anyone who stands outside the crowd, or herd, defying the status quo (3).
One organization defying SMOG is the Plain English Campaign based in New Mills, Derbyshire, England. Their stated mission is to fight "for crystal-clear language and against jargon, gobbledygook and other confusing language."
Each year the Plain English Campaign presents The Golden Bull Awards for the year's worst examples of gobbledygook. Here is one example of a 2004 winner:
British Airways for terms and conditions
CHARGES FOR CHANGES AND CANCELLATIONS NOTE – CANCELLATIONS – BEFORE DEPARTURE FARE IS REFUNDABLE. IF COMBINING A NON-REFUNDABLE FARE WITH A REFUNDABLE FARE ONLY THE Y/C/J-CLASS HALF RETURN AMOUNT CAN BE REFUNDED. AFTER DEPARTURE FARE IS REFUNDABLE. IF COMBINING A NON-REFUNDABLE FARE WITH A REFUNDABLE FARE REFUND THE DIFFERENCE /IF ANY/BETWEEN THE FARE PAID AND THE APPLICABLE NORMAL BA ONEWAY FARE. CHANGES/UPGRADES- PERMITTED ANYTIME (4).
Today's Challenge: Clear the SMOG
Below are examples given by the Plain English Campaign of sentences containing gobbledygook. Rewrite each sentence, eliminating the gobbledygook and replacing it with clear English.
1. High-quality learning environments are a necessary precondition for facilitation and enhancement of the ongoing learning process.
2. If there are any points on which you require explanation or further particulars we shall be glad to furnish such additional details as may be required by telephone.
3. It is important that you shall read the notes, advice and information detailed opposite then complete the form overleaf (all sections) prior to its immediate return to the Council by way of the envelope provided.
Quote of the Day: The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink. --George Orwell Suggested
Answers: 1. Children need good schools if they are to learn properly. 2. If you have any questions, please ring. 3. Please read the notes opposite before you fill in the form. Then send it back to us as soon as possible in the envelope provided.
1 - Funk, Charles Earle. Thereby Hangs a Tale: Stories of Curious Word Origins. New York: HarperPerennial, 1950.
2 - McLaughlin, G. Harry. SMOG: SImple Measure of Gobbledygook. http://www.harrymclaughlin.com/SMOG.htm
3 - Quinion, Michael. "GOBBLEDYGOOK OR GOBBLEDEGOOK." World Wide Words. http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-gob1.htm 4 - http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/index.html
Sunday, July 25, 2010
July 26: Ghoti Day
Today is the birthday of playwright George Bernard Shaw. He was born in Dublin in 1856 and began his writing career as a journalist and theater critic in London. Eventually he began writing plays of his own, his most famous being Pygmalion (1912) -- the play upon which the musical My Fair Lady is based. In 1925, Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature (1).
In addition to writing plays, Shaw was active in political causes, most notably socialism, vegetarianism, and spelling reform.
To illustrate the troubled state of English spelling, Shaw gave a famous example by fabricating a word spelled G-H-O-T-I. He said it was a new way to spell the word fish and was perfectly logical based on the spelling in existing English words. The gh in Ghoti was the f sound in enough, the o was from the i sound in women, and the ti was from the sh sound in nation. Clearly, argued Shaw, the spelling of words in the English alphabet had little logical relationship with the sounds of words.
Shaw's passion for the spelling reform cause is reflected in the tone of his writing in a preface to a book by R.A. Wilson, The Miraculous Birth of Language in 1941:
Professor Wilson has shewn that it was as a reading and writing animal that Man achieved his human eminence above those who are called beasts. Well, it is I and my like who have to do the writing. I have done it professionally for the last sixty years as well as it can be done with a hopelessly inadequate alphabet devised centuries before the English language existed to record another and very different language. Even this alphabet is reduced to absurdity by a foolish orthography based on the notion that the business of spelling is to represent the origin and history of a word instead of its sound and meaning. Thus an intelligent child who is bidden to spell "debt," and very properly spells it d-e-t, is caned for not spelling it with a "b" because Julius Caesar spelt the Latin for it with a "b" . . . .
If the introduction of an English alphabet for the English language costs a civil war, or even, as the introduction of summer time did, a world war, I shall not grudge it. The waste of war is negligible in comparison to the daily waste of trying to communicate with one another in English through an alphabet with sixteen letters missing. That must be remedied, come what may.
1 - George Bernard Shaw. The Novel Prize in Literature 1925.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1925/shaw-bio.html
2 - 100 Most Often Misspelled Words in English
www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html
In addition to writing plays, Shaw was active in political causes, most notably socialism, vegetarianism, and spelling reform.
To illustrate the troubled state of English spelling, Shaw gave a famous example by fabricating a word spelled G-H-O-T-I. He said it was a new way to spell the word fish and was perfectly logical based on the spelling in existing English words. The gh in Ghoti was the f sound in enough, the o was from the i sound in women, and the ti was from the sh sound in nation. Clearly, argued Shaw, the spelling of words in the English alphabet had little logical relationship with the sounds of words.
Shaw's passion for the spelling reform cause is reflected in the tone of his writing in a preface to a book by R.A. Wilson, The Miraculous Birth of Language in 1941:
Professor Wilson has shewn that it was as a reading and writing animal that Man achieved his human eminence above those who are called beasts. Well, it is I and my like who have to do the writing. I have done it professionally for the last sixty years as well as it can be done with a hopelessly inadequate alphabet devised centuries before the English language existed to record another and very different language. Even this alphabet is reduced to absurdity by a foolish orthography based on the notion that the business of spelling is to represent the origin and history of a word instead of its sound and meaning. Thus an intelligent child who is bidden to spell "debt," and very properly spells it d-e-t, is caned for not spelling it with a "b" because Julius Caesar spelt the Latin for it with a "b" . . . .
If the introduction of an English alphabet for the English language costs a civil war, or even, as the introduction of summer time did, a world war, I shall not grudge it. The waste of war is negligible in comparison to the daily waste of trying to communicate with one another in English through an alphabet with sixteen letters missing. That must be remedied, come what may.
Shaw, like many other before and after him, failed to reform English spelling: he died in 1950. The fight for spelling reform goes on even today as seen in a recent headline and story: Puush for Simpler Speling Perzists -- despiet th lak of public intrest.
Today's Challenge: Is It Mispell or Misspell?
Below are common English words that are frequently misspelled. See if you can determine which word in the pairs below is spelled correctly:
A: accomodate accommodate
B: beleive believe
C: calendar calender
D: definitely definitly
E: embarass embarrass
F: foreign foriegn
G: guarentee guarantee
H: height heighth
I: intelligance intelligence
J: judgement judgment
K: knowledge knowlidge
L: license licence
M: miniature miniture
N: noticeable noticeible
O: occurence occurrence
P: perseverance perseverence
Q: questionaire questionnaire
R: restaurant restraunt
S: seperate separate
T: twelfth twelvth
U: ukelale ukulele
V: vacuum vaccum
W: weird wierd (2)
Quote of the Day: England and America are two countries separated by a common language. --George Bernard Shaw
Answers: A: accommodate B:believe C: calendar
D: definitely E: embarrass F: foreign G: guarantee H: height I: intelligence J:judgement K: knowledge L: license M: miniature N: noticeable O: occurrence P: perseverance Q: questionnaire R: restaurant S: separate T: twelfth U: ukulele V: vacuum W: weird
1 - George Bernard Shaw. The Novel Prize in Literature 1925.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1925/shaw-bio.html
2 - 100 Most Often Misspelled Words in English
www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html
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