All Books Contain Mistakes..

..but some mistakes are better than others.  We were talking about this last week, so I decided to scan the title page of the Library of America volume 24  that misspelled "Melville."

The publisher offered to replace the volume, but Jon Lanham decided to keep it.

Words Uncoupled

English has a bunch of rarely-used words.  For instance, a recent OED word of the Day was nocent.

"nocent, n. and adj.

[‘A guilty person, a criminal. Obs.’]

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈnəʊs(ə)nt/,  U.S. /ˈnoʊs(ə)nt/

Forms:  lME– nocent,   15 nocente. 

Etymology: <  Middle French nocent, adjective (1404) and noun (1400–10) or its etymon classical Latin nocent-, nocēns injurious, guilty, guilty person, uses as adjective and noun of present participle of nocēre to hurt, injure (see necro- comb. form). Compare Italian †nocente, adjective (a1347). Compare earlier innocent adj. and n."

Nocent and innocent used to be a couple, but nocent faded from memory and disappeared from smaller dictionaries.  Why?  It seems like a handy word.


I've dealt with the vincible/ invincible and the peccable/ impeccable  pairs in earlier posts. 

Perhaps the majority of English speakers dislike paired opposites because they suggest that both are necessary--you know, that yin/yang stuff. 


Another slightly different example is Seamster | Sempster

" a. One who sews; one whose occupation is sewing, esp. the making and mending of garments; a tailor, seamstress. Originally a designation of a woman, but in Old English already applicable to a man. Now only applied to one of the male sex, seamstress being commonly used for a female sewer."

Another example suggested by Chuck is the adjective turpid:

"rare.  Base, filthy, worthless.

1623   H. Cockeram Eng. Dict.,   Turpid, filthy.

1866   J. B. Rose tr. Virgil Georgics ii. 60   But fruit degenerates,—its flavour lost, The turpid grapes are left to birds or frost.

1867   J. B. Rose tr. Virgil Æneid 44   Smitten with turpid fear."

The only form we seem to use today is turpitude and then only in the phrase moral turpitude.  Yet we have available  turpid, turpidly, and turpitudinous.  Why do we throw out perfectly good words?

 

The Missing Word

I am indebted to Chuck for recovering the word retronym (of which there are many examples).  I had learned it long ago, then forgot the word while remembering the definition.  Why does my brain do this?

retronym, n.

Pronunciation:  Brit. /ˈrɛtrə(ʊ)nɪm/ , U.S. /ˈrɛtroʊˌnɪm/

Etymology:  < retro- prefix + -onym comb. form.

orig. U.S.

Categories »

 

  A neologism created for an existing object or concept because the exact meaning of the original term used for it has become ambiguous (usually as a result of a new development, technological advance, etc.).A retronym typically consists of the original term combined with a modifying word.

1980   W. Safire in N.Y. Times Mag. 27 July 8/1   Frank Mankiewicz, president of National Public Radio, collects these terms and calls them ‘retronyms’—nouns that have taken an adjective to stay up-to-date and to fend off newer terms. Other retronyms include ‘hard-cover book’.

1988   Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 6 Nov. g1   True art lay elsewhere, probably in what we now, in a classic retronym, call ‘live drama’.

1995   I. L. Allen City in Slang ix. 229   The name East Village was given..to borrow prestige from the name of Greenwich Village or just The Village, which then became known..by the retronym West Village.

2003   Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 22 Nov. a13   Older folks, who actually grew up when all clocks had moving hands, phones had dials and wires, and milk was just plain old milk, are usually familiar with both the item and its retronym (analogue clock, rotary and land-line phones and whole milk).

retronym, n.
Third edition, March 2010; online version June 2012. <http://www.oed.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/view/Entry/266828>; accessed 23 August 2012.

My Favorite Bookplate

Many zillions of years ago I checked out a book with the infamous Widener bookplate.  (It wasn't the following book; I'm just using it as an example.)

Read the second bookplate.

[from Twenty-Six Historic Ships]

I was rather shocked, because I didn't know the story behind the infamous bookplate:

"In 1931 Joel C. Williams, A.M. '09, Ed.M. '29, a former instructor at Groton and a former high-school principal, was caught with 2,504 stolen Widener books at his home in Dedham, Massachusetts. He said he was preparing himself for a college professorship. His thieving had begun eight or 10 years before, but had stopped a year and a half before he was caught when, according to a newspaper account, "extraordinary steps were taken by the Harvard authorities to prevent students 'sneaking' books out of the library without permission. A turnstile was erected at that time and suspicious bundles were ordered examined." An editorial writer in the Boston Post said that the case "suggests impaired mentality." When the books came back to Widener, librarians had an acerbic bookplate printed and affixed to each volume. It reads, "This book was stolen from Harvard College Library. It was later recovered. The thief was sentenced to two years at hard labor. 1932." A security measure of sorts."  From Harvard Magazine.  The Crimson article.

Note that, though literally true, the text of that bookplate is misleading.

Despite the security measures, the thieving continued.

[from A Source Book in American History to 1787]

Seven for Drinks Only

Last night seven of us went out to toast JB's 58th birthday.
First we went to First Printer.  Since we didn't want dinner, they said we could only sit at the bar.  We wanted a table, so we could all face each other.
Next we went to the Russell House Tavern.  Since we didn't want dinner, they said we could only sit at the bar.  We wanted a table, so we could all face each other.
Diane suggested that this was a "dry crawl" rather than a "pub crawl."
We didn't have all night: JB had said he needed to go home at 6 and clean the house and get groceries.
Steve suggested OM, which most of us had never been to.  At last we had a place to sit down.  We got an alcove of comfy benches and coffee tables hidden behind a bead curtain, just like in the movies!  We had 2 bottles of wine, and JB had a martini.  The vegetable dumplings we got were not enough to prevent inebriation.  We convinced JB that he didn't have to go home at 6.

Afterwards Julie and I went to Sue's house to wait for Dave and drink water.  Then when Dave came, he asked us how we spelled "dilemma."  I've always spelled it DILEMMA, but everybody else remembers spelling it DILEMNA.  Interesting.

Can a Big Thing be Subversive?

I was doing the Veterans Day shift, when a young man asked me if I didn't think the locking down of Harvard Yard was "subversive."  The question sounded odd; and I wondered, "Why does this question sound odd."  It was the word "subversive,"  which, in academia usually has a positive value.   Note these titles of academic articles and books:
Das entfremdete Subjekt : subversive psychoanalytische Denkanstösse bei Lacan und Derrida
A subversive voice in China : the fictional world of Mo Yan
Unvarnishing reality : subversive Russian and American cold war satire

In modern academic literature, "subversives" are the powerless chipping away at the Powers That Be.  They are intellectuals challenging received wisdom. They are avant-garde artists.  They are despised minority groups.
Probably this positive spin on "subversive" is a reaction to earlier (mostly conservative) uses of the word:

Guide to subversive organizations and publications (and appendix)

Subversive activities control act of 1950. Report ... Eighty-fourth Congress, first session

Interim report of the Special commission established to study and investigate communism and subversive activities and related matters in the Commonwealth. April 26, 1955. [Appendix A ... Resolve reviving and continuing the Special commission ... until February 1, 1956.

Subversion in racial unrest, an outline of a strategic weapon to destroy the governments of Louisiana and the United States. Public hearings, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, March 6-9, 1957

The web of subversion; underground networks in the U. S. Government..

However, in both cases we are talking about small subverting large.  Small communist cells would be slowly subverting the whole United States.  So, can a big thing subvert a small thing?  There's nothing in the definition of subvert to suggest that size is important.  So I suppose the question was not odd.

Do Shoes Come From Heaven?

wait for the other shoe to drop wait for the next or final thing to happen. North American *

Sure!  Shoes come in pairs, so when the other shoe drops, you have a complete pair.  Then it's time to walk.

But why does the shoe drop?  What's it doing way up there?  My shoes are on the floor or hanging on my closet door.  Do other people keep their shoes on such high shelves that they must knock them down with a pole?

Or maybe shoes used to grow on tall trees, and people had to shake the trees to get the shoes to drop. (Thus, the "shoe tree.")

Do shoes come from heaven?

*"shoe"  Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Edited by John Ayto, Judith Siefring and Jennifer Speake. Oxford University Press Inc. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  Harvard University Library.  17 October 2011

Im/peccable = With(out) Sin

Perhaps you read my post on the word vincible.  Well, would you believe that there is a peccable as well as the better-know impeccable?

Oxford English Dictionary | The definitive record of the English language

	peccable, adj. truetrue Pronunciation:  Brit. /ˈpɛkəbl/ , U.S. /ˈpɛkəb(ə)l/ Etymology:  < French peccable (c1050 in Old French as pecables; compare Anglo-Norman pecchable, peccable, pechable) and its etymon post-classical Latin peccabilis capable of sinning, liable to sin (9th cent.; 14th cent. in British sources), sinful (14th cent. in British sources) < classical Latin peccāre to sin (see peccant adj. and n.) + -bilis-ble suffix, after impeccābilisimpeccable adj.... (Show Less) Thesaurus »    1. Capable of sinning; liable to sin. In later use also (freq. in humorous contrast to impeccable): fallible, imperfect, flawed. 1604    T. Wright Passions of Minde (new ed.) v. §4. 210   All men by nature are sinners, are peccable, the iust offend often. 1675–6    H. More Let. 10 Jan. in Conway Lett. (1992) vii. 417   Which is wonderfull how else to understand of the Humanity of Christ, unlesse he had such a soul as other men have, of itself indeed peccable but by reason of his perpetuall Faythfulnesse, alwayes devoyd of sin. 1741    G. Berkeley Let. 7 June in Wks. (1871) IV. 272   We hold all mankind to be peccable and errable, even the Pope himself. 1833    J. H. Newman Arians 4th Cent. ii. 249   At first it [sc. Arianism] had not scrupled to admit the peccable nature of the Son; but it soon‥avowed that, in matter of fact, He was indefectible. 1857    H. Miller Test. Rocks iii. 154   Fitting and preparing peccable, imperfect man, for a perfect impeccable future state. 1900    F. Thompson in T. L. Conolly Literary Crit. (1948) 137   The sublimest teaching, if the utterance be peccable, is not worth one impeccable stanza. 1936    D. B. MacDonald Hebrew Philos. Genius vii. 141   The state‥was a divine foundation and, therefore, peccable only on its human side. 1992    N.Y. Times (Nexis) 13 Mar. c6/1   Its credentials are about as impeccable as you can find in the peccable atmosphere of Hollywood. 1604—1992 †2. Sinful, wrong. Obs. rare. 1633    W. Prynne Histrio-mastix 563   Is not the selfe same sinne as sinfull, as peccable? 1633—1633 peccable, adj. Third edition, September 2005; online version March 2011. ; accessed 06 June 2011. An entry for this word was first included in New English Dictionary

Miscellaneous

I finished The Bones of Avalon.  I don't usually go for historical novels, but I love Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins series.  So I was waiting for the next one to come, and instead out came The Bones of Avalon.  I did enjoy it.  It had many of the same themes as the Merrily Watkins series: mysticism, murder, church politics.  It takes place in Elizabethan times, but Rickman only slightly antiqued his language.  In his afterword he thanks various linguists for their advice which he ended up mostly not taking since, "a strict adherence to Elizabethan written structures and terminology would only have made it sound stilted in ways it never would have been at the time."  Fair enough.  He has a great talent for taking masses of material and making it into a riveting story

Speaking of stilted language, I was thinking about the pronoun thou, which is no longer used by most speakers of English, but which used to be the informal form of you--the form you'd use for family, close friends, or people you were insulting.  Nowadays we mostly hear it used in prayers and hymns, so that it has formal, exalted associations.   That's why The Philadelphia Story had this scene between Macaulay Connor (Jimmy Stewart) and a Quaker Librarian

Librarian: What is thee wish?
Macaulay Connor: I'm looking for some local b - what'd you say?
Librarian: What is thee wish?
Macaulay Connor: Um, local biography or history.
Librarian: If thee will consult with my colleague in there.
Macaulay Connor: Mm-hm. Dost thou have a washroom?
[the librarian points]
Macaulay Connor: Thank thee

It's hilarious to use a holy, exalted word in the same sentence with washroom--at least from the Judeo-Christian viewpoint.

In other news, we had pizza for lunch in the office today.

I think this must be a magic mushroom pizza.

Composing and Comprising

In high school, I learned that there were some French people who wanted to keep English words out of their language.  In response, I vowed to eliminate all French borrowings from my speech.  I can't remember what this involved; maybe I avoided rendez-vous or bouquet.  I hadn't heard of croissants back then.

Nowadays, I have a much less ambitious linguistic project:  using comprise correctly.  By occasionally sneaking a comprise into casual conversation--"You, know, my household comprises just me and two cats!"--I hope to put off the day when compose and comprise become synonymous.  Someday every words will mean everything.  I'm doing my small part to hold off linguistic chaos.

The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style

comprise.   A. 

And compose.
Correct use of these words is simple, but increasingly rare. The parts compose the whole; the whole comprises the parts. The whole is composed of the parts; the parts are comprised in the whole. Comprise, the more troublesome word in this pair, means “to contain; to consist of”—e.g.: “Summit Hall Farm comprises several hundred acres on the exterior portion of the original settlement of the Gaither family” (Wash. Times).

B. 

Erroneous Use of is comprised of.
The phrase is comprised of is always wrong and should be replaced by some other, more accurate phrase—e.g.: “The Rhode Island Wind Ensemble is comprised of [read has] 50 professional and amateur musicians, ranging in age from 15 to 82” (Providence J.-Bull.).

C. 

Comprise for are comprised in or constitute.
If the whole comprises the parts, the reverse can't be true—e.g.: “Of the 50 stocks that comprise [read make up] the index, 40 had gains, 8 had losses and 2 were unchanged” (Fla. Today).

D. 

Comprise for are.
This is an odd error based on a misunderstanding of the meaning of comprise. E.g.: “They comprise [read are] three of the top four names in the batting order of the 30 most influential sports people in B.C. for 1997” (Vancouver Sun).

How to cite this entry:
"comprise"  The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style. Bryan A. Garner. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  Harvard University Library.  14 January 2011

Menopausal Misnomer

I see from my PubMed searches that the medical community is now calling hot flashes hot flushes.  I approve the change.  I didn't recognize my first hot flashes for what they were, because of that word flash.  Flash, streak, lightning, glare, dazzle, instant, split second.  This is what hot flash implies.

Sela Allen

But what actually happens is a gradual heating-up and cooling-down of the head and chest lasting a few minutes.  When I first noticed the change, I thought I was getting a fever, since my face got flushed, "But, no, it's better now.  Uh oh, it's back."  Finally I had the hot-flash-ah-ha moment. 

 

The above graphic makes the process clear:  hormonal flux trips the on switch of the Heating Element, which slowly heats to its maximum, then turns off.

You can buy all sorts of items claiming "They're not hot flashes, they're power surges."  I don't know why a power surge is better.  Perhaps the word power is felt to be so good, that it hardly matters that power surges blow out your electronics, and that you buy surge protectors against them. The promoters of that slogan probably are thinking of something like Sela Allen pictured above; but real menopause is not like that.

Menopause tchotchkes are fine; I have several myself.  But they shouldn't  be too silly.  We are old enough to know better!

Why Doesn't "Shampoo" Mean Imitation Excrement?

  And I've also been curious about the trend in using nouns as verbs:  people and corporations are busy parenting, partnering, journaling, mentoring, tasking, and friending.  However, a check of the Oxford English Dictionary Online (no link because you have to subscribe) revealed that these uses had antique appeal.  Check out ye olde quotations.

.
PARENT as a verb goes way back.  Note the 67-year gap in usage after 1908.
1663 G. MACKENZIE Religio Stoici (new ed.) 22 Churlishness and close-handedness parented by avarice.

1884 W. F. CRAFTS Sabbath for Man (1894) 192 Even a republican government is compelled to parent such of its people as are not capable of self-government. 1908 J. FLYNT My Life 307 It was a silly and unpatriotic thought, no doubt, and it was probably parented by a variety of factors. 1975 Listener 13 Mar. 340/3 Over 75 couples..have already been approved as adoptive or foster-parents... Many..are most suitable candidates to parent the child in question. 1994 Daily Tel. 16 Feb. 10/2, I watched my parents parent the country much the same way they parented my family.

PARTNER

a1616 SHAKESPEARE Cymbeline (1623) I. vi. 122 A Lady, So faire,..to be partner'd With Tomboyes.

1819 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 5 592 A respectable accompaniment of lads and ‘lasses free’; with whom it is time to partner ourselves on the green. 1898 Times 10 June 11/4 Harry Vardon, who was partnered with Bob Simpson. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 8 Feb. 12/4 Supposing a plus 3 man is partnered with a steady player whose handicap is 8, the two as a foursome side would be handicapped at 5. 1970 J. EARL Tuners & Amplifiers i. 14 Most amplifiers can be partnered with a tuner of matching style and size. 2000 Petcare Jan.-Feb. 3/3 Finally the dog is partnered with a disabled person during a two-week intensive residential course.

JOURNAL

 1. trans. To record in a journal.

1803 J. KENNY Society 107 Oft o'er the journal'd tale she cast her eye. 1892 Idler May 461 His journaled impressions of America.

MENTOR as a verb is younger than the others.  It's an American invention.

   trans. To act as a mentor to (a person, team, etc.); to advise or train (someone, esp. a younger and less experienced colleague). Also intr. and in extended use.

1918 Indianapolis (Indiana) Star 24 Mar. (Sport section) 1/6 Cleo O'Donnell, whose headline job is coaching the footballers, is mentoring the baseball squad at this time. 1948 Mexico (Missouri) Evening Ledger 6 Oct. 7/3 LaBrucherie mentored for 16 seasons at Los Angeles high school. 1976 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 103 184 Dr. Gould has..mentored several graduate students. 1981 N.Y. Times 16 Aug. VIII. 8/6 The true progress will come when we reach the stage of mentoring the brokers of the next century, androgynously. 1990 E. KRAFT Reservations Recommended vi. 209 He's proud of having had the idea that led to inventing it and proud of having..‘mentored’ the gadget through its development. 1996 Big Issue 15 July 26/2 Levi's head of human resources is mentoring our director of personnel and training.

TASK

1530 PALSGR. 753/1, I taske, I put or sette one to his taske what laboure he shall do or what he shall paye, je tauxe.

1588 SHAKES. L.L.L. II. i. 20 But now to taske the tasker. 1667 WOODHEAD St. Teresa II. xi. 93 Let her task, and employ them in..Exercises. 1784 COWPER Task II. 23 Thus man devotes his brother, and destroys;..Chains him, and tasks him, and exacts his sweat With stripes. 1828 Life Planter Jamaica 154 The negroes complained more of the [fact] of being tasked, than..of the additional labour.

FRIEND

 3. To act as a friend to, befriend (a person, cause, etc.); to assist, help. arch. or poet.

1562 J. HEYWOOD Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 89 Freende they any, That flatter many? 1581 SAVILE Tacitus' Hist. IV. xxxix. (1591) 198 Kings which frended the cause. 1600 HOLLAND Livy XXXI. xi. 779 They had undertaken the warre upon king Philip, because he had friended and aided [auxiliis juvisset] the Carthaginians. a1618 SYLVESTER Maiden's Blush 967 Shee all the gods requires To friend her love, and further her desires. 1676 W. ROW Contn. Blair's Autobiog. xii. (1848) 434 Reports came that the King would friend Lauderdale. 1855 SINGLETON Virgil I. 27 Do thou but at his birth the boy..O chaste Lucina, friend.

Why noun when you can verb?

The Invincible Vincent

Here is the invincible Vincent.  He was invincible for 2 reasons: first, nobody could call him Vince, just Vincent; second, his name means conquering.   Why Vincent Price?  Because for a long time I've been wondering:  if there is an invincible, why isn't there a vincible?  Well, finally I looked in my dictionary, and guess what?  There is a vincible. People just don't seem to use it.

So the Invincible Vincent is here to remind you to use vincible whenever you are speaking of somebody or something that is conquerable.