So here's the deal--on my web radio show The Logovore's Dilemma, at the wonderful Randoradio.com, I have offered a challenge to my listeners, which I now Extend to you. It regards an English-language factoid I've carried around in my head since I was knee-high and, since I wasn't doing anything else with it, I decided to pass it along to you.
Here 'tis: English can be twisted, turned and stretched in many ways, some of them glorious, some just silly. This is about the second kind. Now--if a group of large hooved ungulates in upstate New York intimidated their peers and were in turn intimidated by their victims, one might say, "Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo; Buffalo buffalo buffalo. Eight bison in all. But I can top that. There is a common English word which can be used eleven times consecutively, grammatically(and more sensibly than those buffaloes) in a sentence (or sentences, depending on punctuation). What is that word, and how do you do it?
A couple of hints--1) the word in question is a commonly-used verb, though in this sentence(s) it is sometimes used as a noun. 2) No homophones are involved. 3) The answer can be found on-line, and I've given you a big hint about where to look.
The first person to solve this Challenge will be awarded the keys to the music on a future edition of The Logovore's D--you pick it and, if I can find it, I'll play it. Which I think is a pretty cool prize. You can send your response to logovore@gmail.com or post it as a comment here. First correct response wins the prize. Good luck--you cannot win if you do not play.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
I'm Probiotic--And I Vote!
Probiotics: Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host (WH.O. definition)
Sometimes I get to thinking about words because the way they are being used or abused is having some profound impact on society at large, or that society is having a profound effect on the words. Ethnic cleansing bothered me both these ways when it came into vogue in the early '90s, because it provided a linguistic fig leaf for what was in fact genocide and because it forever dirtied up "cleansing", a word which did not deserve this horrible connotation. At other times words catch my ear and eye because they emerge from the underbrush and are suddenly, and for no particular reason on every page and tongue. And every once in a while, a word sticks in my head because thinking about it cracks me up. Right now, the word is probiotic.
What's so funny about that? After all, biotic is an adjective " pertaining to life or specific living conditions", according to the first edition of The American Heritage Dictionary (the official dictionary of TLD because it was the first to include the dirty words). So who wouldn't be probiotic? But wait. What about antibiotic? Antibiotics have saved my bacon on more than one occasion, so I would have to say I'm proantibiotic too. And just because I'm proanti- does not however mean I'm antipro. Here's where things start to get confusing. Don't the "pro" and the"anti" cancel each other out? And wouldn't that leave us back at plain old biotic? It's a conundrum.
At the heart of this mess is the way technical and scientific terms are coined. By long and elitist tradition, such words are almost always constructed form Greek and Latin parts. The trouble is that these nabobs use the two languages indiscriminately, and we end up with Greco-Roman hybrids like probiotic (Greek stem, Latin prefix). Some people have contended that the whole word is from the Greek, but the pro prefix in Greek means "coming before", as in prologue. This is obviously not the pro in probiotic, so it must come from the Latin, meaning "promoting or in favor of".
This kind of thing happens often in the world of tech/sci lingo, and is often source of bafflement. Jargon of all kinds is a way of keeping ideas obscure and exclusive. Probiotics (the word seems to have been created in the early 1950s, and attained its current meaning in the '70s). It could just as easily been rendered as "lifehelper" or "good germs", which would have been more readily understandible, but not as impressive-sounding. I understand, but I do not approve.
By the way, while I was researching all this, I stumbled across the creepy fact that the good bugs we have living in our guts far outnumber the cells in our body that are actually us. How do you like that? We're a minority in our own skins. Well, I guess that's what comes of being probiotic.
Sometimes I get to thinking about words because the way they are being used or abused is having some profound impact on society at large, or that society is having a profound effect on the words. Ethnic cleansing bothered me both these ways when it came into vogue in the early '90s, because it provided a linguistic fig leaf for what was in fact genocide and because it forever dirtied up "cleansing", a word which did not deserve this horrible connotation. At other times words catch my ear and eye because they emerge from the underbrush and are suddenly, and for no particular reason on every page and tongue. And every once in a while, a word sticks in my head because thinking about it cracks me up. Right now, the word is probiotic.
What's so funny about that? After all, biotic is an adjective " pertaining to life or specific living conditions", according to the first edition of The American Heritage Dictionary (the official dictionary of TLD because it was the first to include the dirty words). So who wouldn't be probiotic? But wait. What about antibiotic? Antibiotics have saved my bacon on more than one occasion, so I would have to say I'm proantibiotic too. And just because I'm proanti- does not however mean I'm antipro. Here's where things start to get confusing. Don't the "pro" and the"anti" cancel each other out? And wouldn't that leave us back at plain old biotic? It's a conundrum.
At the heart of this mess is the way technical and scientific terms are coined. By long and elitist tradition, such words are almost always constructed form Greek and Latin parts. The trouble is that these nabobs use the two languages indiscriminately, and we end up with Greco-Roman hybrids like probiotic (Greek stem, Latin prefix). Some people have contended that the whole word is from the Greek, but the pro prefix in Greek means "coming before", as in prologue. This is obviously not the pro in probiotic, so it must come from the Latin, meaning "promoting or in favor of".
This kind of thing happens often in the world of tech/sci lingo, and is often source of bafflement. Jargon of all kinds is a way of keeping ideas obscure and exclusive. Probiotics (the word seems to have been created in the early 1950s, and attained its current meaning in the '70s). It could just as easily been rendered as "lifehelper" or "good germs", which would have been more readily understandible, but not as impressive-sounding. I understand, but I do not approve.
By the way, while I was researching all this, I stumbled across the creepy fact that the good bugs we have living in our guts far outnumber the cells in our body that are actually us. How do you like that? We're a minority in our own skins. Well, I guess that's what comes of being probiotic.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Fraught Green Divas
I am, as is often the case lately, all in a dither, so I must be brief. Spring fever? Swine flu? Who can say? Anyhoo, no show hence no blogging last week. Today I will be doing neither prescription nor proscription, just talking about some words that people seem to be using a LOT just lately. To keep you in suspense, that's all I'm saying right now, except to point out the title of this post. More anon
Monday, May 4, 2009
Silver Bullets and Swine
I've spoken about this on the show, and I had hoped that would suffice, but I can see I'm going to have to be firmer about it. I think we're going down the wrong metaphoric road with our increasing use of "silver bullet" to refer to the various miracle cures being proposed to fix the economy, the enviornment, the flu... Except for being far more expensive, a silver bullet is pretty much indistinguishable from the regular kind. Though it kills werewolves, it would kill you too, if somebody shot you with it. No matter what the problem, indiscriminate carnage is not the solution. So what we need in these trying times is a "magic bullet" which would lay low the toxic asset, polluter or microbe, but not hurt little Bobby or Grampa Earl. Or you or me, for that matter. Dontcha think? Isn't magic bullet more descriptive of what the world is looking for now? Let's leave ilver bullets to the Lone Ranger and get on the magic bandwagon.
Speaking of the flu, nobody seems to be able to decide what to call it. Back in the day, it would have been called Mexican flu, but I think we've become too culturally sensitive to ascribe a disease to a nationality so most people have settled on the name Swine flu. The trouble with that is, no trace of this flu has been found in any of our little piggie pals, so the name is at least inaccurate. At worst, it has become deadly for the pigs, as things happen like the Egyptians slaughtering millions of them as a precaution (btw, millions of pigs in Egypt? What's up with that?).
An attempt was made to use H1N1, the scientists' name for the virus strain in question, but come on, who's going to say that? Besides, it sounds too much like H5N1, the bird flu virus. It's all too confusing. The Logovore has an answer. Just substitute the Roman numeral I for the Arabic 1 in the name. The resulting HINI, pronounced like "high knee" flu would be easy to remember, fun to say, and, given the reported gastrointestinal symptoms of this flu perhaps even descriptive. Hini flu. Pass it on (the name, not the disease!).
Speaking of the flu, nobody seems to be able to decide what to call it. Back in the day, it would have been called Mexican flu, but I think we've become too culturally sensitive to ascribe a disease to a nationality so most people have settled on the name Swine flu. The trouble with that is, no trace of this flu has been found in any of our little piggie pals, so the name is at least inaccurate. At worst, it has become deadly for the pigs, as things happen like the Egyptians slaughtering millions of them as a precaution (btw, millions of pigs in Egypt? What's up with that?).
An attempt was made to use H1N1, the scientists' name for the virus strain in question, but come on, who's going to say that? Besides, it sounds too much like H5N1, the bird flu virus. It's all too confusing. The Logovore has an answer. Just substitute the Roman numeral I for the Arabic 1 in the name. The resulting HINI, pronounced like "high knee" flu would be easy to remember, fun to say, and, given the reported gastrointestinal symptoms of this flu perhaps even descriptive. Hini flu. Pass it on (the name, not the disease!).
Monday, April 27, 2009
Logovore Pick of the Week #1
Starting right now, I will be writing a bit each week about the words, expressions, usages and such that I'll be talking about on the Logovoracious segment of TLD .
Today, I'll be looking at "white-shoe law firms", a phrase much in the news recently. Federal Judge Jay Bybee, notorious memo writer as a member Of the Bush administration Justice Department, is often described as having come from the world of white-shoe law firms. These are broadly defined as firms of high status and long history, the legal world's equivalent of the Fortune 500. Having been born, bred and buttered in the upscale suburbs of new York City, where these people congregate, I've been rubbing elbows with them for decades, but I rarely see them in white shoes, except the ones they wear for exercize. (What ever happened to "sneakers", by the way?) Turns out, the white shoes construction is a hoary old anti-WASP slur referring to the red-soled white bucks worn by men of the Ivy League during their leisure season at places like Newport and Saratoga at the turn of the 20th century. Its application has broadened over time to include first Jews of similar economic status, and now anyone who is a partner in one of these firms, or of banking and financial firms of similar stratospheric status. It has also become somewhat less perjorative (though considering who these people are and why they've been in the news, that could change).
What surprises me most about this is that the shoes in question are white bucks. For those of you who have never seen them, white bucks are suede oxfords, which traditionally had soles of hard, ox-blood colored leather. In the 1950s, Pat Boone favored them, and they enjoyed some popularity among preppies into the '60s, mostly in the form of Hush Puppies, which had white rubber soles and could therefore be worn on the deck of one's yacht without fear of marring the varnish. I owned a few pairs myself when I was in high school, because they were part of our marching band uniform. They were reasonably comfortalbe for hard shoes, but easily scuffed and fiendishly difficult to keep clean. Though I suppose if one has a valet, that would not present a problem. Hmmm. Maybe I'm not so surprised after all.
Today, I'll be looking at "white-shoe law firms", a phrase much in the news recently. Federal Judge Jay Bybee, notorious memo writer as a member Of the Bush administration Justice Department, is often described as having come from the world of white-shoe law firms. These are broadly defined as firms of high status and long history, the legal world's equivalent of the Fortune 500. Having been born, bred and buttered in the upscale suburbs of new York City, where these people congregate, I've been rubbing elbows with them for decades, but I rarely see them in white shoes, except the ones they wear for exercize. (What ever happened to "sneakers", by the way?) Turns out, the white shoes construction is a hoary old anti-WASP slur referring to the red-soled white bucks worn by men of the Ivy League during their leisure season at places like Newport and Saratoga at the turn of the 20th century. Its application has broadened over time to include first Jews of similar economic status, and now anyone who is a partner in one of these firms, or of banking and financial firms of similar stratospheric status. It has also become somewhat less perjorative (though considering who these people are and why they've been in the news, that could change).
What surprises me most about this is that the shoes in question are white bucks. For those of you who have never seen them, white bucks are suede oxfords, which traditionally had soles of hard, ox-blood colored leather. In the 1950s, Pat Boone favored them, and they enjoyed some popularity among preppies into the '60s, mostly in the form of Hush Puppies, which had white rubber soles and could therefore be worn on the deck of one's yacht without fear of marring the varnish. I owned a few pairs myself when I was in high school, because they were part of our marching band uniform. They were reasonably comfortalbe for hard shoes, but easily scuffed and fiendishly difficult to keep clean. Though I suppose if one has a valet, that would not present a problem. Hmmm. Maybe I'm not so surprised after all.
Monday, March 30, 2009
E Pleb Neesta
Hidy-ho, fellow logovores. Didja miss me? I'd prefer that you not answer that--allow me to cherish my illusions. Thank you. Here, as promised on today's (3/30/09) Logovore's Dilemma broadcast, is my all-mondegreen version of the US Pledge Of Allegiance.
I led the pigeons to the flag
of the New-knighted Snakes of America
And Tudor Republic,
for Richard Stans--
one naked, under guard individual
with levity and justice
for oil.
I led the pigeons to the flag
of the New-knighted Snakes of America
And Tudor Republic,
for Richard Stans--
one naked, under guard individual
with levity and justice
for oil.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Quick Program Note
Hey There Fellow Logovores--This is just a quick note to let you know that on this Monday's Logovore's Dilemma (3-5 PM EDT) I'll be reading George Orwell's 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language". Out loud, so you can hear it, not just to myself so I'll have something to do while you're listening to the show. It's fairly short, so there'll still be plenty of groovy music, and I think you'll agree it was worth hearing, especially right now. Tune in! If you'd like to follow along at home, you can find the text at http://www.ourcivilisation.com/decline/orwell1.htm
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