Generally: logophilia
glithery, an anthology
“Deary me, Miss Kate, don’t ye talk so, don’t ye now! You make me feel that glithery! Dear heart, I thought I saw a man’s face peep out o’ yonder pricket!” “Nonsense; there is no one,” said Kate. —Mary A.M. Hoppus Marks (Five-Chimney Farm, vol. 2, p. 58, ca. 1877) When I think of […] […]
revolutionary changes
Editing involves so many arbitrary changes to suit style (serial comma), to avoid baiting someone else’s bête noire (‘since’ only allowed as a temporal adverb), or to satisfy the conventions of genre and jargon (‘discriminating power’). My latest arbitrary textual reaction is to ‘revolves around’, as in ‘the conversation revolved around the sound of chymes’ […]
gutsiness
…if we are to understand their world, we must try to project ourselves into minds very remote from our own and endowed with these unfamiliar powers. A world in which men naturally talk of the lip of a cup, the teeth of a rake, the mouth of a river, a neck of land, handfuls of […]
resile
‘The Putrefaction of the Flesh of the Dying Emperor Galerius’, about 1413–1415 (Ms. 63, fol. 258) It is a short step from reading about how the early Greek philosophers tried to make sense of the world (and how scholars throughout the ages have tried to make sense of early Greek philosophers) to reading medical texts […]
cut to the chase
‘A doctryne of doctoris’ or ‘a example of maisteris’ Normally when I get an idea, I charge ahead and scribble about it, tangling words together in the hopes that I will net my quarry – that is, some sort of sense (even if it is nonsense). Usually it works (more or less), but sometimes it doesn’t. […]
lapsus calamities
Collected over time and extracted from elsewhere: 1 immunogoblins explainatory weekend immune system bears withness ‘tights’ for ‘ties’ ‘sawn’ for ‘sewn’ maniacal pencil Beowful ‘fastened’ for ‘expedited’* ‘mezzo’ for ‘meso’ proprosed thoughs ‘to don’ for ‘do not’ ‘plaid’ for ‘played’ armhold clearify* trail and error ‘Ministory’ for ‘Ministry’ ‘tenants’ for ‘tenets’ ‘famine’ for ‘feminine’ ‘phycological’ […]
words of note
One encounters so many interesting words while reading, some of which are unfamiliar, some of which – though tantalizing – send one to the dictionary immediately, and some of which linger in the mind even if already known. I used to gather such things elsewhere in bits and pieces, but it seems amusing to collect […]
diabolo, l’emigrette & la dame de pique
On toys, literature, gaming, and the perils of history.
no fuss no muss
Repetition and cross-cultural echoes.
layers upon layers
The cut direct.
cornelian
Regarding Cornus mas.
to have done
Infixes and conjugations.
ha eli
Little phrases.
a quiver
Curvet.
an interval
In a backward bin.
postponed
After the fact.
ablative abecedarian
Also as it sounds.
Inquiries
On quires and choirs.
I feel sick
Nauseous.
of doubtful origin
Provenance unknown.
reference
On the origins of regret.
Flibbertigibbet
Don’t flip.
apropos of nothing
Small rain.
abecedarian
As it sounds.