Word of the Day: Facetious

facetious: (adj.) not meant to be taken seriously or literally; lacking serious intent; concerned with something nonessential, amusing, or frivolous; tongue-in-cheek, blithe, capering, droll, flippant, frivolous, indecorous, ironic, irreverent, jesting, jocose, jocular, pulling one's leg, punning, putting one on, salty, sarcastic, satirical, smart, sportive, sprightly, waggish, whimsical, wisecracking, witty, wry

Origin: 1592, from the French facétieux, from facétie "a joke," from Latin facetia, from "witty, elegant," of unknown origin, perhaps related to facetusfacis "torch." It implies a desire to be amusing, often intrusive or ill-timed.

Jacky was being facetious when she said, "Yes, let's all go to Iraq for my birthday party!"

Tidbit: Along with abstemious, facetious is one of two words in the English language containing all five vowels in alphabetical order.

The Real Sleepy Hollow

John Quidor oil painting
from Smithsonian American Art Museum

Explore the real town of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County, New York. You can see that Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" still lives on in the imaginations of the residents there.

Rip Van Winkle as Cautionary Tale

We decided that it is difficult to make the case for "Rip Van Winkle" functioning as a "morality tale," but it can be viewed as a cautionary tale. We had a few examples of those when we read The Canterbury Tales last year.

In simple terms, a cautionary tale is a traditional story told in folklore with the purpose of warning its hearer of a particular danger (e.g., playing with matches). The cautionary tale consists of three essential parts.

1. A taboo or prohibition is stated: some act, location, or thing is said to be dangerous.

2. The narrative itself is told: someone disregarded the warning and performed the forbidden act or acted in a prohibitive way.

3. Finally, the violator comes to an unpleasant fate, which is frequently related in large and grisly detail.

So, what is the taboo or danger that Irving warns his readers about in "Rip Van Winkle"? No, he doesn't warn against a life of idleness. He doesn't counsel us not to drink liquor with little people who have large beards and small piggish eyes. His warning is directed to wives: Wives, do not henpeck your husbands. Dame Van Winkle is the termagant transgressor who has henpecked her husband to a point that he wants to escape his intolerable domestic life. We might even consider that she's the cause of Rip's laziness around his house and farm, especially since the other village wives put him to work quite easily around their own homesteads, doing work they can't get their own husband's to do.

And, in the end, who comes to a "bad" end? Not Rip, but the no-name Dame Van Winkle. Her homestead goes to wrack and ruin; she loses her husband, and dies an early death.

Irving based some of his folklore stories on the German folklore tradition, which has a long lineup of short cautionary tales written in verse. You may enjoy some of these from Heinrich Hoffmann such as Cruel Frederick, The Dreadful Story of Pauline and the Matches, The Story of the Inky Boys, The Wild Huntsman, and Slovenly Peter:

See Slovenly Peter! Here he stands,
With his dirty hair and hands.
See! his nails are never cut;
They are grim'd as black as soot;
No water for many weeks,
Has been near his cheeks;
And the sloven, I declare,
Not once this year has combed his hair!
Anything to me is sweeter
Than to see shock-headed Peter.

Word of the Day: Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist [ ZYTE-gaist] -- (n) the popular outlook -- intellectually, morally, and culturally - in a particular period or generation. Scholars maintain that each era has a unique spirit distinguishing it from other periods. The pervasive cultural climate is described as the Zeitgeist. It is most often reflected in the music, movies, literature, and philosophy of the time.

First introduced in the English language in the late 19th century, Zeitgeist is another loaner from German. Literally translated Zeitgeist means "spirit of the times" since zeit is time and geist is spirit.

Rip Van Winkle from 1896

Here is, without a doubt, the earliest film adaptation of Irving's "Rip Van Winkle." Very primitive indeed, replete with dramatic hand gestures, but worth watching because of the eerie resemblance of the Catskill gnome (not the one pictured above) to our resident Larry.

View the 4 minute silent film...

Word of the Day: Schadenfreude

schadenfreude [ SHAW-den-froy-duh] -- (n.) taking malicious satisfaction in another person's troubles or suffering; epikhairekakia

The Book of Proverbs mentions an emotion similar to that now described by the word schadenfreude: "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him" (Proverbs 24:17-18).

Sometimes capitalized, schadenfreude is a compound of two German words: schaden (damage) and freude (joy). Although this word was in use in the German language early in the 19th century, its first appearance in English is thought to be 1895.

As I noted today, German words can get to be very long, since many of them are compound nouns. We see this, for example, in "The Spectre Bride" with Starkenfaust (strong fist) and Katzenellenbogen (cat elbow). Ah, but these are just puny words, compared to some German compound nouns, such as:

Parkzeitüberschreitung:
expired parking meter

Berufungsgerichtsverfahren:
court of appeal procedure

Lehrgangsteilnahmebestaetigung:
training course participation confirmation

Supermarkteinkaufstütenbeschriftung:
Supermarket purchase bag inscription

Death By Books (and Other Stuff)

Speaking of urban legends, American literary light E.L. Doctorow (author of Ragtime) has published a new novel based on the urban legend of the Collyer brothers, Homer and Langley, who were literally crushed to death by the books (and other paraphernalia) they collected in their Manhattan brownstone. From the review this week in The New York Times:

The subject of E. L. Doctorow’s gentle, enveloping new novel, Homer & Langley, is one that might easily come to any deskbound writer who spends his days amid mounting piles of books, newspapers and magazines. It’s the Collyer brothers, Homer and Langley — wealthy, reclusive Manhattan pack rats who lived for decades in squalor in a Fifth Avenue brownstone and died within a labyrinth of trash: towers of news­papers, battlements of books, mountains of boxes and heaps of chandeliers and debris (human organs in brine, pianos, a Model T Ford). After their deaths, in 1947, investigators had to break an upstairs window to gain entrance. Burrowing through walls of clutter, they soon found Homer’s body, but it took weeks to locate Langley’s, which lay within 10 feet of his brother’s, crushed beneath a booby trap he’d set for prowlers. After both Collyers were extracted, more than 100 tons of refuse was removed from the building.

Though their story is entirely true, the Collyers have become the stuff of urban legend; as such, they’ve inspired many commemorations before this one. A few years ago, Franz Lidz wrote a riveting, fact-filled nonfiction account of the brothers, Ghosty Men, interwoven with reminiscences of his uncle (also a compulsive hoarder). In 1954, the impetuous writer and critic Marcia Davenport (she titled her autobiography Too Strong for Fantasy) mined their biography for melodrama in her novel My Brother’s Keeper, in which a passionate opera singer drives two brothers to disposophobic lunacy. The peculiar pair have also popped up, by name or reputation, in plays, television shows and films, as well as in the horror and crime genre — from Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, in 1975, to Linda Fairstein’s “Lethal Legacy,” published last February.

Read on...

Usage Tip: Who vs. That vs. Which

Which of the following sentences is correct?

a. He's the man that sold me that clunker.
b. He's the man who sold me that clunker.

A simple grammar rule-of-thumb applies here: you use who when you are talking about a person and that when you are talking about an object. Stick with that rule and you'll be safe.

That being said, the rule-of-thumb isn't hard-and-fast. The American Heritage Dictionary says,

It is entirely acceptable to write either the man that wanted to talk to you, or the man who wanted to talk to you. [emphasis added]

Even Chaucer did it, for example.

Now, that vs. which is a bit more complicated -- a more hard-and-fast a grammatical rule. That introduces essential clauses while which introduces nonessential clauses. Some examples:

Essential: I do not trust products that claim "all natural ingredients" because this phrase can mean almost anything. (We would not know which products were being discussed without the that clause.)

Non-Essential: The product claiming "all natural ingredients," which appeared in the Sunday newspaper, is on sale. (The product is already identified. Therefore, which begins a nonessential clause.)

Word of the Day: Salmagundi

You'll note on the background information you were given about Washington Irving that he and his brother wrote an anthology of stories called Salmagundi. So, I imagine everyone is wondering about this word. Doubtless, many of you have already looked up the word on your own, but for those who have not:

Salmagundi: (n) -- A mixture or miscellany; potpourri, smorgasbord, witch's brew, farrago, gallimaufry, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, melange, mingle-mangle, mishmash, oddments, odds and ends, omnium-gatherum, ragbag

According to World Wide Word's Michael Quinion: Though this is now used mainly in a figurative sense, it was first attached in English to a dish of chopped meat, anchovies and eggs, garnished with onions, lemon juice, oil and other condiments. A right dog’s breakfast, in fact.

N.B. Consider the reasons that Washington Irving may have written under the pseudonyms "Jonathan Oldstyle" and "Geoffrey Crayon."

Short Stories & Titles

Larry asked me a question in another venue. To answer his question and dispel any possible confusion, note well: You will be turning in your American folklore short stories to me on Monday at 8:25 am. They must be written or (preferably) typed in the standard format for essays -- yes double-spaced, on one side, etc. The title of the assignment should be the title of your story -- without quotation marks and without being underlined.

On the subject of short story titles, a few tips are in order. Consider:

Titles should not be dull. When you browse a shelf full of novels, or a collection of short stories, aren't you drawn first to the more unusual titles? Not that "The House" or "The Tree" won't be a good stories, but titles with a bit more originality stand a better chance. Examples: Gone with the Wind, The High and the Mighty, "The Tin Star," The Silence of the Lambs, The Maltese Falcon, Watership Down, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," Fahrenheit 451, The Color Purple, Atlas Shrugged.

Titles should be easy to remember. It's hard to tell a neighbor or a colleague about a story if the title's too long, too complicated, or hard to pronounce. It's a good idea to keep things clear and simple. Avoid titles such as Murder on the Wzcyiubjekistan Express or The Tallahatchie Backroad Honky-Tonk Boogie.

Titles should be appropriate. Author Lawrence Block mentions, in one of his books on writing, a Charles McGarry espionage novel called The Secret Lovers. Block says its title (which refers to spies, who love secrets) led some readers to believe it would be a romance. Examples of titles that "fit" their subjects: Raise the Titanic, The Firm, "A Rose for Emily," The Caine Mutiny, Presumed Innocent In Cold Blood, Riders of the Purple Sage, The Amityville Horror.

But the question remains: How exactly do you find a good title? Where do you begin your search? Consider:

1. A title can be a popular expression. Gone for Good, Something's Gotta Give, The Horse's Mouth, The Usual Suspects, Good As Gold, The Whole Nine Yards.
   
   
2. A title can be a play on words. (Sometimes a "twist" of an existing expression.) Burglars Can Be Choosers, The Canceled Czech, You Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die.
   
   
3. A title can have a hidden meaning, later revealed in the story. The Green Mile, Rain Man, Dances with Wolves, Catch-22, Hearts in Atlantis, Cool Hand Luke.
   
   
4. A title can come from an existing work. (The Bible, Shakespeare, etc.) The Grapes of Wrath, The Sound and the Fury, The Sun Also Rises, Absalom, Absalom, Something Wicked This Way Comes.
   
   
5. A title can be a person's name. Hannibal, Goldfinger, Carrie, Hondo, Rebecca, Doctor Zhivago, Shane, Forrest Gump.
   
   
6. A title can be a place name. Magic Mountain, Cimarron, Peyton Place, Jurassic Park, Lonesome Dove, Mystic River.
   
   
7. A title can be a possessive. Portnoy's Complaint, Angela's Ashes, The Optimist's Daughter, Charlotte's Web.
   
   
8. A title can be an association of ideas. Often these are words that have a "double meaning," and refer to more than one thing in a story. The Eye of the Needle, The Dead Zone, Misery, Silver Bullet, Lie Down with Lions.
   
   
9. A title can be an "event" or "activity." Pleading Guilty, Romancing the Stone, Waiting to Exhale, "Riding the Bullet," Raising Helen, Finding Nemo.
   
   
10. A title can be a memorable line from the story itself. To Kill a Mockingbird, Tell No One, Sleepless in Seattle, The Eagle Has Landed, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Usage Tip o'the Week: Bad vs. Badly

Question: Which sentence is grammatically correct?

a. I feel bad about leaving the dog outside all night in the thunderstorm.
b. I feel badly about leaving the dog outside all night in the thunderstorm.

Before you read on, write your answer on the back of your left hand (Soulof..., you may write it on the back of your right). Now consider the following:

To say "I feel badly" could imply that there's something wrong with your sense of touch, as if you're in a dark room having trouble feeling your way around with numb fingers. Here's why:

"Badly" is an adverb, meaning that it modifies a verb (An adverb may also modify an adjective or another adverb. So when you say , "I feel badly," the adverb badly relates to the the action verb feel. Since the action verb feel can mean "to touch things," feeling badly can mean you're having trouble touching things.

As Grammar Girl relates: This is a problem with most of the verbs that describe senses such as taste and smell. Consider the obvious difference in the meanings of these two sentences:

I smell bad.
I smell badly.

When you say, “I smell badly,” badly is an adverb that modifies the verb smell. You're saying your sniffer isn't working, just like when you say you feel badly you're saying that your fingers aren't working. When you say, “I smell bad,” bad is an adjective, which means it modifies a noun. You're saying that you stink, just like when you say “I feel bad” you're saying that you are regretful or sad or ill or wicked.

The reason people often think they should say they feel badly is that after most other verbs it's correct to use the adverb. For example, if you gave a horrible speech you might say, “It went badly.” If a child threw a fit in a shopping mall, it would be correct to say, “She behaved badly.”

So, let's get back to the original question about the dog you left out in the thunderstorm. Look at the back of your hand. If you wrote A, congratulations, you are correct. Have someone pat you on the back. In that sentence above, feel is used as a linking verb -- and bad is the predicate adjective (and not an adverb).

Oscar Wilde’s Personal Library

The Christian Science Monitor reviews a promising book on Oscar Wilde’s life as viewed through the prism of his personal library, proving that one can learn aplenty about a man through the books he owned, read, and digested. Wilde, it seems, truly "made his books his own." He went far beyond simply writing his name on the inside cover. Consider:

Wilde’s was a working library and its volumes were often stacked on the floor. Wilde scribbled in them, marked passages, and sometimes even chewed on them. (Literally – he would tear corners off pages and pop them in his mouth while reading intensely.) He dribbled crumbs and jam into them and sometimes used flowers to mark his place – all of which left an unusually personal imprint on his collection. He also borrowed widely from his books and perhaps even stole. (Plagiarism, he told a friend, “is the privilege of the appreciative man.”)

The book on Wilde's books is Built of Books:

Wilde was a brilliant scholar and droll, rapid-fire commentator. He was erudite beyond what most of us can even begin to imagine. Except that now, thanks to Thomas Wright, we can imagine. Wright, in a remarkable labor of love, has dedicated much of his life (about two decades) to a quest to intellectually reconfigure and read Wilde’s personal library. The result is Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde.

It could be argued that all of us are indelibly marked by the books we read. But there can be few people for whom this is as strikingly true as it was of Wilde, who became celebrated as a playwright, poet, author, and professional wit.

Books were the driving force of his existence, from earliest childhood on up, and later in life, when he was brought low by tragedy and disgrace, they were his last remaining comfort.

Wright has gone to great lengths not only to learn about the titles that shaped Wilde’s life, but to get his hands on as many of Wilde’s own copies of those books as possible. The result is an idiosyncratic yet insightful take on the man Wright refers to as “my hero.”

read on...

The Hook: Great Opening Lines of Short Stories

We've talked about the importance of a riveting first paragraph -- first lines -- designed to draw a reader into a short story and ultimately keep him there until the final lines. Known as the "hook," these opening lines needn't be obnoxious, overly sensational, or bizarre in order to garner attention; they just need to be strong and somehow gripping.

Consider some examples that spring to mind:

“None of them knew the color of the sky.” — “Open Boat” by Stephen Crane

“One day you have a home and the next you don’t, but I’m not going to tell you my particular reasons for being homeless, because it’s my secret story, and Indians have to work hard to keep secrets from hungry white folks.” —“What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie

"Two men in a smoking-room were talking of their private-school days. 'At our school,' said A., 'we had a ghost's footmark on the staircase.' " -- "A School Story" by M.R. James

"Young Goodman Borwn came forth at sunset into the street at Salem Village; but put his head back after crossing the threshold, to exchange a parting kiss with his young wife. And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap while she called to Goodman Brown." -- "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The twilight of evening. Big flakes of wet snow are whirling lazily about the street lamps, which have just been lighted, and lying in a thin soft layer on roofs, horses' backs, shoulders, caps. Iona Potapov, the sledge driver, is all white like a ghost." -- "Misery" by Anton Chekhov

"On his bench in Madison Square Soapy moved uneasily. When wild geese honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands, and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand. A dead leaf fell in Soapy's lap. That was Jack Frost's card." -- "The Cop and the Anthem," by O. Henry

"A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck." -- "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," by Ambrose Bierce

Opening lines are of great importance to novels, too. Check out these "100 best first lines from novels" from American Book Review.

Sleuth at Playhouse in the Park

Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer is being performed at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park from now through October 3.

One of the greatest stage thrillers and a masterpiece of suspense, Sleuth won the Tony Award for Best Play and inspired two film versions. When an aging mystery writer lures his wife's lover to his mansion, the younger man becomes unwittingly drawn into a tangled web of intrigue and gamesmanship, where nothing is quite as it seems. This edge-of-your-seat mystery full of cunning plot twists is not only an exciting "whodunit" but a fascinating "whodunwhat."

The play is set at the manor house of Andrew Wyke, an immensely successful mystery writer. His home reflects Wyke's obsession with the inventions and deceptions of fiction and his fascination with games and game-playing. He lures Milo Tindle to the house and convinces him to stage a robbery of his wife's jewelry, a proposal that sets off a chain of events that leaves the audience trying to decipher where Wyke's imagination ends and reality begins.

Info at the Playhouse...

Word of the Day: Twitterpated

Today's "word of the day" comes courtesy of Soulofdiscretion:

Twitterpated: (adj.) -- characterized by feelings of excitement, anticipation, high hopes, recent memories of interludes, giddiness, and physical overstimulation which occur simultaneously when experiencing a new love. These feelings take over without warning, usually at odd times (such as at a check-out line), with or without the partner present, and make it difficult to concentrate on anything but romance. They interfere with work and safe driving, but should be experienced at least once in every person's lifetime.

By the way, seeing the handle "soulofdiscretion" reminds me to remind you that there's a difference between the two homophones discrete and discreet:

"Discrete" means separate, distinct, or individual.

Example: They worked as discrete individuals with their own agendas rather than as a team.

"Discreet," on the other hand, means to be prudent or show good judgment, to have, well, discretion.

Example: I’m too discreet to mention which of my colleagues got these two words mixed up.

Nine times out of ten, students and adults will misspell discreet, when used in the sense of "discretion." Don't let this happen to you!

Growing up with your favorite fictional characters

On today's London Guardian book blog, Wayne Gooderham asks an interesting question: "Does anyone else find themselves measuring their own age against the people they read about in novels?"

I was 29 when I first became interested in the ages of literary characters. Re-reading Joseph Heller's Catch-22, I made the shocking discovery that somehow I was now a year older than Yossarian. How did this happen? Rebellious, wise-cracking Yossarian should be forever my senior, someone to look up to and secretly admire. An older brother or dodgy uncle almost. I shouldn't be able to overtake him. It didn't seem right. I was too young for such revelations.

Shaken by this, I got to thinking: not only was I a year older than Yossarian, but I was two years older than Hans Castorp when he came down from the Magic Mountain (and as readers of the Thomas Mann novel will confirm, he was up there for a very long time). Worse still, I was 13 years older than JD Salinger's Holden Caulfield. This was all very worrying to say the least. I went back to Catcher in the Rye and was relieved to discover that while I still enjoyed the book immensely, some of Holden's attitude and behaviour did strike me as a tad immature. Perhaps not quite as immature as they should appear to a 29-year-old, but enough to make me feel I was heading in vaguely the right direction life-wise.

Suddenly I was acutely aware of time moving on and dragging me along with it while Yossarian and his peers stayed youthfully behind. It was obvious that I needed to find a new yardstick to measure myself by. Measure myself how exactly? I'm not entirely sure. If part of the reason we read literature is to find out how to live, then I suppose I just liked the reassurance that someone reaching the grand old age of twenty-nine could still be living a life deemed interesting enough to be written and read about (Holden Caulfield hadn't quite lost his grip on me yet).

read on...

Tips: Writing Short Stories

As you're thinking about penning your American folk tales, you might take a moment to read through this tip sheet from Seton Hill on crafting short stories. Here are some salient excerpts:

What Is a Short Story?
A short story begins as close to the conclusion as possible, and grabs the reader from the very first line. It conserves character and scenes, typically focuses on just one problem, and drives towards a sudden, unexpected revelation.

Write a Catchy First Paragraph
In today's fast-moving world, the first sentence of your short story should catch your reader's attention with the unusual, the unexpected, an action, or a conflict. Begin with tension and immediacy. Remember that short stories need to start close to their end.

Choose a Point-of-View
Point of view is the narration of the story from the perspective of first, second, or third person. As a writer, you need to determine who is going to tell the story and how much information is available for the narrator to reveal in the short story. The narrator can be directly involved in the action subjectively, or the narrator might only report the action objectively.

Set Up the Plot
Understanding these story elements for developing actions and their end results will help you plot your next short story.

• Explosion or "Hook." A thrilling, gripping, stirring event or problem that grabs the reader's attention right away.
• Conflict. A character versus the internal self or an external something or someone.
• Exposition. Background information required for seeing the characters in context.
• Complication. One or more problems that keep a character from their intended goal.
• Transition. Image, symbol, dialogue, that joins paragraphs and scenes together.
• Flashback. Remembering something that happened before the short story takes place.
• Climax. When the rising action of the story reaches the peak.
• Falling Action. Releasing the action of the story after the climax.
• Resolution. When the internal or external conflict is resolve.

Create Conflict and Tension
Conflict produces tension that makes the story begin. Tension is created by opposition between the character or characters and internal or external forces or conditions. By balancing the opposing forces of the conflict, you keep readers glued to the pages wondering how the story will end.

• Mystery. Explain just enough to tease readers. Never give everything away.
• Empowerment. Give both sides options.
• Progression. Keep intensifying the number and type of obstacles the protagonist faces.
• Causality. Hold fictional characters more accountable than real people. Characters who make mistakes frequently pay, and, at least in fiction, commendable folks often reap rewards.
• Surprise. Provide sufficient complexity to prevent readers predicting events too far in advance.
• Empathy. Encourage reader identification with characters and scenarios that pleasantly or (unpleasantly) resonate with their own sweet dreams (or night sweats).
• Insight. Reveal something about human nature.
• Universality. Present a struggle that most readers find meaningful, even if the details of that struggle reflect a unique place and time.
• High Stakes. Convince readers that the outcome matters because someone they care about could lose something precious. Trivial clashes often produce trivial fiction.

Build a Crisis or Climax
This is the turning point of the story--the most exciting or dramatic moment. Jane Burroway says that the crisis "must always be presented as a scene. It is "the moment" the reader has been waiting for. In Cinderella's case, "the payoff is when the slipper fits." While a good story needs a crisis, a random event such as a car crash or a sudden illness is simply an emergency --unless it somehow involves a conflict that makes the reader care about the characters (see: "Crisis vs. Conflict").

Find a Resolution
This is the solution to the conflict. In short fiction, it is difficult to provide a complete resolution and you often need to just show that characters are beginning to change in some way or starting to see things differently.

Read the whole article...

Word of the Day: jiggery-pokery

jiggery-pokery: (n.) -- deceitful or dishonest manipulation; underhand scheming or behavior; hocus-pocus, humbug, subterfuge, hanky panky, skullduggery, slickness, trickery.

Interesting tidbit: jiggery-pokery is a classic example of what’s called a double dactyl, a dactyl being a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables; it’s named after the Greek word for finger, whose joints represent the three syllables. Other examples of double dactyls are higgledy-piggledy and idiosyncrasy.

Dystopia -- District 9

We discussed the fact that Fahrenheit 451 is, along with 1984 and Brave New World, one of the most well-known dystopian novels of the 20th century. The recent release of the docu-spoof film District 9 has spawned a spate of articles and reviews explaining the dystopia genre (e.g., in Current). In its review of the movie, London's Independent concludes:

This dystopian thriller's attempt at social comment is hijacked by extraterrestrial crustaceans with a craze for cat food.

The entire review is worth reading. I haven't seen the film myself, but have heard generally positive (though qualified) assessments.

Stunt Rumors of the 1959 Ben-Hur

Was Stephen Boyd's stunt double really killed and his death left in the final cut?

You can read all about it on snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/benhur.asp

The rumor that Stephen Boyd's double was killed during the chariot race is false. According to second-unit director Yakima Canutt, the "Messala" that was run over, a Roman soldier standing on the center island who was hit by a chariot and the driver of a spilled rig who jumped out of the way of one chariot but was immediately run over by another one were all articulated and weighted dummies (made with movable arm and leg joints), so when they were hit they "reacted" the way a normal human body would in that situation. A combination of adroit placement and expert editing made the dummies look like real people being run over.
If you watch Massala being thrown out of his chariot and trampled in slow motion you can clearly see that the figure pitched out of the chariot, dragged and trampled is a dummy. A close up of Stephen Boyd being dragged is cut into the sequence, but the distance shots are all done with a stiff figure.

Summer Reading Essay Test -- Results

The first essay test of the year is graded, and the results graphed above. Interpolation: Out of 14 tests, ranging from 14%-91%, the mean score was 73.4%, which is a B in the Honors grading scale used in this course. A 14% would indicate that a student read none of the assigned summer reading books. A 91% would indicate that all three books were read, and read actively. I expect that this first test will be the most challenging of the year. Why? Because we, as a class, did not "study" any of these novels. In other words, I think you will find that class discussions, presentations, and close study of the works we'll read this year will result in much higher grades and much more raw learning.

A good deal of doing well on an essay test depends upon being intimately familiar with the subject matter (the what), but your success also depends upon knowing how to express that familiarity and understanding on paper in response to specific questions. I've already given you tips on how to take this sort of test, but I am supplementing that now with a sample answer key to the Summer Reading Essay Test. The answers on this sample key are taken from answers supplied by you, the students, on the test you took Wednesday. All of these are exemplary answers to the questions posed. Each received the full 10 points, and in some cases an extra 3 points for a "best in class" answer. You would do well to study these answers in order to understand the "how" of taking this type of test.

Available in PDF here: Summer Reading Essay Test - KEY.

Your tests will be returned to you Tuesday morning.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Over the past year we've talked plenty about the idea of "re-telling" stories, in the manner of Chaucer or Boccaccio or Irving. An American writer by the name of Seth Grahame-Smith recently teamed up with the long-dead Jane Austen to produce a hybrid novel called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. That's right, Grahame-Smith took Austen's work and grafted his own zombie novel onto it, producing some very, er, interesting results.

Apparently the Austen-hybrid fad has caught on. A new novel -- this one by Ben Winters -- is due out on September 15: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. The New York Times reports:

Like some monster stitched together in a mad scientist’s laboratory, another Jane Austen novel is about to be grafted to a classic horror milieu in hopes of creating a best seller. Publishers Weekly reported that Quirk Books would follow its unexpected hit “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” with a new title, “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters,” to be published on Sept. 15. “Zombies,” written by Seth Grahame-Smith, combined about 85 percent of Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” text with a tale of undead flesh eaters. The new book, to be written by Ben H. Winters, will find the Dashwood sisters tossed from their home and sent to an island of man-eating sea creatures. Jason Rekulak, a Quirk Books editor, told Publishers Weekly that the book would take inspiration from everything from “Jules Verne novels to ‘Lost’ to ‘Jaws’ to ‘Spongebob SquarePants.’ ” Mr. Grahame-Smith, meanwhile, signed a two-book deal with Grand Central Press that includes a new book called “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.”

You may want to check out the dramatic trailer for the book.

American Folklore Pageant

Here is the first draft of the program for the American Folklore Pageant. Please check that I have you assigned to the proper character. You may change your mind about whom you would like to portray, as long as you let me know about it before Noon on Monday -- Labor Day. If you would like to change or amend the one line description of your character to tailor it more to your presentation, please let me know. The order given below is by the numbers that were assigned. This will be the order the pageant will follow:

Joseph B: Brer Rabbit
The plantation trickster, known to outsmart those who would rather eat him for lunch or dinner

Elizabeth: Paul Bunyan
The giant lumberjack whose life companion was a blue ox named Babe

Julianna: Unsinkable Molly Brown
The American socialite who became famous for surviving the 1912 sinking of the Titanic

Mike: Al Capone
The notorious gangster and racketeer dedicated to bootlegging during the Prohibition

Naomi: Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
The notorious train robbers and bank robbers who headed up the Hole in the Wall Gang

Jennifer: Black Aggie
The spooky, cowl-clothed statue rumored to come alive at night with glowing red eyes

Ashley: Amelia Earhart
Aviation pioneer who disappeared in the South Pacific while attempting to circumnavigate the globe

Marcella: Annie Oakley
Exhibition sharpshooter who became known as the first female American superstar

Sean: Pecos Bill
Legendary cowboy immortalized for using a rattlesnake for a lasso and riding a cyclone

Olivia: Sacajawea
Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their exploration of the western U.S.

Annmarie: Harry Houdini
Magician and stunt performer most well known for escaping from handcuffs, strait jackets, and an over-sized milk can

Gabriela: Jersey Devil
Legendary flying biped said to inhabit and haunt the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey

Larry: The Catskill Gnomes
Famous "little people" with bushy beards and eyes like pigs', known for their special brew

Peter: Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind
A woman so strong that she could throw a crocodile a mile and wrestle bears with impunity

Word of the Day: Ripsnorter

Speaking of American folklore, here's a word-of-the-day attributed to folk hero Davy Crockett:

Ripsnorter: (n.) -- a person or thing that is strikingly active, forceful, exciting, wild, rambunctious, or a striking example of its kind.

“Of all the ripsnorters I ever tutched upon, thar never war one that could pull her boat alongside of Grace Peabody.” -- attributed to Davy Crockett, Farmer's Almanac, 1840

Davy was also credited with coining nonsense phrases and words supposedly used by "mountain men" -- e.g., circumflustercated and scentoriferous.

N.B. Anyone who can sing The Ballad of Davy Crockett in full -- in front of the class -- will be granted 50 extra credit points for the quarter. "Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee..."

Boston Review Short Story Contest: $1500

Here's a great opportunity for those who like to write short fiction:

Seventeenth Annual Short Story Contest

Deadline: October 1, 2009
Judge: Chang-Rae Lee
First Prize: $1,500

Complete guidelines:
The winning author will receive $1,500 and have his or her work published in Boston Review, the summer of 2010. Stories should not exceed 4,000 words and must be previously unpublished. Manuscripts should be submitted with a cover note listing the author's name, address, and phone number; names should not appear on the stories themselves. Entrants will receive a one-year print subscription to the Boston Review beginning with the Summer, 2010 issue. Submissions must be postmarked no later than October 1, 2009. Manuscripts will not be returned. The winner will be announced no later than May/June, 2010, on the Boston Review Web site.

For full details see: The Boston Review

Words of the Day: Clichés vs. Euphemisms

Someone recently asked me if cliché is just another word for euphemism. The simple answer is no. They both involve words, but it is there that their similarities stop.

Cliché is a saying, expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect. More simply put, a cliché is something that is trite or hackneyed -- lacking power to evoke interest due to overuse or repetition. Cliché is something you want to avoid in your writing. If someone says he thinks your writing is cliché, it's not a compliment.

Examples of phrases or sayings that are clichés:

a face only a mother could love
a frog in my throat
a picture's worth a thousand words
a rose is a rose is a rose
like a bat out of hell
black as coal
black as night
black as pitch
black as sin
black as soot
black as tar
dead as a doorknob
dead as a doornail
don't push your luck
don't put all your eggs in one basket
don't put the horse before the cart
don't rock the boat

If you would like to read 1600 more of the most common clichés, see Steve's list.

Now, euphemism is entirely different. A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. Some examples:

"ethnic cleansing" for "genocide
"termination of pregnancy" for "abortion"
"kick the bucket" for "die"
"senior citizen" for "old person"

Someone was nice enough to put together the top 1500 euphemisms for "being stupid."

Doublespeak (or doubletalk) is similar to a euphemism. a phrase in doublespeak is, like a euphemism, a roundabout way of saying something, but usually with the intent to confuse or deceive. Examples?

"I reminded [the soldiers] and their families that the war in Iraq is really about peace." -- George W. Bush, April 2003

The term "black-bag operations" was used by the FBI to describe illegal break-ins in the 1970s.

Usage Tip o'the Week: Good vs. Well

How should you answer the simple question, "How are you today?"

There's nothing technically wrong with answering, "I'm well," when asked "How are you?" since "well" in this context is an adjective that generally means "not sick." It's just that "well" is also an adverb that modifies "am," and not "I". The adjective "good" does describe "I," which seems much more to the point of the question.

So, if you would like everyone to know that you are not sick with stomach cramps or a splitting headache, it would be appropriate to answer: "I'm well."

But if you would like everyone to know you feel emotionally good, the more common intention, it would be appropriate -- and grammatically correct to answer: "I'm good" or "I'm great" or "I'm fine, thank you."

But "good" can feel wrong to those with painful memories of being corrected by their know-it-all elders. May I suggest "I am fine"? There's no absolute here, but it's probably better to save "well" for when someone asks you how you are doing.

Here's what Grammar Girl has to say on the topic:

“I'm good” is what you're likely to hear in general conversation, but there are grammar nitpickers out there who will chide you if you say it. The wonderful news is that those nitpickers are wrong: it's perfectly acceptable to say, “I'm good,” and you shouldn't have to shamefully submit to teasing remarks such as the time-honored and leering, “How good are you?”

The nitpickers will tell you that well is an adverb (and therefore modifies verbs) and that good is an adjective (and therefore modifies nouns), but the situation isn't that simple.

The key is to understand how linking verbs differ from action verbs. (Trust me, this is worth it so you can look people in the eye and say, “I'm good,” with absolute confidence.)

read on...

Word of the Day: Flibbergibbet

flibbergibbet: (n.) an irresponsible, silly, gossipy person, who lacks good judgment; a flighty or frivolous woman; muggins, saphead, tomfool, fathead, wally, meshuggeneh, gossipmonger, newsmonger, rumormonger, cat, blabbermouth, talebearer, chatterbox, nosey parker, busybody, meddler, parrot, prattler, snoop, tabby, buttinsky, fink, fussbudget, intermeddler, windbag, quidnunc

...The modern spelling is due to Shakespeare, who borrowed it from one of the 40 fiends listed in a book by Samuel Harsnet in 1603. In King Lear Edgar uses it for a demon or imp: “This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet. .. He gives the web and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the harelip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of earth."...

Here's a bit of trivia: Did you know that the word "gossip" comes from a transmutation of a contraction for "god's siblings"? Hawthorne uses the word "gossips" in The Scarlet Letter to refer to the women townsfolk, and not because they are necessarily flibbergibbets or rumormongers.

American Folklore Research

Please note that I've included a number of links to educative websites pertaining to the broad subject of American folklore. See right-hand column. These sites are a great place to start your research. In addition to these online resources, you will find the Cincinnati Public Library an indispensable resource, not only for this assignment, but for research assignments throughout the course and beyond.

Start your search at the library with the online catalog's POWER SEARCH before you head downtown -- or to a local branch. For term paper assignments you will be able to request that books be sent to your nearest branch library, or to the Oakley library by school. This is a valuable service. Plan on using it. If you don't have one already, get a library card -- that is an imperative.

Word of the Day: Kerfuffle

kerfuffle: (n.) a commotion or fuss; disruption, disturbance, flutter, hoo-ha, hurly-burly, brouhaha, hubbub, katzenjammer, uproar, wrangle, row, tumult, affray, altercation, rumpus, ruckus, ruction

...we know kerfuffle was originally Scots and it’s thought that its first part came from Scots Gaelic car, to twist or bend. The second bit is more of a puzzle: there is a Scots verb fuffle (now known only in local dialect), to throw into disorder, dishevel, or ruffle. No obvious origin for it is known and experts suspect it was an imitative word. It is probably linked with Scots fuff, to emit puffs of smoke or steam, definitely imitative, which in the late eighteenth century also had a sense of going off in a huff or flying into a temper.

How to Stay Awake While Reading

If you haven't had enough of Mortimer J. Adler just yet, here's another of his articles on reading -- worth reading. But first: Who is Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001)? He was the founder of the Center for the Study of Great Ideas and premiere promoter of the Great Books movement. He is rumored to have read more books than anyone alive during his lifetime.

How to Keep Awake While Reading

by Mortimer J. Adler, Ph.D.

The rules for reading yourself to sleep are much easier to follow than are the rules for keeping awake while reading. Just get into bed in a comfortable position, see that the light is inadequate enough to cause a slight eyestrain, choose something you don't care whether or not you read, and unless you have insomnia, you will be nodding soon enough. Those who are expert in relaxing with a book don't have to wait for nightfall or for bed. A comfortable chair in the library will do at anytime.

Unfortunately, the rules for keeping awake do not consist in doing just the opposite. It is possible to keep awake while reading in a comfortable chair or even in bed, and people have been known to strain their eyes by reading late, in light too dim. What kept the famous readers by candlelight awake? One thing certainly -- that it made a difference to them, a great difference, whether or not they read the book they had in hand.

Whether you read actively or passively, whether you try to keep awake or not depends in large part on your purpose in reading. There are many kinds of reading and many sorts of things to read. You may be seeking the same effortless pleasures of relaxation that the movies and radio so readily afford, or you may be making the effort to profit by your reading. Let me roughly divide books into those which compete with the movies and those with which the movies cannot compete. They are the books that can elevate or instruct. If they are fine works of fiction, they can deepen your appreciation of human life. If they are serious works of nonfiction, they can inform or enlighten you... [ read on ]

Word of the Day: Codswallop

You've probably heard the word, but what does it mean?

codswallop: (n.) nonsensical talk or writing; bull, bunkum, bosh, fiddle-faddle, flapdoodle, hogwash, horse feathers, hooey, hokum, malarkey, poppycock, tommy-rot, whang-doodle, balderdash, piffle, rubbish, baloney, bilgewater, blather, blither, falderal, "the stuff they feed fools on," or common, everyday windbaggery.

Surely, other synonyms spring to mind...

Are You Annoyingly Redundant?

The grammar tip o'the week comes courtesy of "Grammar Girl," who asks an apt question: Are you annoyingly redundant? If you say (or write) later this year or earlier this week, future plans or past history, or "please RSVP" you just might be.

How about these?

In the Process of

One such phrase to excise from your writing is “in the process of,” as in, “My kids are in the process of driving me crazy.” Delete it, and you have, “My kids are driving me crazy.” Anytime you see “in the process of,” take it out and check to see whether any meaning is lost. You’ll save your fingers thousands of superfluous keystrokes over a few decades. (Notice we didn’t need to say “a period of a few decades.”)

Whether or not

Another quick way to trim a couple of words at a time from your writing (and your speech) is to keep an eye on the “whether” – the “whether or not,” that is. I can’t decide whether or not to bring my umbrella. Lose the “or not”in that instance, and you’re fine. Just don’t lose your umbrella.

check out more tips (and be sure to read the comments)

Clarisse McClellan Remade

Some movie adaptations of novels (called "palimpsests") are better than others. In 1966, French director Francois Truffaut adapted Fahrenheit 451 to the silver screen. You can judge for yourself, but many would call the adaptation "abysmal." During the 20th century, directors unfortunately took grave liberties with the original novels -- not only failing to capture the essence of the novel, but actually distorting it. That's exactly what Truffaut does with Bradbury's classic story. Most notably, Clarisse McClellan, the "inciting force" in Fahrenheit 451, is transformed into Guy Montag's "mistress," thereby gutting the virtue and attraction of her character. The "trailer" for the 1966 movie is worth watching if only for its sheer corniness. Note how the "Hapiness Boys" are dressed (see above).

N.B. If you would like to arrange an extra credit writing assignment that contrasts the movie with the novel, please see me!

Addendum: A new adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 is planned for release in 2012. It promises to be more faithful to the novel.

A Retrieved Reformation

For your edification, I have posted an exemplary short-story analysis of O. Henry's "A Retrieved Reformation." This should give you an idea of the level and thoroughness of work I expect on this type of assignment.

In PDF format: Analysis -- "A Retrieved Reformation"

Word of the Decade Nominations Open

At the American Dialect Society annual meeting in Baltimore next January, not only will the Society choose Words of the Year just past (2009), but members and friends will also have the solemn responsibility of choosing a Word of the Decade 2000–2009.

Nominations may be sent to the chair of the ADS New Words Committee, Grant Barrett, at woty@americandialect.org. The committee will hold an open meeting to consider nominations on Thursday, January 7, 2010, with the final vote the next day.

Candidates will include the ADS Word of the Year for each year, though the choice for Word of the Decade need not be limited to them. Some of them pervaded the whole decade, but others characterized only their particular year. These were the Words of the Year, many of which now require explanation:

2000 chad, a small scrap of paper punched from a voting card.

2001 9/11, terrorist attacks on September 11.

2002 weapons of mass destruction or WMD, sought for (without success) in Iraq.

2003 metrosexual, fashion-conscious heterosexual male.

2004 red/blue/purple states, red favoring conservative Republicans and blue favoring liberal Democrats, as well as the undecided purple states in the political map of the United States.

2005 truthiness, what one wishes to be the truth regardless of the facts. (From the Colbert Report on television.)

2006 to be plutoed, to pluto, to be demoted or devalued, as was the former planet Pluto.

2007 subprime, a risky or less than ideal loan or investment.

2008 bailout, rescue by government of companies on the brink of failure.

The American Dialect Society was established in 1889 to study the English language in North America. It has been choosing Words of the Year since 1990, and Words of the Decade since 2000. In 2000 the Word of the Decade was web. (That year the Society also chose Word of the Century, jazz, and Word of the Millennium, she.)

More information on Words of the Year is available at the American Dialect Society website, http://www.americandialect.org/woty/

Background on Ray Bradbury

Here are a couple of resources you may find helpful in completing your data sheets for you summer reading of Fahrenheit 451. The first is an introduction to the novel and the author that I put together for the Middle School class last Spring.

Fahrenheit 451 - An Introduction (PDF)

The second is Ray Bradbury's official website: RAY

By way of trivia, Bradbury is the only living author we'll be studying this year. (Arthur Miller died four years ago.) If you liked F451, you might want to read Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Martian Chronicles, and Dandelion Wine.

The 'Third Man' Phenomenon

Some of you have seen the excellent movie The Third Man (1950). Well, here's a "third man" of a different sort: Today's Wall Street Journal carries a review of an interesting new book called The Third Man Factor:

In 1953, Austrian mountaineer Herman Buhl became the first person to climb Nanga Parbat in the ­Himalayas—at 26,660 feet, the ninth tallest peak in the world. He climbed by himself and not far from the summit was forced to spend the night out in the open without a sleeping bag or tent. It was an agonizing ­bivouac, but Buhl survived—in part, he later wrote, ­because he sensed that he shared the ordeal with a ­companion. "I had an extraordinary feeling," he wrote, "that I was not alone."

Accounts of experiencing a supportive presence in extreme situations—sometimes called the "third-man phenomenon"—are common in mountaineering ­literature. In 1933, Frank Smythe made it to within a 1,000 feet of the summit of Mount Everest before ­turning around. On the way down, he stopped to eat a mint cake, cutting it in half to share with . . . someone who wasn't there but who had seemed to be his ­partner all day. Again on Nanga Parbat, on a 1970 climb during which his brother died, Reinhold Messner ­recalled being accompanied by a companion who ­offered ­wordless comfort and encouragement.

In "The Third Man Factor," John Geiger, a fellow at the University of Toronto, presents many accounts of such experiences, and not only from climbers. Among those who have felt a ghostly companionship he cites Charles Lindbergh on his solo flight across the ­Atlantic in 1927 and the last man to walk out of the South Tower of the World Trade ­Center before it ­collapsed on 9/11.

read on at WSJ...

Blackjack Country

We noted today that Elmore, Arkansas, is -- according to O. Henry -- located in "blackjack country." From the context of "A Retrieved Reformation" we understand that the phrase connotes a backwoods, out-of-the-way place. With a little research I found that 18th century farmers

recognized the poorer soils in the blackjack country of the eastern uplands, so called because of the predominance of blackjack oak, a small, scrubby, thick-barked tree especially suited to poor soils.

The upshot: observant farmers would not settle in blackjack country because the soil was poor; thus "blackjack country" is typically a sparsely populated region -- or, at least it was in the early 1900's.

The Apostrophe Protection Society

The Apostrophe Protection Society was started in 2001 by John Richards, now its Chairman, with the specific aim of preserving the correct use of this currently much abused punctuation mark in all forms of text written in the English language.

When I inquired into becoming a member of the Apostrophe Protection Society, Chairman Richards informed me there is no "membership" as such; however, he did send along a form letter that he sends out to businesses when he receives a complaint that they've misused or have failed to use an apostrophe appropriately. The good chairman says we may send out this form letter (under your own name, of course) with the APS letterhead.

I'm making the form letter on APS letterhead available in Microsoft Word (.doc):
Click here

N.B. -- Extra Credit Opportunity: If you happen to notice a public sign (say, in a shop window or in front of a restaurant) that misuses the apostrophe -- or simply doesn't include it, send the business the form letter, describing the offense. Copy me on the letter and you'll receive up to 10 points extra credit per letter (with a maximum of 5 letters per quarter).