AWADmail Issue 190
December 10, 2005
A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day
and Other Interesting Tidbits about Words and Languages
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From: Carolyn M. Makovi (carolyn.makoviATcfsan.fda.gov)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--prufrockian
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/prufrockian.html
Tennyson's lines do not refer to an unrequited romantic love. They come from
a very long poem called "In Memoriam", which Tennyson wrote after the death
of his father. The whole stanza is:
I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
Still, "prufrockian" would apply to a person who was afraid to love
someone because s/he feared grieving the loved one's loss upon his/her death.
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From: Kell Pollard (kpollardATeopa.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--prufrockian
When I saw today's word, I immediately thought of Lemony Snicket's Teen-Noir
novel the Austere Academy from the Series of Unfortunate Events (a guilty
pleasure of mine which is full of unusual words and literary puns.) The
academy in question is named the Prufrock Preparatory School whose motto is
"Memento Mori" ("Remember you will Die").
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From: Mike Pope (mike.popeATmicrosoft.com)
Subject: Harry Potter
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/cringeworthy.html
> a bespectacled, hard-working Brit (I thought that was Harry Potter).
Actually, the "hard-working" part is Hermione. Some time ago, Chris
Suellentrop wrote an amusing essay in Slate http://www.slate.com/id/2073627/
(or perhaps an infuriating one, if one is particularly enamored of Master
Potter) in which he casts a critical eye on the success of Harry Potter and
concludes that Harry himself has had little to do with it:
Harry Potter is no braver than his best friend, Ron Weasley, just richer and
better-connected. Harry's other good friend, Hermione Granger, is smarter
and a better student. The one thing Harry excels at is the sport of
Quidditch, and his pampered-jock status allows him to slide in his studies,
as long as he brings the school glory on the playing field. But as Charles
Barkley long ago noted, being a good athlete doesn't make you a role model.
[...]
What Harry has achieved on his own, without his mother, stems mostly from
luck and, more often, inheritance. He's a trust-fund kid whose success at
his school, Hogwarts, is largely attributable to the gifts his friends and
relatives lavish upon him. A few examples: an enchanted map (made in part by
his father), an invisibility cloak (his father's), and a state-of-the art
magical broom (a gift from his godfather) that is the equivalent of a Lexus
in a high-school parking lot... In fact, Harry rarely puts hard work
or effort into anything. He is a "natural". Time and again, Harry is
celebrated for his instinctual gifts. When he learns that he is a
Parselmouth, or someone who can speak the language of snakes, Rowling
writes, "He wasn't even aware of deciding to do it." (In fact, when Harry
tries to speak this language, he can't do it. He can only do it
instinctively.) When Harry stabs a basilisk in Chamber of Secrets, Rowling
writes that he did it "without thinking, without considering, as though he
had meant to do it all along." In Goblet of Fire, during Harry's battle with
Voldemort, Rowling writes that "Harry didn't understand why he was doing it,
didn't know what it might achieve. ..."
As they say, "when you put it that way ..."
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From: Miriam Dapra (miriamdATcatholic.org)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--dryasdust
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/dryasdust.html
"Dryasdust" evokes a memory from Narnia. . .
"It is high time we turned to Grammar now," said Doctor Cornelius, in a
loud voice. "Will Your Royal Highness be pleased to open Pulverulentus
Siccus ["dry as dust"] at the fourth page of his 'Grammatical Garden or
the Arbour of Accidence pleasantlie open'd to Tender Wits?'"
(C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, Collier Books, 1974, p. 43)
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From: Judy Marshall (revjemATsaw.net)
Subject: dryasdust
In an Isaac Asimov mystery novel, the hero was named Darius Dust. Asimov,
of course, inserted himself into the novel -- and pronounced Dust's name
"Dry as dust".
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From: Valerie Gebert (valeriegebertATaol.com)
Subject: Old Dryasdust
In Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music middle-aged leading man Frederik
Eggerman says his young wife endearingly refers to him as "Old Dry-as-Dust"
in the lyrics to "You Must Meet My Wife":
Fredrik: She gives me funny names--
Desiree: Like?
Fredrik: "Old Dry-as-Dust."
Desiree: Wouldn't she just?
Fredrik: You must meet my wife.
Desiree: Yes, I must, yes, I must.
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From: Yanik Cousineau (yanikcATnortel.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--schmendrik
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/schmendrik.html
This word reminded me of a character in the novel "The Last Unicorn" by
Peter S Beagle. Schmendrick the magician lives up to his name in all
respects. It's a wonderful story that explores the nature of truth,
beauty, reality, immortality, and the purpose of life.
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From: D'n Russler (d_nATloryx.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--schmendrik
In recalling this word and two other, similar Yiddish words, my late
father used to quip, "The schlamiel spills the soup on the schlamazzel,
while the schmendrik looks on and asks if everything is ok."
............................................................................
Dictionary: The universe in alphabetical order. -Anatole France, novelist,
essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924)
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