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AWADmail Issue 33

A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Interesting Tidbits about Words and Languages

From: Jellybean Stonerfish (stonerfishATgeocities.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--philosophaster

Aster being a pejorative suffix... that explains why the guy on TV is called a newscaster.

From: Ivy Imbuido (ivyATzoo.net.au)
Subject: Limericising 'philosophaster'

Scruton's Self-Scrutiny

Some philosophers I'd try to master,
If only my brain wasn't pasta:
Derrida and Kant
Aristotle and my aunt
Yet people just call me 'philosophaster'.

From: Emily Bayley (efunkydivaAThotmail.com)
Subject: Newspapers with 'Crier' in the title

I don't think of 'Crier' as such a strange a word to have in the title of a newspaper. Surely it must derive from the original 'town criers' - people who went around cities proclaiming the time and/or the news in a big loud voice for everyone to hear, in times gone by? ("Oh yay, oh yay, hear ye..."). In the UK many towns and cities still have a 'town crier', although nowadays they tend to 'cry' at special local events like carnivals or fetes rather than pacing the streets. At such times they are easy to pick out in a crowd because of their costume, which includes: a red-caped coat, a three-cornered hat, and a hand bell - and of course because of their loud voice! I think there are competitions to see which town crier has the loudest voice.

From: Henry Willis (hmwATssdslaw.com)
Subject: The Bee

You may have heard of the various Bee papers out here in California: the Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee and Modesto Bee. But DeQueen, Arkansas also has one: DeQueen Bee.

From: Tom Furgas (tfurgasATcisnet.com)
Subject: Newspaper names

I think my town has one of the more interesting names for a newspaper; it's the Youngstown Vindicator. Am not sure who or what is supposed to be "vindicated" by the paper, though.

From: George Z. (gzadoroznyATaol.com)
Subject: The Greatest "Picayune" Newspaper!

Hey, AWAD's apodictically superb! Here's the greatest ever "Picayune" newspaper: The Picayune Intelligence, one of the newspapers in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota ... unimpeachable source: "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" ... especially the adventure called "The Picayune Pot." Our story begins when, to boost circulation, the editor buries a pot somewhere in Frostbite Falls and offers a million dollars and a 1923 Stearns-Foster Runabout to whoever digs it up first. Of course, it's not too long before Boris Badenov turns up (alias "Baby-Face Braunschweiger") with his gang, the Light-Fingered Five, and of course destiny decrees that they must run smack-dab into a certain moose and squirrel ...

From: Charles Small (curmudgeon1ATsympatico.ca)
Subject: newspaper mergers

No doubt you're aware of the line from a Woody Allen film, about the merger of two news magazines, "Commentary" and "Dissent", to become Dysentery.

From: Jeff Haight (jhaightATdiamondchain.com)
Subject: excelsior

Excelsior, the state motto of New York.

New York politicians have apparently taken the motto to heart where taxes are concerned.

From: Roskam N. (roskamATcta.nl)
Subject: FW: A.Word.A.Day--excelsior

There is another link between wood and Excelsior; the Latin name for the Ash tree is Excelsior!

From: Michael J. Bird (mjbirdATclavdivs.mn.org)
Subject: RE: A.Word.A.Day--excelsior

It's also the name of my home town, Excelsior, Minnesota. It's also the title of a parody of Wadsworth poem written by James Thurber ["The shades of night were falling fast; When through an Alpine village passed, A creature, all clothed in fur; A Teddy Bear, whose contents were: Excelsior!] This used it in the English form of the word.

From: Jane Lantz (lantz.janeATmayo.edu)
Subject: FW: A.Word.A.Day--sentinel

Recently "sentinel" has crept into medical lingo in adjectival form, e.g. "sentinel node." It even has an entry in Dorland's 29th, defined as "the first lymph node to receive drainage from a tumor...."

Thanks for leading us through such excellent mental calisthenics every morning. AWAD is a great way for an editor to start the day.

From: Edward T. Buhl (etbuhlATaol.com)
Subject: sentinel

The opening scene of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni" features the word - and the role - "sentinella" prominently, as Leporello, Don Giovanni's servant, keeps watch while his master enjoys a dalliance with Donna Anna. Leporello complains about his role, "la sentinalla", compared with his master's, "il gentiluomo" and vows that someday he'll be a gentleman himself.

From: Dan Eastwood (eastwoodATmcw.edu)
Subject: RE: A.Word.A.Day--picayune

My hometown's newspaper has an interesting name, "The Laramie Daily Boomerang". This resulted from the merger of The Laramie Daily Republican and The Boomerang (allegedly named after the editor's mule, which he could not dispose of).

From: TV Hagenah (hagenahATria.net)
Subject: little side info

As a small town newspaper editor and a long time newspaperman, I am enjoying this week's words (words that are newspaper names) a great deal. Currently I edit a Tribune, but have worked on a Herald, a Globe, two Newses, a Democrat (run by Republicans, I might add), a Leader, a Post, a Telegram and even a newspaper calling itself "The Newspaper".

Perhaps the most unique newspaper name I have ever run across (it is no longer printed under this name however) was the Arkansas Valley Melloneer. It became the Arkansas Valley Journal, then the Arkansas Valley Ag Journal and now is just called the Ag Journal. They have a bit of an identity problem.

From: Jesse Sasser (jessesasserATearthlink.net)
Subject: Newspaper Titles

One of my favorite names is the Sparta Ishmaelite of Sparta, Georgia.

From: Martha Nix (quadranixATjuno.com)
Subject: newspaper names

This wouldn't comprise a word for AWAD, but have you heard of the newspaper named the Seattle Post-Intelligencer? The name always amused me because I interpreted it to mean that the paper was written post intelligence, i.e. after any signs of intelligence had vanished.

From: Esther Hecht (shragatATbezeqint.net)
Subject: Newspapers: What's in a name?

The Jerusalem Post (where I worked for 17 years) is not the local paper of Israel's capital but a national English-language paper. It was founded in 1932 as The Palestine Post (under the British Mandate this area was named Palestine). The paper changed its name only in 1950, two years after the establishment of the state of Israel, but one of the legal names of the company is still The Palestine Post, Ltd.

From: Martha Evans (mevansATdreamchaser.org)
Subject: new word

The world needs a word that is similar to 'envy' but not pejorative. We propose 'benevy' as "benevolent envy", that is, I am happy that you have it and would like to have it too. I benevy your interesting occupation.

From: Gigi Marino (gsm112ATpsu.edu)
Subject: Another word for misanthrope

As a bibliophile and a teacher, I try to teach my students vocabulary words whenever possible. Several years ago, I was teaching in the prison, and I would give my students weekly vocabulary tests. The first one focused on words with Greek roots. I explained to them what misanthrope meant; then I asked them if anyone knew what was the word for one who despised all of humanity. From the back of the room came, "Prison guard!"

Incidentally, my student inmates took these quizzes quite seriously. I realized later, that for them, language was power, which put them in a higher echelon in the prison environment. Most of the corrections officers resented their education.

Language is the armoury of the human mind; and at once contains the trophies of its past, and the weapons of its future conquests. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet, critic, and philosopher (1772-1834)