Comments on: Dear Clusterflock http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html a site about everything Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:21:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: raynor http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html/comment-page-1#comment-522298 raynor Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:19:22 +0000 http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=26854#comment-522298 daryl, like you, i can't get enough of nomenclature. my current favourites are typography-based (viz. the sagitta (horizontal bar) of an E, the tittle (dot) of an i, or the crotch of an M.) <a href="http://ilovetypography.com/2008/03/21/extreme-type-terminology/" rel="nofollow">this</a> article is filled with all sorts of sparkling gems (a metaphor) along these lines. daryl, like you, i can’t get enough of nomenclature. my current favourites are typography-based (viz. the sagitta (horizontal bar) of an E, the tittle (dot) of an i, or the crotch of an M.) this article is filled with all sorts of sparkling gems (a metaphor) along these lines.

]]> By: Sheila Ryan http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html/comment-page-1#comment-521916 Sheila Ryan Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:31:18 +0000 http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=26854#comment-521916 Derek, what you wonder makes sense, and it fascinates me, especially as I have grown close to transgender folk and have come to think more and more that many distinctions are just a question of degree and of the intensity of one's desire to embrace one's various selves. Believing, as I do, that the unitary self is a fiction even greater than that of a multiplicity of selves. Derek, what you wonder makes sense, and it fascinates me, especially as I have grown close to transgender folk and have come to think more and more that many distinctions are just a question of degree and of the intensity of one’s desire to embrace one’s various selves.

Believing, as I do, that the unitary self is a fiction even greater than that of a multiplicity of selves.

]]> By: Derek White http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html/comment-page-1#comment-521903 Derek White Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:20:23 +0000 http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=26854#comment-521903 speaking of people impersonating people impersonating people... yesterday I was wondering (under the influence of The Crying Game and some of the characters running around the meat packing district during gay pride) if there is a classification of transgender people, like men who think they are women pretending to be men, or women who are men pretending to be women, because I saw a few people over the weekend that seem to fit that classification. Does that make sense? Surely Deron would know the answer to this. I fear I might fall into this classification. speaking of people impersonating people impersonating people… yesterday I was wondering (under the influence of The Crying Game and some of the characters running around the meat packing district during gay pride) if there is a classification of transgender people, like men who think they are women pretending to be men, or women who are men pretending to be women, because I saw a few people over the weekend that seem to fit that classification. Does that make sense? Surely Deron would know the answer to this. I fear I might fall into this classification.

]]> By: Sheila Ryan http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html/comment-page-1#comment-521877 Sheila Ryan Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:06:57 +0000 http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=26854#comment-521877 The friendly wind is a friend to us all. So long as it is friendly, I say, "Blow, friendly wind! Blow where thou mayest!" (How was that for an impersonation of Cooper Renner? Or an impersonation of Cooper Renner impersonating someone or other . . . .) The friendly wind is a friend to us all. So long as it is friendly, I say, “Blow, friendly wind! Blow where thou mayest!”

(How was that for an impersonation of Cooper Renner? Or an impersonation of Cooper Renner impersonating someone or other . . . .)

]]> By: Derek White http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html/comment-page-1#comment-521872 Derek White Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:04:04 +0000 http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=26854#comment-521872 We could probably have this discussion strictly with words with a cock suffix. Like just now I was reading this story about weathercocks: http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/folktale_almafolktale.htm Is it just me or is the ending rather Freudian for school kids? "And from that day on, weathercocks have stood on their only leg, seeing everything that happens below, and pointing whichever way their friend the wind blows." We could probably have this discussion strictly with words with a cock suffix. Like just now I was reading this story about weathercocks:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/folktale_almafolktale.htm

Is it just me or is the ending rather Freudian for school kids?

“And from that day on, weathercocks have stood on their only leg, seeing everything that happens below, and pointing whichever way their friend the wind blows.”

]]> By: Sheila Ryan http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html/comment-page-1#comment-521869 Sheila Ryan Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:57:44 +0000 http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=26854#comment-521869 <em>Philtrum</em> puts me in mind of <em>philter</em> (or <em>philtre</em>). From Middle French <em>philtre</em>, from Latin <em>philtrum</em>, from Greek <em>philtron</em>; akin to Greek philosophy <em>dear</em>. Date: circa 1587. 1 : a potion credited with magical power 2 : a potion, drug, or charm held to have the power to arouse sexual passion So says your <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/philter" rel="nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a>. Philtrum puts me in mind of philter (or philtre). From Middle French philtre, from Latin philtrum, from Greek philtron; akin to Greek philosophy dear. Date: circa 1587.

1 : a potion credited with magical power 2 : a potion, drug, or charm held to have the power to arouse sexual passion

So says your Merriam-Webster.

]]> By: Daryl Scroggins http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html/comment-page-1#comment-521845 Daryl Scroggins Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:17:55 +0000 http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=26854#comment-521845 Chris--thanks so much for that Phillip Kerr sentence. Splendidly bad. And your spelling correction reminds me of many similar cases I have experience--and often with the same sense that <i>I liked my way better</i>! Andrew-- "hapax legomenon" sounds like a sorcerer's incantation, and this seems to fit the nature of the phrase, much as a palindrome seems inherently more "magical' than other odd ways of phrasing the same thing. Chris–thanks so much for that Phillip Kerr sentence. Splendidly bad. And your spelling correction reminds me of many similar cases I have experience–and often with the same sense that I liked my way better!

Andrew– “hapax legomenon” sounds like a sorcerer’s incantation, and this seems to fit the nature of the phrase, much as a palindrome seems inherently more “magical’ than other odd ways of phrasing the same thing.

]]> By: Andrew Simone http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html/comment-page-1#comment-521835 Andrew Simone Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:55:18 +0000 http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=26854#comment-521835 Euclid discusses the gnomon at great lengths in his <em>Elements</eM>. What is amazing is that all of his work in Book 4 (I could be wrong about the number) is essentially algebra before the abstraction. One of my favorites is a bit of a mouthful and two word phrase: <b>hapax legomenon</b>, "a word which occurs only once in either the written record of a language, the works of an author, or in a single text." Euclid discusses the gnomon at great lengths in his Elements. What is amazing is that all of his work in Book 4 (I could be wrong about the number) is essentially algebra before the abstraction.

One of my favorites is a bit of a mouthful and two word phrase: hapax legomenon, “a word which occurs only once in either the written record of a language, the works of an author, or in a single text.”

]]> By: Chris http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html/comment-page-1#comment-521818 Chris Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:18:52 +0000 http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=26854#comment-521818 Also, while writing that post I discovered that I'd been spelling philtrum wrong [as filtrum] for over a decade. I think I like it less with the 'ph'. Also, while writing that post I discovered that I’d been spelling philtrum wrong [as filtrum] for over a decade. I think I like it less with the ‘ph’.

]]> By: Chris http://www.clusterflock.org/2009/06/dear-clusterflock-261.html/comment-page-1#comment-521817 Chris Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:18:00 +0000 http://www.clusterflock.org/?p=26854#comment-521817 The obscure name I revere the most is gnomon, which is the upright part of a sundial that casts the shadow. I first heard this word about 12 years ago, when Phillip Kerr won the Bad Sex in Fiction award for this magnificent prose: "Detaching mind from over-eager gnomon and its exquisitely appointed, shadowy task, he began to make love to her." Yerk! I also like philtrum, which is the vertical indentation above one's upper lip. I think the more finely grained your vocabulary is, the more observant of the world you can be. The obscure name I revere the most is gnomon, which is the upright part of a sundial that casts the shadow. I first heard this word about 12 years ago, when Phillip Kerr won the Bad Sex in Fiction award for this magnificent prose:

“Detaching mind from over-eager gnomon and its exquisitely appointed, shadowy task, he began to make love to her.”

Yerk!

I also like philtrum, which is the vertical indentation above one’s upper lip.

I think the more finely grained your vocabulary is, the more observant of the world you can be.

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