Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Today I received an email from an
organization at my university about their winter party. You'd never
guess what they're serving.
"There will be hot mold WINE and sizzling MINCE PIES offered to UCL Postgraduates ALL FOR FREE!"
Now it's rather unusual to have sizzling mince pies (usually they're
room temperature and perhaps a little on the stale side), but my
attention was drawn to the "mold wine". It's a classic sort of eggcorn
for "mulled wine". I say "classic" because an unusual/uncommon word is
replaced by a more common/better known one, and the reinterpretation
sort of makes sense. And there are plenty of instances of its use out
there (google "mold wine" or "mould wine" and you'll find quite a few,
even discounting various other contexts where the two words can occur
together).
In this case, "mulled" is hardly common, especially in this particular
sense; before I looked it up in the OED I hadn't ever noticed any other
use besides "mulled wine". The relevant definition looks like this "To warm (wine, beer, etc.) with the addition of sugar, spices, fruit,
etc., to produce a hot drink (formerly sometimes thickened with beaten
egg yolk)."
So it's quite a narrow definition (implying a drink not normally served
warm, with sugar/spices/etc added), and not so many modern drinks fit
the bill, except during the festive season when traditional drinks get
a look-in. And there is the much more common word "mold" (a
homophone in my dialect) waiting in the wings. "Mold wine" sort
of makes sense: mold is already associated with wine (in the sense of
being corked), and it's easy to see how heating and addition of spices
might be a good treatment against mold.
Mulled wine also is the source of another eggcorn, "glue wine" through the German word for it: Glühwein (trans: "glowing wine", presumably related to its warmth, see also the Swedish glögg which is like Glühwein only nastier, I think).
No surprise that the false friend "Glue" makes an appearance here,
especially among English speakers visiting German-speaking countries
(one example here).
If only it got cold enough here that mulled wine (or similar drinks) actually tasted nice...
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Nearly a year ago, in this post I extolled the virtues of Library Thing, a site that gives interesting book suggestions (and "unsuggestions") based on statistics of users' libraries.
Well, we have now finally decided to bite the bullet and start recording the contents of our own library there as well. I must admit this has become a bit of an obsession in the Dunce house (who would have thought?!), but there's a long way to go. Despite the handy options to find books easily (looking up by ISBN using Amazon, Library of Congress or quite a few other databases) it's still taking us a long time. Mainly due to UK editions which don't always come up on Amazon or any of the others we've tried. So we're still working on our first room, the dining room. The main consequence of this is that cookbooks are relatively over-represented at the moment.
It gives all kinds of interesting information; perhaps the most interesting to us at the moment is the number of users who have a particular book in their collection (although this may not be exactly right due to variations in titles, editions etc. For example I find it extremely hard to believe that only two Libray Thing users have a copy of "Wrestling's Heels and Heroes", or that nobody but us has the Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics), and also the other books owned by people whose libraries are similar to ours so far.
Our catalog is visible to public view here, although please note that we have a long, long way to go before it will be complete. So don't use this as a definitive guide to gift book selection. Especially if the good book stores near our workplaces keep trying to clear out their second-hand books (I think we are +5 in the last couple of days for this reason).
Rumors that we are planning to convert the attic into a library are not completely true.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
I have a possibly unhealthy obsession with picking up things from the ground, especially when they look like handwritten notes. A lot of the time they turn out to be uninteresting (e.g. someone's name, phone number and/or address) but once in a while they are quite interesting or mysterious. For example, the handwritten notes below, apparently an outline of a very depressing letter:
--------------------------------------------
-I have this decision to communicate this to you in writing. I am to outline how I feel abt what you have done.
-Extremely-
-I have had 4 years of the worst relationship
-You have been in many respects a complete enigma to me
-I am not a vengeful person
-With deliberate intent to commit the evil act
-malicious
-I saw you as a wonderful, caring and loving woman, who in sicken and in health, is richer and would stay by me
-I put my whole life in you, I trust you constantly to me
-Unscrupulous tendency to lie, and scheme your way to get what you want
-And when you have drained all the blood
-You have left me when I was in my lowest ebb
-You humiliated me in front of my kids
-I expected you after all that meant though to
--------------------------------------------
And that's the end. If that wasn't strange enough, it's written on the back of a piece of scrap paper, the other side some kind of police-related administrative data (it has to be police-related, because it has entries like CID, Operation Sapphire, CMU, Vehicle Crime, etc.). It seems to be some kind of inventory records, apparently keeping a running total on the number of [something] with a particular focus upon outstanding inventory (boldface columns indicate "Total Out of store for 5-27 days" and "TotalOut of store for more than 28 days"). It's cryptic enough to seem like an interesting puzzle (there are all sorts of mysterious abbreviations, never mind what exactly they are tracking, which could perhaps be guessed by looking at the relative numbers for different groups), but I've decided instead to shred it.
I think there are a couple of important lessons here:
If you must write an outline of an important, heartfelt letter to a loved one (or former loved one), it's probably best not to use the back of a sensitive document.
If you must write an outline of an important, heartfelt letter to a loved one (or former loved one) on the back of a sensitive document, it's best not to discard it on the street.
For that matter, it's probably best just not to litter.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
On the way from our house to the bus stop, I walk through a handy pedestrial underpass to avoid crossing the very busy, high-speed deathtrap of a road that is Westbury Avenue (two "newsworthy" accidents in the last month alone: exhibit A, exhibit B). It's nice and well-lit, but on the other side is a large, plain wall which often attracts scrawled graffiti. It was recently painted over, but more graffiti has sprung up. It seems like it might be a roll of gang names, all written in black marker in the same handwriting. If so, I think some of the gang members might have gotten a bum deal when names were handed out. The list is below, in the order in which they appear. Is your gang name on there?
Lucifer
Satan 666
TMD
Flying Sqod
NPK
Love of Money
SW1 Crew
Assasins
Rowdey
Shower
Mob
Mob H Town
Buger Bar
Clap Town South
28
My favorite among these is Love of Money, which is a great gang name for reasons that are made clear in T.E.Cliffe Leslie's 1862 essay of the same title.
And I can hardly pick on those names that evoke evil or violence, as these sorts of names are crucial for instilling a sense of dread and fear. Included among these are Lucifer, Satan 666, Assasins, Mob, Mob H Town ("H" possibly referring to Haringey [local area] or Hackney [nearby and with perhaps more street cred than H'gey]), and to a lesser extent Rowdey, and possibly Flying Sqod. The latter is especially notable, as at the time of writing it yields exactly zero Google hits (Did you mean: "flying squad". No standard web pages containing all your search terms were found.). No doubt this is a clever ploy to separate oneself from the zillions of Flying Squads out there (Results 1 - 10 of about 203,000 for "flying squad").
It's also fine to self-identify with a particular location as this follows a long tradition of geographically based gang names. Here we have Clap Town South perhaps referring to Clapton in east London, or Clapham in south London (see the similarly named Clap Town Kids from Clapham who have received some attention in the press), Mob H Town as mentioned before, and the SW1 Crew (SW1 referring to a London postcode with serious credibility on the streets, being home to Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and 10 Downing Street).
Then we have the cryptic ones, which are also just fine as they protect the identity from the authorities. For example, TMD. Could this be noted author Thomas M. Disch? Or maybe this person suffers from temporomandibular joint disorder (also known as TMJ) and has adopted its name as a statment of strength through adversity. NPK is much easier to figure out; this name is clearly a reference to fertilizer (N: Nitrogen, P: Phosphorous, K: Potassium). 28 is cryptic as well. It could either refer to the atomic number of nickel (hence a very clever reference to wealth, a subtle take on "Love of Money" mentioned above), or perhaps a shout-out to street hero Zbiegniew Brzezinski who was born on March 28, 1928.
And finally, there are the real losers. I think these are the gang members who were not present when the names were being handed out, and were assigned names for their insult value. I'm talking about Buger Bar (presumably this name is a degenerate form of Burger Bar, aka fast food joint, and I suspect its owner is above average in girth and displacement), and even worse, Shower, presumably a filthy young gentleman whose name must be a form of comedic opposition. Perhaps I, the Dunce, should count myself among their number.
From the names, I think these are all young gentlemen; ladies' names on such lists tend to contain one or more of the following: {Miss, Ms, Lady, Queen, Baby}, as in MS FLYING SQOD. Anyway, I look forward to meeting these young gentlemen and discussing their branding strategy in great detail.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
I've read a number of pub reviews (mainly at Beer in the Evening which include the word "use", as in "I use this pub regularly" (source), "I used this pub a lot in the early 70s" (source), "I used this pub for the first time today" (source). To my midwestern US English ear the verb "use" sounds very strange in this context; my strongest interpretation is a running visit (if you will) to use the toilet and nothing more. But in the examples above (and the many others you find using search terms like "(use OR used OR using) (this OR that OR the) pub") quite clearly indicate a more leisurely sort of visit, likely involving having a drink or three, and possibly some craic as well. Of course US English permits the use of "use" when there is a specific purpose designated ("we used the pub for our party", "we have been using this pub as a meeting place", but "use" on its own doesn't quite sem kosher.
However, it seems like a very ordinary (UK) English usage and I wondered whether it extended to other institutions besides the public house (the only context in which I have noticed its use). Restaurants? YES (apparently, don't use this one). Hotels? YES (use this one). Museums? Apparently so ("a broader range of people used the museum": link).
So it seems like speakers of UK English can use just about any establishment, while I can only use their toilets.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Lately I've been playing with the quick search option in my web browser. It's a text box that gives search results right away (i.e., without having to go to a search page like Google). It can be set to use various different search engines (although I try non-Google options on a regular basis as a matter of principle, I have to admit that Google best serves my general searching needs. Or maybe I've just been Google-brainwashed into taking its idiosyncracies into account when I search). In any event, my main interest in the quick search option is its predictive search suggestions (active only for a few search engines, it seems): based on the letters typed so far, it attempts to guess my search terms, and displays them below the text box. Presumably this is based on frequency in some way (and definitely time-sensitive as you'll see below). So I've been playing with it a bit to see what it thinks I'm looking for. What better than the ego search? Below are the terms that are suggested as I attempt to search for myself on Google:
D: dictionary (followed by Dell, dictionary.com [interesting to see that people are using search for this, rather than just browing to it], dancing with the stars, debenhams [UK department store])
DA: Dancing with the Stars (currently popular US TV series based on the BBC format "Strictly Come Dancing". Followed by Dallas Cowboys, Daylight Savings Time [currently relevant], Daily Mail [UK newspaper, subject of much sneering in the Dunce household], dating).
DAV: Davids Bridal (US chain of bridal shops David's Bridal. Followed by David Beckham, David Copperfield, Dave and Busters, and only then David's Bridal [the web-searching public do not seem inclined to use apostrophes. see also "Dave and Busters").
DAVI: Davids Bridal (again)
DAVID: Davids Bridal (again)
DAVID : David Beckham (UK Ambassador to People's Republic of Southern California, followed by various other Davids not including me: Copperfield, Jones [Aussie department store, and a very common name], Bowie, Letterman).
DAVID V: David Villa (Spanish footballer currently playing for Valencia. Followed by David Vitter [US senator from Louisiana], David Vendetta [French band], David vs Goliath [Bible story used metaphorically all over the place]. I still don't feature)
DAVID VI: David Villa (again, followed by Vitter, Vincent and Virtue)
DAVID VIN: David Vincent (Morbid Angel frontman, followed by Vine [UK sports presenter], Viner [blues musician] and Vinson [Dunce!])
DAVID VINS: The only suggestion given is my name (shared with many other DVs, of course). So I am a relatively unpopular search until you reach the world of phrases beginning with "DAVID VINS".
Yahoo (I will not add the !) gives slightly different results which could say something about the typical Yahoo vs. Google user:
D: Daylight Savings Time 2007 (dictionary, daylight savings time, daylight saving time, driving directions)
DA: it's all Daylight Saving/Savings related
DAV: Davids Bridal (followed by Harley Davidson [the first case in which the search term doesn't begin with the letters specified!], Copperfield and Beckham)
DAVI: Davids Bridal (again)
DAVID: Davids Bridal (again)
DAVID : David Copperfield is first (followed by Beckham, Blaine, Letterman, Lee Roth. Seems to be more USA-centric than Google)
DAVID V: David Victoria Beckham (or maybe I spoke too soon! followed by Villa, Vetter and Vendetta)
DAVID VI: David Victoria Beckham (followed by David and Victoria Beckham wedding pictures, would you believe?)
DAVID VIN: David Vine is more popular than the Morbid Angel (followed by Vincent, Viner, Vinson)
DAVID VINS: My name, but many other suggestions too (David Vins, A David Vinson, David Vinski and so on).