March 2007 Archives
People You Know: deipnosophist, dandiprat, wowser, neophyte, war horse, dotard, leman
People you may know, chevalier
d'industrie,
femme fatale, enfant terrible, mouton enragι, bon vivant, ιminence grisι,
idiot savant
Occupations Surviving as Surnames: chandler, cooper, webster, wainwright, granger,
mercer, fletcher
Eponyms from Surnames from Occupations: mercerize, Fletcherize (stonking), Grangerize, lister
(listerine), mesmerize, napier, Napier's Bones
(Gunter's scale), bowdler (bowdlerize), shepardize
People You Know
This
week we talk of types of people. We start with a term that calls up the
pleasures of a truly excellent dinner: fine food, and fine conversation.
Now, one could argue that this term has never really been a real word-in-use,
but rather just a curiosity so attractive that lovers of obscure words can't
resist trotting it out in word-lists and the like. But let's not be critical.
Even if there isn't such a word, there ought to be, and if others can enjoy it,
so can we. Besides, it gives me the chance to share a truly awful pun in the
1966 quote.
deipnosophist a person skilled in the art of dinner-table conversation
[From the Greek treatise Deipnosphistai, written almost 18 centuries
ago, where philosophers converse at a banquet. The term has always been too
rare for usage to provide a good sense of its meaning, but until about 1900 it
seemed to refer to enjoyment of fine cuisine, rather than of the fine
conversation with that cuisine. (see 1910 quote; also 2006 quote?)]
Moyle takes pleasure in his ability as a deipnosophist.
Schmoozing is one of his talents. But there was pitifully little socializing
potential in that little town
TAKE ONE, Spring, 2000
[TV] Panel Moderator John Charles Daly, of "What's My Line," was
outraged one Sunday when a member of his varsity squad hailed him as a Deipnosophist.
John's composure was restored, however, when he learned that the word refers to
a man who is a master of dinner table conversation.
And speaking of Mr. Daly, John Merrill asks
if you've heard about the sad fate of the poor little cannibal maid? HER MODERATOR.
Bennett Cerf, in Vidette-Messenger (
By Apicius, the original dinner deipnosophist, the main
thing is to enjoy the meal, whatever you call it.
The Times,
His master-passion, as we have seen, was at the table, but as a corollary to
his pleasures as a deipnosophist he was devoted to conversation.
Alexander Meyrick Broadley, Doctor Johnson and Mrs. Thrale (1910)
dandiprat (in sport or contempt) a little fellow
[dandy + brat]
"May I?" The man motioned to the
chair. Kane turned sideways in his seat, adding vinegar to his tone. "I
would prefer that you did not." The impudent dandiprat
sat anyway. Kane grunted. Today's youth were devoid of respect for their
elders.
Sari Robins, One Wicked Night
wowser an obnoxiously puritanical killjoy [but see below]
Let's provide a quote in long form, to give you the full flavor.
"Look, I'm not trying to tell you what
to do, Mother," Carol eventually said icily. "We have a right to
worry about you. It's an unstable way to live wandering around in that absurd
motor home. What can people think?"
You are incessantly telling me what to
do and how to do it, Maxie thought, but did not say. Everyone
seem to admire her
having the freedom and the nerve to take off on her own thought it sounded
interesting and exciting. Everyone, that is, but Carol and her wowser
of a husband, who felt that they had a position and an image to maintain that
were somehow threatened by a sixty-two-year-old "vagrant" mother. If
they had their way, she wouldn't even return to Alaska periodically but would
live tidily tucked up in some health care facility for senior citizens near them
where they could keep an eye on her instability with a power of
attorney over her bank account.
Sue Henry, Dead North: An Alaska Mystery
The
word has another meaning, which the dictionaries have not yet picked up:
wowser something so excellent as to be eye-catching and
attention-grabbing
take care in selecting your mailing list
and write one wowser of a letter.
Joyce Lain Kennedy, Cover Letters for Dummies
Journalist Kurt Eichenwald is making news again with his Dec. 19, 2005, New
York Times wowser about child pornography on the Internet
Slate Magazine,
neophyte a person who is new to a subject, skill, or belief
[Greek neophutos 'newly planted'. can particularly mean a
religious-order novice, or a newly ordained priest a sense echoed in the
second quote]
In her new book
she teaches her good
friend and wine neophyte Peter Travers a few wine fundamentals
for example, how to order off a restaurant wine list without fear.
CNN, Mar. 22, 2007
How do you know?
you are as ignorant of the matter as this cameo head
You
have no right to preach to me; you neophyte, that have not
passed the porch of life, and are absolutely unacquainted with its mysteries.
Charlotte Brontλ, Jane Eyre
Today's
term is the opposite of yesterday's 'neophyte'. The surprisingly few
dictionaries that have it would lead you to think of it as "an experienced
veteran," with positive connotations. But I see negative connotations too.
war horse a respected veteran, reliable and competent but uninspired
and a little bit past his time [also used for things, such as a play or hymn]
some of Captain America's values have gone
by the wayside in today's generation of superhero.
"His values were kind
of sidetracked by other heroes who kind of had a darker agenda," he said.
"They sort of look at him as this old war horse.
Someone they look up to, but whose values are now meaningless," said Mr.
Kalet.
Packet On-line News, Mar. 15, 2007
No disrespect to the thirty-seven year old war horse, but
we must be honest. Oleg has been referred to as the most inimitably beatable
heavyweight champ since Leon Spinks back in the 1970s.
EastsideBoxing.com, Mar. 7, 2007
[Chirac, stating that he will not seek a third term,] spent most of the address
expressing remarkable emotion for a political war-horse who has
cultivated the lofty, regal image of an elder statesman among Western leaders.
Daily Mail (Charleston, WV), Mar. 12, 2007, from LA Times
[speaking of a theater drama] In England, it's a very well-known,
tried-and-trusted war-horse. It worked there because we reinvented
it for a contemporary audience.
Playbill.com, NY,
dotard an old person, especially one who is weak or senile (in his dotage)
leman (archaic) a lover or sweetheart
Prof. Donald Trefusis, a raving old dotard
of a philologist at Cambridge, who was invited to speak of modern times, of
which he was entirely ignorant
CBS News, Jan. 15, 2007
Taxes, taxes, taxes so the old dotard may satisfy his leman,
or satisfy his itch to rule France
Anya Seton and Philippa Gregory, Katherine
People you may know French
Last
week we talked about people you know. This week we'll look at terms that French
has given us to name various sorts of people you might know.
chevalier d'industrie one who lives by his wits, specially by swindling
[lit. "knight of industry"]
Our second quote is of a chevalier d'industrie who worked on a grand
scale: he cornered the market in dice.
they took grand tours of their own, living
by their wits and the gullibility of their victims. Having tramped around
Europe with these chevaliers d'industrie in his youth, Rousseau
in The Social Contract condemned the cosmopolitan
Robert Darnton, George Washington's False Teeth: An Unconventional Guide
to the Eighteenth Century
in 16th-century London false dice could readily be obtained
. The labour of
good professionals, though, was always at a premium.
Poor manufacture was
easily detected.
shaved dice were "made always proportionable to the
Impudence of the Operator; for you must know, there are some made so very
strong, that you may discover them as soon as put upon the Table; a modest Man
takes more Caution."
One of the most impudent operators was an
Italian advantage player named Pimentel, who enjoyed great success in France
during the reign of Henry IV. The court was in the midst of a veritable
gambling craze, and it was rumoured that Pimentel's good fortune was sanctioned
at the highest level, the King believing that the impoverishment of his
courtiers strengthened the monarchy. Pimentel managed to purchase the entire
stock of dice in Paris, and he then had an accomplice provide a new shipment at
unusually low prices. The merchants and eventually the gamesters who purchased
the dice became unwitting accomplices of the Italian: they did not realise that
every cube had been doctored to his specifications. There was scarcely a game
in Paris that did not play into the hands of this chevalier d'industrie.
Rosamund Purcell, The Secret Life of Dice, The Independent, (London),
femme fatale 1. a seductive woman who lures men into
dangerous or compromising situations 2. an alluring, mysterious woman of
charm and mystery
[French: woman + fatal, deadly]
Josie looked at the weeping, bedraggled
woman. This was the femme fatale who wrecked two marriages and
nearly sent an innocent woman to prison?
Elaine Viets, High Heels are Murder: Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper
enfant terrible one who is strikingly, shockingly
unconventional (often, one who embarrasses or compromises his associates
by being so; see last two quotes)
[French, "terrible child"]
Prokofiev
The enfant terrible
whose iconoclastic creations had left audiences electrified and confused
through the 1920s
Ted Libbey, The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection
Belgium's Prince Laurent, known as the enfant terrible of the
royal family, is to marry
in April.
BBC News, Dec. 19, 2002
Goldschmidt, as an enfant terrible, clearly enjoyed the
fuss that he had engendered: "I certainly had struck a hornet's nest.
This
time I was not only crazy but almost a criminal."
Stephen Jay Gould, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory
Today's
term, though very uncommon, would seem very useful. It's also a striking image,
literally meaning 'rabid sheep'.
mouton enragι a normally calm person who has suddenly become enraged
or violent
Her mouton enragι of a
discarded adorer.
Times Lit. Suppl. Oct. 27, 1932 [credit OED for quote]
At the first signs of such oppositition
the whole flock of party sheep will
be in full cry upon our track. The ferocity of the mouton enragι
is proverbial; and we shall be treated to the same rancor, spleen, and bile
George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wilshire, Fabian Essays in Socialism
bon vivant a person indulging in a sociable and luxurious
lifestyle, especially one who enjoys superb food and drink
[French; literally,'good liver']
The excellence of the food explained the
crowed room
. The owner was a bon vivant, greeting
favored customers, guiding them to their places with Old World hospitality.
Snappy dresser, too, Kelly saw
Tom Clancy, Without Remorse
the new pope [Leo X, 1513-1521] was a hedonist.
All the care of Lorenzo the
Magnificent for the education and advancement of the cleverest of his sons had
produced a cultivated bon vivant devoted to fostering art and
culture and the gratification of his tastes, with as little concern for cost as
if the source of funds were some self-filling magic cornucopia.
Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly: From Troy to
ιminence grisι 1. an adviser or decision-maker
(often secret) with great power beyond any official status; one who wields real
though not titular control; a "power behind the throne" 2. a
respected elder statesman
[French for 'gray (shadowy) power'. Originally applied to Pθre Joseph
(1577-1638), confidential agent of Cardinal Richelieu, who wore a grey cloak
over his monk habit (contrast the red robes of the Cardinal, ιminence rouge).
I suspect that the "elder statesman" sense evolved from a
misunderstanding of what was meant by 'gray'.]
After describing me as difficult to get
along with, mercurial, impulsive, manipulated by an "eminence grise"
meaning Warren Time concluded by acknowledging, "Whatever the
problems, Graham's company will show record profits and record revenues."
Katharine Graham, Personal History. [Graham's wikipedia article says
she "cultivated Warren Buffett for his financial advice; he became ...
something of an eminence grise in the company."]
So in writing this book I must acknowledge a great debt to the wisdom and
experience of my 70-year-old grant review chairman, James Birren, ιminence
grisι of the science of gerontology.
George E. Vaillant, Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life
idiot savant a mentally handicapped person who displays brilliance
in a specific area, especially one involving memory
[French, 'knowledgeable idiot']
So say the dictionaries. An example would be a person who, though profoundly
retarded, can play any piece on the piano upon hearing it once. But in practice
the term is extended to less extreme cases: a normal (not idiotic) person with
a notable (though not necessarily mind-boggling) talent in one area. See last
quote.
He attended
[s]chool meant for the
mentally challenged and slow-learning children.
[but] Pandu still acquires an
extraordinary memory. He has a rare gift known as "idiot savant"
If you give him any date, past or future, Pandu would immediately tell you
what day of the week it is. He also can memorize train and flight schedules.
His other hobby is to remember telephone numbers from the directory.
Daijiworld.com, India, Mar. 28, 2007
he could handle it the way certain idiots savants can multiply
and divide seven-digit numbers in their heads.
Stephen King, The Stand
Chris Rock is a comedy idiot savant: brilliant at
stand-up; really, really bad at everything else.
Santa Fe Reporter,
Occupations Surviving as Surnames
When
people first took surnames, many used the name of their occupation. Thus Tom
the miller, John the baker, and William the smith might become known as Tom
Miller, John Baker, and William Smith. When we see those surnames today, we
recognize them as occupational names.
Many names come similarly from occupations that have long since been forgotten.
This week we'll recall some now-forgotten occupations, in Merrie Olde England,
that survive as familiar surnames. We'll start with one which, though
previously presented here, allows us to present one of last week's words.
chandler (orig.) a candle-maker or candle-seller; also,
a retailer of specified goods or lines [typ. nautical]; also (chiefly
Brit.), a small shopkeeper selling provisions, groceries, etc.
Beneath canvas shades, a blacksmith pounded
metal into hooks; a chandler dipped string into molten beeswax; a
woodcarver explained the symbolism of a spoon he had been working on for years.
Charlotte Sun-Herald, FL, Mar. 4, 2007
Steve, who revels in his enfant terrible persona of the chandlery
world, is never happier than when he is making waves - in one of the many
dinghy classes he sails or when challenging the big boys of the chandlery
business.
Sail World, Australia,
cooper a barrel-maker or barrel-repairer
He saw Adair, the cooper,
flirting with a woman who was not his wife, saw young Muggins slip quietly into
the shadows with the blacksmith's daughter.
Amanda Ashley, in Midnight Pleasures
webster a weaver
[the root means "web", a nice image. I quote the Scottish version of
the word]
What drew artisans to New York was the ood
pay they could expect after they had served their terms [of indenture]. In
"York city," James Murray wrote home in 1737, "a Wabster
gets 12 Pence a Yeard, a Labourer gets 4 Shillings and 5 Pence a Day
Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to
1898
wainwright a wagon-maker
Mr. and Mrs. Thompson tried to engage Mr.
Helton in conversation, but it was a failure. They tried first the weather, and
"Maupoissat?" one of the assassins
piped in.
"You know the name?"
"Nearly a decade ago, we killed a wainwright by that
name," the man admitted, "a wagon maker and his wife. And we were
paid handsomely for the task, I must say."
R. A. Salvatore, The Cleric Quintet
granger a farmer
then the crops, and then the cows, but Mr.
Helton simply did not reply. Mr. Thompson then told
about some of the other
old grangers at the hotel, friends of his, giving beer to a goat,
and the goat's subsequent behavior. Mr. Helton did not seem to hear.
Katherine Anne Porter, Pale Horse, Pale Rider
We're already part granger now with all the hay we cut and stack.
Janet Dailey, Stands A Calder Man
mercer a cloth merchant
Fawkener was ten years older than he and
came from the same class; his father was a mercer, as
Voltaire's grandfather had been, and his grandfather a druggist.
Nancy Mitford, Voltaire in Love
fletcher one who makes arrows
Kingmaker is a similar set-up at the castle,
where children can watch the fletcher construct traditional bows
and arrows.
The Independent,
Eponyms from Surnames from Occupations
Last
week we've seen how an occupation can become a surname. In previous
"eponyms" themes we've seen how a person's surname can become a new
word.
So in theory a word could combine both steps: a profession becomes a surname,
and then a person of that surname gives rise to an eponym. In fact, it's
happened surprising often, and this week we'll look at eponyms of that sort.
Our first eponym comes from a Mr. Mercer. A mercer is a cloth merchant,
as we saw last week, and by odd coincidence Mr. Mercer's eponym relates to the
textile industry.
mercerize to treat cotton thread with lye, so as to increase its
strength, luster and affinity for dye
[after John Mercer (17911866), British calico printer]
if you want something with a bit of sheen,
look for cotton that has been mercerized. I don't know who
Mercer was, but he figured out a dandy way to dip cotton into a bath of lye and
make it emerge happy and shiny (I wouldn't but then again, I'm not cotton). Mercerized
cotton is strong and slippery and smooth, it can even resemble silk in its
sleekness.
Debbie Stoller, Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker
We've
seen fletcher, an arrowmaker. Today's fletcher-eponym is suitable for
figurative use, as in the last quote.
Fletcherize to masticate [chew] one's food slowly and thoroughly
[American health-food fadist Horace
Fletcher (1849-1919) advocated a mimimum of 32 chews: "Nature will
castigate those who don't masticate." Disciples of "the Great
Masticator" included John D. Rockfeller, Henry James, Thomas Edison and
John Harvey Kellogg (as in Kellogg cereals).]
A stonking meal in a stonking
restaurant. But alas, Sue and I are being taught the chew-chew diet, or Fletcherism,
which compelled diners to bow their heads and chew each mouthful for one
minute, until it had liquefied and could be simply absorbed by the mouth.
Times Online, Apr. 12, 2007
thousands of people in the United States and Europe engaged enthusiastically
in the practice in the 1890s, and mothers dutifully exhorted their children to "fletcherize"
every bite on their plates.
Bruce Felton, What Were They Thinking?: Really Bad Ideas Throughout
History
one still hears how if women were allowed to vote, only the bad ones would
avail themselves of the privilege. This is absolutely the reverse of truth.
the educated womenn vote, and the others do not.
Also fletcherize
on this: Judge Ben B. Lindsey, the creator of the Juvenile Court in
Fra Elbert Hubbard, The American Bible (Elbert Hubbard's Selected
Writings, Part 12)
Bonus word:
stonking
Brit., colloquial: excellent, amazing; considerable, powerful
[from military slang: stonk to bombard with concentrated artillery
fire]
We've
seen granger meaning 'a farmer'.
In 1769 James Granger published a history of
Grangerize to illustrate (a book) by adding prints, etc., especially
ones cut out of other books
Marcus Varro went up and down
The places where old books were sold;
He ransacked all the shops in town
For pictures new and pictures old.
He gave the folk of earth no peace;
Snooping around by day and night,
He plied the trade in
Of an insatiate Grangerite.
"Pictures!" was evermore his cry
"Pictures of old or recent date,"
And pictures only would he buy
Wherewith to "extra-illustrate."
Full many a tome of ancient type
And many a manuscript he took,
For nary purpose but to swipe
Their pictures for some other book.
Eugene Field, The Love Affairs of Marcus Varro (For the rest of the
poem, see our board.)
The
occupation: lister a dyer
The person: Joseph Lister (1827-1912), English physician who
revolutionized surgery by performing the first ever antiseptic surgery in 1865.
He objected in vain to the use of his name for the product noted below.
The eponym: listerine an antiseptic solution
Originally formulated as a surgical antiseptic; today, used as a mouthwash. We
illustrate both usages.
In those days carbolic acid was scarcely
understood, iodoform did not exist, listerine was yet to be
discovered, and A physician would sooner have beheaded a patient than have
bandaged a wound and left it untouched for days depending on nature and bichloride
of mercury to heal it.
New York Times,
Before you give a kid Listerine, make sure that he knows
not to swallow it.
Jack Canfield et al., Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul
The
occupation: messner South German occupational name for a sexton,
churchwarden, or verger. (The double s is from association with Messe
'Mass'.) Alternate spelling Mesmer.
The person: Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), Austrian physician who
developed a theory of animal magnetism and a mysterious body fluid which allows
one person to hypnotize another.
The eponym: mesmerize 1. to spellbind; enthrall 2. to
hypnotize
But that night, I was mesmerized.
This world was where I belonged. On that night I had started on my way to become
a Harlemite. I was going to become one of the most depraved parasitical
hustlers among
Attallah Shabazz, Alex Haley, and Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm
X
Frolicking in the wildflowers just ain't Texan, it would seem. Yet at this time
of year, tens of thousands of men, women and children head to the central hills
to linger, lounge and lollygag amid the bluebonnets.
With petals that legend
says resemble the hats of pioneer women, the boot-high bluebonnet can mesmerize
the toughest of big folk in
napier a maker or seller of table linen; the servant in charge of
the linen a great house
Napier's
Bones a set of graduated rods used to perform multiplication quickly.
It was an early calculator. See here.
[After John Napier (1550-1617), Scottish mathematician who invented
logarithms and introduced the use of the decimal point. Napier published his
invention under the title Rabdologiζ (Greek rabdos rod + logos
word). Hence the art of performing arithmetic with Napier's bones is called rabdology
or rhabdology.]
He was enchanted, and he would have gone on
for ever, if I had not mentioned Napier's bones, Gunter's
scales the applied mathematics of navigation lunars the necessary
tables.
Patrick O'Brian, H.M.S. Surprise
Bonus Word:
Gunter's scale a wooden rule, marked with scales of trigonometric functions
and logarithms, to solve mechanically problems in surveying and navigation [invented
by the Rev. Edmund Gunter (1581-1626), prof. of astronomy, Gresham
College, London]
bowdler a worker in iron ore
Thomas Bowdler (17541825) published an expurgated Shakesreare edition
"in which those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with
propriety be read aloud in a family."
bowdlerize to expurgate prudishly, by deleting or editing matter
deemed indelicate
I am addressing parents who, in numerous
locales, have demanded the removal of Huckleberry Finn from syllabi solely
on the basis of the presence of the N-word -- without having read the novel
itself
. I am addressing eradicationists who, on grounds of racial indecency,
presmumably want to bowdlerize or censor such poems as Carl
Sandburg's "Nigger Lover," stories such as Theodore Dreiser's
"Nigger Jeff," Claude McKay's "Nigger Lover,"
[etc.]
Randall Kennedy, Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word
[Interesting
insertion of the word presumably.]
The
reader who provided today's word assures me that though it is not in any
dictionary, it is well-known to any US-trained lawyer. It is part of elementary
training in legal research.
A lawyer, writing a brief, is about to cite a court case. How embarrassing
would it be if he cites and relies on a case that was later overruled! To be
certain, he needs some resource which, for any case, gives him a list of all
later court decisions that cite it. (That may also lead him to cases that agree
with the legal point but state it more convincingly.)
Legal publishers have put out that resource, titled Shepard's Citations, in
book form with frequent supplements. Lawyers routinely check their cites this
way, and it would be sloppy practice not to check. That checking has come to be
called shepardizing (even though it can now be done with various net-sources,
rather that by Shepard's paper-volumes).
shepardize to update a legal citation by finding later cases that cite
that same citation
[Judge] Jahnke told all parties he would
research the issue "Shepardize these citations," and
issue his decision in a memo.
Grand Forks (ND) Herald,
If you have made a mistake, own up to it. If you forgot to shepadize
a case and a partner asks you about it, come clean rather than fudge your
answer. We all goofed at one time or another
Summer Associates (Supplement to The Legal Intelligencer and Pensylvania Law
Weekly), June 2005