The Ryukyu Islands (琉球諸島 Ryūkyū-shotō?), also known as the Nansei Islands (南西諸島 Nansei-shotō?, literally Southwest Islands),[1] is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan.[2] From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin pronunciation Liuqiu. They stretch southwest from the Japanese island of Kyushu to within 120 kilometres (75 mi) of the island of Taiwan.
The islands are administratively divided into the Satsunan Islands to the north, belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, and Ryūkyū Shotō to the south, belonging to Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Yoron Island is the southernmost island of the Satsunan Islands, and Yonaguni is the southernmost of the Ryukyu Islands. The largest of the islands is Okinawa Island (沖縄本島 Okinawa-hontō?).
The islands have a subtropical climate with mild winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very high, and is affected by the rainy season and typhoons.
The archipelago is home to the Ryukyuan languages. The original languages are native to each island and distinct from one another.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Becoming Storyteller
In class one day last week, we were discussing the contents of our textbooks and the terminology of discourse analysis. We were also discussing various storytellers and their styles, which most seem to be very different, even when some are kind of alike. During the discussion, one of our classmates, Marci, who has been on a stage since she was seven years old and very comfy already in the storytelling arena and on a stage, was talking about her experience as a new storyteller. She plans to make it a new career opportunity, and i greatly admire that. I had expressed how brave I thought that she and Chris both were in that endeavor. I think it takes a lot of courage to step out new to the field and science of story and do that. I was also saying that I could never do that right now or probably ever; just stop what I'm doing now and give up my current livlihood and income to go professional storyteller all the way. I was saying how I was a "becoming storyteller" and Marci remarked after some of my conversation that she thought that was beautiful how I had phrased that, a newly coined word, hot of the press. I had no idea that I had even said that, but come to think of it, that's exactly what I am, a budding, growing storyteller in bloom. I'm glad I am.
Japanese Obon
Obon (お盆?) or just Bon (盆?) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori. Obon is an annual Buddhist event for commemorating one's ancestors. It is believed that each year during obon, the ancestors' spirits return to this world in order to visit their relatives.
Traditionally, lanterns are hung in front of houses to guide the ancestors' spirits, obon dances (bon odori) are performed, graves are visited and food offerings are made at house altars and temples.
At the end of Obon, floating lanterns are put into rivers, lakes and seas in order to guide the spirits back into their world. The customs followed vary strongly from region to region.
Obon is celebrated from the 13th to the 15th day of the 7th month of the year, which is July according to the solar calendar. However, since the 7th month of the year roughly coincides with August rather than July according to the formerly used lunar calendar, Obon is still celebrated in mid August in many regions of Japan, while it is celebrated in mid July in other regions.
Traditionally, lanterns are hung in front of houses to guide the ancestors' spirits, obon dances (bon odori) are performed, graves are visited and food offerings are made at house altars and temples.
At the end of Obon, floating lanterns are put into rivers, lakes and seas in order to guide the spirits back into their world. The customs followed vary strongly from region to region.
Obon is celebrated from the 13th to the 15th day of the 7th month of the year, which is July according to the solar calendar. However, since the 7th month of the year roughly coincides with August rather than July according to the formerly used lunar calendar, Obon is still celebrated in mid August in many regions of Japan, while it is celebrated in mid July in other regions.
It "pops"
I've noticed a new word that I've been hearing in the last year or two, and I like this one. I've been using it myself sometimes, and it really sounds great for it's new, present tense meaning. Whether it will go out of use or not, which it probably will, and be replaced with some other word, will remain for us to see, or hear, as the story goes.....I started hearing the word probably last school year when some of the ladies that I work with were talking about colors on each other, and someone told me that red really pops on me. I've also been using the term when we would discuss jewelry and the wearing of white gold, silver, or yellow gold. One of the African American ladies that I work with on Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan who dresses really well and always looks so professional, wears lots of yellow gold. She always has lots of bracelets on her arms and gold around her neck and ear rings. I, on the other hand, wear quite a bit of silver and white gold. We were comparing how we as individuals looked really good in the color choices of jewelry that we each had individually gone with for ourselves. We both agreed that the silver really "popped" on me and that the gold really "popped" on her, meaning that the gold and the silver were complimentary to our skin tones as better, one than the other, for the choice that each of us had picked for ourselves. Also, just living in my newly purchased home in Jonesborough for two summers now, I have been doing some decorating and furnishing for my home so that I can comfortably live in it and enjoy it throughout the summers when I arrive back here. A girl that had been helping me from the store Gracious Designs down on Main Street, had come home with me one afternoon and looking at some pictures that I'd hung and previously purchased from the store, said, the colors in the pictures really make your furniture and the lighter colors in here "pop". So, I presume that "pop" has the modern connotation of beauty, color, and "you stand out"! These would all be good traits for a metaphorical description of the effective storyteller in the execution of their perfellon and convellon.
Best Buy
When I arrived back here around Father's Day this summer as I always do, I realized that I had left several items back at my home in Japan that I should have remembered to bring. I thought I did, but evidently, I had so much to pack, close up and organize for the summer there, that I thought I had packed it because i had the thing in mind, but I was so busy that it didn't actually get put into my suit case. Sheeh, the face paced world that we all live in, and especially living literally cross country from one side of the world to the next each year. It can truly be a challenge at times, but most of the time I wouldn't give it up for the world, and all things are beautiful in my life; a life that i am truly grateful to have. Anyway, to get more to the point, I realized upon my arrival back in Jonesborough, Tn, that I had forgotten my power cord to my new mac lap top which I'd had to buy probably 2 weeks before I got back here. My other little laptop was around 8 or 9 years old and wasn't tickin anymore. I went straight out to Best Buy, which has a telling use of it's language embedded in the very name of the store. Who in their right mind wouldn't want to get the best buy anytime, anywhere that they could for any item? So, I went to the store out on State of Franklin, and I got my new cord for my Mac Pro; seventy dollars after I'd just spent around 1300. dollars for the notebook with microsoft office package for MACs. On the bright side, I've been able to use my computer here all summer, and will just leave my new cord here, as i have another at home, and won't have to re-pack one to have to bring with me on the trip next year. I can just fold up my laptop, and bring it in my carry on. No extra cords, and I use a verizon wireless device when I get here. Best Buy, I've noticed, is not the cheapest place in town to buy computer products or electronics, but they want you to think that, so what a savvy marketing ploy, to embed the subliminal message that they want to create in your mind by putting it right into the title of their store, BEST BUY. Wal-mart is known to be one of the cheapest places to buy lots of things, but they didn't have to embed some message like that into the name of their title to get customers to come, or keep them coming.
Friday, July 29, 2011
One last Kiwi blog,
In the Olde English tradition, pharmacies in NZ are called "Chemist shops." Increasingly, the word pharmacy is creeping in, but they would never call them drug stores. "Drug" suggests an illegal drug. By the way, crystal meth there is called, "P," which, ironically stands for "pure."
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Good Ole Boy
Coming from the southern culture where "good ole boy" has the very telling use of a negative connotation, I was a little hesitant to bring this one to the table, but, it is a telling use of the southern culture here in our United States of America, and since I got started in my career and learned how political everything in education is and was, as soon as I started hearing the telling phrase 16 years ago, "good ole boy", I quickly figured out the use of that language meant a lying windjammer that was full of hot air. Some man who walks softly in the community and placates with whatever his peers want to hear so that he can run with the big boys, another telling use of language in our American society. They want to fit in and be with the in crowd of their southern peers who make decisions which affect all of the rest of us in education and not out. They don't want to be the ones who "kick against the pricks" as Paul did, in the biblical sense before his conversion to Christianity. In the years that have passed, every time I hear the telling use of "he's a good ole boy", I know right away what that means, and even the tone and volume of the person's voice will change when they say that phrase about so and so. Personally, I know that the word has negative meaning that brings to mind dishonesty, under the table kinds of thinking and manipulations, and just sheer politics; we all know that those kinds of manipulative activities and attitudes go on in our culture and society on different levels and forms. It kind of also has the ring to me of "klu, klux, klan" which "good ole boy" is not nearly as malicious or evil in imagery or reality as that title, but still, it does have the tinge to it of an exclusive group of men in southern culture who are not necessarily on the up and up as far as motivations and forthrightness are completely concerned.
My Bad
This is one of those newly coined words that I started hearing about a year or two ago and have heard it rise in popularity within people conversations ever since. It seems like that's how lots of new words or phrases start. One person starts it somewhere off of the top of their head, and the word or phrase seems catchy and seems also to "coin" the moment or situation well that the person may be talking about; then, just like word of mouth, pardon the pun, it catches on here, there, and everywhere and spreads in a community, regionally, and then gets televised and will spread nationally as well. Now I hear people saying "my bad" on tv sometimes when I watch it. If a celebrity starts it, then it will really take off. One word that isn't even used anymore but was started by "Fonzie" on Happy Days many years ago, had everyone saying "heyyyyyyyyy" just to sound cool. I remember it.
That is the typical example too about how new words that fadishlly come in will go out just as quickly sometimes. One word that has been replaced that used to be used all the time is the word problem and problems. People would say there are problems or he or she has problems. Present day that word has been replaced in our American society and culture by the word "issues" I've noticed and that one has hung around or a while, a couple of years now. I never hear anybody say the word "problems" anymore when talking about a problematic theme or subject. I always year someone and everyone use the term "issues" so the word problem has seemed to be out-dated or replaced; not that it doesn't mean the same thing, but it's just not used anymore. I remember when I went to the hairdresser in Japan on the military base a couple of years ago and that was the first time I heard the new phrase, "my bad." The girl that used it was a very young girl in her early twenties, very overweight and sloppy about everything. She was sloppy about her appearance, her work, and after she'd cut my hair to get the completed look that a three year old had been in my head with the scissors, I asked her if she'd ever done a swing bob before and she said yes. I called her later almost hysterical and emailed her too, for her to reply to me, "my bad." It sure was her bad. It took me nearly the entire school year to get my hair grown out to the regular length that I wore it again and the right shape. This was my first experience with the newly coined phrase or words, "my bad", and to tell you the truth I've never liked it since and don't use it now. I do hear others use it frequently though.
That is the typical example too about how new words that fadishlly come in will go out just as quickly sometimes. One word that has been replaced that used to be used all the time is the word problem and problems. People would say there are problems or he or she has problems. Present day that word has been replaced in our American society and culture by the word "issues" I've noticed and that one has hung around or a while, a couple of years now. I never hear anybody say the word "problems" anymore when talking about a problematic theme or subject. I always year someone and everyone use the term "issues" so the word problem has seemed to be out-dated or replaced; not that it doesn't mean the same thing, but it's just not used anymore. I remember when I went to the hairdresser in Japan on the military base a couple of years ago and that was the first time I heard the new phrase, "my bad." The girl that used it was a very young girl in her early twenties, very overweight and sloppy about everything. She was sloppy about her appearance, her work, and after she'd cut my hair to get the completed look that a three year old had been in my head with the scissors, I asked her if she'd ever done a swing bob before and she said yes. I called her later almost hysterical and emailed her too, for her to reply to me, "my bad." It sure was her bad. It took me nearly the entire school year to get my hair grown out to the regular length that I wore it again and the right shape. This was my first experience with the newly coined phrase or words, "my bad", and to tell you the truth I've never liked it since and don't use it now. I do hear others use it frequently though.
Geisha
Geisha (pronounced /ˈɡeɪʃə/, Japanese: [ɡeːʃa]),[1] like all Japanese nouns, has no distinct singular or plural variants. The word consists of two kanji, 芸 (gei) meaning "art" and 者 (sha) meaning "person" or "doer". The most literal translation of geisha into English would be "artist" or "performing artist". Another name for geisha used in Japan is geiko (芸子), which is usually used to refer to geisha from Western Japan, including Kyoto.
Apprentice geisha are called maiko (舞子 or 舞妓), literally "dance child") or hangyoku (半玉), "half-jewel" (meaning that they are paid half the wage of a full geisha),or by the more generic term o-shaku (御酌), literally "one who pours (alcohol)". The white make-up and elaborate kimono and hair of a maiko is the popular image held of geisha. A woman entering the geisha community does not have to start out as a maiko, having the opportunity to begin her career as a full geisha. Either way, however, usually a year's training is involved before debuting either as a maiko or as a geisha. A woman above 21 is considered too old to be a maiko and becomes a full geisha upon her initiation into the geisha community. However, those who do go through the maiko stage can enjoy more prestige later in their professional lives.
The only modern maiko that can apprentice before the age of eighteen are in Kyoto. So on average, Tokyo hangyoku (who typically begin at 18) are slightly older than their Kyoto counterparts (who usually start at 15). Historically, geisha often began the earliest stages of their training at a very young age, sometimes as early as at 3 or 5 years. The early shikomi (servant) and minarai (watching apprentice) stages of geisha training lasted years, which is significantly longer than in contemporary times.
It is still said that geisha inhabit a separate reality which they call the karyūkai or "the flower and willow world." Before they disappeared the courtesans were the colorful "flowers" and the geisha the "willows" because of their subtlety, strength, and grace.
Apprentice geisha are called maiko (舞子 or 舞妓), literally "dance child") or hangyoku (半玉), "half-jewel" (meaning that they are paid half the wage of a full geisha),or by the more generic term o-shaku (御酌), literally "one who pours (alcohol)". The white make-up and elaborate kimono and hair of a maiko is the popular image held of geisha. A woman entering the geisha community does not have to start out as a maiko, having the opportunity to begin her career as a full geisha. Either way, however, usually a year's training is involved before debuting either as a maiko or as a geisha. A woman above 21 is considered too old to be a maiko and becomes a full geisha upon her initiation into the geisha community. However, those who do go through the maiko stage can enjoy more prestige later in their professional lives.
The only modern maiko that can apprentice before the age of eighteen are in Kyoto. So on average, Tokyo hangyoku (who typically begin at 18) are slightly older than their Kyoto counterparts (who usually start at 15). Historically, geisha often began the earliest stages of their training at a very young age, sometimes as early as at 3 or 5 years. The early shikomi (servant) and minarai (watching apprentice) stages of geisha training lasted years, which is significantly longer than in contemporary times.
It is still said that geisha inhabit a separate reality which they call the karyūkai or "the flower and willow world." Before they disappeared the courtesans were the colorful "flowers" and the geisha the "willows" because of their subtlety, strength, and grace.
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield
Yesterday evening after our talk back with Syd Lieberman, I came home and cried. The fault was certainly not Lieberman’s; it was just that the afternoon had called me to confront all that pained me. And yet, oh the power of the right story to heal you, to inspire and lift and turn you around. Tonight, I return from Lieberman’s performance of "Intrepid Birdmen: Fighter Pilots of World War I” renewed in my love for and redeemed in my dream to one day create and tell stories so beautiful that they will have the capacity to move and transform, as his did me. It’s true that I might still fail, a ship on the floor of the sea, but I will at least have made the attempt. Lieberman’s piece was as extraordinarily written as it was flawlessly performed. His prose was factual, informative, detailed and imagistic. His register, tone and pacing shifted with the arc of the piece, paralleling a progression from heady adventure to heartbreaking tragedy. I approached him after the performance to thank him and tell him how wonderful it was to see his range. So tonight, I complete my last etymology with a nod to him by choosing the word “intrepid” from the Latin “intrepidus,” which means “unshaken, undaunted.” It’s a fitting sentiment for a parting post to all of you, my home skillets. May we all have the courage to keep the faith.
More kiwi stuff - sorted
In New Zealand, people are always getting things "sorted." Straightened out, organized. (Origin: middle English, from Old French sorte, ultimately from Latin, sors, sortis, lot, condition. ) At first, of course, I thought they were saying "sordid." (Latin sordidus, from sordere, be dirty.) It would be easy enough for me to say, "I've gotten my life all sordid," but it's hard for me to imagine my life all sorted.
At the Post Shop (which we know as Post Office) where they do everything, including helping you carry heavy packages out to the car, there was a sign that said, "Get your rego sorted here." I had to ask. In their way of shortening every possible word, "rego" meant "registration," as in your automobile registration. Yes, they do that, too. You can register your car, pay your license fees, etc.
Mystery Entry
SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2011
"Bad, Bad Blogging Bonnie"
OK, I have held my breath all week but now I believe I must speak or my gall bladder is going to explode! Will someone stop this Cowgirl of the West from blogging?!? Day after day after day I have been trying to edumacate myself here in the beautiful foothills of East Tennessee and all I get are the rantings of a Brooklyn imitator masquerading as a sharp-shootin' Annie Oakley. Well, if no one else is going to speak up, I will: BONNIE BOYLE!!! QUIT WITH THE INCESSANT BLOGGING! That's all. Wishing everyone a wonderful summer. Rose-hips lemonade for everyone on Friday afternoon at The Angry Fiddle. My treat providing, of course, someone brings appetizers, entrées and desserts!
Posted by Boo Boo Nixon at High Noon 97,001 comments
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(My dog sitter sent this, with the heading, "I guess the tropes have hit the frying pan!")
"Bad juju"
I haven't heard this for a while, but a friend on the phone said she had moved recently because "There was a lot of bad juju with the landlords." I knew what she meant, but when I looked it up, juju is "a fetish or charm, or the powers attributed to that charm." (Etymology, West African, Hausa, djudju, fetish, evil spirit.) She meant, confusion, bad energy. Most of the definitions mentioned the fetish and the magic, but the best one I could come up with was, "any process in which a mystery is exploited to confuse people." Sometimes, you just meet someone you always butt heads with, for no apparent reason, but it's impossible to set it right. It's confusing; it's bad energy; it's bad juju.
Kiwi financial terms
Our discussion of US currency in class the other day reminded me of some NZ terms. Instead of "stock market," they say "share market." It is, after all, where you buy shares of a company, and -- because it is an agricultural country -- there are probably still plenty of stock markets where livestock is bought and sold. (Etymology of share: Old English, scearu, division, from Germanic). Since the national currency is the New Zealand dollar, they need to distinguish it from other "dollar" currencies, so they usually refer to the US dollar as the "greenback. (We all know why.) No one in NZ has any idea what I mean when I say "buck," as in, "I spent five bucks for that book." Increasingly, in financial reports, they talk about the "redback," by which they mean the Chinese currency -- called the yuan or the renminbi, because the Chinese bills are usually red in color (and most have a picture of Chairman Mao on them.)
Kiwinglish: true story
I went into a sporting goods/outdoors store in Auckland and told the young salesman I wanted a fanny pack. His mouth dropped open. He stared. There was a long silence. As it turns out, the kiwi term for what I wanted is "bum bag," and "fanny" is a very different part of a woman's anatomy. No wonder the young man was stunned. As someone put it to me politely, "your fanny is your front bum, and your bum is your back bum." A Canadian friend of mine moved to NZ years ago and began teaching aerobics. At first she was very confused. At some point in the routine she would say, "Okay, ladies, shake your fannies!" and the women in her class would go into these strange bump-and-grind motions. It took her a while to figure out why.
Last minute uzi-bloging: more Kiwinglish
NAFF, CHUFFED AND WOP-WOPS
"I was really chuffed when I heard what she had said about me." I had a hard time figuring this out at first, because "chuff" sounds like chafe or something annoying. Actually it means pleased or delighted. (Origin: British dialect, chuff, pleased.)
"That docu-drama about Prince William and Kate Middleton was really naff." Cheesy, corny, worthless. (Origin unknown, 20th C)
There was an article in the paper about "Op Shops in the Wop-Wops," telling about great second-hand or thrift shops in out-of-the-way places. Op shops are opportunity shops -- thrift or second-hand stores (Interesting origin of the word opportunity -- from the Latin, suggesting a wind driving a sailing ship into the harbor). Op shows that NZ way of shortening every word possible. Wop-wops is a purely NZ colloquial, unknown origin, meaning a remote or rural area. As in, "They lived way out in the wop-wops."
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
What's Telling About Syd Lieberman
During Syd Lieberman’s set this afternoon at the ISC, I kept an ear open for telling examples of language and found a few obvious references during his description of his canoeing misadventure. “Go right; go right; go right,” cried Syd’s students as he attempted to steer around a tree: “And I went right into it.” And then, after relating how he had dropped the oars in the crash, Lieberman quipped, “We really were up the creek without a paddle.” But, apart from the playful phrasing, I think the most effective language devise Lieberman used was quoting selected lines of verse from Ecclesiastes 3. 1-8. at the end of his final story. There is no greater mystery to us than human mortality. There is nothing about which we fear, weep, or wonder more. Thus, the literary allusion was as poignant as it was well-chosen, acting as a warm, familiar embrace of poetry that evoked prayer. By going to the heart of the existential struggle of our lives with words both lyrical and delicate, Lieberman was able to end his set on an exceptionally stirring point emotionally, one so rousing in fact that it brought the audience to its feet.
Re: Going South
UP is often used as a "directional metaphor." See Lakoff & Johnson "Metaphors We Live By" for some great insight as to how metaphors function in daily speech. See below for some fun with directional metaphors from William Safire:
ON LANGUAGE; Don't Go South, Young Man
IN THE TV SERIES "MURDER, SHE Wrote," the character played by Angela Lansbury was accosted by a police lieutenant about a suspect she was helping: "When I sent some guys over to your place to pick him up," the cop complained, "he'd gone south."
In the opposite direction, Adam Sandler wrote in Variety that the recent video release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" had sold more than 17 million copies and "generated north of $300 million in retail sales."
Now both ways: when The Washington Post's media shoofly, Howard Kurtz, hoped that ratings of the O. J. Simpson trial would "go south," Dan Rather on "48 Hours" on CBS responded, "The ratings were going north, not south."
Rather knows how to handle a compass: North is up, South is down. (I capitalize the directions, though not southern or southward.) Obviously, up is good news, down is bad. But this metaphor, now omnidirectional on television, has deeper roots than it seems. According to Fred Cassidy, editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE): "Evidently a part of American Indian (Sioux) belief included go south = to die. The sense of deterioration is not far off."
The inspiring Professor Cassidy, now 87 and still only on the letter "O" -- he and his University of Wisconsin team are working as fast as they can -- directed me to Mitford M. Mathews's Dictionary of Americanisms. In that 1951 lexicon, a 1746 citation, from David Brainerd's journal, about an aged Delaware Indian's opinion that the soul departing the body "would go southward" was elucidated in a Harper's Magazine article in 1894: "The Dakota tribes believe that the soul, driven out of the body, journeys off to the south, and 'to go south' is, among the Sioux, the favorite euphemism for death."
A sexual sense was added by whites who followed the American aboriginals. In the 1955 Broadway musical "Silk Stockings," based on the movie "Ninotchka," Cole Porter wrote, "I'd love to make a tour of you"; stops on this lyrical tour included "The eyes, the arms, the mouth of you/ The East, West, North and the South of you." On the surface, an innocent lyric, and never banned from the airwaves; still, when Don Ameche sang the word South, the sexual innuendo about the nether parts of the body was unmistakable.
Financial reporters took up the compass metaphor to enliven their language about the direction of the stock market. "The markets headed south today" is an all-too-frequent usage in finance. Lou Dobbs of the CNN program "Moneyline" tells me, "While I've heard many analysts and market gurus talk about stocks going south, I've never heard anyone say a market is going north."
At least the directional metaphor of North (up, good news) and South (down, bad news) is clear. For example, when there is good statistical news on the jobless or inflation fronts, and those figures drop, you do not hear "Unemployment figures and inflation rates are headed south." Thus, the metaphoric meaning of "headed South" is not so much "downward" as "bad news."
That clarity cannot be claimed by uphill and downhill. "Your column and the crossword puzzle get my week off to a civilized start," Patricia Patricelli of Boston writes. "Usually it's all downhill from there. (Or is it uphill? I've never really understood that expression. Going downhill is easier, but it sounds negative to me, i.e., sinking, down in the depths.)"
It's all downhill from here. Does that mean "From now on, it's easy -- no more struggling uphill" or does it mean "This is as good as it gets, and now we're headed for the pits"?
"I always thought that if someone were going downhill, that signified deterioration," Steve Conn of New York writes, "whereas uphill meant getting better. Tell me: should we prefer to go uphill or downhill?"
Allan Metcalf of the American Dialect Society notes that "Downhill has been going figuratively downhill since the O.E.D.'s first record of its use, in 1591: 'Th' Icie down-Hils of this slippery Life.' Whether we weep or rejoice in any particular instance depends on whither the icy downhills lead -- to a decline, or to an Olympic skiing record."
John Algeo, the neologist of American Speech, points to the two-way working of the metaphor: "If one thinks that the top of the hill is the place to be, then going downhill is declining. But if one thinks about effort, then an uphill struggle is bad, and coasting downhill is good. The difference is between metaphorical place ('up' good, 'down' bad) and metaphorical effort to move on an inclined plane ('uphill' hard, 'downhill' easy)."
Though the first use of downhill, about the slippery life, was pejorative, a more famous use -- by Daniel Defoe in his 1719 "Robinson Crusoe" -- was upbeat: "a very short cut, and all down-hill," which was quicker and easier for the castaway and his man Friday than the long way uphill. "Perhaps a human tendency to look on the dark side favors the pejorative sense," Professor Algeo says. "Metaphorically, both work."
But they work at semantic cross-purposes. The hills are alive with the sound of confusion. My advice: forget the hill metaphor and try something nautical: smooth sailing and rough sailing, or if you go for the icy slopes, easy sledding or hard sledding. Ban the hills; if you want bad news, go South. I Wrote It Myself
President Clinton has taken to running down his speech writers in public, boasting about rejecting prepared remarks and doing the writing himself; this is to show that what he says comes from the Real Him. I suspect that these lines are written by speech writers falling on their pens, mightier than their swords.
In Mr. Clinton's pre-Christmas "Middle Class Bill of Rights" speech (bottomed on Nixon's "Economic Bill of Rights" statement, which we stole from F.D.R.), I was pleased to hear his pickup of the "government that is leaner, not meaner" phrase; was ambivalent about his "raise their children" (purists differentiate between raising cattle and rearing children, and in formal speech that distinction should be made, but Mr. Clinton, even when wearing a dark suit in the Oval Office, prefers the folksy), but was stunned, stunned (one cut above "shocked, shocked") by "Some people do take advantage of the rest of us by . . . flaunting our immigration laws."
To flaunt means "to show off, to parade ostentatiously"; the verb the President meant was flout, "to disregard contemptuously, to mock or scoff at." Even kids raised with the laid-back Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage are told that mistaking flout for flaunt is "a genuine error" and, by confusing these verbs, "you do run the risk of giving some of your listeners the mistaken impression that they are smarter than you are."
In the opposite direction, Adam Sandler wrote in Variety that the recent video release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" had sold more than 17 million copies and "generated north of $300 million in retail sales."
Now both ways: when The Washington Post's media shoofly, Howard Kurtz, hoped that ratings of the O. J. Simpson trial would "go south," Dan Rather on "48 Hours" on CBS responded, "The ratings were going north, not south."
Rather knows how to handle a compass: North is up, South is down. (I capitalize the directions, though not southern or southward.) Obviously, up is good news, down is bad. But this metaphor, now omnidirectional on television, has deeper roots than it seems. According to Fred Cassidy, editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE): "Evidently a part of American Indian (Sioux) belief included go south = to die. The sense of deterioration is not far off."
The inspiring Professor Cassidy, now 87 and still only on the letter "O" -- he and his University of Wisconsin team are working as fast as they can -- directed me to Mitford M. Mathews's Dictionary of Americanisms. In that 1951 lexicon, a 1746 citation, from David Brainerd's journal, about an aged Delaware Indian's opinion that the soul departing the body "would go southward" was elucidated in a Harper's Magazine article in 1894: "The Dakota tribes believe that the soul, driven out of the body, journeys off to the south, and 'to go south' is, among the Sioux, the favorite euphemism for death."
A sexual sense was added by whites who followed the American aboriginals. In the 1955 Broadway musical "Silk Stockings," based on the movie "Ninotchka," Cole Porter wrote, "I'd love to make a tour of you"; stops on this lyrical tour included "The eyes, the arms, the mouth of you/ The East, West, North and the South of you." On the surface, an innocent lyric, and never banned from the airwaves; still, when Don Ameche sang the word South, the sexual innuendo about the nether parts of the body was unmistakable.
Financial reporters took up the compass metaphor to enliven their language about the direction of the stock market. "The markets headed south today" is an all-too-frequent usage in finance. Lou Dobbs of the CNN program "Moneyline" tells me, "While I've heard many analysts and market gurus talk about stocks going south, I've never heard anyone say a market is going north."
At least the directional metaphor of North (up, good news) and South (down, bad news) is clear. For example, when there is good statistical news on the jobless or inflation fronts, and those figures drop, you do not hear "Unemployment figures and inflation rates are headed south." Thus, the metaphoric meaning of "headed South" is not so much "downward" as "bad news."
That clarity cannot be claimed by uphill and downhill. "Your column and the crossword puzzle get my week off to a civilized start," Patricia Patricelli of Boston writes. "Usually it's all downhill from there. (Or is it uphill? I've never really understood that expression. Going downhill is easier, but it sounds negative to me, i.e., sinking, down in the depths.)"
It's all downhill from here. Does that mean "From now on, it's easy -- no more struggling uphill" or does it mean "This is as good as it gets, and now we're headed for the pits"?
"I always thought that if someone were going downhill, that signified deterioration," Steve Conn of New York writes, "whereas uphill meant getting better. Tell me: should we prefer to go uphill or downhill?"
Allan Metcalf of the American Dialect Society notes that "Downhill has been going figuratively downhill since the O.E.D.'s first record of its use, in 1591: 'Th' Icie down-Hils of this slippery Life.' Whether we weep or rejoice in any particular instance depends on whither the icy downhills lead -- to a decline, or to an Olympic skiing record."
John Algeo, the neologist of American Speech, points to the two-way working of the metaphor: "If one thinks that the top of the hill is the place to be, then going downhill is declining. But if one thinks about effort, then an uphill struggle is bad, and coasting downhill is good. The difference is between metaphorical place ('up' good, 'down' bad) and metaphorical effort to move on an inclined plane ('uphill' hard, 'downhill' easy)."
Though the first use of downhill, about the slippery life, was pejorative, a more famous use -- by Daniel Defoe in his 1719 "Robinson Crusoe" -- was upbeat: "a very short cut, and all down-hill," which was quicker and easier for the castaway and his man Friday than the long way uphill. "Perhaps a human tendency to look on the dark side favors the pejorative sense," Professor Algeo says. "Metaphorically, both work."
But they work at semantic cross-purposes. The hills are alive with the sound of confusion. My advice: forget the hill metaphor and try something nautical: smooth sailing and rough sailing, or if you go for the icy slopes, easy sledding or hard sledding. Ban the hills; if you want bad news, go South. I Wrote It Myself
President Clinton has taken to running down his speech writers in public, boasting about rejecting prepared remarks and doing the writing himself; this is to show that what he says comes from the Real Him. I suspect that these lines are written by speech writers falling on their pens, mightier than their swords.
In Mr. Clinton's pre-Christmas "Middle Class Bill of Rights" speech (bottomed on Nixon's "Economic Bill of Rights" statement, which we stole from F.D.R.), I was pleased to hear his pickup of the "government that is leaner, not meaner" phrase; was ambivalent about his "raise their children" (purists differentiate between raising cattle and rearing children, and in formal speech that distinction should be made, but Mr. Clinton, even when wearing a dark suit in the Oval Office, prefers the folksy), but was stunned, stunned (one cut above "shocked, shocked") by "Some people do take advantage of the rest of us by . . . flaunting our immigration laws."
To flaunt means "to show off, to parade ostentatiously"; the verb the President meant was flout, "to disregard contemptuously, to mock or scoff at." Even kids raised with the laid-back Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage are told that mistaking flout for flaunt is "a genuine error" and, by confusing these verbs, "you do run the risk of giving some of your listeners the mistaken impression that they are smarter than you are."
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Worth The Dough!
Rocky's Pizza, Worth The Dough! is on a sign right outside the business on 11E in Jonesborough. The advertisement selling the pizza is also on their little paper brochure and menu that you can take home as well. The slogan is a catchy phrase, and I do eat pizza from there. It reminds me a lot of Gregg's Pizza in Johnson City which is nearly as old an establishment at I am in years, and speaks for itself in a highly competitive restaurant and food chain market that exists everywhere you go these days. Rocky's Pizza is delicious and the telling use of this language would not sell me the pizza if it weren't great, and so the almost "subtitle" underneath Rocky's Pizza on their outdoor sign and brochure is a kind of subliminal draw for me because I know it's good anyway. That little "mental sticky note" "worth the dough" encourages me to stop there when I am ready for some pizza pie. It also kind of reminds me of the hypnotic play in a cartoon that I once saw where the family dog was outside trying to hypnotize his master right outside the window of the house; he kept chanting, "put the cat out......put the cat out....." I guess that dog wanted to eat that cat! He was trying to put that thought in his master's mind, and so, the play on subliminal imagery in mentally massaging you to manipulate you in a certain direction. Here we go again, and so many businesses advertise this way, as we all know.
Shintoism
Shinto (神道 Shintō?) or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written historical records of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in the 7th and 8th century. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not refer to a unified "Shinto religion", but rather to disorganized folklore, history, and mythology. Shinto today is a term that applies to public shrines suited to various purposes such as war memorials, harvest festivals, romance, and historical monuments, as well as various sectarian organizations. Practitioners express their diverse beliefs through a standard language and practice, adopting a similar style in dress and ritual, dating from around the time of the Nara and Heian Periods.]
The word Shinto ("Way of the Gods") was adopted from the written Chinese (神道, shén dào),] combining two kanji: "shin" (神?), meaning kami; and "tō" (道?), or "dō" meaning a philosophical path or study (originally from the Chinese word tao). Kami are defined in English as "spirits", "essences" or "deities", that are associated with many understood formats; in some cases being human-like, in others being animistic, and others being associated with more abstract "natural" forces in the world (mountains, rivers, lightning, wind, waves, trees, rocks). Kami and people are not separate; they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity.
The word Shinto ("Way of the Gods") was adopted from the written Chinese (神道, shén dào),] combining two kanji: "shin" (神?), meaning kami; and "tō" (道?), or "dō" meaning a philosophical path or study (originally from the Chinese word tao). Kami are defined in English as "spirits", "essences" or "deities", that are associated with many understood formats; in some cases being human-like, in others being animistic, and others being associated with more abstract "natural" forces in the world (mountains, rivers, lightning, wind, waves, trees, rocks). Kami and people are not separate; they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity.
I need an "eceipt"
I had just paid for my tuition for fall practicum through NSN, and as my usual custom in asking for my records and taxes, I always ask for a "receipt," but this time to my sudden surprise and astonishment, I created a new word. I asked for an "eceipt" instead, and I did it spontaneously. I realized then, that I had created a new word, and off the tip of my tongue I made that unrehearsed mental connection almost unconsciously which flowed from my mouth freely. I realized that since I receive all "proof of purchase" anyway "online", that it was the perfect paperless and neologistic application to the original term, receipt. ha! I bet we've all done that at times.....Talking about all of this in our Linguistics class made it a fun coincidence for me this time because I was aware of the fact that I did it and what to call what I'd done.
No wonder I'm confused
This is from rhetorica.net/tropes.htm
Tropes and Schemes
In classical rhetoric, the tropes and schemes fall under the canon of style. These stylistic features certainly do add spice to writing and speaking. And they are commonly thought to be persuasive because they dress up otherwise mundane language; the idea being that we are persuaded by the imagery and artistry because we find it entertaining. There is much more to tropes and schemes than surface considerations. Indeed, politicians and pundits use these language forms to create specific social and political effects by playing on our emotions.
Note: Some examples from "Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student" by Edward P. J. Corbett.
Definitions:
Trope: The use of a word, phrase, or image in a way not intended by its normal signification.
Scheme: A change in standard word order or pattern.
Tropes and schemes are collectively known as figures of speech. The following is a short list of some of the most common figures of speech. I have selected figures that politicians and pundits use often--especially schemes of repetition and word order, which convey authority.
Anaphora: A scheme in which the same word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences. Example: "I will fight for you. I will fight to save Social Security. I will fight to raise the minimum wage."
Anastrophe: A scheme in which normal word order is changed for emphasis. Example: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
Antithesis: A scheme that makes use of contrasting words, phrases, sentences, or ideas for emphasis (generally used in parallel grammatical structures). Example: " Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities."
Apostrophe: A scheme in which a person or an abstract quality is directly addressed, whether present or not. Example: "Freedom! You are a beguiling mistress."
Epistrophe: A scheme in which the same word is repeated at the end of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences. Example: “I believe we should fight for justice. You believe we should fight for justice. How can we not, then, fight for justice?”
Hyperbole: A trope composed of exaggerated words or ideals used for emphasis and not to be taken literally. Example: "I've told you a million times not to call me a liar!"
Irony: A trope in which a word or phrase is used to mean the opposite of its literal meaning. Example: "I just love scrubbing the floor."
Litotes: A trope in which one makes a deliberate understatement for emphasis. Example: Young lovers are kissing and an observer says: "I think they like each other."
Metaphor: A trope in which a word or phrase is transferred from its literal meaning to stand for something else. Unlike a simile, in which something is said to be "like" something else, a metaphor says something is something else. Example: "Debt is a bottomless sea."
Metonymy: A trope that substitutes an associated word for one that is meant. Example: Using "top brass" to refer to military officers.
Oxymoron: A trope that connects two contradictory terms. Example: “Bill is a cheerful pessimist.”
Periphrasis: A trope in which one substitutes a descriptive word or phrase for a proper noun. Example: “The big man upstairs hears your prayers.”
Personification: A trope in which human qualities or abilities are assigned to abstractions or inanimate objects. Example: “Integrity thumbs its nose at pomposity.”
Pun: A play on words in which a homophone is repeated but used in a different sense. Examples: “She was always game for any game."
Rhetorical Question: A trope in which the one asks a leading question. Example: "With all the violence on TV today, is it any wonder kids bring guns to school?"
Simile: A trope in which one states a comparison between two things that are not alike but have similarities. Unlike metaphors, similes employ "like" or "as." Example: "Her eyes are as blue as a robin's egg."
Synecdoche: A trope in which a part stands for the whole. Example: "Tom just bought a fancy new set of wheels."
Zeugma: A trope in which one verb governs several words, or clauses, each in a different sense. Example: “He stiffened his drink and his spine.”
Wait, there's more: (from wisegeek.com)
A trope is a figure of speech in which words are used in a way which changes their meaning. The use of tropes is common in a wide range of forms including fiction, film, and poetry. One of the most well known examples of a trope is a metaphor: for example, a beautiful woman in a novel might be described as having hair which shines like the sun. There are numerous other types of tropes, and when used well, they can be powerful tools. Tropes are also used extensively in advertising and propaganda, and many of them rely on cultural or social norms which can make translation into other languages or cultures very difficult.
"Trope" comes from the Greek word tropos, which means "to turn or twist," and a trope does indeed twist the meaning of a word or phrase. Tropes are so common that many have become cliche, and cliched tropes are an important thing for writers to avoid.
Some other examples of tropes include irony, metonymy, antanaclasis, and synecdoche. You probably already know what irony means; it refers to a statement in which words are used to express the opposite of their conventional meaning. For example, someone might say that she had a “good time” getting a filling at the dentist in an ironic way, when she really means that she had a terrible time.
So,I am definitely not using the word, "trope" in my final paper.
Ramen noodle trope?
From a car insurance ad on tv, advertising inexpensive coverage: "Rachel is just starting out. She's on a budget -- like a ramen noodles every night budget." We all know that ramen noodles are about the cheapest food you can buy -- ranging from ten cents to a dollar a package. Allstate runs a national ad playing on that fact. Are ramen noodles a cultural icon? Dare I call this usage a trope? (Etymology of ramen is a topic of debate. Maybe from the Chinese, la mien, hand-pulled noodles, or laomien, , old noodles, or lumian, noodles cooked in a thick, starchy sauce or laomian, -- lo mein -- Cantonese, to stir.) By the way, Lori, if you're in the neighborhood, there's a Ramen Museum in Yokohama.
"Going south"
I was just watching several commentators on CNN talking about the debt ceiling issue, and what will happen to bond holders if the US defaults. Ali Velshi (sp?) said, "We don't want to alarm anybody, but we'll be right here to tell you if things start going south." (Based on our conversation this morning about people manipulating language, I thought the phrase "going south" was pretty alarming, in itself.) As it's used in slang, it means "moving to a position of decreased value." (Etymology, Old English suth, going back further to sawel, whose derivatives include Sunday, south and solar.) Personally, I don't think this is a derogatory remark about the South, but rather related to graphics. On our maps, downward is always pointing southward. On a graph, when a value is decreasing, it it also pointing downward. This is really just a convention, (in NZ, you can buy -- but they're not generally used -- upside-down maps of the globe) but we all know what "going south" means.
Monday, July 25, 2011
YouTube
It is an amazing and miraculous thing to me that technology has come light years in ten years, including computer, medicine, and so many things in so many areas. One fine example of this is on the world wide web, in which YouTube posts live video footage on just about any subject that is not pornographic in content, hopefully. I have been amazed to find that during our linguistics class this summer, there has been a virtual endless cornucopia of streaming video story. Many storytellers, kinds of stories, and in settings all over the world have been videotaped on YouTube; a fine newly coined technological premise and word for studying the art of story! I will definitely take advantage of what I didn't know was available on YouTube before pertaining to my continued studies in storytelling and various tellers. As a professional working overseas and separated from so many live experiences that I might otherwise be exposed to in the U.S. and Jonesborough throughout the school year, this will be a real boon for a person like myself. I look forward to continued use of YouTube for my ongoing training in the world of story; so glad I discovered the fabulous resource tool of YouTube for the story student and up and coming teller.
Shishi Lions
Jp. = Shishi 獅子 or Kara Shishi 唐獅子, Chn. = Shíshī
Also known as Koma-inu 狛犬 (lion dog) in Japan
Origin = China & Korea: Shishi (or Jishi) is translated as "lion” but it can also refer to a deer or dog with magical properties and the power to repel evil spirits. A pair of shishi traditionally stand guard outside the gates of Japanese Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, although temples are more often guarded by two Nio Protectors. The Shishi (like the Nio) are traditionally depicted in pairs, one with mouth open and one with mouth shut. The opened/closed mouth relates to Ah (open mouth) and Un (closed mouth). “Ah" is the first sound in the Japanese alphabet, while "N" (pronounced "un") is the last. These two sounds symbolize beginning and end, birth and death, and all possible outcomes (from alpha to omega) in the cosmic dance of existence. The first letter in Sanskrit is "Ah" as well, but the last is "Ha." Nonetheless, the first and last sounds produced by the mouth are "Ah" and "M." The Sanskrit "m" and the Japanese "n" sound exactly the same when hummed with mouth closed. The spiritual Sanskrit terms AHAM and AUM thus encapsulate the first letter-sound (mouth open) and the final sound (mouth closed). Others say the open mouth is to scare off demons, and the closed mouth to shelter and keep in the good spirits. The circular object often shown beneath their feet is the Tama 玉, or sacred Buddhist jewel, a symbol of Buddhist wisdom that brings light to darkness and holds the power to grant wishes.
Also known as Koma-inu 狛犬 (lion dog) in Japan
Origin = China & Korea: Shishi (or Jishi) is translated as "lion” but it can also refer to a deer or dog with magical properties and the power to repel evil spirits. A pair of shishi traditionally stand guard outside the gates of Japanese Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, although temples are more often guarded by two Nio Protectors. The Shishi (like the Nio) are traditionally depicted in pairs, one with mouth open and one with mouth shut. The opened/closed mouth relates to Ah (open mouth) and Un (closed mouth). “Ah" is the first sound in the Japanese alphabet, while "N" (pronounced "un") is the last. These two sounds symbolize beginning and end, birth and death, and all possible outcomes (from alpha to omega) in the cosmic dance of existence. The first letter in Sanskrit is "Ah" as well, but the last is "Ha." Nonetheless, the first and last sounds produced by the mouth are "Ah" and "M." The Sanskrit "m" and the Japanese "n" sound exactly the same when hummed with mouth closed. The spiritual Sanskrit terms AHAM and AUM thus encapsulate the first letter-sound (mouth open) and the final sound (mouth closed). Others say the open mouth is to scare off demons, and the closed mouth to shelter and keep in the good spirits. The circular object often shown beneath their feet is the Tama 玉, or sacred Buddhist jewel, a symbol of Buddhist wisdom that brings light to darkness and holds the power to grant wishes.
Let's get "skinny"
In the tape recorded, conversational story that I had with Jessica, my classmate, during our Linguistics class this summer and an interview in a closed, private conversation, I noticed that as she was telling her story about moving, she made the remark that most people try to get real "skinny" when they find themselves ready for a move in the next year or several months. She had a different situation, as she didn't have the time to "pare down" or "skinny" what she had in possessions, boxes, and closets for the move. In the midst of the inconvenience and frustration of a fast move and fast changes on many levels in her life, she made the miraculous discovery of many family and historical pictures with the stories to go with them. She learned the fascinating fact that her grandmother had been a Floridian who had moved to Texas later in the mid 1800s; something that amazed her and I gathered gave her a peace that she was somehow supposed to be where she was, even in the midst of her storm and all of the uncertainty that came with the many life changes which she was experiencing at the time.
Creating a compelling narrative for asylum
Listen to this story from NPR with an ear for the issues of truth telling:
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/25/138683238/an-asylum-seeker-stretches-the-truth-for-a-better-life
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/25/138683238/an-asylum-seeker-stretches-the-truth-for-a-better-life
More about "boogety"
Over the weekend, a Christian minister, Joe Nelms, offered an opening prayer at a NASCAR race in Nashville, so controversial, it's been covered by CNN and widely discussed on the net. In part, the prayer said, "Lord, I want to thank you for my smokin hot wife..." then went on to mention various brands of cars, tires and motor oil in the prayer. But my favorite part was, at the end, he said, "In Jesus' name, boogety, boogety, boogety. Amen."
When he was asked what "boogety" means, he said, "It means, 'Get goin, boys.'"
Is this a Southern word still in popular use? Is it not just my granny and Baba Jamal?
Truth?
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with a particular fact or reality, or being in accord with the body of real things, real events or actualities. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common archaic usage, it also meant constancy or sincerity in action or character. The direct opposite of truth is falsehood, which can correspondingly take logical, factual or ethical meanings.
However, language and words are essentially "tools" by which humans convey information to one another. As such, "truth" must have a beneficial use in order to be retained within language. Defining this potency and applicability can be looked upon as "criteria", and the method used to recognize a "truth" is termed a criterion of truth. Since there is no single accepted criterion, they can all be considered "theories".
Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars and philosophers. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth; what things are truthbearers capable of being true or false; how to define and identify truth; the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective or objective, relative or absolute.
The English word truth is from Old English tríewþ, tréowþ, trýwþ, Middle English trewþe, cognate to Old High German triuwida, Old Norse tryggð. Like troth, it is a -th nominalisation of the adjective true (Old English tréowe).
The English word true is from Old English (West Saxon) (ge)tríewe, tréowe, cognate to Old Saxon (gi)trûui, Old High German (ga)triuwu (Modern German treu "faithful"), Old Norse tryggr, Gothic triggws, all from a Proto-Germanic *trewwj- "having good faith". Old Norse trú, "faith, word of honour; religious faith, belief" (archaic English troth "loyalty, honesty, good faith", compare Ásatrú).
Thus, 'truth' involves both the quality of "faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, sincerity, veracity", and that of "agreement with fact or reality", in Anglo-Saxon expressed by sōþ (Modern English sooth).
All Germanic languages besides English have introduced a terminological distinction between truth "fidelity" and truth "factuality". To express "factuality", North Germanic opted for nouns derived from sanna "to assert, affirm", while continental West Germanic (German and Dutch) opted for continuations of wâra "faith, trust, pact" (cognate to Slavic věra "(religious) faith", but influenced by Latin verus). Romance languages use terms following the Latin veritas, while the Greek aletheia, Russian pravda and Serbian istina have separate etymological origins.
However, language and words are essentially "tools" by which humans convey information to one another. As such, "truth" must have a beneficial use in order to be retained within language. Defining this potency and applicability can be looked upon as "criteria", and the method used to recognize a "truth" is termed a criterion of truth. Since there is no single accepted criterion, they can all be considered "theories".
Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars and philosophers. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth; what things are truthbearers capable of being true or false; how to define and identify truth; the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective or objective, relative or absolute.
The English word truth is from Old English tríewþ, tréowþ, trýwþ, Middle English trewþe, cognate to Old High German triuwida, Old Norse tryggð. Like troth, it is a -th nominalisation of the adjective true (Old English tréowe).
The English word true is from Old English (West Saxon) (ge)tríewe, tréowe, cognate to Old Saxon (gi)trûui, Old High German (ga)triuwu (Modern German treu "faithful"), Old Norse tryggr, Gothic triggws, all from a Proto-Germanic *trewwj- "having good faith". Old Norse trú, "faith, word of honour; religious faith, belief" (archaic English troth "loyalty, honesty, good faith", compare Ásatrú).
Thus, 'truth' involves both the quality of "faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, sincerity, veracity", and that of "agreement with fact or reality", in Anglo-Saxon expressed by sōþ (Modern English sooth).
All Germanic languages besides English have introduced a terminological distinction between truth "fidelity" and truth "factuality". To express "factuality", North Germanic opted for nouns derived from sanna "to assert, affirm", while continental West Germanic (German and Dutch) opted for continuations of wâra "faith, trust, pact" (cognate to Slavic věra "(religious) faith", but influenced by Latin verus). Romance languages use terms following the Latin veritas, while the Greek aletheia, Russian pravda and Serbian istina have separate etymological origins.
Lock, stock and barrel
This is one of my favorite phrases, and I am not a gun person. I do, however, love rhyme and the feel of the phrase. Lock, Stock, and Barrel is a merism used predominantly in the United Kingdom and North America meaning 'all', 'total', 'everything'. The effective portions of a gun are the lock (used to hold ready the sparking mechanism); the stock (the portion held), and the barrel (the aiming guide and conveyor for the explosive-driven ball). Collectively they are the weapon, therefore, everything. The term was first recorded in the letters of Sir Walter Scott in 1817, in the line "Like the High-landman's gun, she wants stock, lock, and barrel, to put her into repair". It is, however, thought that this term evolved into a popular saying some years before in England.
Tall tales
'Tall stories', 'tall tales' and other variants, like 'tall talk' and 'tall writing', were in use in the 19th century. Examples of these are:
- Routledge's Every Boy's Annual, 1869: "Tall stories - What the Yankees call 'tall talk'."
- The playground of Europe, Sir Leslie Stephen, 1871: "Tall talk is luckily an object of suspicion to Englishmen."
- Routledge's Every Boy's Annual, 1869: "Tall stories - What the Yankees call 'tall talk'."
- The playground of Europe, Sir Leslie Stephen, 1871: "Tall talk is luckily an object of suspicion to Englishmen."
The "stage" is my home.
I have often said, "Give me a stage, and I'll entertain you." I probably meant give me an opening, and I'll talk, sing, dance, act like a monkey, etc. until you tell me to stop. No really, I am more at home on stage than anywhere. Anyway, here is the etymology of one of my favorite words, "stage".
"stage (n.) mid-13c., "story of a building, raised floor for exhibitions," from O.Fr. estage "a story or floor of a building, stage for performance," from V.L. *staticum "a place for standing," from L. statum, pp. of stare "to stand" (see stet). Meaning "platform for presentation of a play" is attested from late 14c.; generalized for "profession of an actor" from 1580s. Sense of "period of development or time in life" first recorded early 14c., probably from M.E. sense of "degree or step on the 'ladder' of virtue, 'wheel' of fortune, etc.," in parable illustrations and morality plays. Stage mother is from 1919. Stage-Door Johnny "young man who frequents stage doors seeking the company of actresses, chorus girls, etc." is attested from 1912. Stage-struck is from 1813; earlier stage-smitten (1680s). Stage whisper first attested 1865.
"stage (n.) mid-13c., "story of a building, raised floor for exhibitions," from O.Fr. estage "a story or floor of a building, stage for performance," from V.L. *staticum "a place for standing," from L. statum, pp. of stare "to stand" (see stet). Meaning "platform for presentation of a play" is attested from late 14c.; generalized for "profession of an actor" from 1580s. Sense of "period of development or time in life" first recorded early 14c., probably from M.E. sense of "degree or step on the 'ladder' of virtue, 'wheel' of fortune, etc.," in parable illustrations and morality plays. Stage mother is from 1919. Stage-Door Johnny "young man who frequents stage doors seeking the company of actresses, chorus girls, etc." is attested from 1912. Stage-struck is from 1813; earlier stage-smitten (1680s). Stage whisper first attested 1865.
The story of "story"
Here is the story on "story"--"account of some happening," early 13c., "narrative of important events or celebrated persons of the past," from O.Fr. estorie, from L.L. storia and L. historia "history, account, tale, story" (see history). Meaning "recital of true events" first recorded late 14c.; sense of "narrative of fictitious events meant to entertain" is from c.1500. Not differentiated from history till 1500s. As a euphemism for "a lie" it dates from 1690s. Meaning "newspaper article" is from 1892. Story-teller is from 1709. Story-line first attested 1941. That's another story "that requires different treatment" is attested from 1818. Story of my life "sad truth" first recorded 1938.
A different kind of "teller"
Here is the etymology of "teller"-- "bank clerk who pays or receives money," late 15c., "person who keeps accounts," from tell in its secondary sense of "count, enumerate," which is the primary sense of cognate words in many Germanic languages.
Jerry Glower and more
First Monday Trade Days: http://youtu.be/EaJ9NJMVR4g
Marrakesh Storyteller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AX9QoFhEhI
Jerry Glower: http://youtu.be/zYrOii-zHZo
"The animate earth – this moody terrain that we experience differently in anger and in joy, in grief and in love – is both the soil in which all our sciences are rooted and the rich humus into which their results ultimately return, whether as nutrients or as poisons. Our spontaneous experience of the world, charged with subjective, emotional, and intuitive content, remains the vital and dark ground of all our objectivity."
p. 34
Marrakesh Storyteller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AX9QoFhEhI
Jerry Glower: http://youtu.be/zYrOii-zHZo
The book I was trying to recall is "The Spell of The Sensuous" by David Abram. Here is a relevant quote:
p. 34
Emotions play an important role in our perception of Truth!
Seduce and Rescue
So, I’m contemplating two terms: “seduce,” and “rescue.” “Seduce” has only been applicable to sexual interactions since the 1550s. Before that, the concept applied to being “lead away” or “lead astray,” from the Latin “seducere.” So, it concerned disruptions of conceptual allegiances—to a particular perspective or crown—as opposed to interpersonal relationships. An interesting part of the evolution is that the term and the notion of sexual “seduction” was at first applied only to men as seducers; it wasn’t until 1803 that the word “seductress” was coined. The second term is “rescue” from the French “rescourre”—“to cast off, discharge” and Latin “excutere”—“to shake off, drive away.” I’m working to weave three stories exploring both concepts into one story in which three seducers cry for rescue—but each for different reasons: one for the purpose of capture and two for the purpose of release. Ultimately, all three of them achieve their desired results: Snake strikes; Thorvald sails; and the non-fiction character, the Reporter in the story, is redeemed at last.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
"Slut" is "fraught"
Last night, Chris and I were working with Jessica to try to get her post about the "slut parade" onto the blog site. (Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful, but you can read Jessica's great posts if you go to "Edit Posts.") It started me thinking about recent use of the word "slut." (Etymology: Middle English, slutte.) It's creeping into general usage, but still only in certain ways. In my village in NZ, there's a cafe called Spice, where a lot of us run into each other having coffee in the morning. Recently, a new cafe opened across the road. One morning, I didn't show up at Spice, and a female friend e-mailed me, "I didn't see you at Spice this morning. Did you sleep late, or have you become a coffee slut?" In other words, had I quickly changed my allegiance to the new place? In that context, it was fine and funny -- from a friend about coffee. And I can call myself a slut in some contexts, e.g., "I'm such a slut. I bought his book and chatted him up, hoping he'd donate to the Library Foundation." However, it would be inappropriate if it were used more generally, or by a man, or by someone I didn't know well. The word "slut" is "fraught" -- which is a perfectly fine word we seem to be using more often. (Etymology: Middle English, past participle of fraughten, to load, as in freight.) Either use is fine, but in the past, a situation was fraught with something, as in "the night was fraught with drama," or "the incident was fraught with danger." Now, more often, we just use it alone, as "mother-daughter relationships are fraught." We all know what that means -- loaded with baggage.
Fire with Fire
I was re-considering the stories I tell yesterday morning, looking for clusters and/or lines of thematic connections between them and saw patterns of arrogance or gluttony, self-interest, and finally hit upon an expanded consideration of greed. And so, I discovered the Latin “avaritia” from “avere”—“crave, long for”; as well as Saxon and Anglican and Scandanavian variants—those old northern tribes all certainly knew the power of the feeling—“gredig,” “gradag,” “graadig,” “gretig,” “gratag”—word after word denoting a cluster of “covetous[ness]” or “voracious[ness]” springing from “hunger” and “eagerly.” And I thought of all the things we become “greedy” for and how our own destructive hungers can eat us from within. Maybe the more we consume, the further removed we become from that which we truly crave. Then last night, I learned of the premature death of that supremely talented Amy Winehouse, and I became deeply saddened by news of the greedy, voracious monster that turned and devoured her. One of my dearest friends is a psych nurse, and she told me that one basic way to overcome an addiction is for the addicted to find just one alternative that he or she can crave more than the monster. Fight fire with fire, so to speak.
Snakes Bite
Last year, I heard Joseph Sobel tell a Br’er Possum and Br’er Snake story based on Jackie Torrence’s version of the tale. This week, I listened to a recording of Torrence telling the story and then, looking back to the original Aesop version, commonly known as "The Farmer and the Snake" and a variant entitled "The Little Girl and the Ungrateful Snake," published by Ann Landers in 1998, took the story on myself for a set I’m devising. And so, the archetype I’m pondering today is monster. According to the OED, the Latin origin is “monstrum,” which interestingly enough includes not only “monster,” but also “omen” and “sign.” Once referring to only animals of great size or disfigurement, the term wasn’t applied to people "of inhuman cruelty" until the 1550s. This sheds interesting light on considering the presence of Snake as monster in the story, and the monstrous atrocity he even warns Possum could in fact happen if she (I’ve changed Possum to a female) fails to recognize him for what he is.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
More on being stopped in your tracks
http://www.cannoncourier.com/files/image/article/full_4980.jpg
I hope this link will take you to a pic of the TN Department of Transportation billboard to which Chris made reference. Make special note of the way the Railroad Crossing sign is standing and its appearance as a cross. I think this is very telling about the "red" state of TN and the Bible Belt, in general. As a self-proclaimed train freak and childhood train hopper, this hits close to home for me in a lot of ways.
I hope this link will take you to a pic of the TN Department of Transportation billboard to which Chris made reference. Make special note of the way the Railroad Crossing sign is standing and its appearance as a cross. I think this is very telling about the "red" state of TN and the Bible Belt, in general. As a self-proclaimed train freak and childhood train hopper, this hits close to home for me in a lot of ways.
Tellers
In the world of storytelling you often here the term "teller" to refer to a storyteller. Although it is not a new word nor is it a completely new usage of the word, I only hear it or see it used within this realm. I had heard "teller" before in association with fortunetellers.
Another Marci Neologism
My friend Bill Warrington was writing a song called Born-Again Bubba. He wanted a new way to say knocked off his feet by the Lord or religion so I coined the term "slaptized" for him.
Bonnie's neologism: livin' in the trope-ics
It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it, so they sent the five strongest women they could find. The East Tennessee air was thick with heat and humidity, and the texts were dense as jungles with the obscure words and convoluted sentences of academics trying to impress one another. There was not nearly enough vodka to go around. These hardy women noticed a strange fungus startin' to grow between their toes and around their brain cells. They would sit around of an evenin', sippin' sweet tea and dreamin' of the cool breezes and normal words and sentences back home. As darkness began to fall, one of them would sigh and say, "Boy, I can't wait to get out of the trope-ics."
(Definition of trope-ics: a really hot place where you have to think and write about tropes all day, but not to be confused with hell. ) (Etymology: 21st C., uncertain, probably first uttered by a woman who'd been sitting in the sun too long.)
Brad Paisley, "I'd like to check you for ticks."
I don't listen to much country music, but when I came across this Brad Paisley lyric, I couldn't resist.
'I'd like to see you out in the moonlight/I'd like to kiss you back in the sticks/I'd like to walk you through a field of wildflowers/ and I'd like to check you for ticks."
This series of lines does so much: The fixity of the first three romantic images sets us up for the novelty of the fourth. BUT, though checking for ticks is something we usually do to our dogs or to each other on really bad camping trips, it has a very romantic/sexual meaning here. The minute we get over the shock of the line, we can picture how romantic it might be.
Now that I think about it though, it IS a song I could sing to my dogs.
(Source: AOL this morning.)
Friday, July 22, 2011
A Telling Title
On Thursday, July 21, 2011, from 7:00-8:30 pm, I attended a final recital by Della McGuire at a local non-profit women’s center in Johnson City, TN. The name of the set was “Nothing's Fair When Love is War” and it consisted of both traditional material and a piece written by the teller herself that was based, as she explained, on an amalgamation of people with whom she had worked as a domestic violence survivors’ advocate.
I found the title’s play on words fitting in that all of McGuire’s selected material was intended to explore issues of strong women facing and/or transcending the theme of injustice within intimate heterosexual relationships. One Celtic story in particular explored a war of one-upmanship between a king and queen. And I think that the worldview that the turn of phrase suggests is that equity is never achievable when men and women are brutal, unfair or “waring” with one another and that we as individuals and a society need to be less willing to excuse, accept or somehow explain away through popular sentiment discord between lovers that turns violent. McGuire reminded us that despite the oft-repeated old phrase, some things truly are unfair, off the table in fact, despite how deeply “in love and war” we may believe ourselves to be.
I found the title’s play on words fitting in that all of McGuire’s selected material was intended to explore issues of strong women facing and/or transcending the theme of injustice within intimate heterosexual relationships. One Celtic story in particular explored a war of one-upmanship between a king and queen. And I think that the worldview that the turn of phrase suggests is that equity is never achievable when men and women are brutal, unfair or “waring” with one another and that we as individuals and a society need to be less willing to excuse, accept or somehow explain away through popular sentiment discord between lovers that turns violent. McGuire reminded us that despite the oft-repeated old phrase, some things truly are unfair, off the table in fact, despite how deeply “in love and war” we may believe ourselves to be.
President Obama "Tick-tock"
A few minutes ago, in a press conference, a reporter asked the President about what had happened in the debt-ceiling talks. He responded, in part, "We'll do a tick-tock. We'll walk you through the whole process." I've not heard this expression in this country before, but we all know what he meant. His suggestion was that he had staff standing by, ready to give reporters a detailed time-line (minute by minute) of what had gone on in previous meetings.
Go Ahead and Count on the Prince
I believe telling stories to people about how to spot and escape predators is important. We need to hear stories about villains so that we can learn how to protect ourselves and our children from evil and wickedness, the very real bad characters out there who can hurt us. But we also need to hear stories about honor, dignity and bravery and the equally real heroes out to help us--so that we can learn to reach up and step into their shoes.
In a conversation exercise yesterday in Advanced Performance class, I recollected a moment from twenty-five years ago that I had never bothered to contemplate as anything more than a small personal anecdote with no significance beyond my own remembered experience. But as I thought back through the story, I started to realize that perhaps what and who I had encountered wasn’t just an average man making honest mistakes, but rather one who ultimately decided to behave like a prince. The OED describes the colloquial American usage of “prince” as “an admirable and generous person” (origin--1911), but the Latin is a combination of “primus”—“first” and “capere”—“to take” for a literal meaning of “to take first.” And in my memory, this person’s honorable behavior won him that distinction, and now I see him operating as an archetype around which I can build a story that would have meaning to lives and experiences beyond my own.
In a conversation exercise yesterday in Advanced Performance class, I recollected a moment from twenty-five years ago that I had never bothered to contemplate as anything more than a small personal anecdote with no significance beyond my own remembered experience. But as I thought back through the story, I started to realize that perhaps what and who I had encountered wasn’t just an average man making honest mistakes, but rather one who ultimately decided to behave like a prince. The OED describes the colloquial American usage of “prince” as “an admirable and generous person” (origin--1911), but the Latin is a combination of “primus”—“first” and “capere”—“to take” for a literal meaning of “to take first.” And in my memory, this person’s honorable behavior won him that distinction, and now I see him operating as an archetype around which I can build a story that would have meaning to lives and experiences beyond my own.
Aesthetic Distance
This is a follow-up to the concept of aesthetic distance, a bit dated, but useful.
From "A Primer for Playgoers" by Edward Wright (1969):
Empathy and Aesthetic Distance
From the earliest theatre performance there must have been a relationship between two fundamental principles that are inevitable in the aesthetic experience. The exact names given them by our forefathers are unimportant. In more recent times we have come to think of them as empathy and aesthetic distance. With the coming of the realistic theatre these principles have taken on much greater importance, and in them one may sometimes find the reason for his appreciation or lack of it. Empathy means that the spectator experiences what he observes, both muscularly and emotionally. It happens inside him, although he does not suffer the full physical or emotional strain experienced by the characters on the stage. To him it is a vicarious emotion, though he may even to a small degree participate in the same physical action as the actor.
In contrast to empathy is a detachment that permits the observer's attention to be held and his emotions to be touched, although he is conscious all the while that he is only a spectator. Herbert S. Langfield has called this principle aesthetic distance. Every theatre production has some planned proportion of these two qualities. We must emphasize that emotion is involved in both. Our interest is there, perhaps even in equal degrees, but in one we are physically involved and in the other we are conscious of the fact that we are observing, not experiencing, what we see. We may be subconsciously evaluating it as a work of art.
The motion pictures have long since sensed the value of empathy and aesthetic distance. Every means of playing upon them has been used. Their melodramas have shown as much of the surface realism and personal physical reactions of the actors as was possible through the use of the close-up. Dramatic scenes are brought so close to reality that little is left to the imagination. A glance to right or left during a particularly strong sequence will show the contorted faces of the audience, the twisted handkerchiefs, and sometimes even overt bodily action. If one has been too similarly involved in the situation to make this observation, he need only recall the muscular tension felt when a given scene has dissolved or faded into one that suddenly changed the emotion. The motion picture has likewise found great use for detachment in its musical extravaganzas, huge spectacles, and historical panoramas where it can excel so brilliantly. In a less artistic instance, empathy is evident at an athletic contest. It has been felt at a football game when the spectator's team has the ball within inches of the goal and less than a minute left to play--his neighbors may almost be pushed from the bleachers in his effort to help the home team.
Empathy is not always so muscularly active. Women may empathize in the leading lady and men in the leading man. Likewise, each may subconsciously feel it in his or her attraction for the player of the opposite sex. For this reason, casting in itself becomes a vital issue, for beauty, grace, stature, voice, personality, and contrasts in coloring all take on their own importance in bringing about the proper empathic response to each player.
A danger of empathy is that one's emotion may be suddenly broken as he is snapped out of the situation he has come to accept or believe. This may be caused by a flickering lamp, a forgotten line or missed cue, a false cry or laugh, an extraneous sound, unstable furniture, or a characterization that the audience is unable to believe. Sometimes broken empathy comes from the audience or auditorium through coughing, a contrary reaction to an emotion by some individual, an overheated room, or some exterior element.
Normally, the melodrama will require a greater degree of empathy. Its loosely drawn characters permit the audience a greater leeway in self-identification, and the very nature of the situations carries a greater emotional force. Of the four play types, the least empathy is found in a farce, for here the spectator rarely wishes or needs to identify himself with the situation he observes. To be actually involved in such circumstances might be unpleasant, but observing them in someone else gives the audience a perspective, and this detachment, coupled with a feeling of superiority, brings about the unrestrained laughter that we associate with farce. The same may also be said for very high comedy and satire.
Empathy is found in varying degrees in comedy and tragedy. Both of these types are built on character, and when well written and performed can be so completely individual or removed from our own experience that there is little opportunity for self-identification and the empathy it supplies.
A play, if it is to accomplish its purpose, must happen in the audience. The degree to which it does happen is of vast importance and calls for a careful study by each artist, as well as some analysis by the spectator if he is to maintain a critical attitude.
Aesthetic distance is not the exact opposite of empathy, for it, too, involves emotional participation, but participation of a different nature. There is less of the muscular and more of the mental appreciation, although the personal aesthetic pleasure or enjoyment may be equal in degree. In the theatre it is most evident when we suddenly applaud a splendid piece of acting or a particular line. It involves recognizing the work of an artist and still believing in and being a part of a play, all the while conscious that it is a play and make-believe.
Artists have always been aware of the importance of this detachment. A painter puts his picture in a frame; the sculptor places his statue on a pedestal; the architect chooses to have his work set off with space about it. The conventional theatre of today depends upon an elevated stage, a picture frame created by the proscenium arch, a curtain, a brightly lighted stage, and a darkened auditorium. It has not always been thus. Aesthetic distance in the Greek and Shakespearean theatres was sustained by the language, the nobility of the characters, and the more formal presentation. During both the Elizabethan and the Restoration periods in England aesthetic distance was largely destroyed when spectators sat on the stage and oftentimes participated in the action of the play by answering back and injecting their personal remarks into the production itself. The same has been true in certain periods of other countries. It was David Garrick in England who restored it in the middle of the eighteenth century, when the spectators were driven from the stage.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, before the day of the realistic theatre, actors acted as actors and audiences appraised them and their art as individuals. Playwrights often wrote beautiful or dramatic speeches which were, likewise, praised as just that by the audience. The "tirade" in the French drama and the "purple passages" in many plays were applauded by the audience just as was the brilliantly played scene by a particular actor. The works of Corneille and Racine are fine examples of this type of theatre. This was purely aesthetic distance, with the artist's art being judged as art. Some actors planned on the applause and consciously played for it. The great Sarah Bernhardt was one of these. On the other hand Mrs. Fiske was often very angry when applause broke the scene. She was more interested in the audience's thinking of her as the character she was playing than as the artist playing the role. The same could be said for most of the playwrights who in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries wrote in the realistic style.
Today much of the criticism we hear of the arena stage comes from those who are distracted by the proximity of the actors or by the spectators who can be seen on the opposite side of the playing arena. In one sense this might be considered a loss of empathic response, but it also is destructive of aesthetic distance.
Some productions today in our conventional type of theatre make use of entrances down the aisles, and even seat some of the actors among the audience. There are those who want to "put the play in the lap of the audience," and undoubtedly some theatre experiences could be enhanced by so doing. Hellzapoppin, with Olson and Johnson, still holds some sort of record in this respect. Entertaining as this piece may have been to many people, no one has ever called it artistic. On the other hand, it is possible to use the entire auditorium as an acting area, if the actor can remain a part of the play and keep the proper and predetermined artistic balance of empathy and aesthetic distance. Too close an empathic contact with the production or the participants can prove embarrassing to the audience.
The type, nature, mood, or style of the play determines how much empathy and how much aesthetic distance is to be sought. That answer lies to some extent in the decision of each artist involved, but more especially with the director whose task it is to balance one against the other artistically. This balance is one of the most important aspects of a theatre production. It involves not only selection and arrangement, but the all-important problem of
being just real enough to make the audience share with the players the feelings, emotions, and thoughts of the characters, and yet to possess sufficient detachment to weep without real sorrow; in short, to share the emotions without actually experiencing their unpleasant aspects or becoming over-involved in the production. Therein lies much of the theatre's art.
From "A Primer for Playgoers" by Edward Wright (1969):
Empathy and Aesthetic Distance
From the earliest theatre performance there must have been a relationship between two fundamental principles that are inevitable in the aesthetic experience. The exact names given them by our forefathers are unimportant. In more recent times we have come to think of them as empathy and aesthetic distance. With the coming of the realistic theatre these principles have taken on much greater importance, and in them one may sometimes find the reason for his appreciation or lack of it. Empathy means that the spectator experiences what he observes, both muscularly and emotionally. It happens inside him, although he does not suffer the full physical or emotional strain experienced by the characters on the stage. To him it is a vicarious emotion, though he may even to a small degree participate in the same physical action as the actor.
In contrast to empathy is a detachment that permits the observer's attention to be held and his emotions to be touched, although he is conscious all the while that he is only a spectator. Herbert S. Langfield has called this principle aesthetic distance. Every theatre production has some planned proportion of these two qualities. We must emphasize that emotion is involved in both. Our interest is there, perhaps even in equal degrees, but in one we are physically involved and in the other we are conscious of the fact that we are observing, not experiencing, what we see. We may be subconsciously evaluating it as a work of art.
The motion pictures have long since sensed the value of empathy and aesthetic distance. Every means of playing upon them has been used. Their melodramas have shown as much of the surface realism and personal physical reactions of the actors as was possible through the use of the close-up. Dramatic scenes are brought so close to reality that little is left to the imagination. A glance to right or left during a particularly strong sequence will show the contorted faces of the audience, the twisted handkerchiefs, and sometimes even overt bodily action. If one has been too similarly involved in the situation to make this observation, he need only recall the muscular tension felt when a given scene has dissolved or faded into one that suddenly changed the emotion. The motion picture has likewise found great use for detachment in its musical extravaganzas, huge spectacles, and historical panoramas where it can excel so brilliantly. In a less artistic instance, empathy is evident at an athletic contest. It has been felt at a football game when the spectator's team has the ball within inches of the goal and less than a minute left to play--his neighbors may almost be pushed from the bleachers in his effort to help the home team.
Empathy is not always so muscularly active. Women may empathize in the leading lady and men in the leading man. Likewise, each may subconsciously feel it in his or her attraction for the player of the opposite sex. For this reason, casting in itself becomes a vital issue, for beauty, grace, stature, voice, personality, and contrasts in coloring all take on their own importance in bringing about the proper empathic response to each player.
A danger of empathy is that one's emotion may be suddenly broken as he is snapped out of the situation he has come to accept or believe. This may be caused by a flickering lamp, a forgotten line or missed cue, a false cry or laugh, an extraneous sound, unstable furniture, or a characterization that the audience is unable to believe. Sometimes broken empathy comes from the audience or auditorium through coughing, a contrary reaction to an emotion by some individual, an overheated room, or some exterior element.
Normally, the melodrama will require a greater degree of empathy. Its loosely drawn characters permit the audience a greater leeway in self-identification, and the very nature of the situations carries a greater emotional force. Of the four play types, the least empathy is found in a farce, for here the spectator rarely wishes or needs to identify himself with the situation he observes. To be actually involved in such circumstances might be unpleasant, but observing them in someone else gives the audience a perspective, and this detachment, coupled with a feeling of superiority, brings about the unrestrained laughter that we associate with farce. The same may also be said for very high comedy and satire.
Empathy is found in varying degrees in comedy and tragedy. Both of these types are built on character, and when well written and performed can be so completely individual or removed from our own experience that there is little opportunity for self-identification and the empathy it supplies.
A play, if it is to accomplish its purpose, must happen in the audience. The degree to which it does happen is of vast importance and calls for a careful study by each artist, as well as some analysis by the spectator if he is to maintain a critical attitude.
Aesthetic distance is not the exact opposite of empathy, for it, too, involves emotional participation, but participation of a different nature. There is less of the muscular and more of the mental appreciation, although the personal aesthetic pleasure or enjoyment may be equal in degree. In the theatre it is most evident when we suddenly applaud a splendid piece of acting or a particular line. It involves recognizing the work of an artist and still believing in and being a part of a play, all the while conscious that it is a play and make-believe.
Artists have always been aware of the importance of this detachment. A painter puts his picture in a frame; the sculptor places his statue on a pedestal; the architect chooses to have his work set off with space about it. The conventional theatre of today depends upon an elevated stage, a picture frame created by the proscenium arch, a curtain, a brightly lighted stage, and a darkened auditorium. It has not always been thus. Aesthetic distance in the Greek and Shakespearean theatres was sustained by the language, the nobility of the characters, and the more formal presentation. During both the Elizabethan and the Restoration periods in England aesthetic distance was largely destroyed when spectators sat on the stage and oftentimes participated in the action of the play by answering back and injecting their personal remarks into the production itself. The same has been true in certain periods of other countries. It was David Garrick in England who restored it in the middle of the eighteenth century, when the spectators were driven from the stage.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, before the day of the realistic theatre, actors acted as actors and audiences appraised them and their art as individuals. Playwrights often wrote beautiful or dramatic speeches which were, likewise, praised as just that by the audience. The "tirade" in the French drama and the "purple passages" in many plays were applauded by the audience just as was the brilliantly played scene by a particular actor. The works of Corneille and Racine are fine examples of this type of theatre. This was purely aesthetic distance, with the artist's art being judged as art. Some actors planned on the applause and consciously played for it. The great Sarah Bernhardt was one of these. On the other hand Mrs. Fiske was often very angry when applause broke the scene. She was more interested in the audience's thinking of her as the character she was playing than as the artist playing the role. The same could be said for most of the playwrights who in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries wrote in the realistic style.
Today much of the criticism we hear of the arena stage comes from those who are distracted by the proximity of the actors or by the spectators who can be seen on the opposite side of the playing arena. In one sense this might be considered a loss of empathic response, but it also is destructive of aesthetic distance.
Some productions today in our conventional type of theatre make use of entrances down the aisles, and even seat some of the actors among the audience. There are those who want to "put the play in the lap of the audience," and undoubtedly some theatre experiences could be enhanced by so doing. Hellzapoppin, with Olson and Johnson, still holds some sort of record in this respect. Entertaining as this piece may have been to many people, no one has ever called it artistic. On the other hand, it is possible to use the entire auditorium as an acting area, if the actor can remain a part of the play and keep the proper and predetermined artistic balance of empathy and aesthetic distance. Too close an empathic contact with the production or the participants can prove embarrassing to the audience.
The type, nature, mood, or style of the play determines how much empathy and how much aesthetic distance is to be sought. That answer lies to some extent in the decision of each artist involved, but more especially with the director whose task it is to balance one against the other artistically. This balance is one of the most important aspects of a theatre production. It involves not only selection and arrangement, but the all-important problem of
being just real enough to make the audience share with the players the feelings, emotions, and thoughts of the characters, and yet to possess sufficient detachment to weep without real sorrow; in short, to share the emotions without actually experiencing their unpleasant aspects or becoming over-involved in the production. Therein lies much of the theatre's art.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Servers
In my recent spate of "uzi-blogging" (see earlier blog) I mentioned "server" as a computer term. (see earlier blog). It got me to thinking. (Etymology of server: Middle English serven, from Old French servir, from Latin servire, from servus, slave.) A server, in the way I'm going to use it here, is someone who serves food and drink. (It can also be the tray on which the food and drink is served, or someone who serves a summons, or the player who serves the ball, but I digress.) I find it interesting that the word "server" has found its way into restaurant usage -- probably because it's a unisex term. But it's only used in certain mid-range restaurants. If I eat at a diner, I'll probably be served by a female who is called a waitress and is probably wearing a uniform, possibly with a hankie in her pocket. If I eat in an upscale NYC restaurant, I'll probably be served by a male who is called a waiter and is likely to be wearing a straight white apron that goes from just above his waist to just above his trouser cuff. But if I eat at Ruby Tuesday or TGIFriday or Appleby's, the host or hostess (I have no idea why THOSE words have stuck around. Soon, they'll probably be called "seaters" or "reservationists" or -- best of all -- "table usage technicians.") Anyway, this person will lead me to my seat and say, "Your server this evening will be Josh (or Samantha, or whoever). We hear the word "server" a lot more than we used to.
And in computing terms, a server is a program or a physical computer dedicated to "serving" the "needs" of other programs.
neologisms: clouds and word clouds
One of the hot new words in online computing is "cloud," suggesting that our data is stored somewhere up there in the heavens, in a pretty, fluffy cloud. There ARE "virtual (i.e. not real) servers," that sell and organize data space, but, ultimately our information is stored in a physical server sitting somewhere firmly on earth -- possibly in a foreign country.
"Word cloud" is a nifty graphic device that analyses the number of times various words are used in a speech or a piece of text. I see them in the New York Times Magazine and on CNN most often. Often, it's sort of cloud-shaped. The more a word is used, the larger it is in the word cloud. Sometimes the words are shown in different colors. For example, one could create a word cloud of the State of the Union Speech, showing how many times "God" or "America" or "terrorism" or "jobs" is used. Computer programs exist to create these. If one did a word cloud of Scheub's book, Story, for example, one might find the words "trope" and "image" and "palimpsest" looming large in the cloud. If one created a word cloud of student reviews of Scheub's book, on the other hand, perhaps the larger words would be "dry," "dense" and "unintelligible." Heh, heh, heh. (Etymology, Middle English, hill, cloud, from Old English, clud, mass of rock or earth, possibly related to clod.) (So, a cloud is sort of a clod in the sky?)
My own neologism: uzi-blogging
It's what we do for this class blog when we realize we haven't posted any or many blogs for the past few days and we are overcome with inspiration or panic (or if we simply have the time) and suddenly post a bunch of blogs all at one sitting -- as if they're fired from an automatic weapon. (Etymology: blog is short for web log, and uzi -- surprise! -- I thought it was Russian -- is from Uzi el-Gal, a 20th C Israeli army officer who designed weapons.) I'm pretty sure most of you can come up with a better neologism that describes this phenomenon.
Bairns-EOD, Jessica
In the Advanced class I have told the Selkie Seal Skin story. As the selkie mother returns to the sea, she cries, "Woe is me, woe is me, I have seven bairns on the land and seven in the sea." Bairns is originally attributed to Scotland, but not exclusively Scottish. It means 'child of any age' and the OE word is bearn, 'child, son, decendant which is related to beran (the verb for to bear, carry of give birth). Bairns is pronounced like 'barrons' with the 'o' almost silent. Of course, when this Texan says Bairns...it does sound something like a cattle barron......
Language Uses/First Born/Jessica
On the first or second day of class we were in the 'dinner table' class confirguatin and we were recording/listening to each other. Chris was setting up the recorder and describing the next portion of digital tape we were going to listen to; she was doing several things at once. In the midst of her instructions I asked her if she was a 'first born' and she answered 'yes' without interrupting the sentence she was making. The conversation kept on flowing and no one stopped or even started a new sentence. We all knew what it meant to be 'first born'. Jessica, a 'first born'
Klamath Story
Here is a link to one version of the Crater Lake story:
http://www.klamathtribes.org/information/background/giiwaas.html
http://www.klamathtribes.org/information/background/giiwaas.html
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
What's Telling about Baba Jamal Koram
On July 19, 2011, from 7:00-8:30 pm, I attended a performance of The Jonesborough Storytelling Guild at the Cranberry Thistle Restaurant on East Main St., Jonesborough, TN, and had the thrilling experience of hearing our own Marci take the stage and try out a brand new story and song. Guest teller Baba Jamal Koram was also present to perform two pieces, the second of which provided me with another telling example of colorful language and humorous meta-narrative.
During his rendition of a story in which Br'er Rabbit schools Br'er Alligator in the meaning of “trouble,” Koram commented on a rather ill-conceived outing that the entire alligator family—Mr. and Mrs. and brood—take together. “The family that plays together stays together,” he explained. We all chuckled at the irony of this expression of family unity in the face of their destination—each gator as eager as the next to go see what trouble is. With his comment, Koram brought this story world in tandem with our own and let us laugh at the folly of our own naivety: our best intentions not always yielding the individually intended or popularly presumed results.
During his rendition of a story in which Br'er Rabbit schools Br'er Alligator in the meaning of “trouble,” Koram commented on a rather ill-conceived outing that the entire alligator family—Mr. and Mrs. and brood—take together. “The family that plays together stays together,” he explained. We all chuckled at the irony of this expression of family unity in the face of their destination—each gator as eager as the next to go see what trouble is. With his comment, Koram brought this story world in tandem with our own and let us laugh at the folly of our own naivety: our best intentions not always yielding the individually intended or popularly presumed results.
More SLAM neologisms
In addition to our new uses of slam, the word, SLAM as an acronym, tends to be very popular with tech-types. SLAM is, Simultaneous Localization And Mapping -- a way of using robotics to improve maps. Or, SLAM is a Microsoft Research project (Software, Languages Analysis and Modeling; later changed to SocialLocation Annotation Mobile.) I have no idea what this is about, but it is not to be confused with BLAST, a similar something-or-other that stands for Berkeley Lazy Abstraction Software verification Tool. It all makes these techies sound like a very aggressive bunch.
Oh, yeah -- SLAM is also the St. Louis Art Museum.
America neologism - slam
Traditionally, we used "slam" as slamming the door or slamming the book down on the desk. Now it's used in other ways, but keeps its aggressive feel. First there was slam dancing, in which dancers intentionally bumped into each other. You might slam someone if you say something really harsh to them. There are poetry slams, which are really competitions with certain rules. Was the word slam chosen because poetry was considered, perhaps, a wimpy pursuit, while a "poetry slam" sounds macho and physical? -- though, as far as I can tell, it's neither. I also use it as meaning "overwhelmed with work," as in, "I'm sorry to bother you with this. I know you must be slammed with that meeting coming up." I've been afraid to use it in New Zealand, because it might mean something dirty. (Etymology uncertain, probably Scandinavian, akin to Old Norse, slambra, to strike at.)
An old word, "boogety."
If a neologism is a new word usage, then what is an old word usage? A paleologism? Anyway, Baba Jamal used a "word" on Tuesday night at the Thistle that I haven't heard since I was a child on my granny's knee: "boogety." (I guess that's how you'd spell it. I can't find it in my bfd.) Baba used it, I think, in the "Trouble" story about the alligators running out of the fire. He said something like, "They went boogety right outta there!" My granny would bounce me on her knees, reciting the old poem, "Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross...etc." Then, when she got to the end, she would say "boogety, boogety, boogety..." and bounce me even faster. As she and Baba both used it, it implies "fast motion." The closest word I can find is "boogie," used in the sense of, "When I saw the police coming, I boogied out of there." (It's also used, of course, to mean a type of music or dance. The etymology is a little unclear, maybe West African English (Sierra Leone?) bogi to dance, possibly akin to Hausa, buga, to beat drums.)
Some Kiwi grammar usage
In the US, we might say, "I'll have this and those, but not that." In NZ they always say, "I'll have this one and those ones, but not that one." They will also describe a thing as "my one" rather than "mine."
We are also taught to use the plural verb when speaking about groups differently. In the US we are taught that when we refer to a group of several individuals, we use the plural, but, usually the group as a whole takes a singular verb. Kiwis learn to use a plural verb with any whole made up of several parts.
Examples: US:
A fifth grader is going to the zoo tomorrow.
The fifth grade is going to the zoo tomorrow.
Five fifth graders are going to the zoo tomorrow.
IBM Corporation is reporting record profits.
Examples: NZ:
A fifth grader is going to the zoo tomorrow. (same)
The fifth grade are going to the zoo tomorrow. (plural)
Five fifth graders are going to the zoo tomorrow. (same)
IBM Corporation are reporting record profits. (plural)
When I'm in NZ, I often find myself explaining, "We're not taught to say that," or "We're not taught to do that." In language or superficial manners, there really is no right or wrong -- it's just what we're taught.
It's all in how you say it
I was at FedEx yesterday, expressing a tennis ball to my mother. (No, really.) (Don't ask.) A young man named Sean was helping me. His supervisor appeared and explained to a co-worker, "I'm here to give Sean a break." (i.e., so he could take a 10-minute break, or whatever.) As a joke, Sean responded, using the expression in the tone he would use as if annoyed or angered by something outrageous someone else might have said or done, saying, "Gimme a break!" We all laughed -- the words were right, but the tone was off.
From the Grim Reaper -- Kicking the bucket
I'm not really the Grim Reaper, but I play one as a storyteller, so I've done a lot of research on euphemisms for death. They are typically very hard to pin down as to origin and/or meaning. "Kick the bucket" might relate to being hanged or hanging oneself, standing on an overturned bucket, or maybe it's about hanging up slaughtered pigs to drain the blood. I thought I knew about "buying the farm," as a wartime term. If a soldier was killed, the death benefits to beneficiaries of soldiers would probably help his parents pay off the mortgage on the family farm, (we used to be a more agricultural country) so he would "buy the farm." Recently, however, I've heard that "farm" could mean "burial plot," so, when you die, you "buy the farm." And, what about, "biting the dust"? My guess would have been old cowboy movies. The guy gets shot in a gunfight and, falling face forward into the earth, "bites the dust." Turns out, it's a lot older than cowboy movies. The 1611 King James version mentions in Psalms 72, "lick the dust." Samuel Butler's 19th century translation of The Iliad says "...that full many of his comrades may bite the dust as they fall dying round him." Were these Butler's words or Homer's in 700 BC? I've read that the Greek is literally, "...fall headlong into the dust and bite the earth." Is "bite the dust," Butler's phrase or Homer's?
It's easier to go for the more modern death euphemisms, like "making calls from the horizontal phone booth," but in a few years, no one will know what a phone booth is. Death is the same, but what we call it changes. (Since I'm the Grim Reaper, I know all the answers, but, as we say, if I told you, I'd have to kill you.)
Emotion v. Logic
Here is the program from This American Life regarding choice.
http://castroller.com/Podcasts/WnycsRadioLab/2208210-Choice
http://castroller.com/Podcasts/WnycsRadioLab/2208210-Choice
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
More on being "queer"
Bonnie, I did some digging for you about the word "queer", and this is what I found. In the context of Western identity politics and political correctness, the term “queer” acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from the language, discourse, ideologies and lifestyles that typify mainstream GLBT-identifying people. There seems to be a belief that those terms are too restrictive and represent mindsets with which many people who call themselves "queer" do not wish to be associated. I know from experience that certain groups within those communities can be very exclusive--only identifying a very narrow way of life as lining up with their norms or as being "appropriate" or even being "real". If you want to know what I mean, try identifying yourself as "bisexual" around certain groups and you will likely feel as much prejudice and discrimination as you would feel from the mainstream heterosexual culture. I am not quite sure how inclusive "queer" is. I will see what else I can find out.
The Bucket List
Last Thursday night at the concert I was talking to Bonnie about her work with the Mongolian people and I asked her how she got to visit that part of China/Asia. She said, "Well, it was on my bucket list." She proceeded to explain about her travels to China. She didn't have to explain to me what the term 'bucket list' meant, and yet I understood the use of language.
The term was used in a movie, by the same name, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. While hositalized they made a list of their top ten goals to accomplish in their remaining lifetime. Their bucket list was the things they wanted to do before they 'kicked the bucket'. It is revealing that a current expression like 'kick the bucket' could be morphed into another derivation and then introduced into the culture by the movie. Cinema viewers adopted the term and it became so familiar in our culture that it effected change in our communication and vocabulary.
The origin for 'kick' can be traced back to the late 14c-to strike out with foot, kick backwards and sink at the knees. In 1725 it was used as slang for dying, 'kick the wind' or 'bucket'. In the 1520's the 'kick' was traced to the recoil of a gun. 'Bucket' was used in the mid 13c with the Anglo Norm. 'buquet'. In 1785 the O. Fr. "buquet' was similar to the term "balance", a beam used for hanging slaughtered animals (resembling suicidal hangings).
Use of language: scalloping
Every July, if one is in possession of a state issued salt water fishing license, a boat, or an invitation from boaters, they may go scalloping in the Gulf shallow waters. The best sites are Steinhatchee or King's Bay on the Crystal River. Both sites are N. or Tampa. Like an underwater sea hunt, one snorkels and spots scallops (fan shaped) shells (think Shell Gas logo) and graps them from the tall grasses on the bottom of the Gulf. You are allowed a 5 lb. limit and once the limit is achieved, you call it a day and head to shore to fire up the skillet. Shucking the scallops is most of the fun of scalloping, although it is a tedious, messy and challenging process (similar in difficulty to de-veining shrimp). The fresh sauteed scallops are a just reward for toiling the warm Gulf waters.
Scallop-c. 1400's. The French 'escalope' word defined the bi-valve mollusk. The Germanic pronounciation is salalpv. In a 1700's French cooking book the directions suggesting baking the dish in a scallop shaped baking dish.
Telling Uses of Language-Perfect Storm-Jessica
Over the weekend I had a discussion about raising money for an anniversary of an arts festival. Several of us were wondering if we could raise the money we did 10 years ago, again this year. One of the committee members said that we couldn't, as 10 years ago it was the 'perfect storm'. No one on the committee needed any explanation of the expression, as we all understood that 10 years ago there had been several factors in play that all pointed to a very special-hardly-ever-to-be-repeated-again scenario. In this conversatin, the term Perfect Storm came from a movie about Gloucester, MA, which is a swordfishing community. A combination of a hurricane, a nor-easter and a blizzard created a storm that eradicated and destroyed a fishing boat returning to the shore with a full load of swordfish. Our entertainment/arts industry has the capacity to influence language and culture.
We derive the word 'storm' from O.E. 'storm' and in the late 14c. it was used as a verb 'to rage and be violent'. Perfect is derived from the early 13 c., O.Fr. 'parfit' and the L. 'perfectus' that means "completed".
Monday, July 18, 2011
Kiwinglish: Wankers, Plonkers and Tossers
I lived in NZ for several years before I had the nerve to ask, "What's the difference between a wanker and a plonker and a tosser?" These are not nice things to call a person. I've never heard them applied to a woman. Oddly, I read the words mostly in newspaper accounts of the proceedings the NZ Parliament. Unlike the members of theUS Congress, who, until the last year or so, were overly polite to each other -- as in, "I yield to my distinguished colleague from the great state of West Virginia" -- in Parliament, they yell and call each other names, in the British tradition. Last year, somebody in Parliament called the Prime Minister "a rich prick." (Well, I know he IS rich.) Two years ago, a fist fight broke out on the floor and was broken up by the Maori translator. Anyway, they're always calling each other a plonker or a tosser or a wanker. Plonker suggests a worthless, shiftless person who doesn't work much. Plonk is cheap wine. (Etymology: Australian, probably a corruption of blanc in vin blanc.) Tosser and wanker both suggest that the person is a masturbator, but not literally. A wanker is someone who is self-promoting or self-important, and that is the word I hear more often. It really means a jerk. I might describe a former boyfriend as a wanker. (Origin unknown, 20th C.) A tosser is similar, only perhaps a bit worse. When I asked the difference, my friends suggested that it's a matter of degree. Also, if you don't care about something, you might say, "I don't give a toss." (Origin of toss in the sense of throw: Middle English tossen, possibly of Scandinavian origin.)
Comment from David: "Wank" and "jerk" are often used to reference auto-eroticism (a less emotive term). What are the societal implications of associating auto-eroticism and wine-drinking with low personal character?
Comment from David: "Wank" and "jerk" are often used to reference auto-eroticism (a less emotive term). What are the societal implications of associating auto-eroticism and wine-drinking with low personal character?
Harold Scheub
To help us gain context as we delve into our next text, Story, take a look at this interview with author, Harold Scheub:
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