gluschdich

"which means 'I am not hungry but I feel like eating!'"

I should make a magnet of that word, maybe illustrated, for the fridge door.

Studies in Words

I referenced this book by C.S. Lewis in the previous post. He meant it as a textbook for literature students. It has moments of his trademark insights and wit. Examples of his broad and detailed reading appear in almost every paragraph.

The book is about the development of the meanings of several words, some of which were used radically differently in other eras, e.g. nature, sad, wit, free. He ends with a chapter on criticism that's worth reading by itself.

I had just enough curiosity about the words and the examples to make it through. I wasn't cut out to be a linguist. If you are, read it. Otherwise just read the last chapter.

Lewis on language

In Studies on Words, a challenge to the manipulators: "Let no one say, and say it to your shame, That there was meaning here before you came."

Is there a name

for "first past the post wins" knowledge?

You've seen it: a "fact" conflicts enough with other facts that the person asks for clarification, but cannot accept that their first "fact" was wrong.

Potluck

The topic of potlucks vs "the lord of the manor's great hall" came up at dinner the other night.

So, of course you look it up, right?

The selection of sources seemed to agree that the name came from "luck of the pot:" whatever leftovers were kept simmering to keep from spoiling, that an unexpected guest would be offered. (The "keep from spoiling" is my interpolation: it seems pretty obvious.) It didn't come from the Indian "potlatch."

I'd never heard of Jacob's Join as a synonym for it, though. I haven't quite figured out how to get the Biblical Jacob as inspiration for a potluck. Maybe there was a local Jacob somewhen in Lancashire whose parties inspired it.

Wikipedia cites a Chicago writer to suggest that potlucks were a Depression-era innovation, but given that barn raising seems to have involved communal meals, I'm guessing reporters found imagination easier than legwork back then too.

Rectification of names

The last post got me thinking about the word "racist." I've said that I didn't think the word had much meaning any more, but that isn't strictly true. Two major factions use the word differently.

One faction uses it in the classical sense of regarding other races as intrinsically unworthy of respect, an attitude generally reflected in actions to demean or exclude or impoverish the others. Among the enlightened, this is a character flaw, and 1) the person with the attitude should learn better and 2) the rest of society should discourage malicious actions. By and large, unexpressed personal attitudes are between you and God and not the business of the rest of us.

The other faction uses it largely in the sense of political systems designed to demean or exclude or impoverish those of some race. The existence of differences is taken as proof positive that such malicious systems exist. Among the enlightened, this is a social menace and 1) the rest of society must change the system(s) to eliminate the menace.

For the latter group, opposition to their changes is racist by definition. It is, using their definition, reasonable for them to say that anyone who disagrees with one of their political proposals is racist.

There is no necessary reason that such opposition should be taken to represent a character flaw. In fact, supporting some of their proposals requires a kind of willful blindness that is a character flaw.

Other word usages seem to need rectification too. "Ally" is a symmetric relationship; what is usually meant by the word is "satellite." And "woke" clearly means "fashionably angry."