An interesting word. I had become so accustomed to the word "instantaneous", that for a moment I couldn't make the connection between it and this word. Interesting how components of words can lose their significance and only the greater word and it's meaning remain in one's mind.absentaneous, a.Obs.Done in absence, pertaining to absence.
Month: March 2007
Hiding, not stealing.
I thought this word meant steal, but now I learn it means simply run and hide. That impression came, I think from these lines from Casablanca, "I've often speculated why you don't return to America. Did you abscond with the church funds? Run off with a senator's wife? I like to think you killed a … Continue reading Hiding, not stealing.
There is such a thing?
Apparently it is "International Women's History Month". Because, you know, regular history has, like, men in it. And anything with men included is by definition oppressive to womyn. Speaking of, why isn't it "International Women's Herstory Month"? Hmm? What's that? Because that would be stupid? But isn't... never mind.The point is, I found it amusing … Continue reading There is such a thing?
What is a "dark lantern"?
I'm not certain. One that is shaded so as to only emit a small light? One that emits light only in a particular direction? I should look it up.absconce, n.A dark lantern used in monasteries (see Du Cange), and at lauds and matins in the Roman Catholic church.
We shouldn’t start suddenly
But here is a word that ought to see more use.abruption1. A breaking off, an interruption, a sudden break (in a narrative, etc.). arch.2. A sudden snapping or breaking; the breaking away of portions of a mass.
More money does not better education make.
[Americans] have built numberless high schools, lavish in equipment, only to see them, under the prevailing scheme of values, turned into social centers and institutions for improving the personality, where teachers, living in fear of constituents, dare not enforce scholarship. They have built colleges on an equal scale, only to see them turned into playgrounds … Continue reading More money does not better education make.
Jacobin folly
If society is something which can be understood, it must have structure; if it has structure, it must have hierarchy; against this metaphysical truth the declamations of the Jacobins break in vain.~ p. 35Ideas Have Consequences
Consequential Ideas
I've been reading Ideas Have Consequences recently, and though I'm only a couple chapters into it, it's a great book so far. There are a ton of things that I would want to excerpt here, but I don't think I'm going to do them all. It would just be too much. So I'll post a … Continue reading Consequential Ideas
A la peanut-butter sandwiches!
I always figured this word would be about as spurious as Mumford's (the usual warnings about Wiki-esque things apply here, of course) preferred phrase, but it seems to have a longer pedigree, if an uncertain original meaning.abracadabra[L.; origin unknown. Occurs first in a poem by Q. Serenus Sammonicus, 2nd c.]A cabalistic word, formerly used as … Continue reading A la peanut-butter sandwiches!
Chess, Numbers, and Senility
A great bit from a chess blog talking about the threatened reduction and possibly demise of the chess column in the Washington Post. It's bad enough that newspaper chess columns in the US, when they exist at all, are stuck in with the comics and that it's usually only enough room for a puzzle. I'm … Continue reading Chess, Numbers, and Senility
Neh 