(no subject)

duncanmac today posted an item on grooks - a delightful linguistic/conceptual/poetic form invented and perfected by Piet Hein. duncanmac pointed out that unfortunately they are all out of print - which really is a pity. Browsing certain grooks on numerous websites, I found a few half-forgotten favourites:

A PSYCHOLOGICAL TIP

Whenever you're called on to make up your mind,
and you're hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find,
is simply by spinning a penny.

No - not so that chance shall decide the affair
while you're passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air,
you suddenly know what you're hoping.

(I've always found that to be true.) ( And then there's the Consolation Grook... )

Words and confusions...

In conversation with maaseru I discovered yesterday that I couldn't remember exactly what was a spoonerism and what was a malapropism. This called for research. I was embarrassed. I remembered the origins of the words - Spooner was a clergyman at Oxford University, Mrs. Malaprop was a character in "The Rivals" by Sheridan. That was easy, but which wordplay was which?

We looked it up. A spoonerism is a transposition of sounds in two words in a sentence or phrase -

Some of the more famous quotations attributed to Spooner include "The Lord is a shoving leopard," "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride," and "Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?." (Pardon me, madam, this pew is occupied. Can I show you to another seat?).

A malapropism is a way of saying the wrong word in a way that sounds almost right, like

"I resemble that remark!" (i.e. resent) - Stooge Curly Howard, after being insulted by fellow Stooge Moe.

Huh. I've always enjoyed quoting that, but I thought that was Groucho Marx. I'm just confused all over the place these days.

I am amused to see that wikipedia quotes Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing for the use of malapropisms, and quite rightly, too.

Good food day...

This morning: I had a lovely brunch with maaseru, josanpq, lmondegreen and chinae at Carmello's on the corner of Cooper and Cartier. A good time was had by all. We talked about politics - as an anarchist, I had nothing to say about that at all, except maybe a few eye-rolls at the absurdities of politicians. We talked about josanpq's new school and students, and the stress of working for the government, and the need to cull books from over-filled apartments.

And we talked about fandom, of course. Various disparate fandoms, as we cover a lot of ground between us and don't have a lot of fandoms in common any more - the closest is probably Harry potter, which josanpq, lmondegreen and chinae are into, and which maaseru and I have a passing knowledge of.

I confessed that I was puzzled by people in my flist talking about "JDM" when I hadn't the faintest idea who JDM was or what fandom he related to, but was too embarrassed by my ignorance to ask. She enlightened me. In fact, we established that chinae knows more about more fandoms than the rest of us combined and is the oracle of all knowledge. Most impressive.

This afternoon: I went to the Ottawa Science Fiction Society Annual General Meeting, where I got re-elected (or, actually, acclaimed) as secretary. I considered running and hiding, but I didn't. Then we watched a DVD on Crop Circles. Then to supper at the Ben Ben restaurant on Somerset, which has one of my favourite dishes ever: duck congee. Heavenly.

Then I wrote up the minutes of the Annual General Meeting, feeling momentarily virtuous.

Bit of a shock...

wakingowl sent me a message, forwarded from another friend, about the death of Dave Cockrum, which I already knew. But. Tacked onto the end of it was notification of the death of someone else - Jerry Bails, comic book fan and guru, and once a dear friend of mine. We were in several apas together - in fact, we co-founded one! - and we corresponded almost daily for years. This was back when I had a lot of pen pals and wrote to comic books, before I developed an e-mail and LJ habit. Jerry taught at a university near Detroit - he was a man of strong and interesting ideas about comics, life, the universe and everything. Our correspondence was fascinating and delightful. He and his family visited me in Ottawa for a holiday once - good memories.

I'd been pretty much out of touch with Jerry for a decade at least, and I'd been wondering recently how he was, thinking of getting in touch with him again. Planning to write him a note with my Christmas card. Now I can't.

Damn.

Daring Thrill-Seeker...

From the CIA Mastermind quiz, I learn that I am a daring thrill-seeker. Which is true of course - I'm sure you all guessed that, and who would I be to argue with the CIA about it anyway? But really, I thought my answers - about eating haute cuisine and lounging on the deck of my Mediterranean yacht with Daniel Craig as James Bond were somewhat less impressive than that. It was probably because I said I wanted to fly. Well, so I do, especially if I can have pretty wings like Warren Worthington III or a Clamp hero.