PARVUM OPUS

 

Number 142

______________________________________________

 

WORDS, THAN WHICH

 

I was watching the movie Clueless again ~ a mildly guilty pleasure ~ that teen romantic comedy loosely based on Jane Austen's book Emma. The "Emma" character, Cher ("named for a great singer from the past"), uses all the California Valley Girl slang, and this time I particularly noticed "as if", which might be translated as "no way" (more slang) or "never". Example: "He asked me out ~ as if!" ["as if I would consider going out with him!"]

 

Some years ago I read Ruth Gordon's memoirs, My Side, in which she used an expression I've never heard anywhere else. I don't know if it was peculiar to her generation, specifically in New York theater, but it's very similar to the Valley Girl's "as if", a truncated phrase that implies much: "than which". Example: "He's a real doll ~ than which!" From the context in which she used it (and I'm relying on distant memory), I interpret this to mean "than which [or whom] there is no one more attractive!"

 

"As if" is always a negative qualifier or comment, while "than which" can be either negative or positive, depending on the context.

 

I'm a subscriber to the daily word from Oxford University Press, and discovered they also have a daily e-mail for slang. So far, much of it has been antique slang, which is useful if you ever read antique books. Here are a few entries:

 

fink book: n. a book containing a seaman's work record as evaluated by former employers. Now historical. Nautical.

 

Note: The Word Detective says:

 

"Fink" in the lower-case pejorative sense first appeared during the labor struggles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly the 1892 strike at the Carnegie Steel Company in Homestead, Pennsylvania. A "fink" in the labor sense was a spy or informer who worked for the bosses, and the traitorous "finks" were detested by the workers even more than the "scabs" who crossed picket lines. "Fink" in this sense of "traitor" was such a powerful slur that it fairly quickly passed into general usage meaning "a contemptible, disloyal person."

One of the more popular theories about the origin of "fink" traces it to a rhyming variation on the name of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, whose agents often infiltrated unions as spies for management and played a central role in the brutal suppression of the Homestead strike. But if that theory strikes you (as it does me) as a bit far-fetched, there is a better one. "Fink" in the "traitor" sense may well come from the German word "fink" meaning, again, "finch," and carrying the connotation of "singing" to the bosses (as does the slang term "canary" for an informer).

 

Nantucket sleigh ride: n. an instance of towing of a whaling boat by a harpooned whale. Whaling. Jocular. Now historical.

 

jump-steady: n. alcoholic liquor. Black English. (I don't know if this is current, and have never heard it, but it reminds me of Aretha Franklin's great song, "Rock Steady".)

 

Fred uses the word "herc" to mean a strong or powerfully built man, short for Hercules, of course. He heard it years ago from an Army buddy who came from New York. I've never heard it. Maybe it's passé.

 

GOING NON-NATIVE

 

Richard Lederer objected to my British punctuation style. Here's what he/we wrote:

 

RL: I continue to read an enjoy each issue of PO. I respectfully suggest that you place your commas inside end-quotation marks, not outside.

 

RK: Thanks for reading! I have written about the issue of punctuation within and without quotation marks (American and English usage) in PO issues 13, 14, and probably others. I'm getting to prefer and feel more comfortable using the British style most of the time, although clearly it looks like a careless mistake, especially if I mix styles. And I usually don't countenance flinging aside American usage in favor of British. In this case, the British usage looks more logical and makes for clearer reading, at least to me. It's creeping up on me even though I'm conscious of what I'm doing every time. I'll make a mention of your request, however, and your new book in next week's Parvum Opus. [Note: I had noticed that a new book was mentioned in his signature.]

 

RL: I agree with you that it makes more sense to place commas and periods outside end-quotation marks, but we live here and our convention is periods and commas inside end-quotation marks. The other way interferes with your getting your message to some readers. Thanks in advance for mentioning Comma Sense: A Fun-Damental Guide to Punctuation.

 

RK: I agree, some people will always flinch when they see that because they know it's not what they learned as the correct way to do it. Like split infinitives, although there's another rule that simply doesn't always work, since it was based on Latin grammar, not English.* I react the same way to certain deviations. And yet ... well, I guess I'll have to take a look at your new book.

 

* Yes, I know that is not a grammatically complete sentence. It's OK.

 

RL: The split infinitive rule ~ see attached chapter from my book A Man of My Words ~ has never had any real authority in English and does not reside in any reputable grammar/usage book. But the relationship between periods, commas, semicolons, question marks, and exclamation points is treated in such elbow books.

 

RK: OK, what's an elbow book?

 

RL: a reference book one keeps nearby

 

A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES

 

Remember that line from Romeo and Juliet (often paraphrased as "a pox on both your houses")? You may easily guess which houses I mean by these two irritations:

 

Elite media: Journalists or news media disliked by someone on the right. Speaking as a non-elite writer, anyone who speaks on national TV or radio or writes for a national newspaper or magazine, especially for pay, is elite. The phrase "elite media" attempts to co-opt the "non-elite", i.e. alliance with the folks, the people, everyone else. It's an ad hominem argument, except that it's not even an argument, it's just a snide sideswipe. (Say that three times quick.)

 

Progressive: Newspeak for socialist or communist. Implies, with no room for argument and without evidence, that (1) this political view will create progress (examples come to mind that contradict this implication), (2) we all agree on what "progress" is, and (3) all "progress", i.e. change, is automatically good.

 

IF THE LAD'S A CAD, THE AD IS BAD

 

Two recent ads from TV and radio, respectively:

 

If the ride is fly, you must buy.

From a new Chrysler ad featuring Snoop Dogg and Lee Iacocca.

 

If the balloon doesn't fly, I wouldn't buy.

A parody of the Chrysler ad, but I didn't catch the product.

 

Do these ring a bell? Of course. The little bit of doggerel echoes the O. J. Simpson defense by the late Johnnie Cochran, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," referring to a bloody glove, or was it a bloody shoe, belonging to Simpson. Simpson said the glove didn't fit, and he wouldn't wear those ugly-ass shoes. Would he lie?

 

You know it's not just a random rhyme. The Cochran ditty is too well known, the syntax is the same (if-then), the number of words and syllables is almost exactly the same, the rhythm is the same.

 

The ad pretty much amounts to having O. J. Simpson shill for Chrysler. Why didn't they hire him?

 

The ad is supposed to appeal to the demographic of young buyers, of course, who like rap and are down with misogynist criminals ~ and are being encouraged to do so by their elders. It gives me the creeps.

 

As a woman, a mother, and the owner of a Chrysler product ~ we are not amused.

 

 

 

 

Bernadette Roberts Workshop

I am organizing a workshop with Bernadette Roberts, a remarkable Christian contemplative and author of three books:

What is Self? : A Study of the Spiritual Journey in Terms of Consciousness

The Path to No-Self: Life at the Center

The Experience of No-Self: A Contemplative Journey

This workshop, called The Essence of Christian Mysticism, will be held on the weekend of May 5-7, 2006, in Loveland, Ohio. For more information, go to Bernadette Roberts Workshop. The site may be updated from time to time.

 

 

 

Link here to look for books on Amazon.com!

 

 

 

 

NEED A SIMPLE WEB PAGE? WOULD A NEWSLETTER, ELECTRONIC OR PRINT, HELP YOUR BUSINESS? TALK TO ME ABOUT  PROFESSIONAL EDITING AND WEB WORK.

 

Go to Babelfish to translate this page into Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish!

 

Parvum Opus is a publication of KeithOps / Opus Publishing Services. Back issues may be found at http://www.keithops.us/. Feel free to e-mail me with comments or queries.

 

If you don't want to receive Parvum Opus, please reply with "unsubscribe," "quit," "enough," or something like that in the subject line, and I'll take you off the mailing list.

 

Copyright Rhonda Keith 2005. Parvum Opus or part of it may be reproduced only with permission, but it is permissible to forward the entire newsletter as long as the copyright remains.