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SCHMALTZ

Fred's father worked in a bakery owned by Jews who always said "making schmaltz" for "earning overtime", so Fred's dad always used that expression. Fred didn't know it was a Yiddish word meaning "chicken fat". (I used to have a black neighbor named Frances who would go to a special butcher shop to buy chicken fat by the bucket, as she said it was the best thing for frying chicken.) You've probably heard "schmaltzy" used to mean overly sentimental, as in a schmaltzy song: a good thing, but a bit too greasy or too rich or too soft. But it also means something extra, as used by the Rubel brothers.

The Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten is a classic glossary of Yiddish words along with stories and cultural notes that make it a captivating read. Originally published in 1968, it's since been updated. I plan to buy The New Joys of Yiddish. The original JOY gives this as its third definition of schmaltz: luxury, wealth, good luck.

SONG OF THE OPEN NOSE

"She's got her nose open" is a most expressive expression I've heard and read, I think primarily used by black Americans, to mean on the lookout for a lover, sort of like sniffing the wind.

IT'S OUR PRIVILEGE

Someone on TV or radio referred to "mind-changing" substances, meaning drugs, instead of "mind-altering". Alter and change are close, but ... there's a difference in altering your clothes and changing your clothes. If you alter your clothes you make them fit better. If you change your clothes, you put on a different outfit. Same with your mind? If we had real mind-changing drugs, we'd be inclined to slip them to our friends and relatives.

REGIONAL

During TV coverage of the recent mine disaster in West Virginia, a local spokesman for the mine translated himself for the interviewer. His "country terms" were "head of the hollow" and "mouth of the hollow". Often pronounced "holler", a hollow is a low spot in the land, its mouth is the entry point, and its head is the furthest point from the entry. In West Virginia, they've applied these terms to the opening and furthest point of a mine shaft.

I don't know if this is a regionalism or just a family joke, but my mom said when she was a kid in West Virginia, if someone asked where they got something, they might say, "I got it from the gettin' place."

RODEOS: NOT JUST FOR COWBOYS ANYMORE

Did you know there are lineman's rodeos? These are competitions for men who work on telephone poles. There are also bus drivers' rodeos.

HOW DO WE KNOW?

Last month I wrote that since Wikipedia, the reader-written and edited online encyclopedia, had published false information about John Siegenthaler (later corrected), I thought I should stop using it as a source. Some readers helped me revise my opinion.

Tim S. sent a CNN article which said:

Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that relies on volunteers to pen nearly 4 million articles, is about as accurate in covering scientific topics as Encyclopedia Britannica, the journal Nature wrote in an online article published Wednesday.

Tim added: "It reminds me of the history textbook published by one of the major firms (Houghton Mifflin?) a few years back that had Truman using an atomic bomb to end the Korean War."

Mike S. wrote:

Your policy of researching as close as possible to the original sources is, of course, unexceptionable, but unless you get to the sources themselves you still have to decide who to trust. I don't do much, if any serious research, but whether I'm reading a book or using Google or Wikipedia I'm always careful not to assume that everything I come across is reliable. Much of it has to be assessed on the basis of whether it rings true. Sometimes, on Wikipedia, I look at the discussion, or at the editing history, and if the information is important to me check out references, conscious that, as you rightly point out, many secondary sources may be copying from the same prior source. One has to be sceptical, and sometimes cynical.

Looking at Talk: Daniel Brandt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in this light, I have to say I find it very interesting. There is rather a lot of it, but a lot of points are made that are very difficult to argue against. The main concern seems to be that anyone can unacceptably edit a Wikipedia page and the change may go unnoticed until damage has been done. At least any living person should be notified if a page about them exists, and perhaps whenever it's changed if they so wish.

However, as evidence of what happens in practice, the page of Hugh Darwen (a friend of mine) was mischievously edited earlier this month, and the edits were reverted (not by Hugh) within hours. I find that some comfort.

Before Christmas I sent you all a greeting attributed to Fra Giovanni Giocondo, a Renaissance Italian architect, scholar, and Franciscan brother. He is supposed to have written the letter in 1513 to his friend Countess Allagia Aldobrandeschi. But while Bartleby.com quotes it, they also say there's no evidence that he was the author. Apparently no original source was found after it was printed in the 1930s. Possibly no one bothered to do the research, though it was the British Museum that doubted the authorship. Perhaps this is an early instance of fine sentiments being imaginatively attributed to someone other than the real author. So it has become a story, not a history. I expect it to make the rounds of the Internet someday as a quote from the Dalai Lama.

LUSTROUS WINTER

On an endlessly gray January day, I want to pass on to you this bit from the movie Groundhog Day:

When Chekhov

saw the long winter...

he saw a winter bleak and dark

and bereft of hope.

Yet we know that winter is just

another step in the cycle of life.

But standing here

among the people of Punxsutawney...

and basking in the warmth

of their hearths and hearts...

I couldn't imagine a better fate...

than a long and lustrous winter.

From Punxsutawney,

it's Phil Connors.

So long.

From Rhonda ~ catch you next week.

Retreat: The Essence of Christian Mysticism

Bernadette Roberts

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

The Path to No-Self: Life at the Center

The Experience of No-Self: A Contemplative Journey

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

This retreat, 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 Retreat (www.keithops.us/brretreat.htm). Just a few spaces remain as of January 2006. NOTE: The web page has been changed to allow viewing with different kinds of browsers.

If you buy these or any other books from Amazon, using the link below, I'll get a tiny commission, and I'd appreciate it.

Link here to look for books on Amazon.com!

NEED A WEB PAGE? NEED SOMEONE TO ORGANIZE A MEETING OR CONFERENCE? CALL KEITHOPS.

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.

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