Harmful to minors

Panic at the London Evening Standard [Sept. 8] where the theatre critic Henry Hitchings filed his review of Lolita at the National Theatre, only to learn that no one at HQ could locate his copy. The panic starts early there – 5am – with production staff looking at the clock and imploring him to file again. Why couldn't he communicate with them. No one could understand it. Enter a hero computer boffin. The firewall, he explained, was rejecting the word Lolita. So Hitchings had to re-file substituting Lolita throughout with the less troublesome "Fishfingers". Relieved production staff re-inserted all the Lolitas at the other end.

-- Guardian (UK) via comp.risks.

The Führer's Diabolical Plan

Tom the Dancing Bug, Ruben Bolling, Sept. 19, 2009:

Behind the Scenes Video at 9/12 Protest Shows Fox News Producer Directing Crowd

From AlterNet.

After Obama

There were some of us -- indeed, many of us, myself included -- who thought there was a possibility that Barack Obama might seize this moment of American crisis, twinned with the complete failure for all to see of the regressive agenda, to become the second coming of Franklin Roosevelt.

Read the full article by David Michael Green at CommonDreams.

Mr. Franken goes to the State Fair

From dustytrice.com ...

About a dozen tea party activists had staked out Sen. Al Franken's booth [at the Minnesota State Fair], and confronted him loudly when he arrived. But within minutes, he'd turned an unruly crowd into a productive conversation on health care.

Wonderment from a Would-Be Wordsmith

My Word !

Guest blogged by Peter A. Miller
President, The English Speaking Community Club of Stockholm

Sometimes just a simple catch phrase, slogan, saying, or cliché can have a rather profound effect on a person’s life. When I was 21 and about to graduate from college, I was approached by a remarkably silver-tongued insurance salesman who first wished me well as I passed this academic milestone, and then proceeded to extol the virtues of being properly insured. As I left the somewhat sheltered world of academia, and was facing my first forays into “real life” I was being urged to look into the future, and to plan for the unexpected. Now, at the age of 21 in Providence, Rhode Island many people in my social network were feeling optimistic, invincible, and brashly immortal. I agree this sounds a bit presumptuous, but then again, 21 is a great age to be! No one in my inner circle was entertaining seriously – not even for a second – the notion that it was high time to acquire insurance coverage of life, limb, and what-have-you. Enter the sales slogan: “Peter”, he said, “When it comes to insurance, it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it”. What could I say? His sales pitch was pithy, practical, and even appealingly rhythmic. So I signed on the proverbial “dotted line”, and have been contentedly insured ever since.

Nowadays it seems to me that individual slogans are no longer all that necessary. On TV (even this morning) I’ve been encouraged to buy a number of products including: shampoo, face cream, and even ice cream …. with one and the same catch phrase: “Because you’re worth it!”. Go figure!

Here, now, comes that enlightening saying that put me on the path to wordsmithery:

I was advised to think of my vocabulary as a box of tools. The analogy: The more working tools in your toolbox, the more things you can potentially deal with. Therefore, the more words in one’s active vocabulary, the more situations you can potentially deal with, or at least handle more successfully. That made instant sense to me, and I’ve been busily collecting words ever since.

In this pursuit (which I feel is anything but trivial!) I have come across words for some very interesting things. There seem to be words for almost anything. Let me share a few of these in the time (read “space”) remaining:

Have you ever seen a debate where the “other guy” raises an issue (most often non-flattering) by claiming not to mention it? Example: “And I won’t even bring up the topic of my opponent’s attendance record!” This is a clear case of apophasis.

There is a word for a person, who under oath, gives personal assurances for the (good) character or conduct of an accused person. Now you know what a compurgator is.

I don’t intend to put a whammy on anyone by bringing this up, but hopefully you have never been the victim of phishing, which is defined as a scam by which an e-mail user is tricked into revealing personal or confidential information.

So, yes I am in wonderment of the richness of vocabulary, and would like to think that this may inspire you to become more active in your love of lexicon.

And don’t forget ….. attending even more ESCC activities, and hanging out with us provides you with excellent settings for both maintaining and enriching your English vocabulary.

Practice does make perfect!