retrousse'
A retrousse' is the term for the way a person's nose is turned up at the tip, particularly in an attractive way.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
AIL Day 98: retrousse
Today's adventure in logophilia is...
A retrousse' is the term for the way a person's nose is turned up at the tip, particularly in an attractive way.
A retrousse' is the term for the way a person's nose is turned up at the tip, particularly in an attractive way.
Monday, December 17, 2012
AIL Day 97: undertow
Today's adventure in logophilia is
Undertow is another term for a rip current, which is used in the incorrect belief that rip currents drag swimmers below the surface of the water. This is also used abstractly to mean an implicit quality, emotions or influence lying underneath the surface aspects of something (i.e. a person's character) and leaving a certain impression.
undertow
Undertow is another term for a rip current, which is used in the incorrect belief that rip currents drag swimmers below the surface of the water. This is also used abstractly to mean an implicit quality, emotions or influence lying underneath the surface aspects of something (i.e. a person's character) and leaving a certain impression.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
AIL Day 95 & 96: Yule and Noel
The words I chose for this weekend are part of the rich vocabulary of the Advent season. They've been with us for so long I know I haven't much concept of their meanings. So I took this opportunity to do a little digging via Oxford Dictionaries (old habits die hard, I suppose).
Yule
Yule is the (archaic) Old English/Old Norse term for Christmas. More specifically, it refers to a pagan festival that took place around the Winter Solstice and lasted twelve days after what is now Christmas. When Christianity spread into Europe and the solstice celebrations became celebrations of the birth of Christ, the old name lingered. So when you hear the phrase "yuletide treasure" in the old song "Deck the Halls", it isn't necessarily a pagan or a secular reference, but a general reference to Christmastime.
Noel
A noel is a Christmas carol, particularly the refrain. So "gloria in excelsis deo" and "come let us adore him" might count as noels. This is a French version of the Latin word natalis, meaning birth - a birth song. This makes sense when you think about one of the lesser known Christmas songs "Noel, A New Noel." I always thought "You mean there were noels before Christ was born?" Apparently so!
Friday, December 14, 2012
Why Joan Didion Writes
Here's a link for you. Joan Didion on brainpickings.org about why she writes, on the power of grammar and visceral detail.
Coventry Carol, a mystery play (jillian)
We've entered into the time of carols. I'm the sort of person who most definitely gravitates towards "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" and cringes from the likes of "Silver Bells." (Although my aversion to the song might have more to do with an awful, cloying 1960s rendition of the tune of which I grew up hearing.) I love Christmas carols for their beauty and their rich history, and in some cases their bizarreness. Which brings me to "Coventry Carol."
Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
O sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day,
This poor youngling for whom we sing
By, by, lully, lullay.
Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All children young to slay.
That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever mourn and sigh,
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.
I first sang an arrangement of this carol with my high school women's choir ten years ago. I'm sure I'm not the only one who first heard this beautiful, haunting song and wondered what on Earth it had to do with Christmas. This is, of course, about the massacre of the innocents, which took place after Jesus' birth; King Herod, learning that a king was born to the Jews (a king that would challenge his own kingship), ordered all the male babies in Bethlehem destroyed. Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus into the wilderness.
The song itself is the last surviving remnant of a 16th century mystery play from Coventry, England called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. (Ye Olde Wiky-paedia.) Mystery plays were a staple of the Middle Ages, tableau performances and songs depicting Bible stories or scenes from the lives of saints. The shearman and the tailors were probably members of that particular trade guild, not monks or nuns... although there were such performances within monasteries. "Mystery" in this context actually means "miracle."
What intrigues me about this song is that it alone survived the test of time. "Coventry Carol" is a mystery of a mystery. What did the happier songs of the shearmen and tailors' pageant sound like? Why did this song endure the test of time? Was it simply the prettiest? Or has it a mind of its own, haunting down through the ages to testify about the brutality of the age into which Christ was born? And who had the powerful idea of making it a lullaby? Did they have any idea, when they sat down by candlelight to plan out their guild's Christmas pageant in, say, 1530 that people would be singing it and wondering about it well into 2012 and beyond? That my friends, is special! Merry Christmas!
Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
O sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day,
This poor youngling for whom we sing
By, by, lully, lullay.
Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All children young to slay.
That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever mourn and sigh,
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.
I first sang an arrangement of this carol with my high school women's choir ten years ago. I'm sure I'm not the only one who first heard this beautiful, haunting song and wondered what on Earth it had to do with Christmas. This is, of course, about the massacre of the innocents, which took place after Jesus' birth; King Herod, learning that a king was born to the Jews (a king that would challenge his own kingship), ordered all the male babies in Bethlehem destroyed. Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus into the wilderness.
The song itself is the last surviving remnant of a 16th century mystery play from Coventry, England called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. (Ye Olde Wiky-paedia.) Mystery plays were a staple of the Middle Ages, tableau performances and songs depicting Bible stories or scenes from the lives of saints. The shearman and the tailors were probably members of that particular trade guild, not monks or nuns... although there were such performances within monasteries. "Mystery" in this context actually means "miracle."
What intrigues me about this song is that it alone survived the test of time. "Coventry Carol" is a mystery of a mystery. What did the happier songs of the shearmen and tailors' pageant sound like? Why did this song endure the test of time? Was it simply the prettiest? Or has it a mind of its own, haunting down through the ages to testify about the brutality of the age into which Christ was born? And who had the powerful idea of making it a lullaby? Did they have any idea, when they sat down by candlelight to plan out their guild's Christmas pageant in, say, 1530 that people would be singing it and wondering about it well into 2012 and beyond? That my friends, is special! Merry Christmas!
AIL Day 94: ephemera
Today's adventure in logophilia is
Ephemera is a plural noun for things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short, fleeting time. To which she says, philosophically, are not all things ephemeral or fleeting? Does that not make life all the more beautiful?
ephemera
Ephemera is a plural noun for things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short, fleeting time. To which she says, philosophically, are not all things ephemeral or fleeting? Does that not make life all the more beautiful?
Thursday, December 13, 2012
AIL Day 93: congeries
Today's adventure in logophilia is
Congeries is a collective noun meaning "a disorderly collection or jumble." This is taken from the Latin verb congerere "to heap up."
This word best describes Christmas preparations - the intentions, the results, the mess in my room. I cheer myself up by imagining that Santa's workshop is a terrible disaster (the mess!) and Christmas' best keep secret. There's a reality television show for you: overworked elves who complain of constant foot pain due to long hours and the shoes they have to wear; piles of discarded toy parts; the floor a definite hazard with tinsel and glitter and glue everywhere; not to mention the reindeer leavings; interviews with the elves who maintain Santa's sleigh: "you wouldn't believe the mileage on this thing..."
congeries
Congeries is a collective noun meaning "a disorderly collection or jumble." This is taken from the Latin verb congerere "to heap up."
This word best describes Christmas preparations - the intentions, the results, the mess in my room. I cheer myself up by imagining that Santa's workshop is a terrible disaster (the mess!) and Christmas' best keep secret. There's a reality television show for you: overworked elves who complain of constant foot pain due to long hours and the shoes they have to wear; piles of discarded toy parts; the floor a definite hazard with tinsel and glitter and glue everywhere; not to mention the reindeer leavings; interviews with the elves who maintain Santa's sleigh: "you wouldn't believe the mileage on this thing..."
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