The Cunning Linguists....

[manderlyh]

The Chimney Sweeper

When my mother died I was very young,

And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry "'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!"

So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head

That curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd, so I said,

"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,

You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."

And so he was quiet, & that very night,

As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!

That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned & Jack,

Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black;

And by cam an Angel who had a bright key,

And he open'd the coffins & set them all free;

Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,

And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.

And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,

He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark

And got with our bags & our brushes to work.

Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;

So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

William Blake

1789

[lzfan715]

Is disbanded a word? I thought it was disband no matter what tense.

[Aquamarine]

Who are the English professors? I think Aqua is a teacher, I just don't know what kind.

Ah, what a fine thread!

I am, I'm an English professor except I teach American/African American/multicultural lit. But my fave poem is Sailing to Byzantium by Yeats, and as soon as I can keep my eyes open I'll be back with it!

[manderlyh]

^ yay! Aqua!

We've kind of semi-hi-jacked this into a poetry thread.

But here's a thought---If I've participated in the hi-jacking, as the thread's creator, is it hi-jacking?

Edited January 2, 2008 by manderlyh

[SunChild]

^ yay! Aqua!

We've kind of semi-hi-jacked this into a poetry thread.

But here's a thought---If I've participated in the hi-jacking, as the thread's creator, is it hi-jacking?

I say - not. Besides, poetry is language too (despite what people say about it.)

Lovely Blake poem, thank you. Reminded me of this bit of Buddhist wisdom:

Before enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water;

after enlightenment, I chopped wood and carried water.

[manderlyh]

I've been taking each of the posted poems and turning them into a hand-out in word so I can have them ready to go when I teach them!

[Aquamarine]

Here it is--

Sailing to Byzantium

William Butler Yeats

I

That is no country for old men. The young

In one another's arms, birds in the trees

--Those dying generations--at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh, or fowl commend all summer long

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caught in that sensual music all neglect

Monuments of unaging intellect.

II

An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress,

Nor is there singing school but studying

Monuments of its own magnificence;

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come

To the holy city of Byzantium.

III

O sages standing in God's holy fire

As in the gold mosaic of a wall,

Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,

And be the singing-masters of my soul.

Consume my heart away; sick with desire

And fastened to a dying animal

It knows not what it is; and gather me

Into the artifice of eternity.

IV

Once out of nature I shall never take

My bodily form from any natural thing,

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling

To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;

Or set upon a golden bough to sing

To lords and ladies of Byzantium

Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

[manderlyh]

Thanks, Aqua!

[bigstickbonzo]

Je suis a l'homme.

[leddy]

Was listening to James Alexander Gordon tonight and I thought his diction was perfect !! He has been reading the Football results for over 30 years but his voice could cut through anything its that clear !!

[lzfan715]

We read a short story today in English called the Most Dangerous Game. By far one of the dumbest things I've ever read.

[Aquamarine]

We read a short story today in English called the Most Dangerous Game. By far one of the dumbest things I've ever read.

Who was it by? And dumb in what way?

[lzfan715]

It's by Richard Connell. It's about a guy who hunts people. He doesn't eat them just hunts them.

Here's a link to the story:

The Most Dangerous Game

And dumb as in it didn't make sense, I comprehended the story it was just ridiculous. IMO, it sounds like a story that a creative two year old would have come up with.

Edited January 4, 2008 by lzfan715

[Bilbo the Rover]

" Jaun goi koa eta lagizarra"

[irg82]

It's by Richard Connell. It's about a guy who hunts people. He doesn't eat them just hunts them.

Here's a link to the story:

The Most Dangerous Game

And dumb as in it didn't make sense, I comprehended the story it was just ridiculous. IMO, it sounds like a story that a creative two year old would have come up with.

Hahaha. Are you in 9th grade? I had to read that last year.

[lzfan715]

Yes I am. And today we read "The Lady, or the tiger?" Dumber than the Most Dangerous Game.

[irg82]

Haha. I never read that one.

[lzfan715]

Well, allow me to save you time, don't read it. It's about a lady and her dad is a "semibarbarian". then the daughter is semibarbaric too. They put her fiancee in a big arena with a door on each side. One door has another lady behind it and one has a tiger behind it. The daughter motions to the door on his right. She doesn't know which one she wants him to pick, but she knows what is behind the door. Then you read about what's going trough her mind and about how bloody it would be if it was the tiger, or how depressed she'd be if he picked the lady. Then the writer talks about it for a second and you don't get to know what he picks.

[irg82]

Hahaha. Sounds boring.

[lzfan715]

It is. I hate that class, I love to read though. If I'm going to read something I want to read something of substance. I don't really care if someone hunts other people for fun or some girl can't decide if she wants her fiancee to get mauled by a tiger.

[manderlyh]

`Subprime' is linguists' word of year

By SOPHIA TAREEN - Associated Press Writer

Edition Date: 01/05/08

Even the American Dialect Society knows how risky home mortgages are these days. The group of wordsmiths chose "subprime" as 2007's Word of the Year at its annual convention Friday.

"'Subprime' has been around with bankers for awhile, but now everyone is talking about 'subprime,'" said Wayne Glowka, a spokesman for the group and a dean at Reinhardt College in Waleska, Ga. "It's affecting all kinds of people in all kinds of places."

About 80 members of the organization spent two days debating the merits of runners-up "Facebook," "green," "Googleganger" and "waterboarding" before voting for an adjective that means "a risky or less than ideal loan, mortgage or investment."

The choice signifies the public's concern for a "deepening mortgage crisis," the society said in a statement.

"Facebook," as a noun, verb or adjective, was popular with younger linguists, Glowka said.

Several people lobbied for "green," which "designates environmental concern," but the term has been around for years, he said. The word topped the 2007 "Most Useful" category, one of numerous subgroups the society choses.

The group also decided that although "waterboarding," an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, gained a lot of attention during recent attorney general confirmation hearings, it was a bigger deal in 2004, Glowka said.

But what's a "Googleganger?"

A play on "doppelganger," the word is "a person with your name who shows up when you Google yourself," according to the society.

Glowka said he assessed many Google-related words.

"Just Google 'Google' and you'll turn them up," he said. The ghostly double of a word won the 2007 "Most Creative" designation.

As for "subprime," Glowka said it is an odd word - at least as far as linguists are concerned.

The prefix "sub" translates roughly to "below the standard," while "prime" means something close to "the best."

So, according to Glowka, the word really means "far below the best."

"People were saying that students were referring to their tests, 'I'm going to subprime this; I'm going to mess it up,'" he said.

The American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, comprises linguists, grammarians, historians and scholars, among others. The society began choosing words of the year in 1990 for fun, not in an official capacity to induct words into the English language.

In 2006, the organization chose "plutoed," which means "to be demoted or devalued."

[SunChild]

Thanks for sharing, Manderlyh!

What a boring choice.

[manderlyh]

It is quite boring, isn't it? Considering the context--mortgage rates--it's quite dull.

[Day Tripper]

It's by Richard Connell. It's about a guy who hunts people. He doesn't eat them just hunts them.

Here's a link to the story:

The Most Dangerous Game

And dumb as in it didn't make sense, I comprehended the story it was just ridiculous. IMO, it sounds like a story that a creative two year old would have come up with.

No no no! I LOVED The Most Dangerous Game!

I'd bet you don't like "Shooting an Elephant" or Lord of the Flies, either... Some of the literature I read in school was AMAZING and some was downright awful. Every time I tried to read more of Tess of the D'urbervilles I wanted to claw my eyes out. Not a Hardy fan, obviously... The Mayor of Casterbridge didn't do much for me either. And I HATED Sula. I refuse to read any more Toni Morrison. My absolute favorite books I read in school were To Kill A Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men (ILOVESTEINBECK!), Brave New World (oh my... so very good), and The Great Gatsby. I read Mrs. Dalloway, The Bell Jar, and 1984 each for projects in my AP Lit class and I loved each of them dearly as well. 1984 is my favorite book EVER.

Oh man, I want to read now...

[manderlyh]

No no no! I LOVED The Most Dangerous Game!

I'd bet you don't like "Shooting an Elephant" or Lord of the Flies, either... Some of the literature I read in school was AMAZING and some was downright awful. Every time I tried to read more of Tess of the D'urbervilles I wanted to claw my eyes out. Not a Hardy fan, obviously... The Mayor of Casterbridge didn't do much for me either. And I HATED Sula. I refuse to read any more Toni Morrison. My absolute favorite books I read in school were To Kill A Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men (ILOVESTEINBECK!), Brave New World (oh my... so very good), and The Great Gatsby. I read Mrs. Dalloway, The Bell Jar, and 1984 each for projects in my AP Lit class and I loved each of them dearly as well. 1984 is my favorite book EVER.

Oh man, I want to read now...

I loved The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, Bave New World, The Great Gatsby, too!! Steinbeck has a ton of good stuff that I haven't read in years.

And I love Fitzgerald too. I've read Gatsby about ten times. I think it's mainly the time period that I love in both Fitzgerald and Steinbeck that I love. The Roaring 20's and The Dustbowl/Great Depression make for dramatic novels.

I have Tender Is the Night, This Side of Paradise, and The Last Tycoon in hardback. I got it from one of those book clubs that are similar to BMG music club. Nice set.

But I also liked To Kill A Mockingbird; and The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison...so I'm guessing we're not literary soul mates. I haven't read Sula, but I heard from some of my friends that it's a heartbreaking story.

Mark Twain is an adventurous type of guy...I like him a lot, even though I would have never read Huckleberry Finn on my own...(I've read it five times...ONCE in high school...four times since...) I've got Puddin' Head Wilson on my bookshelf, waiting for me when I find the time to read it...

Zora Neale Hurston has some good stuff, too. I read And Their Eyes Were All Watching God about (gasp!!--was it really) eleven years ago in one of my high school English classes. Loved it. I kind of wish I'd taken an African American literature class, but I don't think my school offers one at an undergrad level.

I've read some Hemingway, but I'm not so sure what I think of the guy. It's been a while, and I know I really liked A Farewell To Arms, but I don't remember WHY. I like "Snows of Kilimanjaro," but I don't recall reading anything else by him.

I really feel like I need to take about a hundred more literature classes. There's one that's called "The Gothic Novel" that I want to take badly, but it's offered on M, W, and F only...in the middle of the day. I can't do that because I need days where I can work in the schools!

Meh. I guess I really haven't read too many books that I haven't liked.

I didn't like Lolita too much, even though it was an intriguing book because of the main subject content and my personal beliefs upon that particular topic; and I guess I was not able to just read it past the surface content because of that. The plot twists and turns were wonderful, and the writing was eloquent, but I just couldn't get past it. I could still see the literary value.

I also couldn't stand House of Mirth, I tried and I tried...but I ended up watching the movie.

Edited January 8, 2008 by manderlyh