"The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture"

My wife showed me the good YouTube video, "The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture".

Conciseness versus Concision

I was wondering if "concision" was a real word or not. It sounds better to my ear than "conciseness", probably because "concise" is Latin and "ness" is German (see http://www.selfknowledge.com/63488.htm). I looked on the web and indeed, both are words, and there is an email discussion of the issue. It says that "concision" is the French equivalent. I must grant that "conciseness" is the commonly used word, but I think I'll switch to "concision" now.

A Contraction for "Here are"

I was just writing an email and wrote "Here's my notes." Since "notes" is plural, that's incorrect, and I should say "Here are my notes." A contraction fit the spirit of the email better, though. In speech, I say, "Here're my notes." I wonder if other people do? If they do, then "Here're" is a legitimate contraction.

To Deprovincialize

I am writing up my post-sabbatical report. Nobody will read it, but I can't help but spend some time on it anyway, and I can combine the effort with the report for the donor of my research chair. I thought I might have come up with a new word, but I see it is already out there. I wrote, "exposure to lots of people from many universities is an important part of the “deprovincializing” purpose of a sabbatical." It is the most important reason why those of us who go on sabbatical ought to be forced to move out of Bloomington during it rather than just treating it as a research period.

Deprovincialize
v. t. To divest of provincial quality or characteristics. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

(from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/deprovincialize

A Word: CONCLUSORY

Conclusory: relating to an assertion for which no supporting evidence is offered ("a conclusory argument").

A Word Site: http://www.wordspy.com/

Wordspy.com lists new words with citations to where they appeared. Here are a few.

transumer n. A big-spending traveler; a person who travels to shop. [Blend of transient and consumer.]...

kindergarchy n. Rule or domination by children; the belief that children's needs and preferences take precedence over those of their parents or other adults....

urban caving n. The unauthorized exploration of tunnels, drains, and other features found beneath a city....

The author also has a page of his own favorites of established words, at http://www.wordspy.com/diversions/fave-words.asp. They include these:

Autological: Self-descriptive.

Crapulence: Excessive indulgence, or the sickness resulting from same.

Crepuscular: Of or like twilight; dim.

Feculent: Full of foul matter; laden or polluted with filth; fetid.

Flibbertigibbet: A silly, scatterbrained person.

Two Words

Instantiation: something instantiated; an instance

Ascriptive: pertaining to, involving, or indicating ascription, esp. the attribution of qualities or characteristics. [Origin: 1640–50;

Some Literary Words and Phrases

Here are two phrases I came across recently:

"Augustan redundancy in writing"

"adjectives are noun hungry"

From http://theliterarylink.com/definitions.html come some literary terms:

Anaphora: A repetition device wherein the same expression (word or words) is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences. "When Jamie saw him throw the baby, saw Van throw the little baby, saw Van throw his little sister Nin, then they moved.

Litotes: this is when you understate an idea in order to convey the opposite idea. This is normally done through the use of a negative negative before one of the words in order to express a strong affirmative.

Metonymy: Like synecdoche, this term refers to figurative language that uses particular words to represent something else with which they are associated. Metonymy is when one term is substituted for another term with which it is closely associated ("crown" or "sceptre" stands duty for "monarch").

Trope: Any of several types of diversion from the literal to the figurative. The so-called "four master tropes" are irony, metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche) A few new ones have recently been invented: see aegis, catachresis, kenosis, perruque. cf figures of speech.

What Is a "Close"?

Cathedrals have closes, with grass and buildings. Various web definitions are:

The enclosed precinct of a cathedral or collegiate church

(Latin clausura.) A piece of land enclosed by a hedge.

An enclosed place, an enclosure surrounded by fences or hedges. An enclosed field.

Apodictic versus Apodeitic

Apodictic (αποδεικτικος, meaning "capable of demonstration"), is a logical term, applied to judgments which are necessarily true, as of mathematical conclusions. Apodicticity is the corresponding abstract noun, referring to logical certainty. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apodictic

Apodeitic: Good without reference to purpose. Rules of skill. Counsels of prudence. dsc.dixie.edu/owl/syllabi/Ph3510PPT/kant.ppt

NARTHEX

NARTHEX: A gallery, vestibule, or porch located between the main entrance and the nave of a church.

Giclee (pronounced "zhee-clay") reproductions were originally developed in 1989 as a plate-less method of fine art printing. The word Giclée is French for "to spray " and is a registered trade name of The 'IRIS' Printer. ... www.artloft.com/terms.htm

Perks or Perqs? Merriam Webset: perk, a noun from 1824: perquisite --usually used in plural.

Lamb Balti. I had good lamb balti tonight at an Indian restaurant in South Kensington. Wikipedia says:

Balti is the name for a style of food probably first devised and served in Birmingham, England. The first written record of the term dates to 1984. [1] ...

The name Balti food has nothing to do with an ethnic group living in India and Pakistan who are also called Balti. These Balti people are Tibetan Muslims. The food 'Balti' is named after the pot in which it is cooked. Balti food is a Punjabi recipe and prepared mainly in the Punjabi way.

The food is a hot curry-style dish, most likely taking its name from the thick flat-bottomed steel or iron pot in which it is both cooked and served. Normally the balti is served with large naan bread...

Balti combines the spices and ingredients of North Indian cuisine with the economics and efficiencies of Chinese cooking.

Armamentarium 1: the equipment and methods used, esp. in medicine 2: matter available or utilized for an undertaking or field of activity--"a whole armamentarium of devices"