Coffee Klatch

Well, the first partial week of classes is over and I think I got just about everything caught up. We had three days of classes this week, which meant three days of partially staffing the Reference Desk. We’ll begin our evening desk hours Sunday night. Much of my week was scrambling to make tons of last-minute changes on the library website. Just an extra page here, a few links there… nothing ginormous (yes, that’s officially a word now–gotta love neologisms!) but the cumulative effect was that much of my free time was spent on website changes. That and getting everything ready at the Reference Desk for things like tracking our reference transactions (various types of interactions with people at the desk) and keeping statistics on which books in the Reference collection are getting used (we scan the barcodes in the books and reshelve them ourselves, so I had to get the interface ready for entering that data).

So things are going to start settling into a regular Fall routine this next week. Preliminary stuff is out of the way, we begin evening Ref. Desk hours next week, and we’ve got students using the library again. It’s always nice to have them back and see the library busy and being used!

On a personal note, my three boys all finished their first full week of school now. Things have started settling down for them, too, which is nice. They’re all at new schools and in regular public schools for the first time. Before this, it was either Christian schools or charter schools (which functioned almost like a poor man’s Christian school). Alaric’s in 8th grade now, Blaise is in 5th, and Camber is in 1st, and they’re all riding the bus to school. “The only thing that is constant is change.”

My sister sent me a link to a cool little website that shows the geographic use of words to describe carbonated soft drinks. The Pop vs. Soda Page has an interesting map of where people live in the U.S. and Canada who use “soda,” “pop,” “Coke,” or other terms. And you can scroll down a little and enter your own demographic info along with which term YOU use the most. Pretty cool! The data on the map come only from people who enter their info on that page, so it reflects the input from you and everyone else. So far they’ve had over 265,000 people participate. Check it out!

Current music: Symphony No. 2, by Ralph Vaughan Williams

There are two types of verbs: transitive and intransitive. Transitive verbs require a direct object while intransitive verbs don’t have direct objects. You usually see these in the dictionary with the abbreviations v.t. and v.i..

Transitive Examples: Make, Cut, Give
Intransitive Examples: Fall, Speak, Pause

There are times when transitive verbs don’t have a direct object, but they’re usually implied. And then there are quite a few verbs that come in both forms, meaning they can have a direct object or not, such as Drive or Whisper. Here’s a good website with more explanations.

Anyway, my problem is with how some people use the word “grow.” Yes, it is another one that can be either type of verb, depending on the definition. Here are the definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition:

INTRANSITIVE VERB:
1. To increase in size by a natural process.
2a. To expand; gain: The business grew under new owners. b. To increase in amount or degree; intensify: The suspense grew.
3. To develop and reach maturity.
4. To be capable of growth; thrive: a plant that grows in shade.
5. To become attached by or as if by the process of growth: tree trunks that had grown together.
6. To come into existence from a source; spring up: love that grew from friendship.
7. To come to be by a gradual process or by degrees; become: grow angry; grow closer.

TRANSITIVE VERB:
1. To cause to grow; raise: grow tulips.
2. To allow (something) to develop or increase by a natural process: grow a beard.
3. Usage Problem To cause to increase or expand by concerted effort: strategies that grew the family business.

PHRASAL VERBS: grow into 1. To develop so as to become: A boy grows into a man. 2. To develop or change so as to fit: She grew into her job. He grew into the relationship slowly. grow on (or upon) 1. To become gradually more evident to: A feeling of distrust grew on me. 2. To become gradually more pleasurable or acceptable to: a taste that grows on a person. grow up To become an adult.

IDIOM: grow out of To develop or come into existence from: an article that grew out of a few scribbled notes.

ETYMOLOGY: Middle English growen, from Old English grwan. See ghr- in Appendix I.

OTHER FORMS: grower —NOUN
growing·ly —ADVERB

USAGE NOTE: Grow has been used since medieval times as an intransitive verb, as in Our business has been growing steadily for 10 years. It has been used with an object since the 18th century, meaning “to produce or cultivate,” as in We grow corn in our garden. But the transitive use applied to business and nonliving things is quite new. It came into full bloom during the 1992 presidential election, when nearly all the candidates were concerned with “growing the economy.” The Usage Panel is decidedly less fond of this development than business leaders and politicians are. Eighty percent of the Panel rejects the phrase grow our business. The Panel is more accepting of, though not enthusiastic about, the phrase grow our way, perhaps because of way’s established use in expressions like make our way and find our way: 48 percent accept We’ve got to grow our way out of this recession. The Panel has no affection for the odd but occasionally heard phrase grow down: 98 percent reject If elected, I shall do my utmost to grow down the deficit.

They sum up well what has been bothering me about using the word “grow” transitively with the object of business. The only time “grow” is properly used that way is with things that are living and do grow naturally, like corn in the example. They may be directed, planted, and cultivated, but “growing corn” sounds much different from “growing your business.” It should be “cause to grow.” It’s nice to read that 80% of their Usage Panel rejected the phrase “grow our business.” That’s exactly my problem. And it always irritates me to hear that phrase used.

At least I now can document that it’s not actually an appropriate or proper grammatical phrase and can say why.

Current music: Duruflé: Requiem

We’re probably all familiar with how liberally the English language borrows from other languages. But that’s not really the right word for it. Borrowing is gentle and implies returning the favor. I just found this quote on my friend Liz’s Facebook site. I’m not sure of the source, but they’ve sure got it right. And in a humorous way.

“English doesn’t borrow from other languages; English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.”

I love it!!

I have mentioned this book a time or two before, but I thought I’d share another poem from Kathryn and Ross Petras’ book Very Bad Poetry, “being a compendium of the worst verse ever written in English–including such (mercifully) forgotten classics as The Stuttering Lover, Ode on the Mammoth Cheese, An Elegy to a Dissected Puppy, and the immortal The Dentologia–A Poem on the Diseases of the Teeth.”

The following is a poem written by James Henry Powell around 1850.

Lines Written for a Friend on the Death of His Brother, Caused by a Railway Train Running over Him Whilst He Was in a State of Inebriation

How oft alas my brother have I warned thee to beware
The horrid spells of guilt which led the drunkards’ life to care;
But no! you heeded not the warning words I spoke with pain,
Your wretched soul that once was pure was bound as in a chain;
At length, one cold October, when the night was late and dark,
The awful doom came on which sank thy life’s unsteady barque;
Thy mangled corpse upon the rails in frightful shape was found,
The ponderous train had killed thee as its heavy wheels went round.

What comforting words! Such elegant lines have scarce been penn’d.
Current music: Heart of the Castle, by Kenny Kleinpeter

As a society, we have lost touch with our linguistic roots. The average person’s familiarity with grammar and spelling is woefully inadequate; any basic knowledge of Latin is sadly nonexistent.

That point was driven home AGAIN to me today when I heard the common phrase “I’m an alumni.” I hear that ALL THE TIME! I don’t think it’s so farfetched of an idea that people might be expected to know that -i is plural and -us is singular. Just like cactus/cacti. THAT’S considered commonly known, so why not alumnus/alumni? Outside the southwestern U.S., I’d guess that alumni is a more frequently used word than cactus. People know that cactuses is wrong because they hear it in the singular enough, while alumnus is hardly ever heard, universities usually referring to them in the plural.

Just the same, I’m always amazed at how many people say, “I’m an alumni” and think they’re right. Or (more probably) DON’T think. If Americans thought as much as they talked (and BEFORE they talked), not only would grammar be better overall, but they’d probably be less offensive to the rest of the world.

A word that’s used a lot where I work is emeriti. It’s in regard to faculty that have retired but still stay affiliated with the school. They are considered “emeriti faculty.” So, of course, I often hear, “He’s emeriti.” At least people have the sense to not use “an” in the middle, because it sounds wrong to them, but they’re still using the plural for a person, just like “alumni.” Simply put, “he is an emeritus faculty member” while “THEY are emeriti faculty members.”

Technically, faculty is singular, too, referring to the body of teachers, so a person can be a member of the faculty, not “a faculty,” but we won’t get into that!
[tags]grammar, linguistics, alumni, language, americanisms[/tags]

Here’s another cool online dictionary. It’s called The Free Dictionary and it has “English, Medical, Legal, Financial, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine all in one!” It’s based on the Fourth Edition of the American Heritage Dictionary (2003).

What I like about the site:

• You can search for whole words, beginnings of words, ends of words, or words in the body of the entry.
• It has definitions with examples and links to related words, and also the etymology of the term.
• The entry from their large, hyperlinked thesaurus is right below the definitions.
• They provide links to other entries in FreeDictionary that use the word.
• You’re given several “references in classical literature” that use the word, with a link to more results.
• They have a couple of browsers showing the words and phrases that come before and after your term.
• There’s a “Cite/Link” link that gives you the citation for your page in APA, Chicago, and MLA styles.
• There’s also a list of your recent searches.
• They’ve created a customizable home page that gives you not just linguistic and literary information, but also news, weather, word games, and more. Just drag and drop to “use or lose” the various modules. You can even add your own RSS feeds!
• The website is designed much better than yourdictionary.com.

What I don’t like about this site:

• Not much.
• There are some customized ads (like Google) at the top and middle of the page, but they’re easy to overlook.

[tags]dictionary, thesaurus, online dictionary[/tags]

One of my favorite movie moments is in The 13th Warrior. The movie itself is interesting and fun, a retelling of Beowulf from the point of view of an accompanying Arab. Some great Viking action and some really excellent insight into warfare and the Viking perspective on it.

Anyway, there’s a point in the movie where the Arab is travelling with these Northmen and every night he’s sitting around the campfire with them, eating and resting. They’re all loud and talking and laughing (stereotypical Norsemen), while he’s sitting there quietly. You see him start to pay attention to what they’re saying. They’re speaking Old Norse (for real) and he doesn’t understand it, of course. Yet, over repeated nights you see him watching their mouths and listening to what they’re saying. You hear them from his perspective, so they’re talking in Old Norse and you’ll hear an English word or two right in the middle of a sentence, showing that he’s understanding a word or two. (Obviously it’s English because the movie was made for a Western, English-speaking audience.) Then there are occasional phrases thrown in, right in the middle of the Norse sentences, as he is able to pick out the phrases. Eventually you’re understanding everything they’re saying, because it’s all in English.

When one of them insults the Arab’s mother, he speaks up, defending his mother and in turn insulting the other guy. Someone grabs him and asks where he learned their language. His response: “I *listened!*”

Isn’t that awesome? I’ve never seen such a great depiction in a movie of someone learning the language being spoken around them. That’s one of my favorite “movie moments.” I’ll probably post more of these down the road.

Current music: Direct, by Vangelis

One of my responsibilities at Butler is being the Library Liaison for Foreign Languages, both modern and classical. If you are interested in any aspect of languages or linguistics, whether as a librarian or a student of languages, here’s an excellent online resource:

There are 138 email lists that are hosted at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG. As you scroll down, you’ll see the complete list, from the African Languages and Technology Working Group to the Word and Paradigm Morphology List, with the numbers of subscribers to each list. Clicking on the names of the lists will take you to their archives and instructions for subscribing. Those lists that say “0 subscribers” also say “Mirror,” and they do seem to be active. They must just be hosted somewhere else or subscribed to somewhere else.

There’s something here for anyone interested in any aspect of languages or linguistics, so check it out. And be sure to use an aggregator like Bloglines to manage your subscriptions and handle all your messages. It’s much easier than an email InBox.

Current music: Feels Like Home, by Norah Jones

Going great! Benissimo! Today we had a quiz on numbers up to fifty, which were dictated and then we had write down both the numerals and the numbers in words. Piece o’cake!

It’s more fun for me now that we’ve gotten past the “Hello. My name is Scott. What’s your name? I am from Indianapolis. Where are you from? Good-bye.” phase. I want to learn the rules and vocabulary so I can construct my own ideas. So many students, at least if they’re on their first (or second?) language, are afraid of learning grammatical rules and want to stay conversational. For me, if I’m learning conversational style, I still need to know how to conjugate verbs so I can understand why/when to use the -e ending and when to use the -iamo ending and that kind of thing.

Anyway, it’s fun learning a new language in a real class! A presto!

Current music: Soundtrack from 1492: Conquest of Paradise