The dictionary says that the verb prove has two past participles: proved and proven. Eldest Daughter says this fact is rather disturbing.
Computer Guru Son wants to watch Monk tonight. The second season of this TV series about a detective who struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder is out on DVD, and several of us are enjoying these programs. We see some (mild) displays of OCD in our own family, not mentioning any names. Maybe all of us tend to be obsessive or compulsive in some areas.
Karate Kid wants a dog. I don’t.
Engineer Husband helped some of the children dissect a flower tonight. I can think of much worse dissection projects that they could have done. I’m thankful it was only a flower.
Archives
Edgar Allan Poe
Last year on Poe’s birthday, I posted my favorite poem of all poems, Annabel Lee. This year my Poe birthday gift to you is the first verse of The Bells, which uses one of my very favorite words: tintinnabulation. Isn’t that a wonderful word? What are some of your favorite words? Don’t you have some that you just like the sound of?
Hear the sledges with the bells
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
Note: You must read this poem out loud. Most poems are meant to be read aloud, but this one is especially meaningless unless you read the sounds in full voice.
More favorite words: rhubarb, melancholy, ragamuffin, ubiquitous, felicitous, cacophony, nemesis, ornery, burgundy, joy, bellicose, pickaninny, cantankerous, delicious . . .
Learned While Playing Trivial Pursuit:
Lake Victoria is the third largest lake in the world.
A fox’s tail is called a brush; baby foxes can be called cubs or kits.
Christopher Jones was the captain of this ship..
General Motors makes (made?) the Corvette Stingray.
June’s birthstone is the agate.
The national anthem of this country begins with the words “From peaceful Ypiranga’s banks.” (depending on the translation)
I am a librocubicularist.
Malapropism or Eggcorn or Maybe just a Misprint?
I came across the following sentence while readingProfiles in Courage:
“He was, moreover, a brilliant political analyst, who knew that during his lifetime the number of American voters who agreed with the fundamental tenents of his political philosophy was destined to be a permanent minority . . .”(p. 212)
I have several questions about the phrase “fundamental tenents.”
First of all, I couldn’t possibly be the first person to notice that the author used a misspelling of “tenant” instead of the word he intended, “tenet,” could I? JFK and his editors couldn’t have missed this error, could they? So maybe this mistake is just a misprint in my edition of the book?
According to the definitions given over at Language Log, is this an eggcorn or a malapropism? I tend to think that it’s a genuine eggcorn since the two words “tenet” and “tenant” sound about the same when pronounced aloud.
Finally, do these two words have a similar origin? I doubt it, but I’ll have to check my dictionary and get back to you.
I did check Google and got 628 hits for “fundamental tenants,” 110 hits for “fundamental tenents,” and 19,800 hits for the phrase “fundamental tenets.”