The Write Way

14 June 2002

Ab initio ... ad nauseum

Greetings,

A few weeks ago my husband and I caught up with friends we hadn't seen for many years and last weekend, it was my mum's turn when we all went to help one of her friends celebrate his 80th birthday. Dad met Hank when they joined the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) at the beginning of WWII. They'd been posted to Melbourne for their training - and since both had new wives and all were in a strange city, the four became firm friends and have stayed that way for 60 years. 

When my dad lost his battle with cancer, Mum and I took great comfort in having such good friends around, and the three of them have kept in close contact ever since.

Hank's one of those amazing people who can turn his hand to anything. After the war, when building materials and skilled workers were in short supply, he and Dad built a two-bedroom house for us and then a three-bedroom place for him and his family. This was in the days BP (before power tools), so every nail had to be knocked in with a hammer, every support beam man-handled into place and every screw put in with one of those manual screwdrivers. 

Cast iron was almost impossible to get after the war and any that was available was prohibitively expensive so Dad made a bath for us by forming up some walls with scrap timber, pouring cement into the mould and then tiling the tub - nothing like ingenuity!

Over the years Hank has designed and built a number of boats (from scratch, starting with the frame) and a couple more houses for his family. When he retired, he and his wife sold up their home and business in the city and bought a couple of acres in the middle of a rainforest in the Hinterland north of us.

They built a mud-brick house and Hank being Hank, his instruction book read, "first make your mud-bricks." When she wasn't helping to make mud-bricks, Joan was spinning raw wool into beautiful yarn and weaving wonderful woollen fabrics to turn into clothes, curtains, bed covers, bags etc on her loom (and you won't be surprised when I tell you who made the loom for her ...) 

They also cleared land and planted trees and vegetables - and remember, this was a retired couple in their 60s, not some Young Things playing house.

They're on the move again and have sold their current house to move closer to Brisbane and two of their daughters (and to us). Already, Hank has drawn up plans to convert the existing garage in their new place into a room for Joan so she can set up her loom there - he'll build a new wall, put in windows, a raised floor ...

Mum and Dad visited them in their Rainforest house and Dad always had us laughing with the stories about the environmentally-friendly way Hank had to keep the bush rats from stealing eggs from his chooks - he kept a pet carpet python in the chook-house! Definitely no rats ... but strangely enough there was never a rush to go down to collect the eggs either! If you're a budding "herpologist" you'll enjoy this page: http://lamington.nrsm.uq.edu.au/docs/Rept/CARP.HTM

The thought of coming face to face with a very large snake, harmless or not, is enough to put me in extemis and my terror is not necessarily pro rata the size of the snake. Dad taught me when I was just an ankle-biter and we lived in the bush, that the best way to avoid getting bitten by a snake was to make a lot of noise whenever I went into snake territory - since it was a case of quid pro quo and they were supposed to be as scared of me as I was of them. If this didn't work and I found myself on the same path as a snake, I was to stand very still and then run away very fast. Good advice!

And did you note the way all those Latin phrases worked their way into my little account? Who said it's a dead language? 

ab initio - from the beginning

ad nauseum - to satiety (till you're sick)

in extremis - at the point of death

pro rata - according to proportion

quid pro quo - one thing for another (tit for tat)

Here are some more you can drop into the conversation next week:

ad finem - to the end

annus mirabilis - year of miracles

annus horribilis - year of horrors

da locum melioribus - give way to your betters

in pleno - in full

And one for when you just can't be bothered:

vis inertiae - the power of inertia

The reason for this emphasis on Latin is that I wanted to use this little poem that was posted on the Board last week - it's great! ( http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/fetch.php?id=9919333&usernum=3170114826 )

I lately lost a preposition;
It hid, I thought, beneath my chair
And angrily I cried, "Perdition!
Up from out of under there."

Correctness is my vade mecum,
And straggling phrases I abhor,
And yet I wondered, "What should he come
Up from out of under for?"

Need to know more about prepositions? 

Funny you should ask ... click here: http://www.write101.com/W.Tips40.htm

And again: http://www.write101.com/W.Tips133.htm

Once more ... Isn't this fun? http://www.write101.com/W.Tips93.htm

The term vade mecum means a Ready Reference, or a useful little book (or something) that you carry around with you ... a bit like any edition of The Write Way, isn't it?

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This week's quiz:

A good mix of words this week - there's one to describe just about everyone you know ... see how you go with these:

nebbish, louche, internecine, deracinate, coterminous,  abulia, fillip, bacchanalia, longueur, minatory

1. something serving to rouse or excite; a stimulus

2. of, or relating to, conflict within a nation, an organisation, or a group

3. weak-willed, timid, or ineffectual person

4. threatening; menacing

5. loss or impairment of the ability to act or to make decisions

6. of questionable taste or morality; disreputable or indecent; dubious; shady

7. dull and tedious passage in a book, play, musical composition

8. to displace from one's native or accustomed environment; to uproot

9. a riotous, boisterous, or drunken festivity; a revel

10.having the same scope, range of meaning, duration

Here are some more of those intriguing little things to ponder:

Isn't making a smoking section in a restaurant, like making a peeing section in a swimming pool?

If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhoea...does that mean that one of them enjoys it?

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

A few weeks ago (  http://www.write101.com/W.Tips180.htm ), one of the words in the quiz was "golem" and Harvey has some extra light to shed on its meaning:

What spurred me to write was your reference a few issues back to the Hebrew word "golem," which you translated as "monster." As a (non-native) Hebrew speaker, I wish to give the translation as "shape," or "form," alluding to the idea that only G-d is able to create real life, by "blowing into his (Adam's) nostrils a living soul." (Genesis 2, 7). Hence a "golem" is a soul-less robot that is just a shape but not a human being. Well, keep 'em coming as they say. If you have any more Hebrew words to discuss, you now have a rather authoritative address to which you can turn. Harvey Kaniel

The meaning that my dear old Webster's gave was, "man artificially created, an automaton." It went on to explain that this came from "a Hebrew word that originally meant 'embryo' but later came to mean 'monster.'" Hmm, that doesn't give quite the meaning that Harvey does ...I think I prefer the idea of the soul-less robot - obviously Tolkien did too. Just goes to show that it pays to listen to people who speak the language when giving definitions. 

Last week's quiz:

Match the word with its meaning:  rudimentary, pandemonium, Muse, surreptitious, quintessence, cantankerous, valedictory, dénouement, pusillanimous, rubric

1. lacking courage; cowardly; faint-hearted - PUSILLANIMOUS. Here's another one we have to thank the Romans for - it comes from the Latin pusillus (little) + animus (spirit, courage).

2. a perfect example or embodiment of something - QUINTESSENCE. This one takes a roundabout trip from the original Latin via Middle English and Old French from quinte essence. This "fifth essence" referred to the substance of heavenly bodies believed to be latent in all things. It was the highest essence after the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water.

3. a class or category; any authoritative rule or direction - RUBRIC. A rubric originally referred to the part of any work in early manuscripts and typography which was coloured red, to distinguish it from other portions. It comes from the Latin rubrica meaning a red ochre. 

4. stealthy; secretive; sneaky; underhanded - SURREPTITIOUS. Not surprisingly, here's another we've borrowed from the Romans. It comes from the Latin surrepticius, from surreptus, past participle of surripere, meaning to seize secretly.

5. signifying a goodbye, farewell - VALEDICTORY (Another from Latin!)

6. a place of anarchy;  wild confusion, commotion, chaos - PANDEMONIUM. This word was originally coined by John Milton, the 17th century English poet, in his epic poem Paradise Lost. Milton used this term to refer to hell. Literally, pandemonium means the "place of all demons." 

7. the unraveling or solution of the complication of a dramatic plot; the issue or outcome of a situation - DÉNOUEMENT. This comes from the Old French désnouement, "reversing to tie." The Latin base nodare comes from nodus or knot.

8. any of the nine goddesses of the art, said to be a source of creative inspiration to all artists, especially poets - MUSE

9. hostile, argumentative, irritable - CANTANKEROUS. This one is from the Middle English word conteckour, meaning troublemaker, quarrelsome person.

10.basic; elementary; crude; primitive - RUDIMENTARY. Another from Latin - rudis, meaning unlearned, or untrained.

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A Little Something Extra ...

There's something that is "... a common pitfall, one so insidious that it even pops up in the writing of very experienced authors from time to time. It can sap the life and energy out of the most exciting story."

What is it?

Click here to find out: http://www.write101.com/chpassive.htm 

Oxymoron:  non-stop flight

Word of the week: Flaneur (n) One who strolls about aimlessly; a lounger; a loafer. The word comes from French,  flâner, "to saunter; to stroll; to lounge about."

See? I told you you'd find a word to describe just about everyone you know.

This week's Latin phrase should prove very useful to anyone needing a reason to celebrate ... anything:

Quidquid excusatio prandium pro! (Any excuse for lunch!)

If you enjoy the Latin phrases, try your hand at Latin Hangman here: http://www.quia.com/hm/25907.html

Regards,

Jennifer

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