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The Write Way 10 June 2005 Fiery Campers Greetings, It's that time of year again out here in sunny Queensland ... Yep! Time for the annual Caravan and Camping Show, when normally sane and perfectly civilised people start imitating Toad, wandering around in a daze going "Beep! Beep!" and imagining themselves at the wheel of the $750,000 Swagman or clambering up into the roof-top tent on their car to escape the crocodiles in Kakadu ... We love it, even though some of the vehicles on display are impractical in the extreme. I mean, can you even begin to imagine trying to navigate a 40-foot bus around tight corners and roundabouts in new cities ... and where do you park the jolly thing when you want to duck into the shops to pick up a loaf of bread? I've mentioned this Swagman site to you before ... but it's worth revisiting, just to see how the other half live, as my Grandma used to say! Then there were the roof-top numbers I alluded to above ... Now I don't mean to be unkind, but there were some ... (Ummm ... how can I put this?) ... activity-challenged persons looking at these, which made us wonder how they would ever manage to huff and puff their way up the ladder and into the sleeping quarters. The Teardrop campers were unbelievably cute ... these, too, are like something Toad or a hobbit would enjoy; itty-bitty little toys you could hook on the back of a motorbike or little car. See photos here.
We loved the look of these but after scrunching down to peer inside, we decided they were probably more suitable for the honeymoon stage of relationships, rather than the who-pinched-the-blankets-again-stay-on-your-side stage that the majority of the people visiting the show were at! They're not dissimilar in size to those cubby-houses you used to make out of cushions on rainy days at home when you were a kid. But the annexe gives a bit more space ... and they are very cute! It was a fun day, and it was good for our egos because without wanting to sound too immodest, I'm sure we were among the youngest couples there ... and that's saying something these days! No doubt about it, we Baby Boomers are about to take over the world .. in the best apolitical way, of course. OK ... I surrender. I've been trying to incorporate as many negatives made with prefixes as possible so I could segue into a discussion of a fascinating conundrum ... When is something likely to catch fire? When it's flammable? Or when it's inflammable? Hmmm ... I know. Awkward, isn't it? Both mean "easily ignited and capable of burning rapidly." dictionary.com explains: "Historically, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. However, the presence of the prefix in- has misled many people into assuming that inflammable means “not flammable” or “noncombustible.” The prefix -in in inflammable is not, however, the Latin negative prefix -in, which is related to the English -un and appears in such words as indecent and inglorious. Rather, this -in is an intensive prefix derived from the Latin preposition in. This prefix also appears in the word enflame. But many people are not aware of this derivation, and for clarity's sake it is advisable to use only flammable to give warnings." And the Word Detective site goes further: Blame it on Latin
and its tricky prefixes. In the beginning, there was "inflammable,"
a perfectly nice English word based on the Latin "inflammare,"
meaning "to kindle," from "in" (in) plus "flamma"
(flame). "Inflammable" became standard English in the 16th century.
So far, so good. So now you know! This week's quiz: Match up these words with their meanings: adumbrate, omniscient, osculate, duplicitous, ruminate, perspicacious, omnipotent, badinage, perspicuous, feckless 1. insightful and wise 2. deliberate deceptiveness 3. generally incompetent and ineffectual 4. playful raillery; silliness 5. clear in thought and expression; not ambiguous 6. outline; describe roughly or briefly 7. meditate; ponder over 8. knowing all things; infinitely wise 9. to kiss 10. all powerful; unlimited ability And here's a story with a moral I was sent last week ... Two friends are walking in the jungle. Suddenly a tiger appears in the distance running towards them. One friend pulls a pair of running shoes out of his bag and quickly puts them on. With a surprised look, the other friend says, "You don't really think you can out-run that tiger with those, do you?" "I don't need to out-run the tiger," his friend replies, "I just need to run faster than you." Oh dear ... how true it is!
Last week's quiz: anaphylaxis, sinusitis, anosmia, dermatitis, rhinorrhea, urticaria, angioedema, eczema, asthma, conjunctivitis 1. inflammation of the skin, either due to direct contact with an irritating substance, or to an allergic reaction; symptoms include redness, itching and sometimes blistering - DERMATITIS 2. an inflammation of the tissue that lines the inside of the eyelid - CONJUNCTIVITIS 3. chronic respiratory disease, often arising from allergies, that is characterised by sudden recurring attacks of labored breathing, chest constriction and coughing - ASTHMA 4. a severe allergic reaction with swelling, breathing problems and shock- ANAPHYLAXIS 5. inflammation of the membranes lining the facial sinuses, often caused by bacterial or viral infection or allergic reaction - SINUSITIS 6. a loss of the sense of smell - ANOSMIA 7. inflammation of the skin causing reddening, itching, swelling and weeping - ECZEMA 8. an allergic skin disease characterised by patches of swelling usually occurring in soft tissues such as the eyes, lips, tongue and groin area - ANGIOEDEMA 9. A condition characterised by an itchy, bumpy rash - URTICARIA 10. a runny nose, usually with thin watery secretion - RHINORRHEA Now you have a name for your pain! If you haven't been back to the Never-Ending Story for a while, you'll be intrigued to hear that the good doctor is currently debating his lack of progress with a Bunion ... No, that's all I'm prepared to say about it ... You'll just have to see for yourself! Click here: http://write101.blogspot.com Then click on the Never-Ending Story and use the Comments button at the end of the entry to add your contribution. If you have friends who fancy themselves as writers, invite them to contribute (just forward this newsletter in its entirety to them). Have you made your Mark on the World yet? No? Then stop by our Map of the World and read the messages. (Just click List) and add your mark: http://pub37.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=3170114826 A Little Something Extra "You know how, when you’re watching a speaker, you can tell if he or she is nervous? There are those tell-tale signs: trembling hands and voice, lack of eye contact, perspiration, twitches, lots of "ummms," and a myriad of other idiosyncratic gestures and signs that show he or she is not fully at ease in front of an audience. "Did you know that I can spot those same tell-tale signs in your writing? "If you’re not completely confident in your skills as a writer, and in what you’ve written in particular, there are warning signs that can tip off an editor or reader. I find them in query letters all the time, and, to a lesser extent, in articles and stories themselves." Read Jenna Glatzer's article on the tell-tale signs ( http://www.write101.com/jgconfidence.htm ) that indicate a writer who lacks confidence ... Then take steps to ensure that your writing exudes this confidence by brushing up your writing skills with my 4-part course! I've recently offered the course at a very special price to some of my smaller, specialist writing lists, but I feel a bit guilty. After all, you've all been with me for so long now. Some since 1998! So the least I can do is extend this same offer to you to thank you for putting up with all my corny jokes and rambles. If you'd like to gain the confidence you need to write well - whatever the occasion - you can have my 4-part writing course at a saving of nearly 50% ... but only until this time next week. Click to order from this special secret order page: http://www.write101.com/secretorder101.htm Word of the week: Metoposcopy (n) the study of physiognomy; the art of discovering the character of persons by their features, or the lines of the face ... This incredibly useful word comes from the Greek words for 'forehead' and 'view' ... Well, it is useful ... I'm sure we all rely to a certain extent on our ability to 'read' a person's face when we first meet. No. C'mon now ... I don't believe I'm the only one! Time to go back to some tautologies (these also answer to the name of redundancies, and I think they're great) Tautology of the week: meandering all over the place A nifty Latin phrase that I'm sure you'll put to good use over the weekend: Hodie adsit, cras absit. (Here today, gone tomorrow.) [HOH-dee-ay AD-seet, KRAHS AB-seet.] Kind regards, Jennifer P.S. Want to donate to the upkeep of this newsletter? Here's how: 1. Pay by PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/affil/pal=jennifer@write101.com OR 2. Click here to subscribe for a full year OR 3. Use your credit card on my secure order form: http://www.write101.com/fund.htm (You can also access the PayPal subscription link from this page if the link above didn't work for you. With PayPal, you can use your credit card, PayPal account or pay online using your own cheque account.) OR 4. Send a cheque (made payable to Jennifer Stewart): http://www.write101.com/fund.htm To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: mailto:WritingTips-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com or go to the web site, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WritingTips This menu will also let you change your subscription between digest and normal mode. Individual articles copyrighted by
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