Thursday, 13 September 2007

The OED as a Source of Constant Amusement

avast, phr.

Naut.

[prob. a worn-down form of Du. hou'vast, houd vast, hold fast: cf. Du. hou stop! stay! and houvast cramp-iron.]

Hold! stop! stay! cease!

I will!  I swear!  I just wanted to be sure what it meant!  I'm holding! stopping! staying! ceasing!

Sep 13, 2007 9:48:06 PM | Redefined

The comments to this entry are closed.

NEXT POST
Adventures in Adviser/Advisee Relations A correspondent who (for obvious reasons) wishes to remain anonymous writes: I have a problem. I turned in some material to my adviser four weeks back. Yesterday, I receive an email from [her] that reads: "I'm too busy to read this right now. You should have sent this to me a month ago." Does [she] mean I should have sent it to her two months ago? Because I sent her [different] material then, to which [she] replied: "I can't look at this now. You should have sent it earlier. You need to be more responsible." Does this mean I should have sent it to her four months ago? I wouldn't impose on your time, but I'm working on a deadline (which she imposed), and I need feedback on my work if I'm to meet it. The other members of my committee defer to [her]. I need them to stop doing that. I'm not sure how to break [her] "I'm too busy it's the end of the semester/summer of research/beginning of the semester/personal issue/personal issue/personal issue" cycle, nor how to tell the other members of my committee about it so they'll stop deferring to the judgment [she] refuses to render. I've never dealt with an adviser like this, so I'm loath to comment on it. Do some of you have experience with this situation? Or maybe some of the faculty members out there could comment on how you would feel if a graduate student came to you for help with this situation?
PREVIOUS POST
Wheat ... Lots of Wheat ... Fields of Wheat ... A Tremendous Amount of Wheat (Click on the picture—care of the talented Ann K. Elliott—and it'll all make sense.)

Scott Eric Kaufman

The Typepad Team

Search

Become a Fan

My Other Accounts

Recent Comments