"Some modern travellers still pretend to find Acephalous people in America."
Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopædia; or, an universal dictionary of arts and sciences, 1753
- Being sandwiched between two Crows in the checkout line, observing each surreptitiously scope the other out.
- Recognizing how ridiculous both looked.
- Realizing each (mistakenly) believed he'd scoped out the other surreptitiously.
- Finding that picture of The (Salsa) Crow.
- (Also this one.)
- (This one too.)
- Being inspired to do a Flickr search for "the crow" and finding—check that, words can do no justice: these must be seen to be believed.
- Remembering I donned Crow-gear for three Halloweens running in high school.
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"Unambiguously Clear, in Anglo-Saxon Prose" (Note: Great minds think alike ... some just beat others by a couple hours. I blame Pacific Standard time.) Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, responding to FEMA's staged news conference about the California wildfires: I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government. I have made unambiguously clear, in Anglo-Saxon prose, that it is not to ever happen again and there will be appropriate disciplinary action taken against those people who exhibited what I regard as extraordinarily poor judgment. Why resort to Anglo-Saxon prose? Scratch that. It should read "Why resort to Anglo-Saxon prose again?" Remember the press conference last week in which Chertoff announced Bush was coming to tour liberate California from the wrath of Grendel the wildfires: Her syndon geferede, feorran cumene ofer geofenes begang Geata leode; þone yldestan oretmecgas Geornwig nemnað ... Hine halig God for arstafum us onsende, to West-Denum, þæs ic wen hæbbe. wið wælfyre gryre.[*] Chertoff's more recent performance was slightly less impressive. According to the OED, his "unambiguously clear, Anglo-Saxon prose" may be unambiguous and clear, but Anglo-Saxon it ain't: I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate [Latinate] things I've seen since I've been in government [French]. I have made unambiguously [Latinate] clear [French], in Anglo-Saxon prose [French], that it is not to ever happen [Middle English] again and there will be appropriate [Latinate] disciplinary [French] action [French] taken against [Middle English] those people [Anglo-Norman] who exhibited [Latinate] what I regard [French] as extraordinarily [Latinate] poor [Anglo-Norman] judgment [French]. That's too struck-through with Continental corruption to taste the Director's thick Anglo-Saxon ire. Here's his withering statement again, only now rendered pure: I think it was one of the dumbest and most things I've seen since I've been in. I have, in Anglo-Saxon, that it is not to ever again, and there will be taken those who what I as. I'm sure his drihtguman got the message loud and (unambiguously) clear. [*]Hither have fared to thee far-come men o'er the paths of ocean, people of Geatland; and the stateliest there by his sturdy band is George named ... Blessed God out of his mercy this man hath sent to Danes of the West, as I ween indeed, against horror of raging fires.PREVIOUS POST
ANNOUNCEMENT: Is an "Academic Blog" an Oxymoron?: A Public Conversation Between Faculty Bloggers and Student Bloggers Wednesday, October 31, 2007 9:30-11:00 AM 135 Humanities Instructional Building Come hear five bloggers from the School of Humanities give advice to students, faculty, and members of the general public about designing and maintaining a successful academic blog. Questions include: How do you define the genre of the web log in your own terms? How do you balance the personal, the political, and the professional in a blogging persona? How do you find a niche in a crowded marketplace of ideas and build an audience? How do you capitalize on blogging communities and group blogging? What about intellectual property, copyright, and academic labor issues? Participants include Catherine Liu of Higher Yearning, Peter Krapp of Distraction Economy, Scott Kaufman of Acephalous, Julia Lupton of Design Your Life, and Elizabeth Losh of Virtualpolitik. Co-sponsored by SCIWRITER.
i thought "crow" was a bird of some kind - your post prompted an unnecessary trip to the bookshelf which is bound to kick me out of my morning routine by several seconds which means i will be semi-jogging to the train again - thanks... here's a dictionary find though (for next Halloween):
crow - (noun) any of several large oscine birds of the genus Corvus, of the family Corvidae, having a long, stout bill, lustrous black plumage, and a wedge-shaped tail, as the common C. brachyrhynchos, of North America.
PS. i like "lustrous black plumage" phrase - i must incorporate it into a conversation today.
Posted by: Mikhail Emelianov | Tuesday, 30 October 2007 at 10:12 AM