S e n t e n t i o l a

Summary: more about ‘IYSWIM’ and similar.

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eateroftrees replied to your post: Summary:  Some replies to my question whether…

I think I might’ve seen IYKWIM before (“know” instead of “see”)

14kgoldnyc replied to your post: Summary:  Some replies to my question whether…

I see KWIM (“Know what I mean?”) all the time.

Ah, I’ll go with those then.  ’Know’ is better anyway, I guess.  I do try to avoid using sensory metaphors for knowledge / comprehension but ‘if you see what I mean’ has been part of my reflexive lexicon for so long it’s hard to shake off.  Also ‘know’ doesn’t feel quite right because my concern is generally about whether the person grasps the meaning as a result of my attempt to convey it, whereas ‘if you know what I mean’ feels to me more like I’m asking whether they’re already familiar with the concept that I’m trying to identify.  But yeah, IYKWIM.  I’ll try that.

 ohumyes replied to your post: Summary:  Some replies to my question whether…

For the record, I did understand it thoroughly.

Summary:  Some replies to my question whether ‘IYSWIM’ is a real abbreviation.

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irrhythmic replied to your post: By the way, is ‘IYSWIM’ an abbreviation people…

I cannot fathom what that could possibly stand for so I will assume no?

whatfreshhellisthis replied to your post: By the way, is ‘IYSWIM’ an abbreviation people…

What is that 0_o

kiriamaya replied to your post: By the way, is ‘IYSWIM’ an abbreviation people…

I had to google it, but yeah, it does appear that it is a thing. :)

ohumyes replied to your post: By the way, is ‘IYSWIM’ an abbreviation people…

Sounds like you announced that you engage in water sports while pronouncing the first-person pronoun strangely.

Okay, it does not appear to be a thing people have encountered.  I don’t think I had encountered it too, I just sort of assumed it existed.  It’s intended to convey ‘If You See What I Mean’.  Maybe I’m the only person who says that enough to feel the need to abbreviate it.

ohumyes replied to your post: Summary: silly strange dreams I’ve had lately….

I thought that last dream, about the bus, was what happened after you talked to Grace Not Gene in real life. And I was really confused for a long time.

Yeah, I was confused when it was happening too.  I very rarely have those nested dreams where you think you’ve woken up but you haven’t.  Weird.

Summary: more etymology chat.  Press J to skip down or K to skip up.

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ohumyes:

tchy:

ohumyes:

sententiola:

Summary: just some etymological chat with Tchy and Jam and Becky.  Hit J to skip down (or K to skip up, if you tumbl backwards like I do).

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ohumyes:

wonderbecky:

ohumyes:

tchy:

sententiola replied to your post: Libellule

I don’t understand how that word can mean ‘dragonfly’ rather than ‘small pamphlet’. Something weird is going on with etymology.

Jamie, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but please never change.

Apparently it means small amount of money?

I don’t understand anything.

Libellulidae is a family of dragonflies identified by their eyes which are not broadly touching as well as their brightly patterned wings, dissimilar triangles, and boot shaped anal loops.

So, you know… in case that helps.

No, darling, we know. It’s just that the etymology is confusing us.

Eek, I have sown great confusion and perplexity!  In Latin ‘liber’ is ‘book’ (not to be confused with ‘líber’, which is ‘free’) and ‘libellus’ is ‘little book’ or ‘pamphlet’.  As Greg pointed out (see notes), this is where English ‘libel’ comes from, originally meaning a formal statement of complaint in a civil court case but later coming to mean, more generally, a defamatory or accusatory written document.

I’m not too hot on French word-formation but if I’m not mistaken the suffix ‘-ule’ is normally a diminutive, as is the Latin ‘-ulus’ (or ‘-ula’ or ‘-ulum’).  So I would expect ‘libellule’ to mean ‘little little book’ or ‘little pamphlet’.  Or, well, something other than a dragonfly.

… ‘boot shaped anal loops’…  o_O

Reblogging again pretty much solely for Jamie’s use of a perplexed emoticon.

And also quietly to point out that maybe it was used as a “you look like a book” thing? Like the wings might look like the pages of a book? And it’s little?

/in which Jam has no idea what he’s talking about

I HAVE SOLVED THE MYSTERY.

Libellule comes from the Latin “libella,” via “libellula.” “Libella,” as I’m sure Jaime could tell you, is a level, i.e., a tool used to make sure things are perfectly horizontal. According to the French Wiktionary, this is the source for the French word for a dragonfly “à cause du fait que le vol de la libellule est horizontal”—because dragonflies fly in straight horizontal lines. So nothing to do with books, libel, small pamphlets, or anything related.

“Libella” also means a small sum of money, which is where Jam’s confusion came in, but these are homonyms and this definition is not related to the etymology for libellule.

WORDS ARE GREAT

Oh ah oooo!  Yes!  I’d forgotten about líbella, which is indeed unrelated either to liber and libellus or to líber but is, rather, a diminutive of líbra.  But, excitingly, it is not totally unrelated to the ‘small sum of money’ meaning.  Líbra means either a set of weighing scales (whence the constellation / zodiacal sign of the same name) or a measure of weight that you can weigh out using those scales.  The measure of weight is twelve Roman ounces (unciae), i.e. a Roman pound.  Which is why the abbreviation for a pound of weight is lb. and why the sign for the pound currency is a stylized letter L (£) and why the name of both the weight and the currency is livre in French, libra in Spanish, lira in Italian, and so on.  Then if you apply the diminutive to líbra you get either a little balancing instrument, i.e. a level (líbella) or a small coin (líbella).

Words, yum.

(via tiny-puppy-teeth)

Summary: just some etymological chat with Tchy and Jam and Becky.  Hit J to skip down (or K to skip up, if you tumbl backwards like I do).

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ohumyes:

wonderbecky:

ohumyes:

tchy:

sententiola replied to your post: Libellule

I don’t understand how that word can mean ‘dragonfly’ rather than ‘small pamphlet’. Something weird is going on with etymology.

Jamie, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but please never change.

Apparently it means small amount of money?

I don’t understand anything.

Libellulidae is a family of dragonflies identified by their eyes which are not broadly touching as well as their brightly patterned wings, dissimilar triangles, and boot shaped anal loops.

So, you know… in case that helps.

No, darling, we know. It’s just that the etymology is confusing us.

Eek, I have sown great confusion and perplexity!  In Latin ‘liber’ is ‘book’ (not to be confused with ‘líber’, which is ‘free’) and ‘libellus’ is ‘little book’ or ‘pamphlet’.  As Greg pointed out (see notes), this is where English ‘libel’ comes from, originally meaning a formal statement of complaint in a civil court case but later coming to mean, more generally, a defamatory or accusatory written document.

I’m not too hot on French word-formation but if I’m not mistaken the suffix ‘-ule’ is normally a diminutive, as is the Latin ‘-ulus’ (or ‘-ula’ or ‘-ulum’).  So I would expect ‘libellule’ to mean ‘little little book’ or ‘little pamphlet’.  Or, well, something other than a dragonfly.

… ‘boot shaped anal loops’…  o_O

(via tiny-puppy-teeth)

ohumyes:

sententiola replied to your photo: [image is a screenshot of an empty text document,…

TITLE!

THE TITLE IS STILL “TITLE!”

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE GODDAMN FUCK I’M DOING

JAMIE COME WRITE MY PAPER

I like the style you’ve started it in.  I’ll have a go at continuing in the same style.  Here it goes:

· • ·

TITLE!

Introductory section leading to what follows…

Explanation of significant terms and their usage.⁽¹⁾

Heavily — and, of course, formally — punctuated passage of analysis with, it may be suggested, a hint of argument; important and reputable propositions.

Fig. 1: illustrative diagram

More adventurous phase: a certain stylistic flourish, allusive and alliterative, accompanying more radical arguments.  Unconventional syntax?

Punchy conclusion!

_____

⁽¹⁾ Footnote.

(Source: tiny-puppy-teeth)

Summary:  Replies about me wearing a barrister’s wig and gown.

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ohumyes replied to your post: I believe I remember that you’re a barrister. Does this mean that, when you’re in court, you wear robes and a wig? Because that’s marvelous.

Why do they have that tradition anyway?

I’m not really sure.  I think if you go back far enough it was just, like, what people wore.  And then for some reasons they forgot to stop wearing it after everyone else stopped.  And there are things about the gown, like supposedly there was a tradition that barristers didn’t deal with vulgar things like money so the gowns had little hood things hanging down the back and solicitors (who sit behind the barristers) would drop the fee into the hood.  But nowadays the hood is just a flat piece of funny-shaped fabric on one side of the gown.

They had a consultation recently about whether to get rid of wigs (which are now only generally worn in the criminal and appellate courts) but a majority of barristers wanted to keep them.  Common arguments are that they give a measure of anonymity (for barristers who annoy people in court) or homogeneity (to go with the idea that barristers are all basically interchangeable, which is also embodied in the ‘cab rank rule’, which is the rule that a barrister is obliged to accept any case that they’re competent and available to do, regardless of whether they like it or believe in the client’s case), that clients see them on television and therefore expect them and feel short-changed if they don’t get them, and maybe some other ones I’ve forgotten.  The anonymity one sounds silly but actually when you’ve only ever seen a barrister in a wig they do look quite different without it.  And when you’ve been in court all day and everyone’s been in wigs and then you go outside and see the same people without their wigs it seems weirdly improper and almost indecent — ‘That person has a hairstyle!  Expressive of their individuality and style!  Disgraceful!’

I dunno, it’s odd and silly.

torayot replied to your post: I believe I remember that you’re a barrister. Does this mean that, when you’re in court, you wear robes and a wig? Because that’s marvelous.

I’ve seen said pictures of Jamie in robes and a wig. I laughed nastily at it in front of him and his mother, because I am charming and delightful. Also, fun fact: the same company that supplies the wigs and robes also did my graduation gown and hat.

Yeah, they specialize in odd archaic costumes like academic gowns and court dress.

aeide-thea replied to your post: I believe I remember that you’re a barrister. Does this mean that, when you’re in court, you wear robes and a wig? Because that’s marvelous.

pish, i bet it was madly charming. i mean, probably also silly! but as my partner has taught me, the two are often not mutually exclusive. :)

+10 points for use of ‘pish’.

I’m afraid I don’t really get into court because I’m a weird government-employed barrister who doesn’t get sent to court.  Consequently I haven’t bought a wig or gown because those things are ridiculously expensive and I’m not buying them unless I really need them.

I have worn the whole get-up once, though, when I was ‘called to the Bar’, and my mum has some pictures but I haven’t got any in digital format to show you.  You can imagine, though: I looked a bit silly.

ohumyes replied to your post: To be honest, I’m a bit sad at the moment.

Hugs to you. All of them. Every last one of the hugs.

nothinginlifeisperfect replied to your post: To be honest, I’m a bit sad at the moment.

Hope you are/will be OK! Hugs, always, if appreciated.

michelledean liked your post: To be honest, I’m a bit sad at the moment.

nuditea replied to your post: To be honest, I’m a bit sad at the moment.

lob lob lob to you.

iced-chai replied to your post: To be honest, I’m a bit sad at the moment.

*hugs* if you want.

intheconcertroom replied to your post: To be honest, I’m a bit sad at the moment.

Oh, no! D: I hope you feel better soon. Hugs are, as always, on offer.

Aw, thanks everyone.  I feel a bit better today.  Love you all.

Summary: responses to ‘Mx’ as gender-neutral title.

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In which after some delay I continue a conversation with Jam about US idioms being taken up in other Anglophone countries.

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(Source: tiny-puppy-teeth)

Abstract:  Three replies to Jam (ohumyes), being about the linguistics of pronouns, the roundness of the number four, and gifs.

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(Source: tiny-puppy-teeth)

Canadian postal responses

Thanks everyone who answered!  You were, in chronological order, as follows:

evewithanapple answered your question: Canadian postal query

Yeah, the filibuster ended and the government passed the bill. So mail posted now will arrive on regular schedule.

Thanks!  In fact I tried on Wednesday but at that point apparently the Post Office here was still not sending packages to Canada.  I guess maybe they were allowing some time for the backlog to clear?  Going to try again this weekend.

champagneproblems answered your question: Canadian postal query

yes, it’s a shame, and yes, it will arrive.

Oh, hello again!  I’d forgotten you were a Canada-type person.  :)

michelledean replied to your post: Canadian postal query

If I were them I’d be burning the mail.

Perhaps it’s just as well I couldn’t send it…

ohumyes replied to your post: Canadian postal query

All I can tell you is that I wish to receive my mail, and that I have been receiving my mail, and so presumably the strike has indeed broken one way or another.

I’m glad you’ve been receiving things!

bitofatumbl answered your question: Canadian postal query

As others have answered, it’s likely it will. Also, sucky anti-union govt is sucky and anti-union. >:(

So I have heard.  :(

birational answered your question: Canadian postal query

lol canada

Er.  I guess?