|
I saw this wino, he was eating grapes. I was like, “Dude, you have to wait” - Mitch Hedberg We live an accelerating culture, where information has begun to evolve more rapidly than our Savanna-born monkey-brains can possibly comprehend. As a result we feel an inescapable nagging sense of temporal dislocation, of being "unstuck in time," a psychic rift we can't quite repair. Most of us, to one degree or another, turn to fetishizing the process that produces this toxic unease we ward it off with talismans of timeliness and rituals of rapidity: fast food,speed runs, The Fast and the Furious franchise, quickies, TurboTax. But, friends, the dark Gods of civilization that run on ahead of us can never be caught. Ever faster, they recede into the distance, like roadrunner, leaving a trail of dust and broken dreams in their wake. We cannot match them speed for speed. All we can do is slow down -- an act of resistance as essential as it is ephemeral. Against the mindless surge of history, we can reclaim the human scale by practicing its opposites: mindfulness, idleness, peace. Perhaps you've heard of the slow food movement, in which people take hours to consume, and truly taste, a meal. The act of attending to each bite, and to the people you're eating with, restores what is most nourishing to the human being: not just food in the belly, but the aesthetic and social dimensions of the act. My thought: if you can do that with food, with what nourishes the human body, how about doing it with what nourishes the human sou, the act of reading? And so, the slow reading club was born. Together, we will read Herman Melville's classic novel, Moby Dick, one word a day, for as long as it takes, carefully considering each word in isolation, it its place, and it is context. Today, the first word. Tomorrow, the next, and so on, into eternity. At this pace, reading it will take 564 1/2 years, so sad to say, none of us are likely to reach the end. But perhaps other generations will take up this challenge, if they deem it worthy, and if they have not had too much of their human spirit hustled and bustled away into the false promise of an ever-faster future. Come, friends. Join me. Together, let us read slow, live slow, and be slow. Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville (1851)  (I own this edition, among others, and it's great). |
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 21:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 08:34 |
|
|
ETYMOLOGY
---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 21:20
|
|
cda posted:ETYMOLOGY I know what you're thinking. You're thinking. "I know the first line of Moby Dick, and it doesn't start with "ETYMOLOGY." But actually, that's the name of the first section of the Introduction, which precedes Chapter I. Given that Melville wrote Moby Dick in part as a loving parody of scholarship, we have to consider this material as part of the book proper. Melville meant us to read it before Chapter I's famous first sentence, to provide historical, scientific, and aesthetic context to all that comes afterwards. And so the first word of Moby Dick is ETYMOLOGY, and quite a fitting word, too, for a word-a-day reading of a book. Every word carries a history with it, like a clown car filled with the skeletons of former clowns. Part of savoring a word is savoring those clown skeletons. And so, etymology: The Online Etymology Dictionary (https://www.etymonline.com) is a pretty good resource. It's not as good as the Oxford English Dictionary (even though they cheekily gave it the same initialism), but I don't have access to the OED. If anyone does and wants to post stuff from there, that's cool too! Anyway, here's the etymonline entry for "etymology" Online Etymology Dictionary posted:etymology (n.) So etymology literally means something like "a true speaking." Even the first word here lets us know we're going to hear the truth. Veriloquium is a nice synonym, too. Drop that word into a conversation and they probably have to make you a professor. As a added bonus, I think it's impossible to say "etymology" in a way that doesn't make you sound like a nerd. It's got too many "y"s and it's quite nasally. This is actually quite appropriate for Moby Dick. One aspect largely overlooked about Ishmael is that he's a tremendous nerd, especially when it comes to cetology. In fact, Melville might have started off the book with "Whale, Actually." Although these chapters are not conclusively given to Ishmael, since he is the narrator, and since whoever compiled the two sections of the Introduction cares way too much about whales, just as Ishmael does, it makes sense to assume that he is the author of these two chapters, just as he is the speaker of most of the rest. cda fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Apr 12, 2017 ---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 21:33
|
|
|
In case you are interested, we will reach Ishmael's famous declaration in a little less than 10 years, so if you're just in it for the popular stuff, see you then!
---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 21:41
|
|
|
I had a former boss once tell me I was a "good employee...but slow". This is the thread for me! |
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 21:45
|
|
Admiral_eX_laX posted:I had a former boss once tell me I was a "good employee...but slow". What a compliment. I hope you're still in the process of thanking him! ---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 21:47
|
|
|
|
OP you have inspired me to read Gravity's rainbow, one letter at a time. |
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 21:51
|
|
Arrhythmia posted:OP you have inspired me to read Gravity's rainbow, one letter at a time. "A" Good letter to start with. Best letter, actually, to start with. That's the first letter. A fitting first character for an epic such as Gravity's Rainbow. ---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 21:54
|
|
|
Better yet, do you know what comes next? A space. Right from the primordial mud of Sumerian cuneiform to a characterless void. If that isn't Gravity's Rainbow in two characters, I don't know what is.
---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 21:57
|
|
|
|
cda posted:I saw this wino, he was eating grapes. I was like, “Dude, you have to wait” - Mitch Hedberg Escalators don't break down, they just become stairs. Sorry for the convenience.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 22:21
|
|
|
|
cda posted:Better yet, do you know what comes next? A space. Right from the primordial mud of Sumerian cuneiform to a characterless void. If that isn't Gravity's Rainbow in two characters, I don't know what is. Please don't post about tomorrow's character! I don't want spoilers!
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 22:25
|
|
|
someone does questionable stuff to said whales penis iirc |
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2017 23:16
|
|
|
(Supplied
---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2017 15:31
|
|
|
|
I can't shake the feeling that you're not reciting the actual moby dick, but instead some impostor work. for example it might be identical up until the last word, which might be "blorphan" in your version instead of the actual last word of the epilogue which is HAHA FUK U. then this whole exercise would have been a sham, intellectually bankrupt, totally worthless. your standard borgesian dilemma
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2017 15:40
|
|
cda posted:(Supplied After the ancient Greek of "Etymology" we get the Latinate "supplied." Personally, I wasn't a big fan of the word. I don't like the cluster consonant pl which does not have a pleasant mouthfeel. It feels like you're trying to swallow something unpleasant. The etymology gave me stuff to think about Online Etymology Dictionary posted:supply (v.) So it's initially sub+plere, which means "to fill from underneath," which is an interesting image. Off the top of my head, the only thing I can think of that fills from below is a spring, making this a word which has really stretched from its initial narrow meaning. I guess metaphorically, a supply is something which comes to you from lower down in a hierarchy as, for example, a mine supplies ore to a steel mill, which supplies steel to a factory, and so on up the chain of refinement to a final destination. The implication of "supplied," vs other synoynms such as "contributed," "furnished," or "provided," is that that which is supplied arises from the depths. This suggestion of knowledge from below is absolutely appropriate for the satirical image of scholarship which Melville wants to present in this book; in Melville's portrait of the scholar, scholars are the most downtrodden of underlings, wasting their lives scuttling through dusty stacks in search of facts which supposedly illuminate dark truths, but which, however, cannot be comprehended as truth until it is too late and one is already in the belly of the Whale. ---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2017 15:52
|
|
|
So in the end Moby Dick ............. and ........ puts ............ in ......... so when the ................. is placed on .................... the ....... is ........ captain ..........!!!!! |
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2017 20:05
|
|
|
|
OP I noticed that you failed to comment on you searching up the etymology of a word immediately following the word etymology. This is the kind of metatextual manipulation the post modern author could only dream of achieving, and a testament to Melville's enduring genius. |
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2017 20:23
|
|
|
|
kicking myself for being late to the trhead. i have a lot of catch up to do, but with determination i know i will be able to stick it out and get back on track before the end of the thread. if there was a common phrase to describe a seemingly impossible task that you obsess over to the point that it becomes the focus of your entire life, i would use it here to describe this situation. |
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2017 23:56
|
|
|
Peanuts did it 
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2017 01:27
|
|
Gross Dude posted:Peanuts did it I did not know about this plot arc, but I love it and great minds think alike |
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2017 02:20
|
|
|
|
I had this reply open for quite some time, to post this ponderous graffito with extraordinary deliberation: "Cheibriados rulez" |
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2017 02:27
|
|
|
|
SniperWoreConverse posted:I had this reply open for quite some time, to post this ponderous graffito with extraordinary deliberation: I think it's really cool that Cheibriados' text colour is the BYOB colours. It's really the taking it easy colour.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2017 02:30
|
|
|
Gross Dude posted:Peanuts did it Schultz was a true visionary |
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2017 03:21
|
|
|
by
---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2017 17:33
|
|
cda posted:by "by" completes the Major English Influences hat trick with an old English word to complement the Greek "Etymology" and the Latin-by-way-of-Old-French "supplied." In three words, Melville has encapsulated a great deal of the history of the English language. Most of the words in English come to us from Germanic languages (26%), French (26%), Latin (29%), or Greek (6%). It also brings up an issue by its very existence, which is how I'm going to cover words that will inevitably come up many times -- articles, conjunctions, prepositions, and the like. Should I go all-in the first time, or try to limit what I say so as to preserve analysis for future instances? I think my official stance will be to Not Give A poo poo about any of that. So here's the etymology of "by" Online Etymology Dictionary posted:by (prep.) Look up by at Dictionary.com I can't think much to say about by, except that its use in "by and large" is a nautical one which few people know. Also, it seems to short for me. It's not the b that's the problem, it's the y. I would prefer "bye" but I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles. ---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2017 17:42
|
|
|
a
---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2017 19:00
|
|
|
Ahh, the indefinite article. Online Etymology Dictionary posted:indefinite article, form of an used before consonants, mid-12c., a weakened form of Old English an "one" (see an). The disappearance of the -n- before consonants was mostly complete by mid-14c. After c. 1600 the -n- also began to vanish before words beginning with a sounded -h-; it still is retained by many writers before unaccented syllables in h- or (e)u- but is now no longer normally spoken as such. The -n- also lingered (especially in southern England dialect) before -w- and -y- through 15c. One of the interesting things about "a" is that although it is usually pronounced as "uh," it can be pronounced as "ay" when you're trying to emphasize and contrast the indefiniteness of the indicated noun, as in "sure he's a president, but he's not the president." Old English got by without an indefinite article at all. You wouldn't say. "Binky was a good horse," you'd just say "Binky was good horse." There's not really a need for it, except to change the connotation of a sentence (to make the noun an instance of a general concept, rather than just a referent to a particular individual), and the changing of the pronunciation to emphasize that fact is, perhaps, a vestigial recognition that the article often doesn't do anything that truly needs to be done. In that sense, "a" is just an ornament of the language, a lighthearted little bell we string along the structure of our sentences to tinkle brightly in the breeze of a listener's consciousness. Try writing without it and you'll see: your sentences make perfect sense, but they're in a bad mood. ---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2017 19:13
|
|
cda posted:ETYMOLOGY Lol ---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2017 19:30
|
|
|
it really is a whale of a book  idk if it changed my life or not but i really appreciate it and it feels to me like the birth of the modernist novel
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2017 22:02
|
|
|
what did I miss?
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2017 01:45
|
|
|
|
Manifisto posted:I can't shake the feeling that you're not reciting the actual moby dick, but instead some impostor work. for example it might be identical up until the last word, which might be "blorphan" in your version instead of the actual last word of the epilogue which is HAHA FUK U. then this whole exercise would have been a sham, intellectually bankrupt, totally worthless. Life is about journeys, not destinations. If you spend the next 570-ish years wondering whether there will be a last-minute subversion of your expectations, does not the suspense make the whole experience more entertaining, if nothing else, and therefore in some ways more valuable? |
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2017 06:34
|
|
|
Late
---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2017 13:00
|
|
cda posted:Late Late is a word that goes way back to Proto-Indo-European. Like many PIE words, it has a good mouthfeel, probably the result of having been worn smooth by millennia of constant usage. These words are like the beach-glass and driftwood of our language. Or perhaps when there were less words, it was easier to select words that rolled off the tongue. In any case, "late" is a fine word to say. You can say it a lot without it losing any of its flavor or meaning. Online Etymology Dictionary posted:late (adj.) The root word here is "to let go," and in fact "let" and "late" are kissin' cousins, along with "lassitude." The meaning of the word in this context is a secondary meaning that comes from the early 15th century, of "recently dead." I knew that the word meant "dead" but I did not realize that it only means recently dead, and that if used in other contexts such as "the late George Washington" it is some species of humorous hyperbole that either suggests that the past is not so past, or delicately emphasizes the fact that they are no longer living. To my mind, there is something respectful, overly formal even, in referring to a person as "the late." It seems like something you would only do with dignitaries and loved ones; those whose deaths you cannot forget, yet do not want to remember. I believe that Melville is trading on this kind of formality to humorous effect, as the person described in this sentence is anonymous. It's a sign of respect that is too respectful for the circumstance. This is a good example of a connotative split; Melville is able to have it both way: elevating an anonymous scholar through his use of the word, while gently poking fun at the same. How recently dead is the dead person? The late William Safire suggested that 15 years was about the statute of limitations for "late." Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage, Second Edition (1985) William and Mary Morris posted:There is no precise time element involved in determining how long a person must be dead before he is no longer considered late. As a general rule, late is used in reference to persons whose death has occurred within the twenty or thirty years just past. On the other hand, it is proper for an elderly person to refer to a contemporary who has preceded him in death as "the late." Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989) posted:...Here are a few opinions: ...the statute of limitations might run for half a century" --Bernstein 1971 "As a general rule, late is used in reference to persons whose death has occurred within the twenty or thirty years just past" --Harper 1975 "... 'the late' is used for about ten to fifteen years after death" --Safire 1984 ---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2017 13:19
|
|
|
|
I rapidly scrolled down this entire thread. I remember seeing the date 1590 and then the word concubine. Are these things on this page of the thread? |
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2017 15:02
|
|
|
|
Looks like the answer is no. This is what happens when you try to read 10000 words per minute. |
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2017 15:06
|
|
|
Seriously, though, can somebody catch me up? I hate coming to these things late.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2017 00:11
|
|
|
Consumptive
---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2017 14:41
|
|
cda posted:Consumptive "Consumption" here is pulmonary tuberculosis, which often causes weight loss, and was thus classified as a "wasting" disease. At the time that Melville was writing, tuberculosis had only recently been identified as a single disease, and the actual bacteria was not identified until the 1880s. Until then it had simply been classified as a series of symptoms; thus, an estimate that one in four fatalities in England in 1815 was caused by "consumption" is not quite the same thing as saying that one in four was caused by tuberculosis (because other diseases with similar symptoms may have been included). During Melville's time it was certainly a leading cause of death but had not yet even been identified as contagious. In the 19th century, tuberculosis was seen as a "romantic disease," which affected the sensitive and spiritually pure and heightened their sensitivity further. It was thus a popular literary gimmick to afflict "good" characters with it, since, among other things, the fact that it offered a lingering death allowed for any number of deathbed speeches and sacrifices. It is one of the few diseases I can think of in which the sufferer of the disease was supposed to be more, not less, virtuous than the healthy, and its status was indisputably linked to the cultural interest in "sensitivity" as a virtue during the 19th century. The Victorian gentleman was expected to be a paragon of sensitivity, a vision of masculinity far removed from our current one. But it was the ladies who were really expected to be consumptive, and, indeed, many deliberately lightened their features with cosmetics to achieve that fragile, pale, consumptive glow. The social desirability of a disease called "consumption" during the onset of Capitalism is a delicious coincidence. Given the time period, Melville's calling the scholar "consumptive" is not intended to inform us of the manner of his death so much as to characterize him as a pale, sensitive, sacrificial sort, given to spending time in dank and dusty archives which were thought, in the absence of knowledge about the exact means of transmission, to cause the disease (and certainly did exacerbate the symptoms). "Consumption," referring to the disease is an example of a word that comes to us not through a long process of organic evolution of language, but rather as a translated transplant. The term which had been used since at least Hippocrates was the ancient Greek "phthisis" (as in "phthis is a terrible disease!") which literally means "consumption," so the English word is just a translation of the Greek during the late 14th century: Online Etymology Dictionary posted:consumption (n.) The roots for "consumption" are Latin: con + sub + emere, and all of the parts are interesting. "Emere" means to take or buy, and goes all the way back to the proto-indo-European root "*em-" which means "to take or distribute" (for instance "emit"). What's interesting here is the tendency shown by words for giving and taking to acquire economic connotations over time -- the OE "sellan" (to give) becomes "sell," and the Hebrew "laqah," which originally means "he took" now means "he bought." "Con" is a prefix that most of us know means "with, together" but was also sometimes used as an intensifier in Latin, and that's how it's used here, to mean "totally" or "completely." "Sum" is another form of "sub," which as previously discussed, means "from below" so what we have here is "completely taken from below." This, along with "supplied" is thus the second etymologically suggested image of dark or hidden things coming up from below. Our scholar was truly a pathetic creature of some dark, dank pit. By the way, this directional image is still with us in our language in phrases such as "used up" (ask yourself how "used up" is different from "used"). cda fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Apr 17, 2017 ---------------- |
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2017 15:18
|
|
|
|
I'm loving this thread and the guided reading within |
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2017 15:33
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 08:34 |
|
|
fun fact: a white whale swam up the Hudson River in 1647, all the way to Albany. Whales often managed to penetrate deep into the interior of New York because of the brackish water of the Hudson River. Usually they would get stuck in the shallow water, die, and get eaten by Mohawks. https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/additional-resources/dutch-treats/the-white-whale/ Herman Melville was descended from the Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam, and had heard about the white whale as a family story that was passed down. DISCLAIMER: THIS POST DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE |
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2017 17:37
|
|
