Lotsa times in Roman times, the children would be named after the father. For boys this meant duplication, and for girls it often meant changing the ‘-us’ to ‘-a’ in Claudius to Claudia, Julius to Julia, Flavius to Flavia, etc. I know this because of Rotten Romans by Terry Deary. This playlist is somewhat related to that fact.
1. Antonia – Motion City Soundtrack
2. Cecilia – Simon and Garfunkel
3. Cynthia – Millionyoung
4. Daria – Cake
5. Eugenia – Scott Joplin
6. Gloria – Van Morrison
7. O Valencia! – The Decemberists
8. Victoria – Jukebox the Ghost
9. Dancing Virginia – Jump, Little Children
10. I’m Coming Virginia – Artie Shaw
September 20, 2010
in horrible histories,latin,Music,names,patronyms,Playlists,rotten romans,short list
1. I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
2. Song of the Cebu – Veggie Tales
3. Violin – They Might Be Giants
4. Happy Hippo – Cloud Cult
5. Hippo Stomp – Steppenwolf
August 18, 2010
in hippos,Music,Playlists,short list,The Hippopotamus
I just heard it on Poetry Off the Shelf podcast but I can’t find a transcription online so I’ve made one of my own:
I love you as if it’s World War II
And you’ve just been called up
It’s raining hard
And I’m wearing a sensational goodbye hat
You can read 9 more of her poems on the Poetry Foundation website here.
May 5, 2010
in dorothea grossman,i did not write this,poem,poetry,poetry off the shelf,ww2
I wasn’t reading a lot.. and now I am. It’s bringing up a lot of un-read book guilt and this is what it looks like. I am nearly done with Perelandra by C.S. Lewis after reading a whole lot of it on the plane back from California this evening and so I know decision-making time is nigh.
These are my upcoming book options (alphabetical by author):
How the Irish Saved Civilization – Thomas Cahill
Book 5 of the 39 Clues – Patrick Carman
Foyle’s Philavery – Christopher Foyle
The Ode Less Travelled – Stephen Fry
The Human Voice – Anna Karpf
That Hideous Strength- C.S. Lewis (3rd book in the Space Trilogy of which Perelandra is the 2nd)
Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
Carpe Diem – Harry Mount
Empires of the Word – Nicholas Ostler
The Language Instinct – Stephen Pinker
The Sparrow – Mary Doria Russell
Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi
The Linguistics of Lying – Harald Weinrich
I don’t actually have access to three of these books right now, but I have so many I should have already read, this should not be an issue. I think I’m on a fiction kick and so many of these are not that… the poor non-fiction books are gathering dust.
WHAT TO DO.
April 26, 2010
in Autobiographical,Books,c.s. lewis,future brianne,future tense,literature,third person
I recently finished The Man Who Made Lists by Joshua Kendall about the life of Peter Mark Roget and I don’t know what to say exactly.
I was hoping this book would be a kickstart to me to attack the pile of language books I have languidly lying around my bookshelves, but not so.
From the first pages, I was writing “awwwww” in the margins because the front and back sheets are his handwritten list of animal names in Latin and English.
The book goes through his biography, and I don’t like how it’s written, like the author had a Pastwatch-esque ability to know where Roget is looking and what he is thinking as he walks down the road or in the middle of a meeting. I know there are records and he could have explained it after the fact, but I just don’t buy it and it distracts me to throw in details about the buildings he passes and their little histories.
[and then suddenly…]
November 18, 2009
in Books,book_review,Cool_Guys_List,RESOLUTION,Roget,Words & Origins
Last week I got kicked in the pants by a linguistic celebrity. What happened was that at Andy’s 24th birthday party, 2 guys talking about their difficulty in finding suits their sizes were forced to talk to me by Andy. (I who was being forced to constantly drink more champagne.) I forced the conversation to linguistics as I do, and one of the smartly-dressed chaps suggested I email any famous important linguistics person I could think of in the world and ask for advice. Well I did, and I expected a surrogate response or a cokkie cutter statement but NO, Erin McKean the editor of the New Oxford American Dictionary and all-around good American lexicographer, WROTE BACK… TWICE. It was almost too much to take.
Anyhow she suggested that more than having a job in the industry or taking specific classes what I should really be doing is keeping up on Historical Linguistics literature. I almost jumped out the door to buy some big happy books when I realized I already have 8 that I’ve tried to start and then lost motivation for. “If you think it will be hard to motivate yourself to do the reading set yourself a public goal and blog your progress,” said the mighty lexicographer. And so I am. [and then suddenly…]
September 2, 2008
in Books,dictionaries,Words & Origins
