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Ralph Hancock | 1 Jul 2008 01:21

Re: tan: matters capital

Chris Weimer wrote:

> I wonder if there would be any
> objection in adopting the German practice of capitalization?

How tidy that would be. But this is anarchic English, and you might as
well try to teach kittens to march in step.

As a cautious copy editor, beginning in times long before
sensibilities became so inflamed, I always used 'Biblical', to give
the term equality with the other holy books whose titles were always
capitalised.

There really are no rules about this in English, except for the
historical one that familiar objects lose their capitals, and which if
unmoderated produces 'biblical'. It can't be relied on: to take a US
example, if your write 'fiberglass' in an article that achieves the
necessary public scrutiny, you are likely to get a sharp reminder from
Dow Corning that it is 'Fiberglas(R)'. This actually happened to me in
Britain, with the British form of the name registered by Pilkingtons
Glass.

RH
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J. L. Speranza | 1 Jul 2008 01:02
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"Madame Bovary" -- en grecque ancien

The Swimming-Pool Library: Fiction: Novel  Sub-Section (Graeco-Roman)

Greek for 'novel'

There was the post on  this forum on this new intro for U. C./Berkeley 
edition of 'novels' and the  comment as to the edition. I was wondering. The Greeks 
were pretty wise, and the  title of this book by UC/Berkeley (a publisher I 
cherish since they published  Grice, "Personal Identity") is possibly meant to 
be provocative...

Also  Loeb's recent title was the Dafnis and Chloe, also 'advertised' as a 
'novel' (if  not downright 'romance').

But again, the Greeks were pretty wise, and was  wondering if Aristotle -- or 
later, since unfortunately the high classics could  care less about 
'meta-literary theory' -- had a truly Greek word for 'novel'. I  may not, but friends 
of mine will refuse to speak of 'novel' at the  Swimming-Pool Library. 

Why, they may next be asking for the non-fiction  section!

I've noticed that in America Borders and Barnes and Noble don't  really make 
a distinction between short story/novel -- it's all "fiction",  ednit. 

I can hear an Etonian complain: "Greek novel? Balderdash! We had  to wait for 
Richardson to have our own novels -- since Beowulf? Have the Greeks  also 
_beat_ us at *that*?'

Cheers,

J. L.
(Continue reading)

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Chris Weimer | 1 Jul 2008 08:47
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Re: tan: matters capital

Taking up that note, there's also Velcro®, Band-Aid®, Zipper®, Vaseline®, 
and Q-Tip®.

Chris

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Ralph Hancock" <ralph.hancock <at> GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 6:21 PM
To: <CLASSICS-L <at> LSV.UKY.EDU>
Subject: Re: [CLASSICS-L] tan: matters capital

> Chris Weimer wrote:
>
>> I wonder if there would be any
>> objection in adopting the German practice of capitalization?
>
> How tidy that would be. But this is anarchic English, and you might as
> well try to teach kittens to march in step.
>
> As a cautious copy editor, beginning in times long before
> sensibilities became so inflamed, I always used 'Biblical', to give
> the term equality with the other holy books whose titles were always
> capitalised.
>
> There really are no rules about this in English, except for the
> historical one that familiar objects lose their capitals, and which if
> unmoderated produces 'biblical'. It can't be relied on: to take a US
> example, if your write 'fiberglass' in an article that achieves the
> necessary public scrutiny, you are likely to get a sharp reminder from
> Dow Corning that it is 'Fiberglas(R)'. This actually happened to me in
(Continue reading)

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Al Schlaf | 1 Jul 2008 09:48

Re: tan: matters capital

Kleenex.  Don't forget Kleenex.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Weimer" <chris.m.weimer <at> GMAIL.COM>
To: <CLASSICS-L <at> LSV.UKY.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 1:47 AM
Subject: Re: [CLASSICS-L] tan: matters capital

Taking up that note, there's also Velcro®, Band-Aid®, Zipper®, Vaseline®,
and Q-Tip®.

Chris

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Ralph Hancock" <ralph.hancock <at> GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 6:21 PM
To: <CLASSICS-L <at> LSV.UKY.EDU>
Subject: Re: [CLASSICS-L] tan: matters capital

> Chris Weimer wrote:
>
>> I wonder if there would be any
>> objection in adopting the German practice of capitalization?
>
> How tidy that would be. But this is anarchic English, and you might as
> well try to teach kittens to march in step.
>
> As a cautious copy editor, beginning in times long before
> sensibilities became so inflamed, I always used 'Biblical', to give
> the term equality with the other holy books whose titles were always
(Continue reading)

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Terrence Lockyer | 1 Jul 2008 11:15
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Re: tan: matters capital

Al Schlaf writes:

: Kleenex.  Don't forget Kleenex.

and Xerox, and Hoover.

However, among standard British English desk-reference 
dictionaries, there does seem to be consensus on 
"biblical" - this is the verdict of Chambers Twentieth 
Century (1972), the Concise OED, 11th ed. revised 
(2006;  and the same going back at least as far as the 
4th ed. in the 1950s), and assorted Collins.  Oddly, a 
1973 Webster in my possession capitalizes neither 
"biblical" nor even "bible" in the head-words, though 
it does capitalize "the Bible" within entries.

Terrence Lockyer
Johannesburg, South Africa
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John M. McMahon | 1 Jul 2008 13:11
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More about teaching: Stanley Fish on the role of instructors

Interesting comments about what should go on in the classroom ...

IHE 7/1/08:

"Fish to Profs: Stick to Teaching"

Excerpts of note

"Stanley Fish is very clear about what college professors should do in the
classroom.

They 'can (legitimately) do two things: (1) introduce students to bodies of
knowledge and traditions of inquiry that had not previously been part of
their experience; and (2) equip those same students with the analytical
skills ‹ of argument, statistical modeling, laboratory procedure ‹ that will
enable them to move confidently within those traditions and to engage in
independent research after a course is over.'

And what should they not do? Everything else."

[snip]

From the interview:

"'It¹s my conviction that teachers should not have posters ... on the doors
of their office that indicate some political, partisan or ideological
affiliation. The office ... is an extension of the scene of teaching, and no
student should enter an office [believing that] some ideas are going to be
preferred and others are better not uttered. The larger part are those
professors who are sincerely convinced that it is their job to take their
(Continue reading)

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John M. McMahon | 1 Jul 2008 13:34
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Re: L'inciampo di Tale

On 6/29/08 12:33 AM, "J. L. Speranza" <Jlsperanza <at> AOL.COM> wrote:

> J. M. McMahon sheds (and  shares) such a passion on astronomy that, guided
> also by Brit J. Isles, I'm  becoming more and more aware of how important
> stars 
> are and how important they  were for the Greeks, for this is what we should
> discuss here (never mind the  Near-East, "Alexandria" a Western city? What was
> Sagan thinking of).  My  cousin is in fact very much into computer-guided
> astronomy and I should  reciprocate his interest in the Southern Cross more
> frequently than the  occasional family garden party).

Sadly, many folks think that astronomy is about the equipment.

When ordinary folks who show up at our astro-club's star parties and tell me
that they're interested in astronomy and want to pursue it as a hobby, they
often ask what kind of telescope they should buy.

I tell them that the best optical aid available is the one that came with
them at birth: their eyes.

One should first take the wider view of the visible universe and learn the
sky by simply looking up ... star by star, constellation by constellation --
with all their seasonal diversity, their beauty and their stories. That will
suffice for the first year or so ... and the simple fact of being out under
the cosmos and seeing the majesty of the heavens as terrestrial conditions
slowly change over the course of the year will enrich one's daily life in
ways that will alter one's perceptions and perspectives forever.

JMM / LMC
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Goya | 1 Jul 2008 18:18
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Re: tan: matters capital

> Added to Quranic, Talmudic, and Vedic is septuagintal, saturnine, jovial,
> and quixotic, right? I've seen initial capitalizations for all of those
> four
> except jovial (i.e. Quixotic and quixotic). I wonder if there would be any
> objection in adopting the German practice of capitalization?

Meaning what, exactly ? Since they are adjectives, the German equivalents
of all these words would be in minuscule. Is that what you're advocating?

Michael Chase
CNRS UPR 76
Paris-Villejuif
France
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Goya | 1 Jul 2008 18:26
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Re: "Madame Bovary" -- en grecque ancien

> The Swimming-Pool Library: Fiction: Novel  Sub-Section (Graeco-Roman)
>
> Greek for 'novel'

This is actually (for once) an interesting question. When I translate from
the German, my first impulse is to render Roman by "novel" when dealing
with Antiquity (NB should this latter word be capitalized or not?), but
upon revision I've usually changed to "romance". After all the Roman de la
Rose is hardly a novel in the current sense of the term, and I suspect
this is also true of all the ancient exemplars from Apuleius to Heliodorus
and Chariton. I suspect that Lukacs may have been right, as he often was,
to identify the birth of the novel, as we know it, with the emergence of
capitalist society.

Michael Chase
CNRS UPR 76
Paris-Villejuif
France
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Al Schlaf | 1 Jul 2008 22:04

Re: More about teaching: Stanley Fish on the role of instructors

>>>"'It¹s my conviction that teachers should not have posters ... on the 
>>>doors
of their office that indicate some political, partisan or ideological
affiliation. The office ... is an extension of the scene of teaching, and no
student should enter an office [believing that] some ideas are going to be
preferred and others are better not uttered. The larger part are those
professors who are sincerely convinced that it is their job to take their
students and mold both their characters and their ideological views 
....'"<<<

AMEN!

My students get a bit miffed when I refuse to tell them for whom I voted in 
an election or whom I support in the run-up to one.  Wearing your politics 
in the classroom for all to see is a distraction from the purpose the kids 
are there for.  They are to learn the subject at hand and how to evaluate 
it.  That's it.

That means no bumper sticker on my car, no campaign button on my lapel, no 
campaign literature on my desk.  Two summers ago, I hesitated in speaking 
out against two corrupt/incompetent city councilmen as I knew the meetings 
would be televised.  I went ahead and did so, figuring most middle school 
kids would not be paying attention to it and, if they did, would likely 
forget it by September.  Anyway, it was a bi-partisan thing--both parties 
wanted them out.  As it turned out, only one student asked about it, nearly 
a year later and misremembered the context of it, so it made no difference. 
However, had it been during the school year, I might have passed on it.

As a teacher. it is all too easy to intimidate students into shutting down 
for fear of crossing you on your politics.  It is also all too easy to get
(Continue reading)

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Gmane