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Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010Fowler: "Hermetically sealed," "integral part," "real danger"
Amusing passage by H. W. Fowler (from "Modern English Usage", I believe): [entry on "Hermetically"; italicized words are enclosed in asterisks] === begin quoted text === HERMETICALLY: This word is now so constant a partner of *sealed* that one would almost suppose sealing that was not hermetic to be a botched job, just as a *part* seems no longer to be a part unless it is *integral* or a *danger* a danger unless it is *real*. The word is not derived from the Greek god Hermes. He had remarkable talents--before he was a day old he had invented a musical instrument and done some cattle-rustling--but it was his Egyptian counterpart *Thoth*, or *Hermes Trismegisto*, that was the specialist in magic and alchemy whose skill in fusing metals enabled him to make airtight containers. === end quoted text === I sought this favorite old passage online and found it here -- it matches my memory of it (though I'm sorry I can't provide a more adequate citation): http://marylaine.com/myword/booklove.html Hope you are all in good spirits. -- Brett (in Berkeley, California, USA) http://www.100bestwebsites.org/ "The 100 finest sites on the Web, all in one place!" Widely-watched non-profit ranking of top Internet sites > Amusing passage by H. W. Fowler (from "Modern English Usage", I > believe): [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > === end quoted text === This confirms HWF was mortal viz. as likely as any of us to invent folk etymology. A likelier source (without the jokes) is that experimenters were likely to call themselves "hermetic philosophers" at any date between the 16th century and Newton's day, when "natural philosophy" meant experimentation (rather than reading Aristotle etc.) and "hermetic" implied working in secret like the alchemists (seeking the Philosopher's Stone for either health or wealth.) There was in this period no boundary between the secret knowledge that might be found in antique manuscripts and that which the experimenter might discover for himself, but keep secret in the hope of a practical application or patent or profit. Practical experiments with a vacuum (or an air pump to create a vacuum) flourished in the middle 17th century. Experimenters (Guericke, Torricelli, Robert Boyle) worked alone or in secret, except when they wanted to demonstrate success in order to secure a patron, thus were likely to be called "hermetic philosophers:" so that by association such a mysterious phenomenon as the Guericke hemispheres may have been called "hermetically sealed" (although the point of this demonstration was that nothing at all fastened together the hemispheres enclosing the vacuum, see Wikipedia): and similarly in other, later, different exemplars of air pumps (cf. Priestley's work on oxygen.) Memory just fails to recover a famous anecdote about a foreign correspondent in 1920-1940, who had to send hot news by telegraph after censorship by local authorities. He got the story through by phrasing it in standard journalistic cliches, omitting the second word of each pair, which head office could easily restore to understand the story, but which the censor's limited command of cliche failed to recognize.  SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > Amusing passage by H. W. Fowler (from "Modern English Usage", I > believe): > > [entry on "Hermetically"; italicized words are enclosed in asterisks] <snip> Just a note: Several newsreaders present text enclosed in asterisks as bold. They show words in italics if they are between slashes. SignatureSkitt (AmE) "Skitt": > Just a note: Several newsreaders present text enclosed in asterisks as > bold. They show words in italics if they are between slashes. In that case, one hopes they can be instructed not to do so. SignatureMark Brader, Toronto | "This is a film of non-stop action msb@vex.net | and non-start intelligence." --Mark Leeper > "Skitt": >> Just a note: Several newsreaders present text enclosed in asterisks >> as bold. They show words in italics if they are between slashes. > > In that case, one hopes they can be instructed not to do so. Yes, I think they can, but why would one want that, except in some special contexts? I think it is a generally accepted Usenet convention. http://fixunix.com/mozilla/436291-any-way-configure-tb-font-ize-bold-_underline_ -italic-delimited-text-posts.html SignatureSkitt (AmE) "Skitt": >>> Just a note: Several newsreaders present text enclosed in asterisks >>> as bold. They show words in italics if they are between slashes. Mark Brader: >> In that case, one hopes they can be instructed not to do so. "Skitt": > Yes, I think they can, but why would one want that, except in some special > contexts? I think it is a generally accepted Usenet convention. If I wanted people reading what I wrote in boldface or italics, I'd be posting in a forum that uses HTML or wikitext markup, not plain text. If I type *this*, then *this* is what I expect you to read. SignatureMark Brader /"\ ASCII RIBBON CAMPAIGN msb@vex.net \ / AGAINST HTML MAIL Toronto X AND NEWS / \ My text in this article is in the public domain. > "Skitt": >>>> Just a note: Several newsreaders present text enclosed in [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > posting in a forum that uses HTML or wikitext markup, not plain text. > If I type *this*, then *this* is what I expect you to read. Your preferences notwithstanding, it still seems to be a Usenet convention, NTTAWWT. SignatureSkitt (AmE) > "Skitt": >>>> Just a note: Several newsreaders present text enclosed in asterisks [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > posting in a forum that uses HTML or wikitext markup, not plain text. > If I type *this*, then *this* is what I expect you to read. In slrn, I see the asterisks, but "this" itself is bold; I get a different colour for /text/ in slashes. One thing that really annoyed me about KNode (which I used a few years ago) was that it italicized the text and did not display the slashes ... that made anything involving perl regexps awkward. SignatureTheir tags shall blink until the end of days. BoM 12:10 >> "Skitt": >>>>> Just a note: Several newsreaders present text enclosed in asterisks [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > the text and did not display the slashes ... that made anything > involving perl regexps awkward. I'm still trying to work out how to stop GNUs showing smiley faces in C infinite loops. That's for(;;) for those who wonder. SignatureOnline waterways route planner | http://canalplan.eu Plan trips, see photos, check facilities | http://canalplan.org.uk >>> If I wanted people reading what I wrote in boldface or italics, >>> I'd be posting in a forum that uses HTML or wikitext markup, not [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > That's for(;;) for those who wonder. I don't know what to tell you, but I can certainly attest that it's possible, as I use gnus and don't see smiley faces. I don't recall doing anything to stop it. I do have it display *this* as bold underlined and _this_ as underlined, but that's my own personal preference. I apologize to Mark for not reading his text the way he wants me to, but he quite likely wouldn't like the way I change his text's colors, either. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |The whole idea of our government is 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |this: if enough people get together Palo Alto, CA 94304 |and act in concert, they can take |something and not pay for it. kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com | P.J. O'Rourke (650)857-7572 http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ Evan Kirshenbaum filted: >> I'm still trying to work out how to stop GNUs showing smiley faces >> in C infinite loops. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >Mark for not reading his text the way he wants me to, but he quite >likely wouldn't like the way I change his text's colors, either. Took me a while to find Spamcop's setting that was forcing all parenthesized numbers ending in 8 to appear as smileys with spectacles...I could almost see that being the default for a chat forum or even HTML email, but this is a service that delivers all email as plain text....r SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? >> I'm still trying to work out how to stop GNUs showing smiley faces >> in C infinite loops. >> >> That's for(;;) for those who wonder. I try to avoid infinite loops. I think I picked that tip up in an old textbook. > I don't know what to tell you, but I can certainly attest that it's > possible, as I use gnus and don't see smiley faces. I don't recall [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Mark for not reading his text the way he wants me to, but he quite > likely wouldn't like the way I change his text's colors, either. As long as you're reading the USENET in a monospace font, anything else is fine with me. { { } }_{ __{ .-{ } }-. ( } { ) |`-.._____..-'| | ;--. | (__ \ | | ) ) | |/ / | / / | ( / \ y' `-.._____..-' SignatureUnix is a user-friendly operating system. It's just very choosy about its friends. >>> I'm still trying to work out how to stop GNUs showing smiley faces >>> in C infinite loops. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > I try to avoid infinite loops. I think I picked that tip up in an old > textbook. In C, though, you're stuck with them, because C doesn't have a good way to write loops. (Actually, it doesn't have a good way to express much at all. It continues to annoy me that most of the platforms for which I have to provide software solutions don't support any serious programming language. C is such an ubiquitous programming language that people overlook the fact that it was only ever designed for toy applications.) SignaturePeter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org For an e-mail address, see my web page. > (Actually, it doesn't have a good way to express much at all. It > continues to annoy me that most of the platforms for which I have to > provide software solutions don't support any serious programming > language. C is such an ubiquitous programming language that people > overlook the fact that it was only ever designed for toy applications.) Like kernels, yeah! ;-) SignatureTake it? I can't even parse it! [Kibo] >> (Actually, it doesn't have a good way to express much at all. It >> continues to annoy me that most of the platforms for which I have [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Like kernels, yeah! ;-) Well, sure, but not on real computers. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds it amusing to see a variety of Unix held up as the "real operating system" that other systems are criticized for not measuring up to. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |A handgun is like a Lawyer. You 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |don't want it lying around where Palo Alto, CA 94304 |the children might be exposed to |it, but when you need one, you need kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com |it RIGHT NOW, and nothing else will (650)857-7572 |do. | Bill McNutt http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ <snip> >As long as you're reading the USENET in a monospace font, anything >else is fine with me. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > \ y' > `-.._____..-' Good job! SignatureRegards, Chuck Riggs, An American who lives near Dublin, Ireland and usually spells in BrE ><snip> > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Good job! I just copied-and-pasted it. http://www.ascii-art.de/ascii/c/coffee.txt (That site has a large collection of classified ascii art.) SignatureI heard that Hans Christian Andersen lifted the title for "The Little Mermaid" off a Red Lobster Menu. [Bucky Katt] > http://www.ascii-art.de/ascii/c/coffee.txt > > (That site has a large collection of classified ascii art.) What clearance level do you need? Brian SignatureDay 365 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project >> http://www.ascii-art.de/ascii/c/coffee.txt >> >> (That site has a large collection of classified ascii art.) > > What clearance level do you need? Oops ... that would be this one: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/palmer666/howtos.htm Signature"It is the role of librarians to keep government running in difficult times," replied Dramoren. "Librarians are the last line of defence against chaos." (McMullen 2001) >>> http://www.ascii-art.de/ascii/c/coffee.txt >>> [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >http://homepage.ntlworld.com/palmer666/howtos.htm From that: .--------------------------------------------------------------------------. | H O W T O M A K E A P L A S T I C B O T T L E R O C K E T | '--------------------------------------------------------------------------' Introduction ============ I built this with my kids last weekend. It went higher than our house. He doesn't say how high the house went. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) ... >As long as you're reading the USENET in a monospace font, anything >else is fine with me. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > \ y' > `-.._____..-' Why should another's reading preferences affect you? If someone prefers a proportional typeface (and doesn't care a black rat's clacker for ASCII "art") then it shouldn't matter to another poster. Most newsreaders allow switching between proportional and monospace if one really wants to check out a table or piccy or whatever. SignatureRichard Bollard Canberra Australia To email, I'm at AMT not spAMT. Richard Bollard: > Why should another's reading preferences affect you? If someone > prefers a proportional typeface (and doesn't care a black rat's > clacker for ASCII "art") then it shouldn't matter to another poster. It matters because if you're participating in an exchange then you're expected to be able to read what's posted to it. Anyway, it's not just ASCII art that can be rendered illegible in a proportional font; other examples are tables and bridge-hand diagrams. SignatureMark Brader | "I thought it was a big joke. Toronto | Dr. Brader is known for joking around a lot." msb@vex.net | --Matthew McKnight Mark Brader filted: >Richard Bollard: >> Why should another's reading preferences affect you? If someone [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >just ASCII art that can be rendered illegible in a proportional font; >other examples are tables and bridge-hand diagrams. It can really screw up underlining too....r ^^^^^^^^^^^ SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? >Mark Brader filted: >> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >>just ASCII art that can be rendered illegible in a proportional font; >>other examples are tables and bridge-hand diagrams. You snipped the bit where I said that you can change for posts (or exchanges) where these are used. >It can really screw up underlining too....r > ^^^^^^^^^^^ Yes but that's _my_ problem if I don't switch typefaces. The very few cases where it matters are not enough to sacrifice reading comfort (subjective, I know) for the vast majority of other posts. Funny that we allow devices such as underlining but don't tolerate emoticons (except old ones like ! and ?). SignatureRichard Bollard Canberra Australia To email, I'm at AMT not spAMT. > > In slrn, I see the asterisks, but "this" itself is bold; I get a > > different colour for text in slashes. One thing that really annoyed [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > That's for(;;) for those who wonder. There's an investment web forum I frequent. People frequently write numbers such as the expense ratios of funds enclosed in parentheses. This leads to a problem when one ends in a 8, such as (0.18). The forum software interprets the 8) to be an emoticon (sunglasses smile). Brian SignatureDay 364 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project |
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