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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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New Scientist for 12 Jan 2002 mentions wordsmith.org saying many subscribers to AWAD wrote in because the magazine had a section called Feedback that for many months carried what it called "nominative determinism" and Today's Word for Dec. 12 gave "aptronym" with same meaning. "And immediately Feedbacks inbox started filling up with e-mails from readers."
Sad to say a couple of weeks has gone by, and there does not appear to be the influx of new UK members that would be so welcome.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Shame - but maybe some are just looking, still. Meanwhile, a selection of gems from this week's Feedback column:  Reader Keith Huggett was prompted by our piece on aptronyms (12 January) to tell us that many years ago, at the Mitcham Grammar School for Boys in south London, there were four pupils in one year named Huggett, Brushett, Pettit and Boylett. Huggett is unwilling to discuss the direction his own life subsequently took, but says he often wonders how Brushett, Pettit and Boylett got on.
Health food is more wonderful than you thought. Duncan Cameron was reading Healthy, published by purveyors of health food Holland & Barrett. "Consuming large quantities of Vitamin C," he read, "may halve your risk of death." And it's not just H&B that says so: "According to research published in the Lancet," Healthy tells us, "increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables by 50 grams a day may cut your risk of death by 20 per cent." Feedback is going straight out to the street market to get a kilo of luvverly fresh, 100 per cent organic carrots, and munch the lot on the bus home. This, by the logic being deployed by Healthy, should result in our risk of death changing to minus 400 per cent. So expect 4 separate columns next week, and forever...
Finally, reader Tom Jeffs spotted an intriguing sign on a van in the west of England recently. Belonging to Bartens Goods Delivery, the van sported the company motto on its side: "We move stationary fast."
There is more Feedback on our website: http://newscientist.com
© Reed Business Information Ltd
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Mav: my copies of New Scientist are delivered by carrier seagull, and take two weeks to get here.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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oops - sorry, Bill, didn't mean to spoil your future enjoyment!
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Mav: took me five minutes to figure out what you meant. My only regret is that the carrier seagulls aren't capable of supersonic flight. Their tardiness does spoil my prospects of getting clever letters to editors on time to have them considered for publication. Bill
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