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AWADmail Issue 470

From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Interesting stories from the net

A Rosetta Stone for the Indus script
TED

Don't Kill the Oxford Comma!
Salon
WebCite

From: Andrew Pressburger (andpress sympatico.ca)
Subject: Jeeves
Def: A personal servant, especially one who is resourceful and reliable.

The word brings one of Jerry Seinfeld's classic lines to mind:
"If your parents name you Jeeves, they've pretty much mapped out your life for you. You don't meet a lot of hitmen named Jeeves. 'I'm sorry, sir, but I am going to whack you."

From: Ken Kirste (kkkirste sbcglobal.net)
Subject: Jeeves

W.C. Fields appeared to be influenced by the name of Wodehouse's character when he created Mahatma Kane Jeeves as his nom de plume as screenwriter for his 1940 movie "The Bank Dick".

From: Anirudh Sreerambhatla (anirudh.s2005 gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--jeeves

The word Jeeves could be misconstrued by the patrons of Wordsmith, if they haven't read the Jeeves and Wooster collection of books by PG Wodehouse. The author, through Bertie Wooster, describes Jeeves as a man with resources. In the book Right Ho, Jeeves, Bertie Wooster, to whom Jeeves works as a valet, describes him as the person who is approached by people belonging to the cognoscenti whenever they find themselves in any sort of soup.

One must understand Jeeves as a gentleman's gentleman, and not belittle him as a person who carries out the menial jobs which mostly require elbow grease. And for all those who haven't read PGW's works, Right Ho, Jeeves should be a great starting point. It would then give one a deeper insight into Jeeves's Character.

From: Margaret Dark Merrivale (mdark telkomsa.net)
Subject: thrasonical
Def: Bragging or boastful.

My mother -- who lived to be 95 -- was thrasonical when it came to colours elderly gentlewomen ought to wear. She eschewed pink, lavender, grey, and always wore the brightest of reds.

From: Srinivas Shastri (shastrix gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--barmecidal
Def: Giving only an illusion of something; unreal.

Well, Barmecide certainly had a barmy side :-)

The only person who got everything done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.

From: Jan Brittan (Skamandercat yahoo.com)
Subject: girl Friday

You mean "by contrast", not "by extension" -- "man" and "girl" are pointedly NOT parallel terms, just as "woman" and "boy" would not be. I do realize that sexism has made an aggressive comeback, but let's not take it for granted.

From: Jim Bishop (bishopj emu.edu)
Subject: Keep the good word coming!

I retired from my public information officer role at Eastern Mennonite University on June 30, 2011, after 40 years. One of my favorite things each morning was reading A.Word.A.Day; as a wordsmith, I learned something new about our marvelous and complex language and communication every day and should have taken time much sooner to simply express my appreciation for your labor of love on our behalf.