#19760
02/21/2001 11:49 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460
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Friends: a colleague of mine wants to find a word to describe a collection of stories. I've thought of "web" and "tapestry"; any other suggestions out there?
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#19761
02/21/2001 11:57 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
My sweet paulb:
Date: Tue Feb 8 00:04:32 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--omnibus
X-Bonus: Any mother could perform the jobs of several air-traffic controllers with ease. -Lisa Alther
omnibus (OM-ni-bus) noun
1. A long motor vehicle for passengers; a bus.
2. A printed anthology of the works of one author or of writings
on related subjects.
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Date: Thu Feb 10 00:04:27 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--florilegium
X-Bonus: As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer and philosopher (1803-1882)
florilegium (flor-uh-LEE-jee-uhm, FLOR-) noun, plural florilegia
A collection of literary pieces; anthology.
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#19763
02/21/2001 2:50 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Perhaps something like: Tales of the South Pacific
The Decameron
A Thousand and One Nights
A Cornucopia
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#19764
02/21/2001 3:02 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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jackie's definitions touched on the more common 'anthology'; also, treasury, compilation, analects(?), and, (my favorite!) chrestomathy.
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#19765
02/21/2001 8:29 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
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Carpal Tunnel
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Were they the definitive stories, their collective might be referred to as a "canon."
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#19766
02/21/2001 8:36 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
I like "home made" versions like the wonderful "A Child's Garden of Verses" by RLS.
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#19767
02/22/2001 10:12 AM
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Posts: 460
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Thanks to you all and, especially, Jo. In my late-night post, I should have said that she was looking for 'colourful' or distinctly different words and 'garden' is just such an example.
It'll be a few days before I catch up with her again (she's a fast one!), so keep the ideas coming please.
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#19768
02/22/2001 1:18 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
If you are looking for a "colourful" beneric term, it must depend to some extent on what sort of stories they are, I suppose. But these suggestions might spark off a train of something!
A spiel of stories
A tailof .. - if you wish to be whimsical - if you wish at the same time to be abscure, the a concatenation of ..
a whisper of ..
a kneepad of .. (as in "at my mother's ..)
thence a hassock of ..
How about a shake of tales ?
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#19769
02/22/2001 1:42 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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A seasoning of stories
Gurgles and gasps
Luminescence of Literary License
wow
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#19770
02/22/2001 4:21 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
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Carpal Tunnel
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A wonderment; a dazzle; Gemstones; a batik; a porphyry; a collage; a sparkle; In the Glade; a brew; if she wants something really different, she could call it a burgoo. Oh! I just remembered--why don't you try, or have her try, Marty's link to a collection of collective nouns? Here, to save you the trouble: http://www.ojohaven.com/collectives/If the stories are all the same kind, that could make a difference. For ex., if they are about snakes, it could be called a Hissing.
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#19771
02/22/2001 10:36 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Jackie is spot on with her comment : If the stories are all the same kind, that could make a difference. For ex., if they are about snakes, it could be called a Hissing.
Stories in various times of year -- A Season of Stories
and, an easy one, stories featuring food: A Seasoning ...
About women : a Bevy
etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!
The King and I signing off....well she was an Ann(a), too.
wow
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#19772
02/23/2001 11:01 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
If anthology is for poetry, scale it up and say an orchard of stories (or a forest, arboretum, stand, plantation, but I think orchard preserves the imagery best).
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#19773
02/23/2001 6:23 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Reminds me of the two English professors who wandered into the wrong part of town and noticed a fairly large group of streetwalkers. The two professors spent the rest of the evening arguing about whether the group was a volume of trollops or an anthology of pros. There was a third one in this joke that I cannot remember!
Then there were the two history professors who met at a nudist colony.
One said to the other, "Have you read Marx?"
The other answered, "Yes, I assume it's the wicker chairs."
TEd
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#19774
02/28/2001 2:13 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347 |
Hi Ted,
Loved the nudist pun. Here's a footnote from the collective nouns link that I posted not so far away in my "??? of Wizards" post:
(5) According to Jeansp@aol.com:
The suggestion about an anthology of prostitutes is part of a joke I heard years ago:
A group of specialists in collective nouns was in bar an observed such a group of professionals and came up with the following:
A jam of tarts
A flourish of strumpets
An anthology of English pros
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#19775
02/28/2001 2:21 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear TEd: The prof with the cross-hatched buns must have been a "cotton tail" and had a mirror.
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#19776
03/01/2001 10:43 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460
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Before this thread disappears into the AWADtalk archives, may I thank all posters for their input. I'll pass all your suggestions on to my friend.
Cheers
paulb
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#19777
03/01/2001 12:34 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
Reminds me of the two English professors
No doubt one of them was the one who asked his class to write an essay on Keats, whereupon one inattentive student declared that he couldn't - he didn't know what they were.
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#19778
03/01/2001 2:30 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 427
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Paul, maybe I'm late with this suggestion, but how about a bouquet of stories?
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#19779
03/02/2001 3:30 AM
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Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724 |
A labyrinth of stories (where you can lose your self) A plot of stories (a plot that grows other plots)  A festival of stories or A celebration of stories (Where stories come together for - whatever) A tete-a-tete of stories (where a-tete-a-tete sounds like a machine gun) ------ Edited later to add : The best collective phrases I have come across is : Dam-Burst of Dreams It is title of a book by an Irish writer Christopher Nolan (who I think is brilliant). This particular book is a collection of poems and writing by him, which I have not been able to access. I am sure he writes beautiful poetry. The title is poetry.
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#19780
03/02/2001 4:06 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Paulb
Do let us know the decision re final title ... whether one of our suggestions is used or not ? Perhaps under title "A Name Is Chosen?"
wow
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#19781
03/02/2001 4:15 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
No doubt one of them was the one who asked his class to write an essay on Keats, whereupon one inattentive student declared that he couldn't - he didn't know what they were.
Rather like the literary man who asked an acquaintance it he liked Kipling.
"I don't know," replied the acquaintance, "I've never kippled."
"Ah, No!" rejoined the literary man, "It's Rudyard Kipling."
His companion answered "I don't doubt it!"
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#19782
03/06/2001 8:53 AM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 116
member
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member
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 116 |
paulb - just one from me (at least for now  ) - I was riding a train once a long long long time ago (and it was a long train going a long distance), and I sat in the club car for most of the trip with my little laptop and interviewed people on a particular topic... and as one question led to another, etc. etc., later, I put it all together under the title Train of Thoughts... could be useful?  Shoshannah
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