#88192
12/01/2002 1:39 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
TEd Remington used this word correctly over a year ago, but I don't remember seeing it then.
I just encountered it in an "engines" episode about a museum "docent" not understanding why
a spinning skater with her arms outstretched, spins faster when she brings them to her sides.
docent
n.
5Ger, earlier sp. of dozent, teacher, lecturer < L docens, prp. of docere, to teach: see DECENT6
1 in some American universities, a teacher or lecturer not on the regular faculty
2 a tour guide and lecturer, as at a museum
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#88193
12/05/2002 12:45 PM
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
My first encounter with this word was about six years ago on Pier 39 in San Francisco where I was standing watching the sealions. There was a notice saying that docents were available to give information about the beasts. What in the world is a docent, I thought. I did take the trouble to find out, but still have not found the word to be in use outside the United States.
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#88194
12/05/2002 1:41 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
"Docent" is a term very frequently used in Europe, and is beginning to be copied in U.S.
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#88195
12/05/2002 1:48 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
I don't know about your "recently," wwh.
We've had docents available to the school system here in Chesterfield for at least twenty years--docents provided by the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.
How recent is recent?
And it is a good to have a decent docent.
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#88196
12/05/2002 3:07 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Just curious... what "recently"??
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#88197
12/05/2002 3:36 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Why, AnnaS! The recently imbedded in beginning! Put on your Xray glasses! You'll see it there.
What is the form of dyslexia called that replaces words on the page with ones not apparent?
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#88198
12/05/2002 4:08 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
I can be way too literal sometimes... 
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#88199
12/05/2002 6:06 PM
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
>"Docent" is a term very frequently used in Europe.
That seems somewhat unlikely, given that, for the overwhelming majority of its inhabitants, English is not their first language.
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#88200
12/05/2002 6:19 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
English is not their first language.
It's pretty much straight Latin. The nominative singular is docens but the root is docent-.
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#88201
12/05/2002 6:26 PM
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
>It's pretty much straight Latin.
Resisting the temptation to make Ricky Martin jokes, I suspect that my little nitpick would still stand. I still think it likely that the word "docent" would have been modified from that exact form in many, if not most, of the European languages in which it appears.
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#88202
12/05/2002 6:29 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
modified from that exact form in many, if not most, of the European languages in which it appears.
Yeah, in German, from whence we got it if AHD is to be believed, it's Dozent.
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#88203
12/05/2002 9:15 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
well, they're cheaper by the dozent...
formerly known as etaoin...
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#88204
12/05/2002 11:32 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Many a German scholar had to endure penurious years as Privatdozent before achieving
a university position.Here's a URL about it, very interesting, but so long I nearly went blind
without finding the quote I wanted:
... At Bologna the most famous was the College
of Spain founded by Egidio ... recruiting of professors was provided for by the system of
Privatdozents, ie instructors ...
[url]www.newadvent.org/cathen/15188a.htm [/urk]
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#88205
12/06/2002 2:23 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,074 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 11,074 Likes: 2 |
We have many docents at our local art museum, often ordinary but interested members of the community who have received some special training to understand the collection. I was surprised to learn from this thread that the term isn't widely known.
This particularly rapid
Unintelligible patter
Isn't generally heard
And if it is it dozent matter !
{with apoologies to W S Gilbert)
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#88206
12/06/2002 4:16 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
I've heard it here in flyover land... doesn't that qualify as widely known?
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#88207
12/06/2002 7:32 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,074 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,074 Likes: 2 |
What in the world is a docent, I thought. I did take the trouble to find out, but still have not found the word to be in use outside the United States.
"Docent" is a term very frequently used in Europe, and is beginning to be copied in U.S.
I've heard it here in flyover land... doesn't that qualify as widely known?
Well, I'm not sure what to call it...everybody thinks that we know it, but nobody else does, yet.
Is that widely known, or not widely known? Or widely erroneously known? Or just not widely recognized? (whatever _that_ means)
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#88208
12/07/2002 3:33 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 315
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 315 |
I am not sure to having got exactly the point. Anyway, docente is commonly used in Italian to mean "the teaching person", mostly for professors at University level, but it can be appropriate even for for teaching every kind of subject.
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#88209
12/09/2002 2:44 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
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#88210
12/09/2002 3:43 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
So now we have ten or twelve year old PhD equivalents. That's really progress.
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