I prefer that Word.A.Day stays away from political agendas. I do not appreciate the anti-meat daily postings from Matt Ball.

Mm--that's why I didn't open today's Word, that's for sure. I figure it's got to be some harangue.

that's why I didn't open today's Word

I hadn't looked at it until after I'd read this post. As an omnivore who grew up on a farm, I didn't feel particularly harangued. (Others may be more sensitive.) Factory farming gets over 300K ghits, so I'm not so sure why it shouldn't be included in a lexicon of late 20th century or early 21st century English.

[Addendum: The OED gives an early cite for the term factory farming in a US journal of economics in the late 19th century. Moderate googling in Google Books turns up these quotations from 1904 (positive connotation link) and 1928 (negative connotation link).]

I agree--and yet, on some level, everything is political!

he quotes Mark Bittman (food columnist for the NYTimes)--but it's out of context.. Mark isn't a vegan, or even anti meat.. He's frequently done columns/tv shows about skills like butchering a pig (to make fresh sausage)

of course there is an element of truth to his complaint.
Dairy farm used to be one of the biggest polluters in NYS.. not from cow pies, but whey.

Now there are whole industries for using whey.

ever wonder why there was ELMER (a bull) Glue? Elmer's glue is a by-product of cheese making.. cut the curds, drain of the whey, and then make it into at least 2 products (that i know of)
elmers glue
and
caisen plastic (knitting needles are sometimes made from this plastic)

one advantage to plastic made from caisen (a milk protein) is the plastic is biodegradable (it only last about 50 to 100 years before it breaks down)

Wonder if the name supposed to suggest a meatball

Just kidding, Matt. However, I've found that one can sometimes successfully cloak political comment in circumambage. For instance, I collect words underused in everyday speech but of more precise meaning.* By the sheerest coincidence two I made note of just this morning were "rubric" and "kleptocracy," when it immediately occurred to me that the present Administration might be referred to as a rubric of kleptocracy


*(I call them "Type-2" but can't supply a link to the appropriate thread because after several years I am still unable to succesfully navigate WordSmith's search algorithm so maybe somebody else more diligent will do so)

Well, do you consider Pig Flats , meaning high, many layered stables that will contain 300.000 pigs per 'building', in this country, (darn!) no larger than a thumbtack on the globe a 'harangue'?
It's hell and this is our present dispute; the fight is on.
This is not about producing food , this is about generating money. And it would turn you into a vegetarian by sheer disgust.
I'll stick to the occasional 'haring = hareng = herring'.

(Jackie, I know it isn't Friday, all you need to answer is:
"Ahum") (or none)

hareng

Hmm, a rollmops for Bismarck.

IMHO, the individual posts themselves are somewhat close to NPOV - neutral point of view - i.e. encyclopedia quality.

This reminds me very much of the recent week that someone objected to the guest host solely on the basis of how his name was formatted in his work email address.

Bran I agree wholeheartedly on the treatment of farm animals and have addressed the Clergy on this matter but it verges on politics/religion so if you are interested I am dalehileman@verizon.net

Myr: You have to learn a whole new set of protocol for each board on which you participate. On one site I was banned for using the slang, "Leftpond" referring to the U.S. in the same thread where I also used the word "persiflage"

Interesting to note in the latter connection that I had been accused of the practice in an earlier thread by another contributor who got away with it. But I thought "persiflage" was just an excellent Type-2 word and so I used it--in reference not to somebody else, but myself

Alas that was some years ago and they still won't reinstate me because I'm such a bad person

Interesting! I actually thought maybe someone had been peeking at our "bee" thread and its discussions of vegetarianism, animal treatment and the like... Who knows? :0)

and thus dahil, in the guise of circumambagious persiflage, deals us yet another political low blow.

-joe (circumlocutions Я us) friday

A way a lone a last a loved a long the | riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.

heh.

ya know, sometimes I might even agree with what dahil has to say, I just disagree with his saying it here.

-joe (e pluribus jejunum) friday

I just disagree with his saying it here

Ditto.

tritto.

quatto

(like Roger Rabbit, I can't resist a good set-up)

quinto...



he he he he he....

sexto

[this space intentionally left blank]

septo

huito (!)

nono- no no more please!

Cheato!!!

Interesting stuff to read after I came in from the 4 am feeding of bottle lambs (who spent 2 nights in the kitchen harassing the -large- dog!)

Decimated

I believe I am at least the undecimal person commenting on the
inappropriateness of guest wordsmiths with an agenda. Please
keep AWAD apolitical!


http://wordsmith.org/words/undecimal.html

the undecimal person Hey, that was a good one! Hope to see more from you!

Well, I know "A" word that comes next: duodecimal :0)

(Ordinals in Spanish are similar - "decimo, undecimo, duodecimo" etc.)

Can poetical stay on the agenda?


*Som time walking not unseen
By Hedge-row Elms, on Hillocks green,
Right against the Eastern gate,
Wher the great Sun begins his state,
Rob'd in flames, and Amber light,
The clouds in thousand Liveries dight.
While the Plowman neer at hand,
Whistles ore the Furrow'd Land,
And the Milkmaid singeth blithe,
And the Mower whets his sithe,
And every Shepherd tells his tale
Under the Hawthorn in the dale.*

John Milton 1608-1674 (from l'Allegro)

L'Allegro

Händel/Milton, l'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato

A (and B, C, D, E, and F) are also hexidecimal numbers
(10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, respectively)

Galt, it's especilly well to avoid in this hotbed of mutual recrimination

...but a temptation for the troll

Helen, you got it! I wondered if anyone would notice... Stop by to pick up your prize...

I C.

said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.

Twelve words!

And after a week of it, you are proved to have known better! I thought wrong....

from the AWADmail #299:

In 14 years of Wordsmith.org, last week was singular in the volume of angry email from readers. They were upset that we had given a platform to a veg advocate. Some sent thoughtful notes, while others made snide remarks; still others canceled their subscriptions.

and yet, not a single example of even the thoughtful notes.

If this is what is meant by thoughtful notes (not sure) here is the one I sent:

Cartesian;
Though not everyone may have been happy with this weeks' deviation from strictly language matters, I appreciate that you have taken " the cow by the horns" and put the ill use of animals to our attention.

Proving there was at least one.

implicit in my post was angry.. upset.. thoughtful; all the samples were supportive. this is weak editorial policy.

I disagree. I don't think it was weak editorial policy at all. I think it was deliberate - "let's only publish the angry rants, to show the world what angry nuts those vicious carnivores are". As is his right, Anu selectively published responses to promote his own views.

Anu selectively published responses to promote his own views. Did he tell you that?

A careful reading of my post would see two uses of the phrase "I (don't) think".

When I learned English, I was taught that this phrase identified what followed as a statement of opinion rather than one of fact. If my failure to use the phrase a third time confused you and caused you to miss the two previous signals of subjective opinion contained in my response, I apologize. I had thought that twice would be sufficient to make it plain that like others in this thread, I was merely giving my opinion. I did not realize that some would require it to be repeated again in order to grasp that point. How sad that my optimism was unfounded.

As long as we're talking about use of a second language, my reading of your relevant post,

as a native speaker of English, is that it was your opinion that Anu's actions were not subconcious but deliberate.
That his actions were motivated by a desire to expose the visciousness of carnivores seems to be presented as fact. A more careful reading suggests that this is not the case and that you really did intend to suggest that it was your opinion that his actions were so motivated, but it took a little explication to come to this view.

When one knows what one means, it's not so easy to see that one's words are subject to another interpretation. This is a failing of native speakers, too.

and as long as we're discussing interpretation, who's being quoted here? I think my post should be read as wondering where the thoughtful, non-supportive responses were? I would never expect to see rants quoted by Anu.

A thoughtful non-supportive response; could it be like:

I truly believe plants have a capacity for feeling pain. Sometimes when I take a bite of an extremely beautiful leaf of lettuce I feel just as much a cannibal as when I eat a piece of chicken or fish. (not to mention eating flowers such as artichokes, nasturtium and violets)

(This point of vieuw ignores the problem of the animal factory issue with which I disagree completely.)

A careful reading of my post would see two uses of the phrase "I (don't) think". I saw them. I think it was the period that confused me: I didn't realize that the separate sentence also came under the purview of "I think". My bad. Sorry.

so is this a situation wher I could say I was, what is the idiom, 042? Or Oh for too?

I went back and reread the weekly email. Perhaps you could quote from one of the posted emails that "show[s] the world what angry nuts those vicious carnivores are."

what is the idiom, 042? Or Oh for too?

O(h) for two.

No no, not for me!!! ;0)

Um--at the risk of missing irony, I will offer that 0 for two means zero successes out of two efforts.

..."I (don't) think"... When I learned English, I was taught that this phrase identified what followed as a statement of opinion rather than one of fact.--lat

Me, I believe that such an expression, "It's my opinion that...", "I believe that...", etc, is unnecessary because it's my opinion that it goes without saying that if you didn't believe it I think you wouldn't say it