What's the word for a secretion of fluid from a statue?
Dr Wordsmith writes: That's a very interesting point. I only wish I knew the answer. Next!
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Your support makes all the difference.I AM constantly deluged with agonised queries about the correct usage of words. I do not feel qualified to answer many of them myself, so I am glad to be able to turn to Dr Wordsmith, the language expert who always pops in to help me out when he can tear himself away from the pub. All yours, Doc!
Dear Dr Wordsmith, There was a time a few years back when the papers were full of reports of Hindu statues miraculously giving milk. I wonder if you remember this?
Dr Wordsmith writes: No. I must have been in the pub at the time.
Well, take it from me, there was a time when lots of newspapers reported Hindu effigies exuding natural fluids such as milk and water, and people claimed seriously that they were in fact miraculously crying or giving milk. No explanation was given for this phenomena and after a while it stopped being reported. I assumed at the time that these were either fraudulent claims or some sort of wishful thinking, but never found out for sure. Of course they may have been some sort of communal hallucination.
Dr Wordsmith writes: Excuse me. Do you have a question?
Yes. Is there a name for this process, whereby a story becomes common currency and then sinks into obscurity before it has ever been proved or disproved?
Dr Wordsmith writes: I shouldn't think so for a moment. Next!
I notice that your last writer used the word "phenomena" as a singular noun, when he wrote "this phenomena", whereas of course it is the plural form of "phenomenon". But then, in our careless age this happens increasingly often. "Data" is often treated as singular, as are "the media" and even "criteria" - I shudder every time I hear people say "By this criteria", but I suppose I am doomed to go on shuddering. What I wanted to know is, is there a name for the process of a plural word becoming its own singular?
Dr Wordsmith writes: There may well be. If you should come across it, do not hesitate to let me know.
Recently I have noticed that an old trend is reasserting itself, ie that of writers calling themselves by their initials rather than a first name. In the old days we had TS Eliot and EV Knox and HG Wells and so on, but then it became desperately unfashionable to use initials. I can't think of any writers in the Fifties, Sixties or Seventies who did, except for the now rather forgotten BS Johnson, and perhaps DJ Enright. Now it's coming back again, and we have AS Byatt, AL Kennedy, PJ O'Rourke and many others.
Well, we live in a very informal age where total strangers go on chat shows and address each other by their first names, and indeed in some restaurants waiters and waitresses actually wear tags on their chests saying "Karen" and "Trevor", but I have noticed that when authors with initials go on chat shows, the presenters never know what to call them. Should PJ O'Rourke be called PJ or Patrick? And is there a name for this indecision between initials and name? And have you ever seen a waitress with a name tag that just gave her initials, as in "Hi! I'm AJ!"?
Dr Wordsmith writes: Not to the best of my knowledge. And the next!
I noticed the other day that the man across the road from me owns a car called a Volkswagen Passata. Not two hours later I noticed that a tin of processed Italian tomatoes in my kitchen cupboard was called Tomato Passata. Which is correct?
Dr Wordsmith writes: I'm sure both are. Next!
Five or ten years back, there was a great vogue for words such as "yuppy" and "bimbo". You never hear either of these words any more, yet the people they refer to still exist. So what are they called nowadays?
Dr Wordsmith writes: That's a very interesting point. I only wish I knew the answer. Next!
If the dustjacket of a book was designed to keep off dust, was the flyleaf designed to keep off flies?
Dr Wordsmith writes: Look, was I dragged out of the pub to answer damfool questions like these?
Damfool is an interesting word, being made up of an adjective and a noun. A bit like smartalec. Incidentally, do you know why it is particularly Alecs who are supposed to be smart?
Dr Wordsmith writes: In 10 minutes' time, I shall be standing at the bar of the Three Jolly Typesetters, and any smartalec who wishes to buy me a pint of stout will also buy my knowledge on the subject. Good day to you, sir!
Dr Wordsmith will be back again soon. Keep those queries rolling in!
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