Someone wrote a letter to the Guardian a while ago, complaining about Will Self's article on Roald Dahl. Specifically about his use of obscure terms. The letter-writer gets quite personal: 'Does (Self) use big words because there's a bit of a lacuna in the long-johns department?' (NB ahem I doubt it in this case).

The words he specifically objects to are:

barbellate
veridical
apiarist
Manichean
hydrocephalic
immiserated
mancipated
synechdoche
applique
quiddity

I like most of them. To substitute a synonym would be a loss. I prefer journalists to err towards precise and uncommon words. As Charlie Brooker said on telly last night, you weren't put off Monty Python if you hadn't heard of philosophers they joked about, and you might be motivated to find out more.

Having said that, I think 'mancipated' is a little pointless. I didn't know what 'barbellate' meant. I looked it up after reading the letter, but not after reading the review. I don't usually bother to look up words; I just make a guess.

Oslo, allegedly the land of the world's most expensive beer and where I am for a long weekend. There are about 9 kroner to the pound, 8 to the Euro.

( Expensive but excellent beer, with photos )

Tags: beer
Current Location: Oslo

A few weeks ago, I tried going back to the fencing on the Monday, had problems with it aching very quickly, and woke up with it completely buggered on Tuesday. That persisted for (I think) just over a week, where just picking up cups, etc. hurt. Then I woke up again, and it was completely fine, going from "hard to sleep" to "what problem?" overnight. This made me think it was a trapped nerve.

Fencing again this week, after further abstinence due to work, lurgy, convalecence, and work. It started aching quickly during backsword exercises, but I managed some freeplay, and it was fine Tuesday morning, and Wednesday morning and Thursday morning. Yesterday morning, it was hurting again in the same way, and got progressively worse during the day and evening. Cue bucketloads of Ibuprofen gel. It's still a sod now.

So, the bad: it could be like this for an arbitrary amount of time.

The good: it wasn't caused by fencing this time, so probably wasn't last time, either. I suspect I'm giving myself a half-nelson while asleep.

Tags: pain
Current Mood: Ow

"This is not Batman's boat", begins boing boing's article on the anti-whaling vessel.

No? How much do you want to bet that Christopher Nolan's production team aren't going "Where do we get one of those?"

spacefall and other Holmes fans: look at this! It's five sample pages from a book of... Sherlock Holmes paper dolls! See Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade and some alternate costumes, and on the 5th sample page, a whole series of Holmes and Watson heads if you fancy different actors. I had no idea so many had played the pair. I'm not sure how the alternate heads work since they're all looking in different directions and the hats won't fit them. Perhaps one needs the whole book.

The link is temporary; Dover Publications only leave their samples up for about three weeks.

I bunked off at lunchtime to go to a free concert by local singer-songwriter Boo Hewerdine. Good stuff.

Next week's concert at the same venue (the Mumford Theatre) will be given by one of the world's leading theramin players - or theramists, apparently. I'm glad there's a word for that.

Now to hit my wordcount target and clean the bathroom. Probably won't do that all at once but it might be interesting to try.

Tags: boo hewerdine

OK - Why did no one tell me how good Season 7 of Spooks was ... I'd have watched it ages ago otherwise - poor old Ben though - still no one is safe..

***ETA of course it has meant I have not had to wait a year to resolve the obligatory cliffhanger ;-) ***

I should talk about the books I've read lately, but I'll just mention the Discworld ones.

Going Postal was great, and against all my expectations, mostly caused by his name, I liked Moist von Lipwig a lot. Yes, he did remind me of a certain thief with his particular brand of ethics and charm. :-)

Thud however I have mixed feelings about. ( Minor spoilers )

As an aside, Willikins' name still unnerves me every time I see it. He's a very cool character though, with his very correct and dignified butler speech combined with a deadly facility with anything he can turn into a weapon. :-) I'd like to read more of him. He and Vimes make an excellent team.

Tags: books

I've had my hair cut, and I like it! It's quite a bit shorter, rather like a 30s shingled bob: all thick and glossy looking. :-) I took it in to get a third set of passport photos. [rolls eyes] The place I went to for the others didn't know that people have to put their hair behind their ears to show them. WTH? Why would they want to see my ears? Anyway, this set is the best of the lot; I don't actually look like a wanted killer. It's lucky I wasn't in a hurry for that passport.

I haven't posted much lately, but I am doing picowrimo again this month, which is a great way to get me writing. I decided on part 4 (of 5) of my Lynx series, and this one's all about mutoids, which canon didn't tell us enough about. I'm deciding on my own fanon as I go.

What else? Oh yes, my sister of wetter water fame, continues to pursue ways of being as loose a cannon as she can. She has been through astrology, vibrations, special plant sugars "scientists" got in a vision, the wetter water (which I think had something to do with the sugars, but I may be wrong) and now it's eclipses. [flails] She's now part of a sort of Jewish fundie group that follow some weirdo online who claims that eclipses always fall on Jewish holidays and can predict major events. I don't want to know. Hasn't she known me long enough by now to realise I don't want to know about her latest craze? I was considering going to see her when Greg's away in December, but that last phone call has convinced me to stay well away.

Tags: rant, weirdness

Big ask: Is there anyone who would be willing to translate a German review of TNES for me? It's around 2300 words long.

Tags: the never-ending sacrifice