|k| clippings: 2015-02-09 — signs of life

WORK

“February”

Snow falls
on fallen snow

filling
the footprints

left
by your leaving.

—Maxianne Berger
—from Dismantled Secrets

WORD(S)

squirrelled. verb. To hoard, cache, or stash. This particular form of the word squirrel has, arguably, an interesting, even record-setting quality. Can you identify what it is (without the help of Google)? It does rely on pronouncing the word as I and, as it happens, the OED, recommend. From Latin sciūrus; from Greek skiouros: skia (shadow) + oura (tail; see also Greek orrhos (buttocks)).

"In a cheerful, almost matronly tone she told me that she had been back for six months, squirrelled away in what sounded suspiciously like a hippie commune left over from the sixties.” (J. G. Ballard)

"Hooke. Mr. Robert Hooke. He might have squirrelled things away at Bedlam” (Neal Stephenson)

"I started a bottom drawer, but it petered out after I had squirrelled one tea-cosy and a pen-wiper.” (Dodie Smith)

WEB

1. Harper Lee’s editor Hugh Van Dusen confirms the forthcoming “new” novel by Lee. Hugh is either drunk or suffering from some kind of brain damage. I’m not the only one with questions. All that said, I’ll still read it.

2. That time I fell in love with a typeface and then discovered its creator also created Comic Sans (and isn’t apologizing for it, even if it did start with Microsoft Bob).

3. Also, TrailType is a “collection of type found in the wilderness” that features, along with many classic and curious signs, a few directives that apply to a lot more of life. Like “shortcuts cause erosion”…too true.

4. Some amazing photos of Detroit in the 40s…the former grandeur of the dying city and race riots included.

5. Today in 1864, Abraham Lincoln sits for the portrait that appeared on the U.S. $5 bill for nearly 80 years. The photographer, Mathew Brady, is best remembered for his Civil War photos. The $5 bill used to be (more) commonly referred to as a fin, an abbreviation of finnip which is believed to be derived from the Yiddish pronunciation of the German word fünf (five).

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader M. enjoyed the Herzog advice: “The Herzog quote is like the desiderata. Only better. I’m printing it out and hanging it in the bathroom where my family can read it at their leisure in the coming years. My parents did that with the desiderata and it’s become like a catechism to me and has saved me more than once. ”

• Reader B. did too: “That’s an awesome Herzog screed. YEAH.”

• Reader G. reflects on “The Problem with Calling Women ‘Females’”: “I rarely used the word ”female“ myself to refer to women without knowing why it bothered me, but on reading the article I am now certainly convinced that it is a very derogatory use of a noun, mostly because it should never be used as a noun to allude to a person. Once again objectifying women, which I do have a problem with. ¶ I followed a series of links from that article and came across a list of 29 ways to refer to women, which are much more appropriate and descriptive. ¶ http://ktxc.to/29-alternatives-to-female ¶ My favorites being Bringers of All Life, Sufferers of all Bullshit, and more simply Queens and Goddesses, which pretty much conveys the reference without any nasty overtones. ¶ Perhaps at one time women were held in higher reverence by some cultures and it took much work to grind us under the heels of men. ”

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