Two Words
I have two words on my mind today.
The first is agronomist. I walk by the Agronomy building on campus every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and every time I do, I think about how I've never met an agronomist, or anyone claiming to be an agronomist, or anyone claiming to even know an agronomist. The seems to be an inordinate number of them in Soviet literature, but perhaps the Soviet Union turned out more agronomists, while we in the States tend to favor agriculturalists? The two don't necessarily equate in meaning, but perhaps the emphasis is important.
I do think it's a cool word, though. If I could say I was an agronomist, and it really meant "historian," that'd be pretty neat, although I suspect the word would enjoy greater usage and not seem quite so nifty as a result. I suppose I could call myself an annalist, although I'd get weird looks then. Maybe I'll have to settle for archivist or chronicler.
What's your favorite obscure or archaic occupation?
The second word is pianoforte. The full name of the instrument has always bothered me for some reason. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it seemed too dandified or whimsical (another word I hate). But I was thinking on the bus this morning about other oxymorons, and that got me to thinking about the music one can play on a pianoforte. You can play something hushed and pensive like a Chopin nocturne, or you can play a very fiery version of Beethoven's Appassionata. So pianoforte isn't quite so bad a word as I've long felt. It's trying to do a good job at describing what it represents, and it can't help if it comes across as a bit whimsical.
The first is agronomist. I walk by the Agronomy building on campus every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and every time I do, I think about how I've never met an agronomist, or anyone claiming to be an agronomist, or anyone claiming to even know an agronomist. The seems to be an inordinate number of them in Soviet literature, but perhaps the Soviet Union turned out more agronomists, while we in the States tend to favor agriculturalists? The two don't necessarily equate in meaning, but perhaps the emphasis is important.
I do think it's a cool word, though. If I could say I was an agronomist, and it really meant "historian," that'd be pretty neat, although I suspect the word would enjoy greater usage and not seem quite so nifty as a result. I suppose I could call myself an annalist, although I'd get weird looks then. Maybe I'll have to settle for archivist or chronicler.
What's your favorite obscure or archaic occupation?
The second word is pianoforte. The full name of the instrument has always bothered me for some reason. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it seemed too dandified or whimsical (another word I hate). But I was thinking on the bus this morning about other oxymorons, and that got me to thinking about the music one can play on a pianoforte. You can play something hushed and pensive like a Chopin nocturne, or you can play a very fiery version of Beethoven's Appassionata. So pianoforte isn't quite so bad a word as I've long felt. It's trying to do a good job at describing what it represents, and it can't help if it comes across as a bit whimsical.