i know its too early for a second entry
but i couldn't resist.
sometimes people ask me when I'm on IM with them...
"How come when you type, you spell words like "realize" like "realise?"
And I don't know how to respond..
It just because a preference.
I mean I understand that "realise" is the more "UK" spelling of the American English word "realize." But I don't really fancy words like "colour" or "favourite" or things of that nature. Actually, sometimes I balk at the paper when I read such words in print, or even on the internet. Yet when reading a word like "realise" or "criticise," I'm perfectly okay. And definitely I am aghast when I see things like "spilt" or "spoilt" because I know that's a Brit vs. an American "spilled" and "spoiled."
So that's one thing. But the other is how sometimes I just randomly say stupid archaic words that probably have no place in American or British English today or any day in the past 2 centuries. And usually I don't mind it, nor do I notice it even. But others do, and either they brush it off, or they point it out and give me odd stares.
Or they read it online and give me a ???
Case in point, in my last entry, I wrote:
"I won't dole over this any longer. I feel like crap."
Now I just wrote that with the random stream of my thought, paying no attention to it. Then I posted. Then I thought, "Hmm, I used a word that I haven't used in a long while, and gosh, I don't think I even used it properly in a sentence." Now it has been long since I've sat in an English class, and I could care less now in med school, but I'd still like to think my English is okay....and I'd hate to be making up my own language as I go along.
So I looked it up, according to the American Heritage dictionary.
dole1 (dōl)
n.
At first I said, "Fuck. I did use it wrong." Because I knew you can't just dole over things. Bob Dole doesn't dole over things. And he certainly wasn't anywhere near a form of welfare, unless it was his tax cut proposal. That's how I remembered what dole meant. And even the archaic noun about some fate didn't have anything to do with...doling.
But then, aha. Dole, the transitional verb...
tr.v., doled, dol·ing, doles.
Nope. I'm still fucking wrong. You can't really 'distribute' over something...ever, let alone longer. Oh well...
But wait, there's more..
dole2 (dōl)
n. Archaic.
Sorrow; grief; dolor.
[Middle English dol, from Old French dol, deul, from Late Latin dolus, from Latin dolēre, to feel pain, grieve.]
So there, dolore. Of course, Latin. The little Latin I learned in med school about pain and grief is where I got this dole thing from. But still, maybe Shakespeare uses it. I bet he does. In any case, I knew I was right. So there, I just spent 5 extra minutes of my life analyzing how stupid I can be, just because I use old archaic words that most people would look up in a dictionary and laugh at me about.
Fin.
sometimes people ask me when I'm on IM with them...
"How come when you type, you spell words like "realize" like "realise?"
And I don't know how to respond..
It just because a preference.
I mean I understand that "realise" is the more "UK" spelling of the American English word "realize." But I don't really fancy words like "colour" or "favourite" or things of that nature. Actually, sometimes I balk at the paper when I read such words in print, or even on the internet. Yet when reading a word like "realise" or "criticise," I'm perfectly okay. And definitely I am aghast when I see things like "spilt" or "spoilt" because I know that's a Brit vs. an American "spilled" and "spoiled."
So that's one thing. But the other is how sometimes I just randomly say stupid archaic words that probably have no place in American or British English today or any day in the past 2 centuries. And usually I don't mind it, nor do I notice it even. But others do, and either they brush it off, or they point it out and give me odd stares.
Or they read it online and give me a ???
Case in point, in my last entry, I wrote:
"I won't dole over this any longer. I feel like crap."
Now I just wrote that with the random stream of my thought, paying no attention to it. Then I posted. Then I thought, "Hmm, I used a word that I haven't used in a long while, and gosh, I don't think I even used it properly in a sentence." Now it has been long since I've sat in an English class, and I could care less now in med school, but I'd still like to think my English is okay....and I'd hate to be making up my own language as I go along.
So I looked it up, according to the American Heritage dictionary.
dole1 (dōl)
n.
- Charitable dispensation of goods, especially money, food, or clothing.
- A share of money, food, or clothing that has been charitably given.
- Chiefly British. The distribution by the government of relief payments to the unemployed; welfare.
- Archaic. One's fate.
At first I said, "Fuck. I did use it wrong." Because I knew you can't just dole over things. Bob Dole doesn't dole over things. And he certainly wasn't anywhere near a form of welfare, unless it was his tax cut proposal. That's how I remembered what dole meant. And even the archaic noun about some fate didn't have anything to do with...doling.
But then, aha. Dole, the transitional verb...
tr.v., doled, dol·ing, doles.
- To dispense as charity.
- To give out in small portions; distribute sparingly.
Nope. I'm still fucking wrong. You can't really 'distribute' over something...ever, let alone longer. Oh well...
But wait, there's more..
dole2 (dōl)
n. Archaic.
Sorrow; grief; dolor.
[Middle English dol, from Old French dol, deul, from Late Latin dolus, from Latin dolēre, to feel pain, grieve.]
So there, dolore. Of course, Latin. The little Latin I learned in med school about pain and grief is where I got this dole thing from. But still, maybe Shakespeare uses it. I bet he does. In any case, I knew I was right. So there, I just spent 5 extra minutes of my life analyzing how stupid I can be, just because I use old archaic words that most people would look up in a dictionary and laugh at me about.
Fin.