quasigrecian thoughts

[calimac]

1. Given the current zeitgeist, the all-around scariest Halloween costume ought to be the Ebola virus. Something with a pipecleaner twisted into the virus's shape? I wonder if we'll see any tonight.

2. Carved fat squat pumpkin into what turned out a face of highly sinister mien. Should maybe have carved in the shape of the Ebola virus. Bought both candy and little bags of pretzels to give out. Should maybe have bought gummy worms and twisted them into the shape of the Ebola virus.

3. Originally had series ticket for Wednesday SFS concert. Turned it in because it was Mahler. Now glad that I also managed to skip out on the post-World Series victory riots.

4. Never heard of Madison Bumgarner before, but apparently he's been around for a while, so perhaps someone has already pointed out that he's the second famous person with that surname. If the first doesn't come to mind, it's because he dropped the Bum- from his stage name and appeared as James Garner.

4a. This also means I can now name one current member of the Giants team offhand. Since the last previous one I could name was Brian Wilson, this means I am now up to date.

5. Had such a good time at PCA this year in Chicago, I submitted a paper proposal for next year in New Orleans in the form of an article I'd already vaguely agreed to write for publication. It's been accepted, so I'm going to go. Third visit to that city, both of the earlier ones before Katrina.

6. My rule stating that "it is impossible for an American author to write a novel involving British nobility without totally screwing up the terminology" now needs a caveat: "...except Diana Gabaldon." I'm not going to read all 8 of her 800-page monsters about 18th-century Scots and time travel, but I did dip into the latest one far enough to confirm that she knows that a character named Lord John Grey cannot be "Lord Grey" (and that if someone calls him that, he'll correct them) and various other technical nomenclatural bits are also right.

6a. I am, however, somewhat skeptical that an 18th-century duke would casually let new acquaintances call him by his first name, even if they are relatives. But then, I once read a recent Pride & Prejudice spinoff in which the first thing Mr. Bennet does is reveal his first name, which he never does in Austen; and the Emma Thompson Sense & Sensibility movie also took care to provide Col. Brandon with a first name, which Austen doesn't reveal either. It's just a 20/21C thing.

6b. Found book on public library hold shelf under my name, as requested, but also with corner of back cover chewed off by previous patron's dog. Took to desk, said I didn't want to be blamed for this when I returned the book. Clerk agreed, taped note to front cover to that effect. After I returned the book, got phone call from library about it. They hadn't read the note.

6c. Found another book on the hold shelf that I'd completely forgotten I'd placed a hold on and had already checked out from another library. This one is John Dean's new The Nixon Defense and now I know how much is too much Watergate detail even for me.

Comments

[margdean56.livejournal.com]

Re 6a: From my days in playing online RPGs set in either the Regency or Victorian eras, I would say that using first names was the habit most difficult for 20th/21st Century players to break. You could teach them to use titles correctly, but they would grab onto the flimsiest excuse to have their character use another's first name. "He says that 'Mister' makes him feel old." In 1873? I don't think so!

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

My usual way of referring to Rule 92 is "Sir Surname Syndrome," for added alliterative appeal, and it seems to plague authors who either don't care to do research or who simply haven't thought about the possibility that there might be rules to these things.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

"Sir Surname" also occurs, but it's rarer, because there's no place in British noble terminology for such a form. Whereas "Lord Surname" (actually "Lord Title", but the title can be the same as the, or a, surname) does exist. And since, for instance, the same guy could be both Lord Louis Mountbatten and Lord Mountbatten at different times in his life, that further confuses them if they've never actually seen the rules enunciated.