Comments on: Language

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:34:00 +0000

Curtilage -The yard or garden basically.

The area of land surrounding a dwelling within the property boundaries. This area may be fenced and may include garages or stand-alone workshops.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:01:00 +0000

I also tend to work out words using context and will only look them up if something doesn’t make sense to me. The “van” of an army is a good case in point… for some reason I thought it was related to the end of something, but I was reading a story where the hero wanted to ride in the van and it didn’t make sense that he wanted to be at the back *grin*. I use the internet dictionary because I almost always know where the computer is, but the chances of finding one book amongst all the stuff in this house??? Slim to none!!!

By: glenda larke

glenda larke — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:33:00 +0000

Ok, what’s curtilage?? Lol!

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:53:00 +0000

Glenda, it is probably more common to use bacon fat, but also suet used to be used. As for a needle, you can use a darning needle to thread the fat through your meat.

Re online, I just type what I want in google with definition after it and it comes up i.e. I just typed "messuages definition" and got the answer OK. Don't bother to go to a dictionary site. What I got was:
(Law) A dwelling house, with the adjacent buildings and curtilage, and the adjoining lands appropriated to the use of the household.
They wedded her to sixty thousand pounds,
To lands in Kent, and messuages in York.
- Tennyson.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:49:00 +0000

It has been a very long time since I last opened a “real book” dictionary or thesaurus. The online equivalent is just too convenient, especially as I also typically check the etymology of particularly interesting words.

By: glenda larke

glenda larke — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:03:00 +0000

Nothing replaces the published dictionary and thesaurus as far as I am concerned. e.g., the online dictionary.com – which is pretty good because it searches a number of different dictionaries – cannot find the word messuages. Which I understand is an outhouse of some sort (Correct, Satima?). I’ll bet I could find it in one of my dictionaries back home.

When larding something, isn’t it more common to use bacon, Jo? And what is the needle – a skewer?

Gynie – I cannot imagine trying to read Mann under those circumstances!

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:45:00 +0000

I do both, I have an Oxford English dictionary and an Encyclopaedia Brittanica one which is very comprehensive. If I am at the computer when I want to know a word, then I would use it to find out.

Larding is a cooking term Ru, the practice has fallen somewhat out of duse, although funnily enough I was wishing I could do it the other day to some rather tough steaks we were eating. I had the appropriate needle, but no suitable fat or lard to use.

By: hrugaar

hrugaar — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:34:00 +0000

Out of interest, I wonder if many people still pick up a physical dictionary (i.e. a book) as I do, or do most people usually check online now?

By: hrugaar

hrugaar — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:25:00 +0000

There were three I had to check - one of those being lard, though I could guess the meaning from context (I don't recall encountering it used as a verb before). And crammer's still seems ambivalent to me, out of context.

With TV extending vocabulary, I guess it really depends what programmes you watch. :D

Jo, yes, gibbous to me always sounds so unflattering...

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:12:00 +0000

There are 4 words I either didn’t know or remembered but was unsure of. Given the amount of reading I do, I am surprised there were that many. Of course a Plimsoll line is a nautical term which I was brung up with LOL although you used the word mark instead of line which to me is more familiar. One of my least favourite words is gibbous, I have looked that word up a dozen times and I still can never remember what it means exactly. But I agree, don’t dumb down your literary compositions. Just write the way you intend and if people don’t understand it they can do any one of the things commented about here. To my mind reading is an excellent way of learning the language. Paradise enow comes from the Rubyat of Omar Khyam. A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou beside me in the wilderness and wilderness were paradise enow. One of my favourite poems.