There's interminable and then there's interminable

Re the March word fugitive, about a name for the "interminable" period one can spend contemplating the audiovisuals that cycle endlessly behind a DVD's main menu while one waits for someone else to come sit down, reader Tom Noe writes:

Imagine having to come up with a new name for a geologic period:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7223663.stm

 

Fugitives fans, don't get overexcited. Scientists have a name for the current period. They're calling it the Anthropocene. 

If this has you searching your memory for the names of other geologic periods, look here, where you'll find them together with mnemonic devices suggested by listeners to NPR's Science Friday. My favorite is "Can Very Callous Old Senators Demand More Power and Privilege Than Junior Congressmen?" A rhetorical question, obviously. 

Jan/Feb Word Fugitives discussion

Herewith some Word Fugitives responses I wish I'd had space for in the January/February issue of the magazine. What they were in response to was this:

Michael McWatters, of New York City, writes, "I use a computer for the better part of my waking life, and I've noticed that certain repetitive keyboard tasks are making their way into my non-computer life. For example, I recently knocked a jar off the counter, and a little voice inside yelped, 'Command-Z!' (the keyboard shortcut for Undo). Ditto for the time I accidentally ripped a page in a book. A friend mentioned that she recently lost her keys and thought, 'Command-F' (Find). There should be a term for this confusion, as it's only going to become more common."

 

Posted by mark: but have you tried to unlock your front door with the carkey clicker?

Posted by Jill: The one I want to use is the "insert" function--as in, "insert about three more hours into the day" without impacting normal needs like sleep, food etc. 

Alyssa Smith, of Dulles, VA: With those Command Fs and Command Zs, Michael McWatters is, of course, referring to his "interior macrologue."

Jeff Reed, of Wilmington, DE: Because the user needs to resort to the "F" or "Function" keys on the keyboard, it might be that "Functional Iteracy" would do. Or because it's written form is a new notational language, it might be "Keyculus" (after the notation developed by Newton now known as calculus). But, because you need to be wired to both understand and use the new notation, perhaps it's just "geekspeak."

John Marum, of Oakland, CA: Attempting computer commands in real life situations is called making imachinations.

Dylan Armstrong, of Westhersfield, CT: In referring to Michael McWatters' linguistic need, it seems that the word "compucalque" fits well. The key stroke is a direct translation of the action he would like to perform (i.e. Undo, Find, etc). Qualifying it with the "compu-" prefix speaks to the fact that the word is not from another spoken language but from the languange that we use to communicate with our computer.

Editor's note: the New Oxford American Dictionary defines "calque" as "another term for loan translation," and "loan translation" as "an expression adopted by one language from another in a more or less literally translated form."]

William M. Walsh, of Laguna Woods, CA: In response to Michael McWatters' search for a term to describe the intursion of his "virtual" world key strokes into real world actions:  ALTERKEYGO

Steve Chandler, of Galloway, NJ: Michael McWatters, and his friends, looking for real-life equivalents to the keyboard shortcuts are suffering from keystroke.

That "irresistible impulse"

There's never room in the magazine for all the amusing Word Fugitives suggestions people send me. Well, hooray for the Internet, where I can post other responses that made my cut. The request to which readers responded in the December issue was this: 

Continue reading "That "irresistible impulse"" »

The glamorous life of the word guru