[Vwoolf] Carriage problems in the OED

[Laura Cernat]

Thank you, Stuart. As Woolf herself said in the only surviving recording of her voice, "words, English words, are full of echoes, memories, and associations" (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcbY04JrMaU&t=93s__;!!KGKeukY!39RMK8xpDmFDUDmL9g0gfc8fHqPP1VIegfWvi7fXcSk8jUzrkvVhOdlU9bLN_wlSfvDUXPzX8xQkkrUJDdSJ4zoNAjlsdQ$  ). I suppose that now, with global English, they are constantly fertilized with new meanings, but some of the old metaphors continue to intrigue us and require a type of attention and curiosity that is unfortunately in decline. The life of words is longer than the human horizon, and we are born into it (if I may wax Lacanian, or perhaps even old-fashioned Saussurian), but even that life is neither eternal nor uneventful, as meanings get so easily eclipsed.

However, I do think it will be as hard to think of "gig lamps" without "luminous halos" and "semi-transparent envelopes" from now on as it is to say "incarnadine" without "multitudinous seas" (although, to go off on another tangent, Woolf does use "incarnadine" so beautifully in Three Guineas).

Hope this finds you well, all best,

Laura
________________________________
From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces+cernat.laura=kuleuven.be at lists.osu.edu> on behalf of Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2024 10:33 AM
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Subject: [Vwoolf] Carriage problems in the OED

I am somewhat handicapped these days, in that I can’t fully access the OED from home. I used to be able to, but now I can’t. I only scratch the surface. I didn’t know that gig was short for whirligig, but there’s no problem in the OED if you
I am somewhat handicapped these days, in that I can’t fully access the OED from home.  I used to be able to, but now I can’t.  I only scratch the surface.

I didn’t know that gig was short for whirligig, but there’s no problem in the OED if you look up gig.

However, try looking up fly.  There is a verb, “to travel by fly”, which may lead you to the correct definition (I can’t get that far – I thought a fly was short for something: see brake below).

And if you want to know what a brake was, you first have to know that it’s short for a shooting-brake.

Stuart
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