May 19 2011
Bulletin Board
Three bits of wordy business to announce – two plugs and a word quandary. The first applies to anyone with a footy gene in their DNA, and by football I mean the AFL.
So if a high-flying bomber suggests James Hird in his heyday, rather than a radical with nitro in his carry-on, then Football Almanac is your kinda lair. At the same site you’ll also find my Clue of the Round. Just a few weeks old, the puzzle is open to all comers, with no prizes, but total glory. There’s one to unravel every week. And the Almanac link (right) is now a fixture.
Second, in case you missed the first hearing, I’m confessing my crossword dependency on Radio National this Saturday at 3.45. The show is called Lingua Franca, and the piece is the abridged Meanjin essay I wrote in 2009, the seed that germinated into Puzzled. And yes, a podcast is possible.
Third, a word challenge. A blog visitor called Izzy Perko (his real name, he swears), has asked a curious question. Over to you Izzy:
I’ve invented a word for a passion of mine, the study of borders and frontiers. It is Grenzology and on my business card I have” Izzy Perko, Grenzologist” . It’s from “grenze” the German word for border, as I have seen enough signs near the( East) German border saying “Achtung ! Grenze !” . Do you know of any other term for a border nut like me? Love you to investigate if possible.
And please, I don’t want to hear about borderline sociopaths. This is a genuine question from a lovely bloke. What word/s can we offer him?
Comments
Boniface — 19 May at 10:00AM
Parietologist (from the Gr. pariet-, wall). That's pure invention of course, but I think it sounds incredibly sophisticated and worthy of academia...
Peta — 19 May at 10:07AM
Paleologist (might be considered beyond the pale because the students of antiquities have bagsed it)
DA — 19 May at 10:12AM
Marginalist sounds too self-effacing. And outskirter, too indictable.
I know if Izzy had two daughters he should call them Diane and Martha, after two famed borders: India/Nepal and Myanmar/Thailand.
AS — 19 May at 10:20AM
You can't mix German with Greek! All the classicists will get their knickers in a knot! (Look up the controversy surrounding television, which takes tele from Greek and vision from Latin).
I actually consider myself an ologyologist because I speak Modern Greek (I am a first-generation child of Greek parents) and I can usually figure out what the -ologies even if I haven't encountered them before. Of course, a true ologyologist would speak Ancient Greek...
So anyway, I can report that the Greek word for border is συνόρων but it's usually used in the plural form σύνορα. From the spelling I assume it's also an Ancient Greek word, so if we were -ology purists, we'd have σύνορολογία, or sinorology.
AS — 19 May at 10:25AM
Oopsies, stuffed up the accent.
That should say συνορολογία.
DA — 19 May at 10:28AM
You beat me to it, AS. I noticed that errant accent was poised to phone the consulate. Have them pursue the culprit.
But seriously, that's fascinating, thanks. Makes me think that someone following Tibet's quest for sovereignty could well be Sinological sinorologist.
Anthony Douglas — 19 May at 11:32AM
Given that cartographer is taken, and refers more to the production of maps, what about cartologer, for the study thereof?
JPR — 19 May at 05:45PM
Liminologist
ML — 20 May at 11:28AM
Why not a proper noun, to honour the "king" of the activity?
Crockettologist