ramble through the bronx

Saturday, February 28, 2004

A "Scary" Quest for You!

I want to know the origin of the term "scare-quotes." Why? Are they scary? Why are they called that?

This is what I've come up with so far, from googling:

Someone had the same question as I did, but the discussion seems to have petered out unprofitably.

Similarly, here, too, was a discussion on the origin of the term, which quickly became a discussion of the usefulness, relevance, or propriety of the scare-quotes themselves.

The OED had no entry for scare-quotes, but luckily Wikipedia did . (Wikipedia is god, most of the time).

This article discourages them, whereas this article simply discusses whether they should have one stroke (') or two (").

The closest I came to an actual answer was this article on Suck.com, which stated:

"Yet the term isn't mentioned in The New York Times' heavy-duty instruction manual, nor in The Washington Post Deskbook on Style; not in the slim volume the Associated Press puts out or The Chicago Manual of Style or any of the various MLA guides. Even dictionaries ignore it. Neither Webster's nor Random House admits the term into its pages, although Random House tells us that a "scarehead" is "a headline in exceptionally large type" and that it's also known as a "screamer." It dates from around 1885, and it's good to at least find out that "scarehead" and "screamer" are synonyms. In no volume of the Barnhart Dictionary Companion — an instrument so thorough it sees fit to include not only "soccer mom" but "soccer dad" — do we find an entry for "scare quotes." Only online at dictionary.com and dict.org, products of Princeton University's WorldNet, can a definition for "scare quote" — singular — be found: A scare quote is the use of quotation marks to indicate that it is not the author's preferred terminology."

Anyway.

If any of you find the answer, I'll tell you why Rhode Island.


ps...

happy birthday heather.
and i hear melanie has wicked amazing news. congratulations!! (not that any little birds told me what it was)

jane 12:07 AM [+]

You must remember this...

... a kiss is just a kiss....

On Monday night... no, wait, I'll do this properly. On Monday afternoon,* I was in a wretched mood. Just wretched. Anxious, distracted, unable to focus on philosophy, going round and round in my head about being a useless human being, that I'd alienated all my friends, etc., etc. That sort of thing. More, of course, a product of insufficient vegetables and exercise rather than real psychological trauma, but, still, unpleasant.

The one thing I thought in Particular was that it had been a long time since any one looked at me, you know, as a hetersexual-non-celibate-man or a homosexual-non-celibate woman looks at a woman. It had been a long time since I'd been able to be flirtatious with anyone, a long time since there'd been any cause for fun innuendo. Basically, a long time since that whole part of myself had in any way shape or form been operative. I'd been a walking-talking-drinking-sexless-automaton. (Or so I thought, in my Monday mood).

Then, of course, plans were arrived at to go down to The Living Room to hear some music, after which there were plans to head over to Arlene's Grocery for Punk Rock Heavy Metal Karaoke Night. My mood, of course, improved with good company and good music (Josh Thomas's friend Dawn Kinnard, who was great). Oh, and red wine never hurts either.

So, after two glasses of wine, I noticed a Cute Boy sitting at a table by himself listening to the second band, Ursa Minor. I asked my companions, "Should I be bold?" "Yes," they said, "yes you should be bold." "I will be bold," said I.

I walked past his seat, leaned over and asked if he wanted a drink, and he (looking somewhat surprised), said sure.

I bought two glasses of wine, came back, put one on his table, he gestured for me to sit down, I did so, conversation was struck up.

Lovely!

We ended up grabbing a slice of pizza after leaving The Living Room, and he even came out to the Karaoke (now that's style). We stayed at Arlene's Grocery for a bit (and both danced! wa-hey!), then walked out, exchanged numbers, and went our separate ways.

Oh, and we kissed. In public. At Arlene's. On the street. It was kinda fun.

Y'all know me -- I never do this sort of thing! So I discovered how easy this all is. And fun! Did I say fun? There's no reason to shut off my flirtatious side. When I'm feeling surrounded by Jesuits and married men, there really ARE places to go. It's not hopeless.

Anyway, in answer to (presumably somewhere in your head) your questions, no, of course he hasn't called, but really, isn't that the point? One lovely little interlude of fun. Hey, if he ever calls, that'll be neat, but really, the kiss, the one night, the one act -- that was enough.

So fun is to be had in NYC, and not everyone is a Jesuit.

Thank you, the end.


* Post-laundry-with-Ana, which was reasonably lovely, for being laundry.

jane 9:23 PM [+]

Is the Nunavut government as Inuk as it could be?

The CBC has an interesting article on the current state of the Nunavut legislature (their elections were held yesterday).

Here's an excerpt:

'In the chamber, there are attempts to bring the best of Inuit culture to government. The speaker sits at the front, the seats of the MLAs placed in a circle before him. It's consensus government here. Like in the Northwest Territories, there are no political parties. Behind the MLAs is another row of seats. They are for elders.

'Nunavut's first senior justice of the peace, Alexina Kublu, says Inuit were expecting elders to play an important role in the Nunavut legislature. The seats are there for them, she says, but they are rarely used.

'"Elders don't like to be just a ceremonial role," Kublu says. "They do not want to be equated with the mace. Whenever elders are present they want to feel that they've been invited to attend an occasion because they're able to bring in worthwhile input."'


Doesn't that sort of highlight the problem? The whole idea of a set government seems to involve some set stable ceremonial & static elements, which maybe doesn't translate so well. I don't know.

Meanwhile, the CBC also pointed out that "Kelvin Ng had to find proper footwear for his budget speech, something that reflected the serious message he had to give his fellow MLAs. So when the finance minister stood up in Nunavut's house last March, he wore kamiik. And not even new ones. The used pair of seal-skin boots symbolized what he wanted to tell the house. Money was going to get tight, so it was time to be frugal and sensible." This article explains Nunavut's budget issues, which are incredibly serious. Also -- remember the population pyramids we had to draw in OAC World Issues? [insert other high school civics-type class here] -- there are population pyramids provided for Canada as a whole and for Nunavut. Nunavut's are strongly pyramid in shape -- just like a "third world nation" (if I were Derrida I would put that phrase sous rature, but I make do with quotes... where did the expression scare quotes come from?).

The CBC writes:
'While the territory makes up more than one-fifth of the Canadian landmass, there are only about 30,000 Nunavumiut, spread over 25 communities ranging in population from a few dozen to the largest, Iqaluit, at 6,000.

'And the needs of those people are huge. A look at a population-age graph tells the story: while the country as a whole has a baby-boom bulge in the middle of the graph, with fewer younger and older people, Nunavut's graph is a pyramid: fully 60 per cent of the population is under the age of 25.

'There is massive unemployment in Nunavut, 80 per cent or higher in some communities. And with the population boom comes a desperate need for new schools, training, and jobs. Municipal governments need water systems, sewage treatment plants, roads and arenas. Vast amounts of money go to health care. Then there are the social problems; alcholism, depression, violent crime, and suicide. People need help, support, and programs.'

For now, Nunavut's only source of revenue is the federal government, which has to be convinced to free up extra money. While Nunavut has natural resources that could be exploited, they (according to the CBC article, though I wasn't clear precisely why this is the case) would not receive direct revenues therein. (I guess it's their status as a territory, that forbids them that autonomy over federally-mandated natural resources?)

Remind me to continue reading up on this. Nunavut is fascinating because they're trying to do things differently, but still within the constraints of the Canadian system. I'm really intrigued by what's possible, as well as frustrated about the problems. I doubt Nunavut really needs a philosophy professor to lecture them on Hegel, but... I wonder how hard it would be to learn Inuk?


and just in case you wanted this

The CBC also wants you to have Nunacom, an Inuk font for PC or Macintosh. So go ahead & download.

Also, (whew!) here's the link to Rick Mercer's Monday Report take on the Nunavut elections. Alas but I have never been able yet to enjoy this show, being stuck in Yankeeland. But a video is posted. And a picture. Mmm, Rick Mercer...

jane 11:50 AM [+]

beware of television!!!

This is a very odd story, that Neil Gaiman brought up on his blog. His post captures the pure weirdness of this, but basically what has happened is that a panel of 5 people (whose identities have not been officially disclosed, though one was discovered) were put together to get rid of close-captioning for about 200 programs that somehow do not live up to new "rules" for establishing which programs get close-captioning -- these new "rules," of course, are also not disclosed. Secret panel, secret rules. Furthermore, the panelists didn't even know what they were responsible for -- the Palm Beach article stated: '"They apparently used a panel of five individuals and then made the censorship decisions based on the individuals' recommendations," Mr. Brick says. "We have found the identity of one of the panelists. This individual tells us that he never knew he was on such a panel and that his views would be used for censorship. No panel was convened. The five panelists were contacted individually and separately."'

So what has been cut out? Scooby-doo, a bunch of sports programming, Law & Order, all sorts of stuff. There's a statement by the National Association of the Deaf, which states: "Most if not all of the censored shows are in fact educational and informative. These include reruns of family favorites such as “Bewitched” and modern shows such as “Law & Order.” “Disney Monthly Original Children’s Movies” and “Pokemon” cartoons, fixtures in today’s youth culture, are also being censored. Virtually all sports programming has been censored, isolating deaf and hard of hearing students of all ages, not only in the classroom, but within the family, at the school lunch table, and on the playground. The censorship of these shows not only prevents deaf and hard of hearing children from watching shows that help them learn about the trends, culture, and society around them, censorship also prevents deaf and hard of hearing parents from making informed decisions on appropriate programming for their children."


The Palm Beach article closes thusly, as will I:

'The NAD is lobbying Congress to change the policy. Some networks and sponsors are stepping in and providing captions for some of the "inappropriate" shows. But the government's dismissive treatment of 28 million Americans defies words.

'"We are outraged the department has taken paternalistic steps to exclude deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals," Mr. Brick says. "Such censorship is offensive and insulting."'

jane 11:22 AM [+]

The Joint Terrorism Task Force strikes again!

I'll assume y'all have heard of this, but if not, here and here and here is some information about how the FBI has subpoenaed Drake University in Des Moines for information on anti-war protestors for the purposes of a Grand Jury investigation.

To quote Brian Terrell, Executive Director of the Catholic Peace Ministry, Des Moines, Iowa, one of the groups with members served with a subpoena, 'The Grand Jury process is shrouded in secrecy. We do not know who or what the object of this investigation may be, beyond "possible violations of federal criminal law in the Southern District of Iowa."' (from Isebrand Dot Com, but also reprinted in other locations, including Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World blog, above which is a beautiful picture of "The Amazing Shrinking President").

Don't we all feel very safe now? The peaceniks won't get us! ho ho!

Meanwhile, Abdulkareem Khadr, a 14 year old Canadian boy whose family moved with him to Pakistan about five years ago, who was paralyzed from the waist down by a bullet, and whose three brothers are suspected Al Qaida members (he has a 17 year old brother in Gitmo), is probably not eligible for OHIP benefits ("it's doubtful"). The Canadian government says that it's up to the family to get him back to Canada, and they'll only consider assistance when sources of private funding are exhausted. (See Yahoo news -- "No help for 14-year old son of Al-Qaida suspect paralysed in firefight").

Still meanwhile, we got a paragraph of Can-con in a US report on terrorism! woo hoo! All I can say is, compare the Globe & Mail's version, which makes Ottawa sound dangerous! and sketchy! and a veritable web of intrigue! to the CBC's version, which wryly notes that the Ottawa references are all in one paragraph of a 90 page report, and points out that "There are no details of what the alleged "landmark" targets in Ottawa were or how the plot was foiled." So basically, Ottawa's more or less still the same old place. (Unless it's now suddenly located in South America, as the title of the report -- "Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of South America" -- seems to indicate. yay warm!)

Don't they know Montreal is where the action is?

and for those who keep losing track

The CBC has a beautiful online explanation of the whole NHL - NHLPA labour dispute, here.

My future husband, Bryan McCabe, of course has put his foot in his mouth by saying (as quoted right on the main page of aforementioned site), "The bottom line is, if they want a hard [salary] cap, we'll sit out for the rest of our lives." I don't know, Bryan, that's hardly fair. Or at least you could have said it better. Why don't you fly out to New York and we can discuss this over a beer?

(of course, alas, the closest the Leafs are coming to NYC for the rest of the season is bloody Philadelphia, a whole 3 hours drive away... and if the next season gets cancelled due to labour issues, I'll be quite unhappy. Damnitall.)

jane 10:57 AM [+]

philosophy plague

So the downfall of having a bunch of sociable philosophy grad students who like hanging out together in the department, if that department has no air circulation, is that viruses travel like hyperexcitable sparrows. My goodness, I think we're (almost) all sick.

(sniffle sniffle, pass the kleenex).

jane 12:00 PM [+]

...and just to be geeky

Here is a photo-gallery of philosophers, several of whom are heroes of mine, several of whom are not. Interestingly, the professor for my Tuesday night class at the New School has a lovely picture up. The class is crazy -- 80 students or so! A couple from Fordham (yay, me & Eoin, with Adam sitting in), a few from NYU, one from SUNY Stoney Brook, one from Yale, that sort of thing. It's quite good so far -- I've long liked Critchley's book, Ethics of Deconstruction, on Levinas and Derrida. He's quite clear while lecturing.

The photo of Nancy Fraser, whose work I also admire (and whose course at the New School this fall I really wanted to take, but alas could not), is exactly what I want to look like if I'm ever a hotshot philosopher.

and now for something completely different

For those who were disappointed at the small amount of Eowyn-Faramir goodness in the Return of the King movie, this fanfic site will make you feel a bit better. Emyn Arnen is of course where Faramir and Eowyn reign after the events in LOTR, as Faramir is Prince of Ithilien (all newly evil-free, huzzah).

oh, where did the hours go?

just a quick shout-out to Grassroots Tavern on St. Marks in the East Village, and the two cute men playing darts while I lacked the courage to smile or say hi. Curses!

jane 1:10 AM [+]

I'm sorry, so sorry

sorry about the two months of absence.... all I can say is papers, and then being away back in Canada, glorious Canada, for two and a half weeks, and then fear, tinged with weariness, tinged with drunkenness, tinged with a general lack of things to write.

Lack of things to write? Really? With all the excitement going on, of Maher Arar, and the Democratic primaries, and the Leafs being on and off their game, and the third Lord of the Rings movie?

Well, maybe not. Maybe not a lack of things to write, but a disinclination to write them. So many people are far better at the writing than I. But I'll get back to it. I'm taking some great courses this semester, and I'm sure my mind will be a-racin'.

In the meanwhile -- hey, Canadians, I'm curious. What have you been hearin' up north about the primaries? It's quite interesting being in the midst of it, for the first time. And I'll get the comments back to workin'. If they seem sketchy, email me & I'll post yer comments.

And I'm obsessed with the Albanian spinach pies at Tony & Tina's on Arthur Ave. yum!

jane 12:40 AM [+]