In English, words get multiple meanings when they are used to associate a base definition with a different context. I leave for your later exploration the word “bear” as a beautiful example. The best way of identifying that base meaning is to explore what other words or phrases can possibly used for the same meaning in the same context.
Continue readingI just received a gentle warning that I had mis-spelled a word on this site, and that there were tools to help me avoid this problem.
Alarmed, I looked to see what word I had mis-spelled, as this can completely alter the meaning of a sentence and a post – a most appalling possibility.
The word my gentle correspondent sent to me was “atall.”
There is, of course, the word “atoll” which refers to a tiny remnant of an island, but as I did not discuss anything smaller than an island on my site to my knowledge, that would not be a mis-spelling that I would suffer.
The other option is the dialect word “atall”, which like the generally used word “into” is a combination of two words yielding a meaning similar to, but subtly different from, the source words.
Nov. 21st, 2007
I am an American feminist information literacy librarian warrior.
The feminist warrior has a button, more than 20 years old, saying “Eve Chose to Know.”
The information specialist has the Library Bill of Rights inscribed on her heart. The Freedom to Read Statement seems almost tautological.
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This conversation between Mama Rose and Mike Nichols, of The Witches’ Sabbats fame, ranged over a great many topics in 1996.
Rose: Now: I understand to begin with that he actually changed the book with each edition, although he didn’t bother saying so. The one which got into my hands was the 1948 edition (funny what turns up in a science and engineering library!).
Mike: And I’ll have to check when I get home to see which version mine is. I wasn’t aware that the book had revisions with the different editions… verrry interesting.
The Dusty Kitchen 