I love receiving the Oxford English Dictionary's Word of the Day. This entry came in on December 23rd, and I am hoping--HOPING--that it was a sly joke. Check it out (their text is in italics):
Your word for today is: putz, n./1
putz, n.1
Pronunciation: Brit. /pʊts/, U.S. /pʊts/
Forms: also with capital initial.
Etymology: < Pennsylvania German putz (German Putz decoration, ornament (late 16th cent.; now archaic in this sense) < putzen to decorate, to clean (15th cent.), of uncertain origin: perhaps related to classical Latin putāre to cleanse, to prune: see putation n.).
U.S. regional.
An ornamental display representing the Nativity scene, traditionally placed under a Christmas tree.
Originally a Pennsylvania German tradition.
1885 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 26 Jan. 2/5The children disperse to their homes where Santa Claus has been busy giving finishing touches to the ‘Putz’.
1902 N.Y. Times Mag. 14 Dec. 15/2Only the chosen few can afford to have a really impressive ‘putz’ which fills half a room, and represents a landscape in miniature.‥ This more elaborate ‘putz’ requires not only money for its erection, but artistic handiwork.
1926 Ladies' Home Jrnl. Dec. 82/2The putz is simply the pictured story of the Nativity, built near or at the base of the Christmas tree.
1963 K. H. Seibel Joyful Christmas Craft Bk. iii. 60 (caption)A putz like this with tiny figures of the Holy Family in the Nativity scene is made with a variety of other figures, too.
2001 Frederick (Maryland) Post 8 Dec. b8/5The main components of a Putz are Nativity figurines and much imagination.
Where I grew up, putz had a very different meaning. Does anyone else remember the movie The Sunshine Boys (1975), with Walter Matthau and George Burns? It may have been the first PG movie I ever saw, and that rating might have been due to the refrain "You're a putz". I'm pretty sure they were not talking about nativity scenes, although if you read the 1902 definition above, it could come pretty close.
Checking in with Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish confirms my suspicions about the widespread acceptance of the more popular meaning of the word putz. Rosten tells us that it is not a nice word; he suggests shmuck as a gentler version of the same concept.
Lest you think that the disparity in definitions is simply a matter of time (1902 versus the present), take a look at the Christmas Village depicted here: it goes beyond the traditional Nativity scene. Check the current Encarta entry for the term, and you are directed to a language advisory. It would seem that both terms stem from the German word for finery or ornament--but the Yiddish derivitave is ironic, and the Nativity derivative is literal.
I'm surprised that the OED did not include any of the Yiddish-derived definitions of the word, especially since they are careful to attribute the word to American usage. Just imagining the confusing conversation using this word that might take place between two native speakers of American English is enough to make anyone laugh--so, whether you celebrate it or not, I hope this entry gives you a Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
A nose by any other name?
It's always a good day when I find a word that sounds like it should be easy to spell...but isn't. Or a word that seems to mean something that it does not, in fact, mean.
Today is a really good day: check out Ben Zimmer's NY Times article On Language, where he discusses the misuse of the word "we" (as in "we are not amused").
The technical term for the mis-use of "we" is nosism, ably pronounced and defined by A.Word.A.Day on the hyperlink. The word comes from the Latin nos, or "we".
But don't you think that nosism should have something to do with noses? The study of noses, perhaps? That would be rhinology. Or a nosy person? There are many terms for that, but here's a G-rated example: busybody.
We (that's the Bee team) will be tucking nosism away in the word file, with other gems like piesporter and kickshaw. Perhaps the next Bee will feature a word category devoted to words with tricky definitions. All we need now is a tricky title...
Today is a really good day: check out Ben Zimmer's NY Times article On Language, where he discusses the misuse of the word "we" (as in "we are not amused").
The technical term for the mis-use of "we" is nosism, ably pronounced and defined by A.Word.A.Day on the hyperlink. The word comes from the Latin nos, or "we".
But don't you think that nosism should have something to do with noses? The study of noses, perhaps? That would be rhinology. Or a nosy person? There are many terms for that, but here's a G-rated example: busybody.
We (that's the Bee team) will be tucking nosism away in the word file, with other gems like piesporter and kickshaw. Perhaps the next Bee will feature a word category devoted to words with tricky definitions. All we need now is a tricky title...
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Spell-check doesn't catch everything
A friend of mine posted this on Facebook this morning: the message on an electronic bulletin board in Indiana might have made it through spell-check, but I'm hoping it was an error anyway. Spelling counts, folks!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Here's (or "heah's") a really good word: rhotic
Not to be a snob, but it isn't often that the Boston Globe uses words that are unfamiliar to me. This morning, however, Ty Burr's review of Ben Affleck's movie "The Town" sent me running for the dictionary.
Burr refers to Hollywood actors struggling with "non-rhotic speech patterns".
Shucks, I didn't even know what "rhotic" was, let alone "non". Burr does leave us a good hint; you will have to check out his review yourself (click on the link above, or look in the real paper on page 16G).
So: rhotic. Thanks to the Wordnik app on my phone, I was able to define it in seconds (and without paper cuts, for a change):
Of an English accent, pronouncing the letter r wherever it appears, as in bar (/bɑːr/) and bard or barred (/bɑːrd/); this trait is common in much of the United States, Canada, many parts of the north and west of England, Ireland, and Scotland.
Non-rhotic then means omitting the "r" in speech. Fabulous. Or should I say "mahvelous".
I hope the movie is as good as the review.
Burr refers to Hollywood actors struggling with "non-rhotic speech patterns".
Shucks, I didn't even know what "rhotic" was, let alone "non". Burr does leave us a good hint; you will have to check out his review yourself (click on the link above, or look in the real paper on page 16G).
So: rhotic. Thanks to the Wordnik app on my phone, I was able to define it in seconds (and without paper cuts, for a change):
Of an English accent, pronouncing the letter r wherever it appears, as in bar (/bɑːr/) and bard or barred (/bɑːrd/); this trait is common in much of the United States, Canada, many parts of the north and west of England, Ireland, and Scotland.
Non-rhotic then means omitting the "r" in speech. Fabulous. Or should I say "mahvelous".
I hope the movie is as good as the review.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Oh, just you wait!!
Amelia Slawsby mailed me this link to the Huffington Post's coverage of some of the longest words in English. Read 'em and weep! Weep for joy, that is, that most of them never crossed our mind as we composed prior years' word lists.
Next time is a new time...and you can count on seeing some more of these, even if only for comic relief. I may have to retire hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian, now that Greg Kahoun caught me spelling it wrong in last year's list...but we still have 10 others.
Click on the Huffington Post link and enjoy their clever photographs and concise definitions. I notice there are no pronunciation guides. Hmmm.
Thanks, Amelia, for the fun read!
Next time is a new time...and you can count on seeing some more of these, even if only for comic relief. I may have to retire hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian, now that Greg Kahoun caught me spelling it wrong in last year's list...but we still have 10 others.
Click on the Huffington Post link and enjoy their clever photographs and concise definitions. I notice there are no pronunciation guides. Hmmm.
Thanks, Amelia, for the fun read!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
It's nice to see that Dover is not spellbound alone
Thursday, July 29, 2010
How's this for a word? Piesporter
Before you read the definition and pronunciation, try to imagine what you think "piesporter" might mean.
The word caught my eye in my inbox: I subscribe to the OED Word of the Day and this was yesterday's word.
At first, I thought it might be someone who carried pies around ("pies porter"), or maybe someone who threw pies in some obscure sports competetion ( "pie sporting"--like the javelin throw, but tastier). Then again, the "pies" part might have had something to do with "piety", which raised the question of whether a "piesporter" was some kind of cleric, or someone who carried sacred relics.
But look! It's wine! I like the citation about "piesporter, coffee and mints": it sounds like it could be a dessert wine or a breakfast beverage, depending on your frame of mind.
We'll see if it makes the next Bee list....
The OED e-mail is printed below, italics mine. You can subscribe to their Word a Day service at wotd@oed.com. Send them a message saying "subscribe" and watch your inbox fill with interesting words.
Piesporter, n.DRAFT ENTRY Mar. 2009
Brit. /pizpt/, /pispt/, U.S. /pizprdr/, /pisprdr/ [< German Piesporter < Piesport, the name of a village on the Mosel River in western Germany where this kind of wine is produced + -er -ER suffix1.]
1. A white Moselle wine originally produced in Piesport, a village in western Germany; (now more generally) a white wine produced in the area around Piesport.
[1851 in C. Redding Hist. Mod Wines (ed. 3) viii. 230 The best vineyards..are those of the old Schloss (Castle), the Brauneberger, Pisporter, Graacher, Wehlener, [etc.].] 1867 F. S. COZZENS Sayings of Dr. Bushwacker xxii. 165 To pass..from Claret, Burgundy and Champagne..to..Rüdesheimer, and even Piesporter, without a groan. 1902 Hatch, Mansfield Price List Oct. 21 Piesporter, elegant, with refined flavour. 1935 H. R. RUDD Hocks & Moselles xi. 143 When I had got into his cellars I found he had some really good things to show, Piesporter, of all varieties, and well made, too. 1991 Purchasing & Supply Managem. Apr. 40/1 Copious quantities of Piesporter, coffee and mints.
2. With various modifying words denoting the specific vineyard or area of production; esp. in Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Piesporter Michelsberg.
1937 Times 10 Sept. 1/6 Among a number of Hocks and Moselles listed in their wine list are 1929 Liebfraumilch..and Piesporter Michelsberg. 1985 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 14 Nov. (Food Guide Section) 5 A 1983 Piesporter Goldtropfchen riesling auslese..is about $12 a bottle. But a 1983 Piesporter Treppchen..riesling auslese..is $7 a bottle. 1986 Listener 20 Feb. 13/3 If Piesporter Goldtröpfchen tasted like Brobat it would still command a premium in restaurants; in England, the best-selling German wine is Piesporter Michelsberg. 1998 Decanter Jan. 5/2 The fault..is caused by Riesling being associated in the public's mind with..virtually generic names such as Piesporter Michelsberg (often Müler-Thurgau).
The word caught my eye in my inbox: I subscribe to the OED Word of the Day and this was yesterday's word.
At first, I thought it might be someone who carried pies around ("pies porter"), or maybe someone who threw pies in some obscure sports competetion ( "pie sporting"--like the javelin throw, but tastier). Then again, the "pies" part might have had something to do with "piety", which raised the question of whether a "piesporter" was some kind of cleric, or someone who carried sacred relics.
But look! It's wine! I like the citation about "piesporter, coffee and mints": it sounds like it could be a dessert wine or a breakfast beverage, depending on your frame of mind.
We'll see if it makes the next Bee list....
The OED e-mail is printed below, italics mine. You can subscribe to their Word a Day service at wotd@oed.com. Send them a message saying "subscribe" and watch your inbox fill with interesting words.
Piesporter, n.DRAFT ENTRY Mar. 2009
Brit. /pizpt/, /pispt/, U.S. /pizprdr/, /pisprdr/ [< German Piesporter < Piesport, the name of a village on the Mosel River in western Germany where this kind of wine is produced + -er -ER suffix1.]
1. A white Moselle wine originally produced in Piesport, a village in western Germany; (now more generally) a white wine produced in the area around Piesport.
[1851 in C. Redding Hist. Mod Wines (ed. 3) viii. 230 The best vineyards..are those of the old Schloss (Castle), the Brauneberger, Pisporter, Graacher, Wehlener, [etc.].] 1867 F. S. COZZENS Sayings of Dr. Bushwacker xxii. 165 To pass..from Claret, Burgundy and Champagne..to..Rüdesheimer, and even Piesporter, without a groan. 1902 Hatch, Mansfield Price List Oct. 21 Piesporter, elegant, with refined flavour. 1935 H. R. RUDD Hocks & Moselles xi. 143 When I had got into his cellars I found he had some really good things to show, Piesporter, of all varieties, and well made, too. 1991 Purchasing & Supply Managem. Apr. 40/1 Copious quantities of Piesporter, coffee and mints.
2. With various modifying words denoting the specific vineyard or area of production; esp. in Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, Piesporter Michelsberg.
1937 Times 10 Sept. 1/6 Among a number of Hocks and Moselles listed in their wine list are 1929 Liebfraumilch..and Piesporter Michelsberg. 1985 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 14 Nov. (Food Guide Section) 5 A 1983 Piesporter Goldtropfchen riesling auslese..is about $12 a bottle. But a 1983 Piesporter Treppchen..riesling auslese..is $7 a bottle. 1986 Listener 20 Feb. 13/3 If Piesporter Goldtröpfchen tasted like Brobat it would still command a premium in restaurants; in England, the best-selling German wine is Piesporter Michelsberg. 1998 Decanter Jan. 5/2 The fault..is caused by Riesling being associated in the public's mind with..virtually generic names such as Piesporter Michelsberg (often Müler-Thurgau).
Monday, June 14, 2010
Hive--what a word!
I subscribe to the OED word of the day e-mail, and I really enjoy it.
Today's word is HIVE, and just look how old a word it is! The first citation that passes the OED's stringent standards is for the year 725.
This is an old, essential word in our language. I've copied the e-mail below, hopefully with sufficient attribution.
Enjoy! And consider subscribing to the OED word of the day.
hive, n.SECOND EDITION 1989
(hav) Forms: 1 hýf, 2- hive, (4 huive, 4-7 hyve, heve, 5 hyfe). [OE. hýf:OTeut. type *hûfi-z; not preserved elsewhere in Teutonic; prob. related to ON. húfr hull of a ship, and to L. cpa tub, cask. The form hve is Kentish.]
1. An artificial receptacle for the habitation of a swarm of bees; a beehive.
Originally made, in a conical or dome-like form, of straw or the like, but now often a square box, constructed with movable compartments or other arrangements for the removal of the honey.
c725 Corpus Gloss. 133 Alvearia, hyfi. c1000 ÆLFRIC Gloss. in Wr-Wülcker 123/16 Canistrum, uel aluearium, hyf. c1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 98 Wi æt beon æt ne fleon, enim as ylcan wyrte..and ehoh hy to ære hyfe. a1132 O.E. Chron. an. 1127 He wunede eall riht swa drane do on hiue. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 1408 So faste hii gonne aboute him scheue Ase don ben aboute e heue. c1325 Gloss. W. de Biblesw. in Wright Voc. 172 Rusche, hyve [Cambr. MS. huive]. c1440 Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 142 e bere delyteth myche in hony, and er-fore he goth to an heve, to a swarm of been, & lycketh awey here hony. c1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 286 Honey takyn of a hyfe. 1577 B. GOOGE Heresbach's Husb. IV. (1586) 179 Some make their Hives of Lanterne horne, or Glasse..that they may viewe the maner of their working. 1605 CAMDEN Rem., Poems 7 Out of the heues came swarmes of Bees. 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece III. 515 Any sort of Hive, whether of Straw, Board, or Glass. 1881 T. W. COWAN Brit. Bee-kpr.'s Guide Bk. ix. (1889) 46 No hive can be considered complete unless it has some arrangement for securing pure honey in the comb.
2. fig. A storehouse of sweet things.
1633 G. HERBERT Temple, Home iv, Must he leave that nest, That hive of sweetnesse. 1670 Devout Commun. (1688) 143 Whose bosom is the hive and centre of all goodness. 1798 S. ROGERS Ep. to a Friend 14 London hails thee to its splendid mart, Its hives of sweets, and cabinets of art.
3. transf. a. A place swarming with busy occupants.
1634 S. R. Noble Soldier V. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. I. 333 Religious houses are those hyves where Bees Make honey for mens soules. 1647 COWLEY Mistr., Wish i, The Crowd, and Buz, and Murmurings Of this great Hive, the City. 1784 COWPER Tiroc. 458 Our public hives of puerile resort. 1849 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. ii. I. 200 A busy and populous hive, in which new wealth was every day created. 1863 P. BARRY Dockyard Econ. 2 A private shipyard is a hive of industry.
b. A place whence swarms of people issue; the nursery of a teeming race.
1788 PRIESTLEY Lect. Hist. V. lviii. 457 They no longer send forth those swarms of people..which made them be called the northern hive. 1818 CRUISE Digest (ed. 2) I. 2 Both the Danes and Saxons were undoubtedly swarms from the northern hive. 1835 THIRLWALL Greece I. ii. 54 The hive whence the Pelasgian people issued.
c. The abode of any gregarious domestic animal.
1641 BAKER Chron. (1660) 31 Hens, Peacocks, Geese, and Ducks bred in and accustomed to houses, forsook their wonted hives, and turned wilde. 1875 ‘STONEHENGE’ Brit. Sports I. 1 i. §3 The old hen of each hive or nide..is always anxious to retain her old nest.
d. spec. A breeding-place for oysters.
1882 Daily Tel. 18 Aug. 5/1 The ostriculturist has designed what is termed a ‘hive’ made of limed tiles, to which the spat can readily affix itself.
4. a. A hiveful of bees, a hived swarm.
c1430 LYDG. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 154 Foo unto hevys and enemy is the drane. 1593 SHAKES. 2 Hen. VI, III. ii. 125 The Commons like an angry Hiue of Bees That want their Leader, scatter vp and downe. 1711 SWIFT Lett. (1767) III. 219 [They] seemed to me to be just like a hive of bees working and labouring under huge weights of cares.
b. transf. A swarming or teeming multitude.
1832-4 DE QUINCEY Cæsars Wks. 1859 X. 168 Those Gothic, Vandal, and Frankish hives, who were as yet hidden behind a cloud of years. 1839 J. YEOWELL Anc. Brit. Ch. i. (1847) 2 It was here that the great hive of mankind was gathered together. 1864 TENNYSON Boadicea 19 There the hive of Roman liars worship a gluttonous emperor-idiot.
5. Something of the shape or structure of a beehive: a. A head-covering of platted straw. b. A capsule or case containing many cells.
1597 SHAKES. Lover's Compl. 8 Upon her head a platted hive of straw. 1665 HOOKE Microgr. 155 Microscopical seeds..For first, though they grow in a Case or Hive often~times bigger then one of these..being not above part of an Inch in Diameter, whereas the Diameter of the Hive of them oftentimes exceeds two Inches. Ibid. 188 Whether the seed of certain Bees, sinking to the bottom, might there naturally form itself that vegetable hive, and take root. 1758 C. LENNOX Henrietta (1761) I. 73 The shepherdess..with a straw hive on her head, and a tatter'd garment on.
6. ? A contrivance of wickerwork, resembling a beehive, used for catching fish. Obs.
1533-4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 7 No..person..shal..take..in..any..net..lepe, hiue, crele..or any other engine..the yonge frie..of any kinde of salmon. 1558 Act 1 Eliz. c. 17 §3 No..person..shall..take Fishe withe any maner of Nett, Tramell, Keppe, Wore, Hyvy, Crele, or by any other Engyne.
7. attrib. and Comb., as hive-bee, the common honey-bee; hive-bound a., confined to a hive; hive-cot, a beehive; hive-dross, bee-glue, propolis; hive-evil, a sickness to which bees are liable; hive-honey, honey from a hive; hive-moth, an alternative name for the wax-moth or honeycomb moth; hive-nest, a structure consisting of an aggregation of many nests constructed and occupied by a colony of birds, such as those of the republican grosbeak and republican swallow; hive-vine, ‘the partridge-berry or squaw-vine, Mitchella repens’ (Cent. Dict.).
1816 KIRBY & SP. Entomol. (1843) II. 103 The instincts that actuate the common *hive-bee. 1859 DARWIN Orig. Spec. xix. (1860) 411 The admirable architectural powers of the hive-bee.
1921 R. GRAVES Pier-Glass 30 A *hive-bound bee. 1945 W. DE LA MARE Burning-Glass 67 As passive as the hive~bound bees.
1583 STANYHURST Æneis I. (Arb.) 31 Lyke bees..Feaze away thee droane bees with sting, from maunger, or *hiuecot.
1658 ROWLAND Moufet's Theat. Ins. 916 Propolis the Arabians call Kur..the English, *Hive-dross. 1706 PHILLIPS (ed. Kersey), Hive-dross or Bee-glue, a kind of Wax which Bees make at the Mouth of their Hive, to keep out the Cold.
1607 TOPSELL Serpents (1658) 650 If they be too many, they bring a sicknesse called the *Hive-evill.
1653 WALTON Angler vi. 140 Take the stinking oil..and *Hive-honey, and annoint your bait therewith.
1931 Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 17 June 703/1 *Hive~moth (Galleria) at Nairobi.
Hence hiveless a., destitute of a hive. hiveward adv., towards the hive.
1575 GASCOIGNE Herbs, Fruit Reconciliation Wks. II. 130 Like hiueless Bees they wander here and there. 1847 TENNYSON Princess IV. 181, I..less from Indian craft Than beelike instinct hiveward, found at length The garden portals.
DRAFT ADDITIONS JULY 2004
hive, n.
hive mind n. (a) Science Fiction a unified consciousness or intelligence formed by a number of alien individuals, esp. where the resulting consciousness exerts control over its constituent members; (b) any form of thinking or acting among a group of individuals, regarded variously as being stifling of individuality or as leading to a productive collective intelligence.
1950 J. H. SCHMITZ in Galaxy Sci. Fiction Dec. 22/2 It's pretty certain, too, that the Halpa have the *hive-mind class of intelligence, so what goes for the nerve systems of most of the ones they send through to us might be nothing much more than secondary reflex-transmitters. 1973 Daily Tel. 24 Mar. 14/4 The social and aesthetic attitudes have been passed through the homogeniser of the bureaucratic hive-mind. 1986 O. S. CARD Speaker for Dead (1987) ii. 42 The buggers had casually killed human beings, but only because they had a hive mind. 2003 InfoWorld 6 Jan. 32/2, I blogged that solution anyway because it was an interesting partial result that would provoke the blog hive mind to suggest how to take the next step.
Today's word is HIVE, and just look how old a word it is! The first citation that passes the OED's stringent standards is for the year 725.
This is an old, essential word in our language. I've copied the e-mail below, hopefully with sufficient attribution.
Enjoy! And consider subscribing to the OED word of the day.
hive, n.SECOND EDITION 1989
(hav) Forms: 1 hýf, 2- hive, (4 huive, 4-7 hyve, heve, 5 hyfe). [OE. hýf:OTeut. type *hûfi-z; not preserved elsewhere in Teutonic; prob. related to ON. húfr hull of a ship, and to L. cpa tub, cask. The form hve is Kentish.]
1. An artificial receptacle for the habitation of a swarm of bees; a beehive.
Originally made, in a conical or dome-like form, of straw or the like, but now often a square box, constructed with movable compartments or other arrangements for the removal of the honey.
c725 Corpus Gloss. 133 Alvearia, hyfi. c1000 ÆLFRIC Gloss. in Wr-Wülcker 123/16 Canistrum, uel aluearium, hyf. c1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 98 Wi æt beon æt ne fleon, enim as ylcan wyrte..and ehoh hy to ære hyfe. a1132 O.E. Chron. an. 1127 He wunede eall riht swa drane do on hiue. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 1408 So faste hii gonne aboute him scheue Ase don ben aboute e heue. c1325 Gloss. W. de Biblesw. in Wright Voc. 172 Rusche, hyve [Cambr. MS. huive]. c1440 Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 142 e bere delyteth myche in hony, and er-fore he goth to an heve, to a swarm of been, & lycketh awey here hony. c1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 286 Honey takyn of a hyfe. 1577 B. GOOGE Heresbach's Husb. IV. (1586) 179 Some make their Hives of Lanterne horne, or Glasse..that they may viewe the maner of their working. 1605 CAMDEN Rem., Poems 7 Out of the heues came swarmes of Bees. 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece III. 515 Any sort of Hive, whether of Straw, Board, or Glass. 1881 T. W. COWAN Brit. Bee-kpr.'s Guide Bk. ix. (1889) 46 No hive can be considered complete unless it has some arrangement for securing pure honey in the comb.
2. fig. A storehouse of sweet things.
1633 G. HERBERT Temple, Home iv, Must he leave that nest, That hive of sweetnesse. 1670 Devout Commun. (1688) 143 Whose bosom is the hive and centre of all goodness. 1798 S. ROGERS Ep. to a Friend 14 London hails thee to its splendid mart, Its hives of sweets, and cabinets of art.
3. transf. a. A place swarming with busy occupants.
1634 S. R. Noble Soldier V. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. I. 333 Religious houses are those hyves where Bees Make honey for mens soules. 1647 COWLEY Mistr., Wish i, The Crowd, and Buz, and Murmurings Of this great Hive, the City. 1784 COWPER Tiroc. 458 Our public hives of puerile resort. 1849 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. ii. I. 200 A busy and populous hive, in which new wealth was every day created. 1863 P. BARRY Dockyard Econ. 2 A private shipyard is a hive of industry.
b. A place whence swarms of people issue; the nursery of a teeming race.
1788 PRIESTLEY Lect. Hist. V. lviii. 457 They no longer send forth those swarms of people..which made them be called the northern hive. 1818 CRUISE Digest (ed. 2) I. 2 Both the Danes and Saxons were undoubtedly swarms from the northern hive. 1835 THIRLWALL Greece I. ii. 54 The hive whence the Pelasgian people issued.
c. The abode of any gregarious domestic animal.
1641 BAKER Chron. (1660) 31 Hens, Peacocks, Geese, and Ducks bred in and accustomed to houses, forsook their wonted hives, and turned wilde. 1875 ‘STONEHENGE’ Brit. Sports I. 1 i. §3 The old hen of each hive or nide..is always anxious to retain her old nest.
d. spec. A breeding-place for oysters.
1882 Daily Tel. 18 Aug. 5/1 The ostriculturist has designed what is termed a ‘hive’ made of limed tiles, to which the spat can readily affix itself.
4. a. A hiveful of bees, a hived swarm.
c1430 LYDG. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 154 Foo unto hevys and enemy is the drane. 1593 SHAKES. 2 Hen. VI, III. ii. 125 The Commons like an angry Hiue of Bees That want their Leader, scatter vp and downe. 1711 SWIFT Lett. (1767) III. 219 [They] seemed to me to be just like a hive of bees working and labouring under huge weights of cares.
b. transf. A swarming or teeming multitude.
1832-4 DE QUINCEY Cæsars Wks. 1859 X. 168 Those Gothic, Vandal, and Frankish hives, who were as yet hidden behind a cloud of years. 1839 J. YEOWELL Anc. Brit. Ch. i. (1847) 2 It was here that the great hive of mankind was gathered together. 1864 TENNYSON Boadicea 19 There the hive of Roman liars worship a gluttonous emperor-idiot.
5. Something of the shape or structure of a beehive: a. A head-covering of platted straw. b. A capsule or case containing many cells.
1597 SHAKES. Lover's Compl. 8 Upon her head a platted hive of straw. 1665 HOOKE Microgr. 155 Microscopical seeds..For first, though they grow in a Case or Hive often~times bigger then one of these..being not above part of an Inch in Diameter, whereas the Diameter of the Hive of them oftentimes exceeds two Inches. Ibid. 188 Whether the seed of certain Bees, sinking to the bottom, might there naturally form itself that vegetable hive, and take root. 1758 C. LENNOX Henrietta (1761) I. 73 The shepherdess..with a straw hive on her head, and a tatter'd garment on.
6. ? A contrivance of wickerwork, resembling a beehive, used for catching fish. Obs.
1533-4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 7 No..person..shal..take..in..any..net..lepe, hiue, crele..or any other engine..the yonge frie..of any kinde of salmon. 1558 Act 1 Eliz. c. 17 §3 No..person..shall..take Fishe withe any maner of Nett, Tramell, Keppe, Wore, Hyvy, Crele, or by any other Engyne.
7. attrib. and Comb., as hive-bee, the common honey-bee; hive-bound a., confined to a hive; hive-cot, a beehive; hive-dross, bee-glue, propolis; hive-evil, a sickness to which bees are liable; hive-honey, honey from a hive; hive-moth, an alternative name for the wax-moth or honeycomb moth; hive-nest, a structure consisting of an aggregation of many nests constructed and occupied by a colony of birds, such as those of the republican grosbeak and republican swallow; hive-vine, ‘the partridge-berry or squaw-vine, Mitchella repens’ (Cent. Dict.).
1816 KIRBY & SP. Entomol. (1843) II. 103 The instincts that actuate the common *hive-bee. 1859 DARWIN Orig. Spec. xix. (1860) 411 The admirable architectural powers of the hive-bee.
1921 R. GRAVES Pier-Glass 30 A *hive-bound bee. 1945 W. DE LA MARE Burning-Glass 67 As passive as the hive~bound bees.
1583 STANYHURST Æneis I. (Arb.) 31 Lyke bees..Feaze away thee droane bees with sting, from maunger, or *hiuecot.
1658 ROWLAND Moufet's Theat. Ins. 916 Propolis the Arabians call Kur..the English, *Hive-dross. 1706 PHILLIPS (ed. Kersey), Hive-dross or Bee-glue, a kind of Wax which Bees make at the Mouth of their Hive, to keep out the Cold.
1607 TOPSELL Serpents (1658) 650 If they be too many, they bring a sicknesse called the *Hive-evill.
1653 WALTON Angler vi. 140 Take the stinking oil..and *Hive-honey, and annoint your bait therewith.
1931 Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 17 June 703/1 *Hive~moth (Galleria) at Nairobi.
Hence hiveless a., destitute of a hive. hiveward adv., towards the hive.
1575 GASCOIGNE Herbs, Fruit Reconciliation Wks. II. 130 Like hiueless Bees they wander here and there. 1847 TENNYSON Princess IV. 181, I..less from Indian craft Than beelike instinct hiveward, found at length The garden portals.
DRAFT ADDITIONS JULY 2004
hive, n.
hive mind n. (a) Science Fiction a unified consciousness or intelligence formed by a number of alien individuals, esp. where the resulting consciousness exerts control over its constituent members; (b) any form of thinking or acting among a group of individuals, regarded variously as being stifling of individuality or as leading to a productive collective intelligence.
1950 J. H. SCHMITZ in Galaxy Sci. Fiction Dec. 22/2 It's pretty certain, too, that the Halpa have the *hive-mind class of intelligence, so what goes for the nerve systems of most of the ones they send through to us might be nothing much more than secondary reflex-transmitters. 1973 Daily Tel. 24 Mar. 14/4 The social and aesthetic attitudes have been passed through the homogeniser of the bureaucratic hive-mind. 1986 O. S. CARD Speaker for Dead (1987) ii. 42 The buggers had casually killed human beings, but only because they had a hive mind. 2003 InfoWorld 6 Jan. 32/2, I blogged that solution anyway because it was an interesting partial result that would provoke the blog hive mind to suggest how to take the next step.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Free publicity!
We received some very nice post-Bee publicity from the Hometown Weekly this past Thursday. They ran the Bee recap, re-listing our players, winners, sponsors and contributors. If you feel like re-living the moment (and who wouldn't?), check out the link to their photo gallery. See whom you recognize ;-)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Another study break?
http://www.vocabulary.com/ is my new favorite word site. It uses the Visual Thesaurus technology, and contains word lists, lesson plans, subject-specific vocabulary, an etymological dictionary, and loads of other entertaining links. I enjoyed the interactive vocabulary quiz (it scores like the SATs, except it explains your mistakes--yes, I had a few), and--of course--it features the online Spelling Bee.
Almost makes me want to sit for a standardized test, now that I've got all the tools in one place...
Take a peek. Enjoy.
Almost makes me want to sit for a standardized test, now that I've got all the tools in one place...
Take a peek. Enjoy.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
While away your time until the next Bee
I subscribe to the Visual Thesaurus on line, and was interested to see an article about a new website called lexicalist. Check it out--it tells you what words are in vogue in various parts of the country. I searched "Spelling Bee" and was dismayed to see that Massachusetts' use of the term was only #36 in the nation.
The site gives you breakout on words used by gender, age, location, and change in frequency. It is going to be fun to explore in greater depth....after I mow the yard.
Enjoy!
The site gives you breakout on words used by gender, age, location, and change in frequency. It is going to be fun to explore in greater depth....after I mow the yard.
Enjoy!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
The Bee Keeps on Giving ...
Many of you saw all (and ate some!) of the fabulous food we had donated to the Bee Cafe. Even with a hungry crowd, we had snack packs and bottles of water left over. So last week I took them to A Place To Turn - a food pantry in Natick. They do great work there and were so appreciative of the Friends' donation. So know that we did not let anything go to waste and it will go to those in the area who are in need - another way we as Friends can support those in our community.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The final face-off: the Championship Round
After a brief intermission, four teams took the stage for the Championship Round: Just The Neighbors (no strangers to the Bees’ Championship Rounds); the Crack o’ Dawn Bee-Cyclists; the Church Belles; and the Three Stewges. The Championship Round seldom sees such a challenging mix of spellers—this year’s players were especially strong.
Since the Church Belles were missing a member, and there had been a large number of clearly qualified and undeniably eager teenage spellers who wanted to play on our walk-on team, I waved over to the group and suggested that they send a speller up to join the Church Belles. I’m sure I was not the only one surprised to see young Robert Lordi take the stage! True to their Youth Ministry, the Church Belles welcomed Robert to their table. One can only suppose that he proved an asset to their team, as you will soon see.
I probably overthink the composition of the rounds—OK, OK, I confess—I DEFINITELY overthink the composition of the rounds. It is so important to give the players some entertainment as well as some challenge, though—after all, they are our champion volunteers and playing for a good cause. At the same time, I cannot resist teasing some of the players with words that have stumped them in the past. It was with this in mind that we launched the Championship round with the word kohlrabi—it has tripped up many teams in prior Bees. This year, however, it merely drew some knowing chuckles from the players who recognized it from years past.
The four Champion teams easily took on prosciutto, backstein (a kind of cheese—also a word that has stumped past Bee players) and yclept (an archaic word for “named”, as in By what name art thou yclept? shouted Sir Gawain to the Green Knight). The hairshirt, or cilice, gave some teams trouble, as did laetrile (by mentioning the 1970s miracle cancer cure derived from apricot pits, I am dating myself). Finally, the word THALWEG produced a clear victor: the Church Belles.
A thalweg is an imaginary line formed by connecting the lowest points in a valley or riverbed. The “thal” part is similar to that of the word “Neanderthal”, and means “valley”. It's not a word we see often, but it was published in the Marco Polo section of the 2010 word list (copyright 2010 Friends of the Dover Library). With all the rain we’ve been having, though, it may find itself in wider use, along with some other words from the Bee Night list, like antediluvian and gaiters.
I secretly (and not-so-secretly) cheer for every team playing; although sometimes I’m biting my nails to see when the rounds will end, every one of the spellers has my sincere admiration—both for their erudition and for their community spirit. That said, it was particularly nice to see the Dover Church team win, since they have historically been great Library supporters. The Friends often hold Children’s Programs in Kraft Hall, and the Dover Church has had teams in nearly every Bee we’ve held, including the very first (when pastor John Nelson enjoyed a moment of fame as the only person in the room who could spell pharaoh).
Congratulations, Church Belles, on a job well done, and enjoy your well-earned and truly--given the stature and skill of the teams playing this year--ENORMOUS Bragging Rights!
Since the Church Belles were missing a member, and there had been a large number of clearly qualified and undeniably eager teenage spellers who wanted to play on our walk-on team, I waved over to the group and suggested that they send a speller up to join the Church Belles. I’m sure I was not the only one surprised to see young Robert Lordi take the stage! True to their Youth Ministry, the Church Belles welcomed Robert to their table. One can only suppose that he proved an asset to their team, as you will soon see.
I probably overthink the composition of the rounds—OK, OK, I confess—I DEFINITELY overthink the composition of the rounds. It is so important to give the players some entertainment as well as some challenge, though—after all, they are our champion volunteers and playing for a good cause. At the same time, I cannot resist teasing some of the players with words that have stumped them in the past. It was with this in mind that we launched the Championship round with the word kohlrabi—it has tripped up many teams in prior Bees. This year, however, it merely drew some knowing chuckles from the players who recognized it from years past.
The four Champion teams easily took on prosciutto, backstein (a kind of cheese—also a word that has stumped past Bee players) and yclept (an archaic word for “named”, as in By what name art thou yclept? shouted Sir Gawain to the Green Knight). The hairshirt, or cilice, gave some teams trouble, as did laetrile (by mentioning the 1970s miracle cancer cure derived from apricot pits, I am dating myself). Finally, the word THALWEG produced a clear victor: the Church Belles.
A thalweg is an imaginary line formed by connecting the lowest points in a valley or riverbed. The “thal” part is similar to that of the word “Neanderthal”, and means “valley”. It's not a word we see often, but it was published in the Marco Polo section of the 2010 word list (copyright 2010 Friends of the Dover Library). With all the rain we’ve been having, though, it may find itself in wider use, along with some other words from the Bee Night list, like antediluvian and gaiters.
I secretly (and not-so-secretly) cheer for every team playing; although sometimes I’m biting my nails to see when the rounds will end, every one of the spellers has my sincere admiration—both for their erudition and for their community spirit. That said, it was particularly nice to see the Dover Church team win, since they have historically been great Library supporters. The Friends often hold Children’s Programs in Kraft Hall, and the Dover Church has had teams in nearly every Bee we’ve held, including the very first (when pastor John Nelson enjoyed a moment of fame as the only person in the room who could spell pharaoh).
Congratulations, Church Belles, on a job well done, and enjoy your well-earned and truly--given the stature and skill of the teams playing this year--ENORMOUS Bragging Rights!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
What a night!
My goodness, what a night! The Bee was AMAZING. I hope you saw it in person, or at least on Channel 8—DCTV is running reruns starting Monday evening.
Check out Paul Keleher’s photo/video stream in the sidebar to the left of this entry. You will see the fabulous set, designed by local artist Jane Bleakley: bees zooming everywhere, and a Bee Tree to top any ever seen before. You will also see some terrific “candids” of teams and crowd.
A little recap:
Round 1 brought us veteran spellers Tom Dixon, Nancy Simms and new player Jamie Simms, in a reprisal of the long-standing Just the Neighbors team, and pitched them against Peter Lert, Carolyn Ringel and James Stuart of School Committee Team (the A Bee Cs) and the Dover Social Club (Rob Lordi, Diane Russo and Beth Webb). We must stop and acknowledge the FABULOUS PROPS brought by the Social Club (voted, I believe, the team Most Likely to Require a Designated Driver). This group started the evening off on a very festive note! This round went quickly through my “published 10” list, including the audience’s favorite word, borborygmus (the sound your stomach makes when it growls).
Round 2 was fielded by the Clerical Errers [sic], composed of Saint Dunstan’s Rector Mark McKone-Sweet, Grace Church priest Peter DiSanto (whose daughter Catherine competed in our very first Bee), and Fiona Vidal-White, MSM (that’s Masters in Sacred Music). The Church of the Most Precious Blood sent a Mulligan for this team, so we had representation from three of Dover’s churches on stage. Bee Veteran Sara Muckstadt, Dick Greene and Laura Rinaldi, a team of parents of children in Michelle Wood’s 3rd grade at Chickering, joined forces as Wood’s Word Wizards—winners (no surprise) of the Spirit Award—or maybe we called it the Loudest Cheering Section Award.
Rounding out the contestants were the AMAZING, ELEEMOSYNARY, Crack o’ Dawn Bee-cyclists (Cliff Brown, Bruce Cohen and Karen Rednor). This is the team that joined the Bee in order to thank Dover for hosting their early morning rides through our town. (Tell me, how often do you think of thanking the towns you drive through? This occurred to me as I swore at a pothole in one of our neighboring villages...Dover does have the best roads around, and I'm glad that the Beecyclists are enjoying them.) The Crack o’ Dawn riders have raised close to $2 million dollars for cancer research through their Pan-Mass participation, and by playing in the Bee, they raised over $400 for our library. The Bee Committee had been wondering if this team might show up in their riding gear, and they did not disappoint. We would have given them the Best Costume award, were it not for our deep-seated suspicion that they dress like this all the time (including the antennae), under their street clothes. This was a very competitive round—both the Wizards and the Beecyclists had been studying, you could tell—and they flew through published words like rhopalic and psittaceous (it means “parrot-like”) into the non-published expansion round words. After a mighty struggle (and a few beads of sweat from those of us running the words), the round ended on the non-published word cantaloupe.
I should talk for a minute about the non-published list. We have seen, over the years, that Dover Bee participants have an almost frightening capacity for memorization—either that, or they have vocabularies that would make ordinary mortals quail. We’d also heard a bit of feedback from past players about the off-putting aspect of feeling responsible for every single word in the published word list. In an effort to make the Bee challenging and even out the playing field between mere memorizers and genuine good spellers, I made a separate list of words that might seem easy to spell but aren’t, and held them in reserve. (These are, I will confess, words that I myself have trouble spelling—the things that always trip up my SpellCheck. It was not difficult to find a good long list of them!) I'm curious to hear what the players thought of this approach; it certainly made for a very different Bee from where I sat.
Round 3 gave us another ferocious bout of competition. The extremely cerebral Bee List Celebrities (Will Bleakley, Paul Fiore and Greg Kahoun), last year’s runners-up, faced off against one-time Bee veteran Sarah Shoemaker and Carine Tarazi of the Church Belles, a group of Dover Church Youth Group Advisors. The Cool Bees (Laura Bevilacqua, Vicky Cartsos and Imad Khan) put up a grand fight and won Best Costume Award for their exceptionally creative and undeniably cool Bee slickers and goggles. (As an aside, I would LOVE to see this group design a line of bridesmaid’s dresses. Really. The world needs this.) Team Kara, sponsored by ScrubADub, represented the Library’s Teen Advisory Board with Danielle Hall, Sharon Holiner and Nichole Huang. This round exhausted the pre-published set of words, including beauties like tintinnabulation, bdelloid and eructation (the scientific name for “burp”), blasted through the expansion list trick words like Fahrenheit and bayonet and finally crashed to a close on baksheesh (money used as a kind of tip or bribe). We were only a few words away from Panic Mode at that point—the players in this round must read the dictionary for fun.
The program announced that Round 4 had room for a walk-on team. We’d had one last year, and it was a huge hit with the audience (and the team, the Replacements, did extremely well—especially when you consider that the word list is only made available to players who register and pay in advance). This year, we were approached by a herd of teenage boys, many of whose parents were playing in the Bee, who were keen (dare I say chomping at the bit?) to challenge the older generation. There were several willing players, but we had to ask them to select only three from their pod. So, Riq Lert (son of Peter, of the A Bee Cs), Evan Wood (son of ’09 champion Pamela Mok) and Max Handler (son of Jonathan, of the Three Stewges) formed a team that they named “Insert Pun About a Bee [Here]”. They held up admirably against Perfect Attendance Winners Coldwell Banker, Wellesley (Betsy Breziner, Jean McDonnell and Laura Talmud)—Coldwell Banker has sponsored a Bee team every year, and has made over $1500 for the Library—and they even edged out the defending champions the Spellunkers (Tod Dimmick, Lori Krusell and Pamela Mok). However, despite the vaguely Oedipal overtones of their challenge, the Insert Pun About a Bee [Here] fell to Andy Epstein, Jonathan Handler and Bob Litle of the Three Stewges. Tell you what, guys: if you all come back and play again, I’ll make sure you’re not challenging your parents in the same round. You’ll probably have to face off in the championship round, especially if you all get the words in advance next time. Meanwhile, Insert Pun About a Bee [Here] won the Cleverest Name superlative, and The Three Stewges, winners of the Funniest Name category, moved into the Championship Round.
Since we took an intermission before the Championship Round at the Bee, I’m taking one here. Back in a bit.
Check out Paul Keleher’s photo/video stream in the sidebar to the left of this entry. You will see the fabulous set, designed by local artist Jane Bleakley: bees zooming everywhere, and a Bee Tree to top any ever seen before. You will also see some terrific “candids” of teams and crowd.
A little recap:
Round 1 brought us veteran spellers Tom Dixon, Nancy Simms and new player Jamie Simms, in a reprisal of the long-standing Just the Neighbors team, and pitched them against Peter Lert, Carolyn Ringel and James Stuart of School Committee Team (the A Bee Cs) and the Dover Social Club (Rob Lordi, Diane Russo and Beth Webb). We must stop and acknowledge the FABULOUS PROPS brought by the Social Club (voted, I believe, the team Most Likely to Require a Designated Driver). This group started the evening off on a very festive note! This round went quickly through my “published 10” list, including the audience’s favorite word, borborygmus (the sound your stomach makes when it growls).
Round 2 was fielded by the Clerical Errers [sic], composed of Saint Dunstan’s Rector Mark McKone-Sweet, Grace Church priest Peter DiSanto (whose daughter Catherine competed in our very first Bee), and Fiona Vidal-White, MSM (that’s Masters in Sacred Music). The Church of the Most Precious Blood sent a Mulligan for this team, so we had representation from three of Dover’s churches on stage. Bee Veteran Sara Muckstadt, Dick Greene and Laura Rinaldi, a team of parents of children in Michelle Wood’s 3rd grade at Chickering, joined forces as Wood’s Word Wizards—winners (no surprise) of the Spirit Award—or maybe we called it the Loudest Cheering Section Award.
Rounding out the contestants were the AMAZING, ELEEMOSYNARY, Crack o’ Dawn Bee-cyclists (Cliff Brown, Bruce Cohen and Karen Rednor). This is the team that joined the Bee in order to thank Dover for hosting their early morning rides through our town. (Tell me, how often do you think of thanking the towns you drive through? This occurred to me as I swore at a pothole in one of our neighboring villages...Dover does have the best roads around, and I'm glad that the Beecyclists are enjoying them.) The Crack o’ Dawn riders have raised close to $2 million dollars for cancer research through their Pan-Mass participation, and by playing in the Bee, they raised over $400 for our library. The Bee Committee had been wondering if this team might show up in their riding gear, and they did not disappoint. We would have given them the Best Costume award, were it not for our deep-seated suspicion that they dress like this all the time (including the antennae), under their street clothes. This was a very competitive round—both the Wizards and the Beecyclists had been studying, you could tell—and they flew through published words like rhopalic and psittaceous (it means “parrot-like”) into the non-published expansion round words. After a mighty struggle (and a few beads of sweat from those of us running the words), the round ended on the non-published word cantaloupe.
I should talk for a minute about the non-published list. We have seen, over the years, that Dover Bee participants have an almost frightening capacity for memorization—either that, or they have vocabularies that would make ordinary mortals quail. We’d also heard a bit of feedback from past players about the off-putting aspect of feeling responsible for every single word in the published word list. In an effort to make the Bee challenging and even out the playing field between mere memorizers and genuine good spellers, I made a separate list of words that might seem easy to spell but aren’t, and held them in reserve. (These are, I will confess, words that I myself have trouble spelling—the things that always trip up my SpellCheck. It was not difficult to find a good long list of them!) I'm curious to hear what the players thought of this approach; it certainly made for a very different Bee from where I sat.
Round 3 gave us another ferocious bout of competition. The extremely cerebral Bee List Celebrities (Will Bleakley, Paul Fiore and Greg Kahoun), last year’s runners-up, faced off against one-time Bee veteran Sarah Shoemaker and Carine Tarazi of the Church Belles, a group of Dover Church Youth Group Advisors. The Cool Bees (Laura Bevilacqua, Vicky Cartsos and Imad Khan) put up a grand fight and won Best Costume Award for their exceptionally creative and undeniably cool Bee slickers and goggles. (As an aside, I would LOVE to see this group design a line of bridesmaid’s dresses. Really. The world needs this.) Team Kara, sponsored by ScrubADub, represented the Library’s Teen Advisory Board with Danielle Hall, Sharon Holiner and Nichole Huang. This round exhausted the pre-published set of words, including beauties like tintinnabulation, bdelloid and eructation (the scientific name for “burp”), blasted through the expansion list trick words like Fahrenheit and bayonet and finally crashed to a close on baksheesh (money used as a kind of tip or bribe). We were only a few words away from Panic Mode at that point—the players in this round must read the dictionary for fun.
The program announced that Round 4 had room for a walk-on team. We’d had one last year, and it was a huge hit with the audience (and the team, the Replacements, did extremely well—especially when you consider that the word list is only made available to players who register and pay in advance). This year, we were approached by a herd of teenage boys, many of whose parents were playing in the Bee, who were keen (dare I say chomping at the bit?) to challenge the older generation. There were several willing players, but we had to ask them to select only three from their pod. So, Riq Lert (son of Peter, of the A Bee Cs), Evan Wood (son of ’09 champion Pamela Mok) and Max Handler (son of Jonathan, of the Three Stewges) formed a team that they named “Insert Pun About a Bee [Here]”. They held up admirably against Perfect Attendance Winners Coldwell Banker, Wellesley (Betsy Breziner, Jean McDonnell and Laura Talmud)—Coldwell Banker has sponsored a Bee team every year, and has made over $1500 for the Library—and they even edged out the defending champions the Spellunkers (Tod Dimmick, Lori Krusell and Pamela Mok). However, despite the vaguely Oedipal overtones of their challenge, the Insert Pun About a Bee [Here] fell to Andy Epstein, Jonathan Handler and Bob Litle of the Three Stewges. Tell you what, guys: if you all come back and play again, I’ll make sure you’re not challenging your parents in the same round. You’ll probably have to face off in the championship round, especially if you all get the words in advance next time. Meanwhile, Insert Pun About a Bee [Here] won the Cleverest Name superlative, and The Three Stewges, winners of the Funniest Name category, moved into the Championship Round.
Since we took an intermission before the Championship Round at the Bee, I’m taking one here. Back in a bit.
Friday, March 26, 2010
THALWEG. Why not?
It was quite a night! The winning word was "THALWEG".
I have a sick kid so running out to the pharmacy now...more later!
Thanks to all who came !
I have a sick kid so running out to the pharmacy now...more later!
Thanks to all who came !
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Bring Your Appetite to the Bee Cafe
We also have new the full menu of what will be at the Bee Cafe ... it'll be pizza, pizza and more pizza! Dover's own Dover Cafe is donating pizzas, which we'll sell by the slice. And in addition to the gift card they donated, California Pizza Kitchen in Wellesley is also donating pizza for the Cafe to sell. Save A Lot has donated chips and snacks as well as bottled water, and we'll have some cookies for those with a sweet tooth. And as you may have read in an earlier post, Whole Foods in Dedham donated its chocolate bars, cheese crackers and fruit strips to the Bee. So bring your appetites and your cash! The Bee is cash and check only.
More Corporate Donations to Report
We have more businesses that have come in and made contributions in support of the Bee. They are:
Coldwell Banker, Wellesley - The office has had and sponsored a team each year since the Bee's inception. A big thanks for their continued support (as a "Honey Bee") and kudos to them for perfect attendance! www.nemoves.com.
ScrubaDub is also a longtime bee supporter. They are "Honey Bee" supporters and are sponsoring Team Kara, the team made up of high school students on the library's Teen Advisory Board. www.scrubadub.com.
Bridgewater Credit Union has signed on as a "Worker Bee" donor. With an office right here in Dover, they are a great local business that is a longtime Bee supporters - thank you! www.bridgewatercu.com.
Middlesex Savings Bank in Needham has provided the Bee with the tote bags we give to the players, as well as pens and other tchotchkes such as chip clips and stress pyramids. www.middlesexbank.com.
Latest Additions to Bee Tree
We have a few more Bee Tree to announce:
Dover Parks and Rec has donated $50 off of a program. So if you have not yet signed up for a sport, this is a way to support the library and get your kids in a program at a discount. Check out what's offered at www.doverrec.com.
Discovery Club, an afternoon program offered by two Dover moms at Caryl School, has donated a free, drop in afternoon to the Bee. A great drop off program, it offers kids an educational afternoon. Thanks to Gina Saltonstall and Cathy Thompson for providing this. Discovery Club operates through Dover Parks and Rec, so go to www.doverrec.com for more info.
Emily's Brownies is giving the Bee Tree a gift card for these yummy treats! Read all about the at www.emilysbrownies.net.
So bring your cash and checks to shop in support of the library!
Repeat after me: technology is your friend (and the Friends' friend)
After several days of cross-checking lists, pronunciations, powerpoint slides and emergency go-to lists, I needed to take a break and use the other half of my brain. At the same time, I am pretty sure I have driven our fearless MC George Doherty insane with my frantic revisions.
Time to take a break and do something different.
I could not get my spreadsheet program to find double words in the rounds, but I did find one good use for technology this week: iPhone's video technology helped me create and e-mail sound clips to George with most of the words pronounced. I imagine him sitting in his office at Corcoran and Havlin, door closed, playing the recordings and speaking along with them...his co-workers probably think he is studying some weird foreign language.
It is an enormous job to put together the Bee, but once the cameras start rolling at 7 p.m. on Thursday, George is the one doing the heavy lifting. He knows the word list, he knows the players, he improvises sentences, he keeps the game together, and he makes it fun for everyone. George does a lot of volunteering in the community, but his work for the Friends of the Library makes him King Bee in our books.
Time to take a break and do something different.
I could not get my spreadsheet program to find double words in the rounds, but I did find one good use for technology this week: iPhone's video technology helped me create and e-mail sound clips to George with most of the words pronounced. I imagine him sitting in his office at Corcoran and Havlin, door closed, playing the recordings and speaking along with them...his co-workers probably think he is studying some weird foreign language.
It is an enormous job to put together the Bee, but once the cameras start rolling at 7 p.m. on Thursday, George is the one doing the heavy lifting. He knows the word list, he knows the players, he improvises sentences, he keeps the game together, and he makes it fun for everyone. George does a lot of volunteering in the community, but his work for the Friends of the Library makes him King Bee in our books.
See Well and Look Good
A couple of years back, we received the disturbing news that one of our kids would have to wear glasses...or else. I was fine with the Must Wear Glasses part, it was the Or Else that scared me.
The pediatric opthamologist who handed us the diagnosis gave us one excellent practical piece of advice: fill the prescription locally.
Off we went to Linda Wirth at Dover Eyes, cranky toddler in tow. It did not seem possible that we would ever get a pair of glasses onto our little wiggleworm--at least, not without velcro or tranquilizing darts--but Dr. Wirth turned out to be more than equal to the challenge. Before long, we had special bifocals, with the curly around-the-ears frames and a kind of modified "croakie" to make sure the glasses stayed put, and a special "glasses bed" for nighttime storage. And we suddenly found ourselves in the presence of a child who loves wearing glasses so much that he sleeps in them!
Soon we had another pair, and another, and finally some fabulous rec specs for sports. Other family members required glasses, contact lenses, (dare I admit to this?) bifocals...and Dover Eyes has everything we need, right over on Whiting Road. And Dr. Wirth is as careful and meticulous with us older people as she is with the youngster.
If I could donate a dollar to the Friends of the Library for every emergency visit we made for glasses repair or adjustment, or contact lens issues, we probably wouldn't need a Bee, but that's another story. Let's just say that having a quality optometrist in the neighborhood is worth more than you might imagine.
In addition to taking excellent care of our vision needs, Dover Eyes is a great library supporter. Our inaugural Bee had a team from Dover Eyes, and they came up with the excellent idea of Mulligans. Dover Eyes has given generously to every Bee we've had. We can add that to the long list of why we are grateful to have Dover Eyes right here in town!
The pediatric opthamologist who handed us the diagnosis gave us one excellent practical piece of advice: fill the prescription locally.
Off we went to Linda Wirth at Dover Eyes, cranky toddler in tow. It did not seem possible that we would ever get a pair of glasses onto our little wiggleworm--at least, not without velcro or tranquilizing darts--but Dr. Wirth turned out to be more than equal to the challenge. Before long, we had special bifocals, with the curly around-the-ears frames and a kind of modified "croakie" to make sure the glasses stayed put, and a special "glasses bed" for nighttime storage. And we suddenly found ourselves in the presence of a child who loves wearing glasses so much that he sleeps in them!
Soon we had another pair, and another, and finally some fabulous rec specs for sports. Other family members required glasses, contact lenses, (dare I admit to this?) bifocals...and Dover Eyes has everything we need, right over on Whiting Road. And Dr. Wirth is as careful and meticulous with us older people as she is with the youngster.
If I could donate a dollar to the Friends of the Library for every emergency visit we made for glasses repair or adjustment, or contact lens issues, we probably wouldn't need a Bee, but that's another story. Let's just say that having a quality optometrist in the neighborhood is worth more than you might imagine.
In addition to taking excellent care of our vision needs, Dover Eyes is a great library supporter. Our inaugural Bee had a team from Dover Eyes, and they came up with the excellent idea of Mulligans. Dover Eyes has given generously to every Bee we've had. We can add that to the long list of why we are grateful to have Dover Eyes right here in town!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
