ecdysiast

got me on this one

Definition of ecdysiast:
“a performer who provides erotic entertainment by undressing to music"

"Synonyms: stripper, striptease artist, striptease, strip teaser, exotic dancer, peeler”

“From ecdysis: The shedding of an outer integument or layer of skin, as by insects, crustaceans, and snakes; molting.”

“[Greek - ekdusis, a stripping off, from ekduein, to take off : ek-, out, off; see ecto– + duein, to put on.]”

(answers.com)

Where I ran across it:
3/29/08 NYT theater review, “Curtain Up! It’s Patti’s Turn at Gypsy!” by Ben Brantley.

“...The title character, after all, is a burlesque queen, embodied here in the charming flesh of Laura Benanti, who obliges with examples of the ecdysiast’s art in the second act. ...”

My two cents:
Ben Brantley has written another deliciously enticing review, and I've officially added the latest/greatest Broadway iteration of "Gypsy," starring Patti Lupone, to my wish list. Now if I can just beat the gay boys to the ticket kiosk... Hey, it could happen.

And it’s not every day one learns the politically correct word for “stripper.” Wow, am I one lucky cuss or what?

I have a twenty-something friend who’s a fetching peeler at the Pink Pony. I wonder if my friend knows she’s an ecdysiast? She reminds me very much of Diablo Cody, savvy young ex-stripper and screenwriter for the movie “Juno.” My friend is a smart, talented, well-spoken gal with a great vocabulary -- although I’m fairly sure her customers don’t care about any of that when the music starts. I don’t suppose, “Hey big boy, how would you like to buy an ecdysiast a drink?” is going to get her extra tips either, unless she’s impressing Dick Cavett – or Ben Brantley – or a veterinarian.

Then again, it could just be the most intriguing one-liner in the history of one-liners – or at the very least, a fascinating sociological experiment. Maybe she should just let ‘er rip.

Or just strip.

anadromous

news to me (but still feels oddly familiar)

Definition of anadromous:
adj. “Migrating up rivers from the sea to breed in fresh water. Used of fish.” (answers.com)

Where I ran across it:
3/15/08 NYT article, “Chinook Salmon Vanish Without a Trace,” by Felicity Barringer.

“…Bill Petersen, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s research center in Newport, Ore., said other stocks of anadromous Pacific fish — those that migrate from freshwater to saltwater and back — had been anemic this year, leading him to suspect ocean changes. …”

My two cents:
It’s one scary, depressing article. Or should I say obituary? I don't mean to sound alarmist, but cue the mourners and the funeral dirges. Book Elton for the moving solo. Time to face the music and the sad truth. Stocks have crashed. And we’re not talking about the NYSE. Nope. Think salmon. Not the color, the swimmie critters with fins.

Something’s really fishy with the fall Chinook salmon this year and it’s a head-scratcher. They’ve all but disappeared from California’s once burgeoning Sacramento River. Nobody can explain why, exactly, and the salmon aren't talking. This is big. Very big.

Not only is this all-turned-nothing scenario bad for the poor fishies (no spawning fun this year, boys), it’s curtains for commerce: U.S. Pacific canneries are closing down and king salmon prices are skyrocketing upward. So let me get this right: All we know is that a huge, harmonious, universal balance of Nature is dead -- and nobody can explain it? Yikes! Dun, dun, dunnnnn.

Be aware, people. Be concerned. And be afraid. Be very afraid. The fish aren't jumpin' and the stakes are high. It’s Circle of Life vs. one very Sad Song. And sad songs say so much.

I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.

mirabile dictu; contretemps

both very familiar / both elusive in my memory

Definition of mirabile dictu:
interjection. “Latin: wonderful to say, or to relate; incredible” (answers.com)

Definition of contretemps:
noun. “French: An unforeseen event that disrupts the normal course of things; an inopportune occurrence; an awkward clash; An unexpected and usually undesirable event: accident, casualty, misadventure, mischance, misfortune, mishap.” (answers.com)

Where I ran across them:
From the same article by Dick Cavett that brought us abstruse (see previous blog entry). Have you read that article yet? You should. Go!

“…Two men in the short line of swim-suited, giggling aquatic revelers are recognizable. A tourist bystander asks her friend, ‘Hey, can that be Dick Cavett?’ ‘Where?’ ‘There. In the water. The guy clinging to the naked lower calves of William F. Buckley Jr.’ As the latter might have answered her with that famous and much imitated resonance, ‘Mirabile dictu, madame, you are correct.’ …”

“…They had sailed from New York, the yacht captained by Bill, the undaunted sailor. By this time he had been an eagerly welcomed guest on my show numerous times. What he might have termed “our initial contretemps” was forgotten. …”

My two cents:
Dick Cavett utters a phrase, mirabile dictu, which I haven’t seen in quite awhile, and reminds me it is so wonderful that I just have to celebrate it. Again, it’s no real mystery as to its meaning, but it’s just such a darn fine specimen that I’m giving it a proper salute, and a promise never to forget it, ever again.

By the way, of (infuriating) interest are Microsoft Word’s consistent attempts to auto-correct dictu with a phantom “m” to create the word, dictum. All by its lonesome, Word suddenly knows better than Dick Cavett?? What hubris. I’m this close to writing Bill Gates, but I think he just retired, rich as Croesus from thinking up stuff like Word and auto-correct, so I’ll spare us all and take it up with my Preferences Menu. And why did that old Dictaphone joke suddenly come to mind? Sorry, I digress.

Cavett also throws in a great bon mot that really rattled my cage: contretemps. Now, people, I took 4 years of high school French, and read Le Petit Prince -- en francais -- cover to cover. How could I forget the word contretemps? Two words: Forty. Years. But I’ll be kind to my aging self and move along, with contretemps now solidly back in the ol’ literary bag.

Pendant longtemps, j'espère.

abstruse

very familiar word / dare I admit, however, that I’m suddenly unclear about the distinction between abstruse and obtuse? This is embarrassing…

Definition of abstruse:
“Difficult to understand… An ‘abstruse’ professor may be deep, profound, and hard to understand. Unfortunately, some of her students are ‘obtuse,’ or dull and slow-witted.” (answers.com).

Where I ran across it:
3/7/08 NYT article remembering William F. Buckley, “A Most Uncommon Man,” by Dick Cavett.

“…It is cocktail time below deck. My wife and Bill were fond of each other and enjoyed making each other laugh. ...In her omnivorous reading she had downed a heavy tome on Catholicism, and asked him to clarify some abstruse point about St. Paul and the founding of the church that seemed to her somehow self-contradictory. …”

My two cents:
It’s another penned monument to the (just) late Wm. F. Buckley, but a real standout. Why? Two words: Dick. Cavett. I’ve already proclaimed my fondness for Cavett’s writing, so I won’t bore you with any more schoolgirl sighing. But honestly folks, who else makes use of such an elegant vocabulary with such facility and grace? (No calls, please. We already have a winner.) Just go read it and enjoy.

And I love/hate him for making me realize that I have a problem differentiating between abstruse and obtuse. Abstruse=deep. Obtuse=dumb.

Right. I knew that. How obtuse of me.

digerati

I’m always fascinated by the newly coined word. This one’s no mystery, but it sure is a sign of the times.

Definition of digerati:
“The ‘digital elite.’ People who are extremely knowledgeable about computers. It often refers to the movers and shakers in the industry. Digerati is the high-tech equivalent of ‘literati,’ which refers to scholars and intellectuals, or ‘glitterati,’ the rich and famous. Digerati, technorati and geekerati are synonymous. See jitterati: A variation of digerati that refers to stressed-out personnel in the fast-paced, high-tech industry.” (answers.com)

Where I ran across it:
3/9/08 NYT online article “Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK)” by Laura M. Holson.

“…It is likely that in just a few years, younger members of the digerati will consider cell phones like those the Blantons are using to be relics…”

My two cents:
It’s every generation’s job to develop new stuff, including lingo. My parents never even conceived of the word, digerati. I don’t know which generation thought of pig-latin but I can remember thinking as a kid how swell it was keeping our parents out of the loop. Wish I’d known then that they spoke it too.

Fast forward to the newest linguistic phenomenon: text message-ese. It's a curious study in semiotics that requires a high-speed kind of shorthand (delivered often via the thumbs), dispenses with proper punctuation, and deals largely in esoteric abbreviations, acronyms, initials and symbols. This time many parents (and aging boomers in general) don’t speak the language. They are having a hard time deciphering all the abbreviated slang, and in fact, simply aren’t keeping up. And some folks actually choose not to get with the program. Out of the loop by choice. Imagine. WDT? (Who does that?). Repeat after me: I am NOT my ______ (please fill in the blank: cell phone, text message, IM, SMS, Blackberry, PDA, blog, RSS feed, chat room, email, PC, Mac G5, online game, other.)

But for those parents who are trying valiantly to keep up with their kids, and for others simply trying to keep up, the process can be tricky. De-coding via the latest online lingo translator is helpful for a time, but the youthful digerati are quick to change things up at a dizzying pace. Darn those kids. Today’s lexicon might be completely different tomorrow. And eventually even its delivery system is likely to change. In the coming years, like Laura Holson’s NYT article suggests, cell phones could be altogether obsolete.

So what will be the next great way of KPC (keeping parents clueless)? Telepathy? What?

Honestly, GOK.