Right Word, Wrong World

[rolanni]

As you know, Bob, kinzel and I have been working on a small divertissement entitled Fledgling. The world on which the action takes place is one where those involved in academic pursuits are ascendant over those who pursue non-academic interests, and on which females are the more favored gender. Among other things, (hetero)sexual liaisons are initiated by the woman, who proposes to the man of choice that he place himself under her protection, becoming what is called, for reasons that I trust are sufficiently obscure, the woman's onagrata. It appears, from what the characters have been pleased to share thus far, that as long as it is in force this relationship is monogamous. However, since all the details and niceties attending procreation are also on the woman's plate, it is by no means a given that her onagrata (if any) is also the father of her child(ren) (if any).

I don't make this stuff up, you know.

In any case, here comes rolanni, typing as fast as she can in order to keep up with the discussions of a Very Important Departmental Meeting, in which it is decided by the attending scholars that the Department must indeed make a commitment to husband its resources.

Um, oops. *Makes a note to Fix That in rewrite...*

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In other news, we have been informed by the tireless and talented sambear that the podcast of "Electric Words," kinzel's talk at the Second Life Library on Info Island last Saturday, is now available for your listening pleasure.

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Does anyone have a copy of The Hungry Ocean by Linda Greenlaw that they can lend me?

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

>Does anyone have a copy of The Hungry Ocean by Linda Greenlaw that they can lend me?

Interlibrary Loan is your friend -- we got it from the BPL, and I'd guess the Maine State Library would have multiple copies. I mean, if they shelve _mine_...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that husbanding resources needs to change. It flows nicely, and might very well simply be a dangling linguistic term. Would anyone on Delgado even recognize the root social meaning, or does it simply carry the meaning of carefully collecting and managing resources? Perhaps in another scene we might even find them using husbanding in a way that we (America, now) would not normally think of bending the term?

A bit of dictionary spelunking even suggests that the old norse root word husbondi had a feminine cognate husbonde - and that same dictionary speculates that if husbonde had been retained, it would now be pronounced husband, and carry the same meanings of ownership and management. So we had a term for the head of household, and retained it as a noun form for the social role (husband in charge of the house) and as a verb for the activity (frugal management).

So perhaps Delgado has simply dropped the social sexual connotations of the term, while retaining the frugal management meanings?

Interesting. Are we going to get study notes later?

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

Lots of words are used in senses different from their original meaning. "Henchman" is still in common use, even though its original meaning—the guy who holds an aristocrat's horse for him—is no longer part of society.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

I have a copy of The Hungry Ocean which you are welcome to borrow, but I'd have to agree that interlibrary loan would probably be an easier way to get it.