Pinprick Publishing

20/12/2024

I love this time of the year for so many reasons but the most exciting is the release of the world’s major dictionaries’ words of the year (WOTY24). I keep my radar out all year for words that might be reflect the times and I look to the dictionary houses to do the deep research. Some of their choices absolutely nail the sense of the times and others are so off the mark you think you are living in a parallel universe. Have you been keeping up?

What is your word of the year?

What is the word of the year 2024 — WOTY24? - Have they nailed the sense of the times or are they off the mark?

04/12/2024

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE KAFKAESQUE? THE KAFKA CENTENARY

As 2024 is nearing its end I have just discovered that an important milestone has almost passed by unrecognised. This year marks the centenary of the death of Franz Kafka who died 3 June 1924 from tuberculosis at the age of 40. And while we sometimes see the adjective “Kafkaesque” thrown around in literary reviews do we know what it means?

“The Trial” begins famously:
“Somebody must have slandered Joseph K., for one morning, without having done anything wrong, he was arrested.”

The novel is a slow and evocative narrative of K.’s helpless progression through a completely incomprehensible bureaucracy. It is pessimistic and surreal.

What does it mean to be Kafkaesque? - The anxiety of 20th century people and their sense of isolation and uncertainty

17/11/2024

My younger son, John, recently (31 October 2024) took me to a lecture by the historian William Dalrymple, who was promoting his most recent book, The Golden Road. He tells the story of India’s role as a cultural and scientific superpower of the ancient world and as a major trader with Europe, more than a millennium before the Spice Road existed.

As a word enthusiast I picked up an etymological thread that epitomises Dalyrmple’s thesis—the adoption of 'algebra' and 'algorithm'.

I am loving the book.

Algorithm and algebra - William Dalrymple tells the story of how, from 250BC to 1200AD, India transformed the world.

25/09/2024

25/09/2024

With several assassination attempts on Donald Trump occurring in the last few months (September 2024) it’s worth examining the history of assassination and the origin of the word.

Assassination means killing leaders and notable figures for political gain. This political gain may include to seize power, spark revolution, draw attention to a cause, seek revenge, or to weaken a regime or its critics.

Such politically motivated murder has taken place in nearly all cultures and in every period of history. However, most European cultures have been quite reluctant to put a word to it.

When did murder become assassination? - Examining the history of assassination and the origin of the word.

08/09/2024

THE WORD HISTORY OF 'CARTOON'

Last week I had a look at the word ‘illustration’. This week to stay in the same world I want to tell you the story about the word ‘cartoon’, because the reading I did last week reminded me of this great little story. The word histories of illustration and cartoon are quite different but they have common players. The word cartoon for a comic illustration is quite modern having been used since the 1840s.

A clue in the story is the similarity between ‘cartoon’ and ‘carton’. These words are descended from the same parent. ‘Carta’ was Medieval Latin word for paper. Pasteboard (i.e. similar to cardboard) was known as ‘cartone’ in Italian or ‘carton’ in French. This thick board was used by artists to do their preliminary sketches for their paintings. And hence the sketches were also known as ‘cartones’. This pasteboard was also was used for making boxes and in the 1890s the boxes themselves became known as cartons.

Read our post for the full story ...

The origin of cartoon in Punch magazine - Carton was a thick board used by artists for their preliminary sketches for their paintings

19/04/2024

BYRONIC BICENTENARY

Today is the 200th anniversary of the death of George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron). The characters in his long poems and his own colourful life have given us the adjective “Byronic”.

Byron is now more read about that read (certainly by me). He wrote in the early 19th century and provided what modern media provides us with—adventure, travel, and tantalisation.

Byron died on 19 April, 1824, at the age of 36 in Missolonghi, Greece, where he had been living and participating in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. His death was attributed to a fever, which may have been caused by complications from an infection. However, his recovery was compromised by the massive blood-letting that his doctors subjected him to (modern doctors suggesting that he was so weakened that he could not recover).

Byronic Bicentenary - Lord Byron died on 19 April 2024 at the age of 36 in Missolonghi, Greece participating in the Greek War of Independence

04/03/2024

Google the word “Byronic” and up, with a toss of the forelock, comes this: “alluringly dark, mysterious, and moody.” The Devil take him!

But Byron was Byronic. One observer, Lady Mildmay, is said to have felt the full force:

Once, when he spoke to her in a doorway, her heart beat so violently that she could hardly answer him. She said it was not only her awe of his great talents, but the peculiarity of a sort of under look he used to give, that produced this effect upon her.

Two centuries after his death, the works of the great Romantic poet reveal a sensibility whose restless meld of humor and melancholy feels thoroughly contemporary.

27/01/2024

Too old to enlist when the First World War broke out, W. Somerset Maugham served in France as a member of the British Red Cross's so-called "Literary Ambulance Drivers," a group of some 24 well-known writers, including the Americans John Dos Passos, E. E. Cummings, and Ernest Hemingway. Maugham proofread "Of Human Bo***ge" at a location near Dunkirk during a lull in his ambulance duties.

"Of Human Bo***ge" initially was criticized in both England and the United States; the New York World described the romantic obsession of the protagonist Philip Carey as "the sentimental servitude of a poor fool". The influential American novelist and critic Theodore Dreiser rescued the novel, referring to it as a work of genius and comparing it to a Beethoven symphony. His review gave the book a lift, and it has never been out of print since.

The novel is considered to have many autobiographical elements. Maugham gave Philip Carey a club foot (rather than the author's stammer); the vicar of Blackstable appears derived from the vicar of Whitstable; and Carey is a medic. Maugham insisted the book was more invention than fact. The close relationship between fictional and non-fictional became Maugham's trademark. He wrote in 1938: "Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other."

In 1932, Michael Curtiz showed John Cromwell a print of his recently completed film "The Cabin in the Cotton" because Cromwell was interested in casting its leading man, Richard Barthelmess, in a project he was preparing. Instead of Barthelmess, Cromwell's attention was drawn to Bette Davis, whose portrayal of a femme fatale brought to mind the slatternly waitress Mildred in Maugham's novel. Cromwell knew producer Pandro S. Berman had purchased the rights to Maugham's story for Leslie Howard and when he suggested Davis would be the perfect co-star, Berman agreed. Maugham also supported her being cast in the role.

Davis wanted the role of Mildred Rodgers (below) because she thought it would be her breakout role after years of starring in films that were getting her nowhere. She begged Warner Brothers studio chief Jack L. Warner to let her out of her contract so she could make the film, which was being produced at RKO. He relented because he was sure she would fail; but, when her performance sparked talk of an Oscar, Warner began a spite campaign by encouraging academy members not to vote for her. At the time, the voting campaigns and the tabulation of the results were handled by the heads of the academy (of which Warner had a membership) and it worked in his favor when Davis was left out of the Best Actress competition.

Supporters of Davis, shocked by her omission, petitioned the academy for a write-in vote. She was added to the nominees as a write-in but she lost to Claudette Colbert for her performance in "It Happened One Night" (1934). As a result of this incident, write-in votes were henceforth disallowed. Also, as a result of Warner's coup, the academy decided to change its voting practices and hand over the counting of the results to the independent accounting firm of PriceWaterhouse, who still does the official counting to this day.

Commercial success with high book sales, successful theatre productions and a string of film adaptations, backed by astute stock market investments, allowed Maugham to live a very comfortable life. Small and weak as a boy, Maugham had been proud even then of his stamina, and as an adult he kept churning out the books, proud that he could. Yet, despite his triumphs, he never attracted the highest respect from the critics or his peers. Maugham attributed this to his lack of "lyrical quality", his small vocabulary, and failure to make expert use of metaphor in his work. (Wikipedia/IMDb)

Happy Birthday, W. Somerset Maugham!

21/01/2024

OBITUARY—Lev Rubinstein, a Devoted and Defiant Lover of Language

The Russian poet and essayist was a founding member of the Moscow conceptualist movement, an “implausibly social” presence in Moscow, and a firm believer to the end in the possibility of living in Russia with dignity and decency.

The Russian poet and essayist was a founding member of the Moscow conceptualist movement, an “implausibly social” presence in Moscow, and a firm believer to the end in the possibility of living in Russia with dignity and decency.

19/11/2023

I love this comic.

Poetry Comics Month, Day 2: Three-dimensional

25/10/2023

When the results of The Lyric Year’s 1912 poetry competition were announced, readers were indignant, most declaring that the poem that was awarded fourth place was by far the best. The winning poet agreed with that assessment and the second-place poet even sent his prize money back. The poem that was awarded fourth place that year was “Renascence,” by 20-year-old Edna St. Vincent Millay, and its publication marked the beginning of an extraordinary career.

By the 1920’s, Edna was a poetic rock star. Her volumes were best-sellers and she read her poems to packed houses. She achieved a level of fame and success that poets rarely attain.

Raised by a wildly Bohemian mother, Edna was herself a radical libertine, which contributed significantly to the public’s fascination with her. A petite and alluring redhead, Edna unabashedly celebrated female sexuality (at a time when doing so was scandalous) and she had unhidden, often brief, intimate relationships with many men and women.

She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1923. Twenty years later she was awarded the Robert Frost medal for lifetime achievement in American poetry, although by then her poems had fallen out of critical favor, though still loved by the public.

Sadly, there was a dark side to Edna’s life. Despite her hefty advances and string of best-sellers, she spent more than she earned. That problem was solved when she married a wealthy man, with whom she had a loving (albeit sexually open) relationship. The more serious problem was one she never conquered: dependency on alcohol and narcotics throughout her adult life. After her husband died in 1949, Edna was hospitalized several times for alcohol- and morphine-related nervous breakdowns. The following year, while suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and while heavily intoxicated, she fell down a flight of stairs and broke her neck.

Edna St. Vincent Millay died at age 58, on October 19, 1950, seventy three years ago today. She had burned her candle at both ends.

The Penitent

I had a little Sorrow,
Born of a little Sin,
I found a room all damp with gloom
And shut us all within;
And, "Little Sorrow, weep," said I,
"And, Little Sin, pray God to die,
And I upon the floor will lie
And think how bad I've been!"

Alas for pious planning —
It mattered not a whit!
As far as gloom went in that room,
The lamp might have been lit!
My Little Sorrow would not weep,
My Little Sin would go to sleep —
To save my soul I could not keep
My graceless mind on it!

So up I got in anger,
And took a book I had,
And put a ribbon on my hair
To please a passing lad.
And, "One thing there's no getting by —
I've been a wicked girl," said I;
"But if I can't be sorry, why,
I might as well be glad!"

03/09/2023

Ben Law's favourite outdoor spots in Sydney. A few interesting ones its the list.

Favourite secret spot: The Tarpeian Precinct Lawn in the Royal Botanic Gardens, where there's a sculpture called Bara by an Aboriginal artist called Judy Watson. It has a beautiful outlook of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, the sculpture itself is beautiful. It's a great place to lay down, have a picnic, read a book in the sun. The most stunning, uninterrupted, non-touristy view of Circular Quay.

Favourite gallery: White Rabbit Gallery.

Best date spot: Golden Age in Surry Hills downstairs for cocktails, or Hand-Picked Wines in Chippendale, because you can actually hear each other talk.

Your favourite theatre: Belvoir.

The best library: Darling Square Library – not only is it a great library, but it is an architectural marvel, and the only library with a food court downstairs.

The best bookshop: Better Read Than Dead, Newtown.

This city slicker chats about discovering he's outdoorsy – plus shares his fave Sydney spots (indoors and out)

30/08/2023

I love this word, FLOPBUSTER. Does it really need an explanation? It is of course a new word that combines the words “flop” and “blockbuster” (known as a portmanteau word).

The new film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, had a disappointing start at the box office. Despite earning AUD$190 million (£102 million) globally during its opening weekend, industry experts consider the result underwhelming considering the film’s massive budget of AUD$430 million (excluding marketing costs).

Variety’s Rebecca Rubin described it as “one of the most expensive movies ever”. She expressed doubts about its ability to turn a profit in theatres. Online Hollywood news platform Deadline suggests “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny has been destined to live in a Temple of Box Office Doom“.

So what is a flop buster?

What is a tentpole flopbuster? - What is a flopbuster and why are we seeing so many of them? Some reasons are offered by the experts.

30/08/2023

I find great pleasure in seeing how history is embedded in our language with words having travelled with us through many generations. I was thinking particularly about how certain places have become metaphors for the attributes that they are most well known for. Here are some of the most well-known metaphorical places

Crossing The Rubicon

In January of 49 BC Julius Caesar crossed the River Rubicon with his army. By doing so he had declared war on Rome and was therefore guilty of treason. It was a decision that could not be undone or as Caesar said, “the die is cast”. So from then on “crossing the Rubicon” has meant an irreversible decision.
.. and there's more.

Metaphorical places - When Julius Caesar crossed the River Rubicon there was no going back—the die was cast.

18/08/2023

Harlequin is one of those words that intrigues me. English has adopted the word harlequin as a distinctive multi-coloured pattern. And we know that Harlequin is a theatre character. But how does it fit together and what is the origin of the name?

Harlequin and commedia dell’arte - English has adopted "harlequin" as a distinctive multi-coloured pattern often in a patchwork of diamonds

14/04/2023

The tradition of wayzgoose is no longer widely observed in the printing and publishing industry (sadly). However, some people still hold wayzgoose celebrations to try to restore this wonderful old printing tradition.

Is it time to celebrate the wayzgoose? - The traditional annual event held by English printers and publishers to mark the end of the summer.