Comments on: The Department Board http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/ Random samplings from a universe of ideas. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:03:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: Little Money http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22630 Little Money Fri, 12 Jan 2007 07:46:25 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22630 HAH, what a great comic. I like the "REAL professors" haha, i'm sure my chemistry prof is on there. In fat he looks exactly like one of those guys.. -jon HAH, what a great comic. I like the “REAL professors” haha, i’m sure my chemistry prof is on there. In fat he looks exactly like one of those guys..

-jon

]]> By: Belizean http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22616 Belizean Thu, 07 Dec 2006 19:27:36 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22616 I love the inclusion of the lone grad student from the entering class of 1987 (who will undoubtedly gun down his committee after he fails his thesis defense). I love the inclusion of the lone grad student from the entering class of 1987 (who will undoubtedly gun down his committee after he fails his thesis defense).

]]> By: Eugene http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22625 Eugene Sat, 02 Dec 2006 04:19:07 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22625 Hiranya, the story is quite prevalent, but it's also inside many later editions of LOTR (in the form of a publisher's preface) and also in Tolkien's authorized biography by Humphrey Carpenter which I read years back. Tolkien was a philologist after all. I tried to look it up in the online edition of the OED, but I have too little training to make any sense out of it. Anyway, sadly, I heard that my old English teacher has long passed on, but one day I know I will be vindicated! Hiranya, the story is quite prevalent, but it’s also inside many later editions of LOTR (in the form of a publisher’s preface) and also in Tolkien’s authorized biography by Humphrey Carpenter which I read years back. Tolkien was a philologist after all. I tried to look it up in the online edition of the OED, but I have too little training to make any sense out of it. Anyway, sadly, I heard that my old English teacher has long passed on, but one day I know I will be vindicated!

]]> By: sysrick.com » links for 2006-12-02 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22626 sysrick.com » links for 2006-12-02 Sat, 02 Dec 2006 01:25:35 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22626 [...] The Department Board [...] […] The Department Board […]

]]> By: S http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22627 S Sat, 02 Dec 2006 00:57:10 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22627 Sean - There is much wisdom in everything that Jorge Cham presents in his cartoons... Sean -

There is much wisdom in everything that Jorge Cham presents in his cartoons…

]]> By: Hiranya http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22628 Hiranya Fri, 01 Dec 2006 23:31:53 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22628 Eugene, I am pretty sure your English teacher is wrong. It could be true that by the time of Tolkien <em>dwarfs</em> may have been a more common spelling, but the etymology of <em>dwarves</em> in print is given in the OED as preceding that of <em>dwarfs</em>, and before Tolkien. The pocket dictionary does not give etymologies in any detailed sense, and the online full OED is very expensive to subscribe to - I will verify this the next time I happen on the actual OED. But I see the Tolkien story is prevalent on the internet... The story gets more convoluted because Tolkien actually worked for the OED for a while. I believe he felt that <em>dwarrows</em> was a more approrpiate rendering of the Middle English plural of <em>dwarf</em>, but as far as I know he did not work on the "D" words. Eugene, I am pretty sure your English teacher is wrong. It could be true that by the time of Tolkien dwarfs may have been a more common spelling, but the etymology of dwarves in print is given in the OED as preceding that of dwarfs, and before Tolkien. The pocket dictionary does not give etymologies in any detailed sense, and the online full OED is very expensive to subscribe to - I will verify this the next time I happen on the actual OED. But I see the Tolkien story is prevalent on the internet… The story gets more convoluted because Tolkien actually worked for the OED for a while. I believe he felt that dwarrows was a more approrpiate rendering of the Middle English plural of dwarf, but as far as I know he did not work on the “D” words.

]]> By: Eugene http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22629 Eugene Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:38:57 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22629 Hiranya, Well, the "dwarfs" vs "dwarves" vs "dwarrows" discussion is actually written by JRRT himself (right here in App F of the copy of LOTR sitting right here in my office). The problem is, that he discussed that in context of his own mythology as real! What was true, however, was that in the earlier days, many publishers changed all his deliberate use of weird spellings to the usual widely accepted form at those times which include dwarfs -> dwarves and elven -> elfin. My bitter experience with dwarf/ves began when I had a long and heated argument with a high school English teacher about the correct spelling for the word. I was so <i>sure</i> I was right it was dwarves! She won when she pulled out a copy of the Oxford Pocket Dictionary. I hated her since then, forever and ever! Hiranya,

Well, the “dwarfs” vs “dwarves” vs “dwarrows” discussion is actually written by JRRT himself (right here in App F of the copy of LOTR sitting right here in my office). The problem is, that he discussed that in context of his own mythology as real!

What was true, however, was that in the earlier days, many publishers changed all his deliberate use of weird spellings to the usual widely accepted form at those times which include dwarfs -> dwarves and elven -> elfin.

My bitter experience with dwarf/ves began when I had a long and heated argument with a high school English teacher about the correct spelling for the word. I was so sure I was right it was dwarves! She won when she pulled out a copy of the Oxford Pocket Dictionary. I hated her since then, forever and ever!

]]> By: Rob Knop http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22614 Rob Knop Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:05:48 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22614 Indeed, the 30-year-old photographs of professors can be quite amusing. Heck, even the 5-year-old photographs are noticable. Go through my department's faculty webpages, and I think you only find one 30-year-old photograph. But many of the department (probably even me, but we're always bind about ourselves) look older than they do in the photos. The other thing is : you can tell the graduate student photos were taken right when they got there, and before they'd been graduate students for long, becuase so many of them are smiling. (Oops, that was too cynical.) I suppose if you took the pictures <i>right after</i> a succesful defense, you'd get even bigger smiles, but much older-looking people. (Even if grad school is chronologically only 5 or 6 years, you age more than that... and besides, even without grad school, age 21-26 is a time where how old you look cna change quite a bit.) -Rob Indeed, the 30-year-old photographs of professors can be quite amusing.

Heck, even the 5-year-old photographs are noticable. Go through my department’s faculty webpages, and I think you only find one 30-year-old photograph. But many of the department (probably even me, but we’re always bind about ourselves) look older than they do in the photos.

The other thing is : you can tell the graduate student photos were taken right when they got there, and before they’d been graduate students for long, becuase so many of them are smiling. (Oops, that was too cynical.) I suppose if you took the pictures right after a succesful defense, you’d get even bigger smiles, but much older-looking people. (Even if grad school is chronologically only 5 or 6 years, you age more than that… and besides, even without grad school, age 21-26 is a time where how old you look cna change quite a bit.)

-Rob

]]> By: Alejandro http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22615 Alejandro Fri, 01 Dec 2006 11:19:05 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22615 If you doubt sexism in academia is possible, how is it there are PYGMIES+DWARFS?? If you doubt sexism in academia is possible, how is it there are PYGMIES+DWARFS??

]]> By: Supernova http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22613 Supernova Fri, 01 Dec 2006 08:02:57 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/11/30/the-department-board/#comment-22613 But clearly Rob has also read a lot of Tolkien, as evidenced by his eloquent use of the word "dwarven," which if not original to Tolkien is certainly prominent therein. ("Elven", too, as opposed to the more standard "elfin".) Of course in the <i>LOTR</i> movies, the tidbit about bearded dwarven women was played for laughs (a moment of silence here to mourn Gimli's demotion to comic relief). To get back on the original topic, I did quite enjoy this comic with its multilayered humor. However, in my experience the full professors on the picture board aren't uniformly graybearded, because the pictures tend to be decades old! It's always fun to see those '70s-era haircuts framing much younger faces. But clearly Rob has also read a lot of Tolkien, as evidenced by his eloquent use of the word “dwarven,” which if not original to Tolkien is certainly prominent therein. (”Elven”, too, as opposed to the more standard “elfin”.)

Of course in the LOTR movies, the tidbit about bearded dwarven women was played for laughs (a moment of silence here to mourn Gimli’s demotion to comic relief).

To get back on the original topic, I did quite enjoy this comic with its multilayered humor. However, in my experience the full professors on the picture board aren’t uniformly graybearded, because the pictures tend to be decades old! It’s always fun to see those ’70s-era haircuts framing much younger faces.

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