5 things

Jun. 12th, 2010 07:14 pm
truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (cats: nom de plume)
[personal profile] truepenny
1. Went to the vet's office this morning to buy cat food and got to see a Newfoundland heading into one of the exam rooms for his or her check up. I love Newfies; they look so exactly like small bears, and those that I have seen have clearly been deep in love with the whole wide world.

2. My dreams last night starred Avery Brooks and Hulk Hogan. I'm still decidedly nonplussed about that.

3. I now know of two cats named Mildmay (thank you, [livejournal.com profile] hominysnark and [livejournal.com profile] topknot, both for choosing that name and for telling me about it). Of all the things I imagined before I became a writer about what a writing career would be like, I never thought people would be naming their cats after my characters. I have to say, it's kind of awesome.

4. No, neither Felix nor Mehitabel is named after the famous cats of those names--although Mehitabel is more or less named after a cat, as my first exposure to the name was a neighbor's cat when I was a kid (and that cat may have been named after Don Marquis' mehitabel, although I don't know for sure either way). That wasn't in my head when I was naming her though; all I was after was to replace her original name, which was Hephzibah.

5. Today, in pursuit of my job, I found both an Old Norse dictionary (ON to English and English to ON) and some Old English resources. The word for "poison" in Old Norse is eitr, and the word for "poisonous" in Old English is aettryne. (The word "poison" is from Latin, potio, -onis by way of Old French and Middle English pocion.)

Best job in the world.

Date: 2010-06-13 12:28 am (UTC)
sraun: portrait (Default)
From: [personal profile] sraun
Re: Newfies looking like small bears

In the late 60's, in Duluth, MN, my mother was giving my dad a ride to work. In practice, this meant Dad drove to work, and Mom drove home. On the way to work, Mom went 'look, a bear!' Dad didn't get to a chance to look and see it. Mom didn't see it on the way home. They kept to that route for a while, and finally saw the bear again. It was a Newfie. There was a Newfie and a Pyrenee together - the same dentist owned both of them. They were named Blizzard and Blue. Blizzard kept trying to follow the dentist's daughter to school.

Date: 2010-06-13 01:10 am (UTC)

Date: 2010-06-13 02:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jerusha.livejournal.com
<tries to picture a household with both a Newfie and a Pyrenee>

<drowns in hair>

<(some still attached to dogs convinced that they are too lapdogs)>

Date: 2010-06-13 02:16 am (UTC)
sraun: portrait (Default)
From: [personal profile] sraun
I can never think about it without thinking of the dogfood. I was told that a 50-pound bag of dog food did not last them a week. <boggle>

I grew up with Chihuahuas - a 50-pound bag of dogfood would have lasted a year!

Date: 2010-06-13 12:51 am (UTC)
larryhammer: floral print origami penguin, facing left (Default)
From: [personal profile] larryhammer
4. Rightly so -- Hephzibah is of course the name of a pretty skunk, not a human.

---L.

Date: 2010-06-13 01:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] truepenny.livejournal.com
A pretty, French skunk. (Although W. Kelly spells it Hepzibah.)

Zoot allors!

Date: 2010-06-13 04:20 am (UTC)
larryhammer: floral print origami penguin, facing left (Default)
From: [personal profile] larryhammer
Orthography is notoriously unstable in Okefenokee.

---L.

Re: Zoot allors!

Date: 2010-06-13 03:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com
Well, the ground's not stable there; how can we expect the spelling to do any better?

Date: 2010-06-13 01:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hominysnark.livejournal.com
My Mildmay was about to have some pretty serious suffering at the hands of the wicked before he was rescued, so it seemed appropriate.

Date: 2010-06-13 02:45 am (UTC)
pameladean: (Default)
From: [personal profile] pameladean
What was Mehitabel's nickname when she was Hephzibah?

P.

Date: 2010-06-13 02:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] truepenny.livejournal.com
We didn't get far enough to find out before I decided that Hephzibah was simply Not Right. On the other hand, the invaluable E. G. Withycombe says in her entry on Hephzibah: "in the early part of this century I knew a village girl of this name who was always called Hepsie."

Date: 2010-06-13 03:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] megan (from livejournal.com)
RE: number 3, there is also a Toyota Camry named Mildmay. Icy roads two winters ago left it with a pretty bad 'scar' along one side of the front bumper, and the name just fit. My friends and I joke about finding a Felix car with two different colored headlights.

Date: 2010-06-13 03:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fireun.livejournal.com
the kitten the partner and I adopted two years ago was named Mildmay almost before he made it into the house :)

post I did ages ago in regards to the naming

http://fireun.dreamwidth.org/1611.html


Date: 2010-06-13 03:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] truepenny.livejournal.com
Awesome! Thank you!

Date: 2010-06-13 04:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leahbobet.livejournal.com
My dreams last night starred Avery Brooks and Hulk Hogan.

...that cracked me up just now.

Date: 2010-06-13 04:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azdak.livejournal.com
The word for "poison" in Old Norse is eitr.

Oh, that's interesting! In modern German Eiter means "pus" - you can see the connection.

Date: 2010-06-13 04:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] remote45.livejournal.com
I was first introduced to the Archy and Mehitabel poems by the animated film "Shinbone Alley" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067749/) when I was in high school and totally loved it. Mehitabel was voiced by the always amazing Carol Channing. Found it on VHS some years ago and must get it on DVD! I always loved the name and was delighted to see it again in your books.

Date: 2010-06-13 05:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coffeeem.livejournal.com
Next time we're in the same room together, remind me to tell you about the Newfoundland at the Minnesota RennFest and Steve Brust. It's too long a story to tell in comments, but it's damned adorable.

Date: 2010-06-13 05:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] topknot.livejournal.com
You make this simple boy blush!! Mildmay is truly living up to his name. He doesn't necessarily seek out trouble but it always seems to find him!

Date: 2010-06-13 06:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] swan-tower.livejournal.com
FWIW, I've studied Old Norse, and would be more than happy to put it to use on your behalf if I can. (Though I am far from the most qualified person out there, and you may well know some of the people who outrank me.)

Date: 2010-06-14 03:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] truepenny.livejournal.com
Thank you! We mostly don't need much more than the occasional vocabulary word, but I will very gratefully remember that you are a resource if needed.

Date: 2010-06-13 11:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vizsludraugas.livejournal.com
5. Am I guessing right that "attercop" is related to that word?

Date: 2010-06-13 02:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] grass-angel.livejournal.com
The first link in item five makes me incredibly pleased and reignites the little Viking enthusiast inside me. Thank you for the linkage!

Albino deer

Date: 2010-06-13 04:59 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Hi,
I thought you might like this video about wild albino deer.

http://www.pbs.org:80/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=inwi10s22a3q81f

Date: 2010-06-14 03:50 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
You can add another cat to the list. Have a photo of Felix and Mildmay as kittens: http://web17.twitpic.com/img/115297820-02a91e2e4fb5d8469cbb9e4b235bfe5a.4c15a940-scaled.jpg

Date: 2010-06-14 03:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] truepenny.livejournal.com
What lovely cats! Thank you for sharing!

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truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (Default)
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