162 KICKSHANS Beating the 1 Before lea\ polynegative. kidneys from calIed anti-c releases too EDWARD R. WOLPOW condition is The origin Brookline, Massachusetts negatives, i fig ure out wI Kickshaws is currently being assembled by a series of guest editors. All contributions should be sent to the editor in Morris- The neuro town, New Jersey. read is ten Usually, whe Language Without Words since the pa near each ot lOA dream: a man who unlea rns the world Islanguages until no­ affects only where on earth does he understand what people are saying." Elias again very Canetti proposes this dream in his short book, The Voyages of designation, Marrakesh, A Record of a Visit (Continuum Press, New York, 1978). He goes on, "What is there in language? What does it conceal? Hemianopsi What does it rob one of?" He preferred to listen to the sounds it, too, ofte of the Arabic and Berber in this Moroccan city, savoring these Enter S.H. feelings, and concerned lest translations of the words spoil his who describ insights. quadruple n At first glance, it would seem foolish to want to know less rath­ of no-words. er than more. Yet, it is easy to imagine (and even to name) a B. Jennett beautiful opera written in a beautiful language (Italian), with ily arcane a second-rate libretto. Not knowing Italian might offer a distinct for others t( advantage. Beautifully drawn calligraphy in a language undeciph­ ans that t" erable to the viewer might provide a powerful esthetic experience, (sometimes c which would be abruptly diminished on learning that one was After suffici viewing a laundry list. to be unden The sound and musicalness of language is known, at least to the neurologist, as prosody, and the Norwegian neurologist C. H. Chaetura Dr. Monrad-Krohn pioneered in the study of the medical significa nce A Dr. Se of normal prosody and what happens to it in various states of drab, in '" disease. If one hears a child of, say, seven months of age bab­ definition: bl ing in the next room, one may think that the ch ild is speaking of low satur his own language. Actually, the child has yet to speak a single Special Pl word - his babbling is a practicing of the phonemes of the lan­ guage he will start to speak months later. So, toddlers babble a rds is Col in English, Chinese, Norwegian. And it is only one's mother tongue Kelly ana and words, that is learned this way all subsequent acquired languages are taught first with words, and only later (or, possibly at the it is gray { same time) with prosody. Languages learned after the mother tongue As there are spoken dysprosodically - that is, with an accent. ties, there It would be interesting to know if the toddler learns only the of synonyms "cold" phonemes of his native tongue as the bottom of a dictionary gaude page might list them, or if it also learns at the same time those olde manipulations of sounds which convey emotional content. It would almost have to be so, but 1 don't know if that has been studied. These are 163 Beating the Triple Negative Before leaving the world of neu rology, I will update the medical polynegative. The brain produces a hormone which prevents the kidneys from excreting excessive urine, and is, sensibly enough, called anti-diuretic hormone. At times, the central nervous system releases too much of this hormone, or at the wrong time. This condition is called inappropriate secretion of anti-diuretic hormone. The origin of the term is clear enough, but it does contain two negatives, inappropriate and anti-diuretic, making it tricky to s of guest figure out whether in this state there is more or less urine. in Morris- The neurologists have gone one better. Loss of the ability to read is termed alexia, and loss of ability to write, agraphia. Usually, when the brain is damaged, if one occurs then both occur, since the parts of the brain carrying out these functions are quite s until no­ near each other. Rarely, though, a very small lesion in the brain ing." Elias affects only one function. And so, there is alexia without agraphia. Voyages of again very sensibly named, but a triple negative. The simplifying ork, 1978). designation, pure alexia. has not really caught on. it conceal? Hemianopsia is the loss of vision to one side of space, and the sounds it, too, often accompanies agraphia and alexia - but not always. )ring these Enter S.H. Greenblatt (in the journal Brain and Language, 1976) spoil his who describes alexia without agraphia or hemianopsia. Yes, a quadruple negative, although the or does break the clear string less rath­ of no-words. o name) a B. Jennett and F. Plum (Lancet, 1972) decry " .. the unnecessar­ ian), with ily arcane jargon that often makes neurology needlessly difficult a distinct for others to understand." 1t has been suspected by other physici­ undeciph­ ans that those neurologists who specialize in speech disorders ~x perience , (sometimes called aphasiologists) deal with a contagious disease. one was After sufficient study of these disorders, it is no longer possible to be understood. t least to ogist C. H. Chaetura Drab. The Color Bear ignificance A Dr. Seuss children's story? No. Under the entry Chaetura states of drab, in Webster's Second New International Dictionary, is the age bab­ definition: The color bear. And bear is a color yellow in hue, speaking of low saturation and low brilliance. a sing Ie f the lan­ Special Publication Number 440, of the National Bureau of Stand­ rs babble ards is Color, 'Universal Lan ua e and Dictionary of Names (K. L. her tongue Kelly and D. B. Ju d, 197 1t is a won erful rain ow of colors languages and words, from opaq to puke, including a discussion of when lly at the it is gray and when it is grey. ler tongue As there are many colors very close together in optica 1 proper­ ties, there are also many very similar names. Here is a sample only the of synonyms, or nea r-synonyms: dictionary gaude oold wau wield wod time those olde wald weld woald wold It would tudied. These are all listed under acacia, and therefore all are yellow. 164 Woad, which is blue, is therefore not to be included in this list, There is a even though it looks like it belongs. in Torrance some very t The longest list of very similar words is of a dead-leaf coloe exclusive 11s1 feui lIe morte fi lemort philamot phyliamort There are feulamort fillemot philimot phyllamort and Yunque fieulamort fol imort philomot names with Finally, a qUiz. Some colors are named for famous artists. Name acronyms: j1 the color attached to the following names: Goya, Monet, Rameau, janet, Marge Rembrandt, Titian, Vandyke (two colors), Veronese (two colors), usually basl Wa ttea u. (Yes, I know Rameau was a composer, but answer it any­ Saua Creek. way.) Answers for this and other quizzes can be found in Answers are isolated and Solutions at the end of this issue. T Bar Cany< Grande, char Miniab breviations Rio Grande. The ultimate in abbreviations consists of reducing one or more Names jus' words to a single letter. This is the usual procedure employed with so man in the production of acronyms, but a sizeable number of single Canyon, Hum words, as well, are abbreviated to single letters. The 1isting Sabe Creek of individua1 letters in Webster 's Third New 1nternational Diction­ yon, Walking ary indicates which abbreviations or symbols are in favor in con­ ly as T or temporary English. The vast majority of single-letter abbreviations for the rad consist of the first letters of the English spelling of the word. It did not Sl Below is a list of 25 words and one phrase. Each is abbreviated, Belly-Ache or symbollzed, according to Webster's Third, by a single letter. "because a Each of the 26 letters of the alphabet is used but once, but in in another , no case is the abbreviation the same as the first letter of its there's Guaj definition. word is as er,' a corr admittance impedance 1- 14. it with Aztec 2. and IS. inquire 3. book 16. law In introdt: 4. born 17. left it is stated 5. brother 18. left and that tl 6. cathode 19. magnetic induction and Towa. 1 7. cross 20. noon in the Petr 8. emperor 21- penny vowel can bE 9. eye 22. slow in the Times 10. father 23. tungsten 11. film 24. turn Nervous Mnel 12. hundred 25. volume john Henr illumination 26. year 13. mnemoni.e wI each word Abajo to Zuni simply the J That is the range of entries in a book edited by T .M. Pearce, there are c New Mexico P lace Names, A Geographical Dictionary (Dni versity of the old Vi of New Mexico Press, 1965). A brief discussion of each entry, which For medic includes all geographic names (towns, rivers, canyons, etc.) past pus's Topm. and present, includes enlightening information about the names twelve pair~ themselves. There are approximately five thousand entries in the lear, trige 187 pages, and the logologist spots a number of oddities. vagus, acc, 165 i in this list, There is an entry for the letter X, namely X Ray, a post office in Torrance County from 1917 to 1920. It can join Xenia OH and ·leaf color: some very tiny places (Xenia IL, Xavier KS, Xenia KS) in the exclusive list of USA geographical X-entries.