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Looking For Literary Journal / Magazine Suggestions

chriswarren — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:23:49 -0800

I'm looking for a journal/magazine that will be all about literature, with all different forms of criticism. Something that has good articles/essays about literature. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Who came up with this joke?

Kevin A — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:55:21 -0800

People often say: "The best way to make a small fortune in [insert industry here] is to start with a large one" Who first came up with this joke, and what industry was the joke originally about?

Help me identify Jon Stewart's accent

gregb1007 — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:04:01 -0800

Help me identify Jon Stewart's accent I was watching the Daily show the other day and had the stunning realization that Jon Stewart's accent is a rarity among television personalities, at least on the cable networks. (I don't really watch the broadcast networks anymore.) Since I really like it, I'd like to figure out what his accent actually is and what segment of society or region generally speaks it.

What is the name of the short story about a Vietnam draft dodger?

BusyBusyBusy — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:09:49 -0800

Help me remember the name of this short story about a draft dodger in Vietnam. I read a story in high school about a young man who dodges the draft by escaping in the wilderness and trying to cross into Canada (???).

The passage I remember most clearly is about how the young man thought courage was something everyone had a fixed about of, and could mete out as it become necessary. He sadly realizes that though he thought he'd been saving his up for a big event, that he didn't have much to begin with. Or something.

I know this isn't much to work with, but let me know if you have any ideas of the title, author, or where I should look.

Thank you, hive mind!

What is this novel called?!

nonmerci — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:14:18 -0800

Please help me identify this French novel! I'm filling in another stupid Facebook application involving the books you've read, are reading, etc. and suddenly remembered that I read a French (in French) novel last year around the fall. For the life of me I cannot remember the title OR the name of the author, though I'm sure if I were to see *either* I would recognize them.

Here is what I can remember: I believe the novel was written in the 1950s or 1960s, and while I don't think it was necessarily 'high literature' I believe the author was rather prolific (though I could be wrong). I'm also fairly sure the author was a woman. It was a sort of roman d'apprentissage, or coming-of-age tale, involving a young woman at a summer house on the beach where she was staying with her father and...step-mother? It could have been the other way around, as in mother and step-father, but I don't believe so. One of her parents was dead, I'm almost positive.

She meets a young man who lives in a house nearby, they fall in love and begin to meet secretly where they have a sexual relationship (though I believe she is only 15 or 16 and he is perhaps 20). The father finds out and she is forbidden to see him.

After that, details get hazy. I recall her being frustrated and angry for most of the novel and I believe it ends with SOMEONE dying in a car accident. Her father, perhaps. I honestly don't remember.

I bought the novel second-hand at a bookstore in Berkeley...please help me remember what the hell it's called! I tried searching the keywoards I can remember on google.fr but for some reason TRANSLATIONS OF TRUMAN CAPOTE are the number one results.

Thanks, HiveMind!

Yes, I'm.

whatzit — Thu, 15 May 2008 06:20:53 -0800

Vagaries of the English Language, part n: I need to tell my boss why the contraction "I'm" cannot stand alone as a sentence. For example, "Yes, I am" is okay. "Yes, I'm" is not. I haven't been able to find any good logic for this case or that works for the different contractions in general ("don't" can also stand alone, "I'd" and "I've" cannot). Given this is about languages, and particularly English, "just because" is, alas, potentially the best answer.

Using Word2007/2003 to make a bibliography

mateuslee — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:01:44 -0800

Word 2007 vs. 2003: It's complicated to go back-and-forth! Help me write my dissertation, please! So, I'm a grad student working tirelessly on my dissertation. At home I work with Word 2007 and at the university I'm using 2003. I just started using the citation mechanism in 2007, inputted a few books, and really started to get the hang of this as a useful too. However, as you probably know, when I switch to 2003 (I have the converter installed), all those citations are converted to static text.

Is there any way around this?
If not, what free software do you reccomend for standardizing citations and keeping them in a database?

Sure do appreciate any thoughts...
Thanks a lot!

Mein Sci-Fi Kampf

pedmands — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:10:09 -0800

There was a post (I believe on Boing Boing) a few months ago about a sci-fi short story in the form of an internet message board. The message board was for a group of time travelers, and the new members were always being scolded for going back in time and killing Hitler (this was against the rules, as without Hitler we wouldn't have many technologies, etc etc). I have Google strings that I've tried inside... time travel sci-fi story message board
Hitler sci-fi short story
hitler sci-fi story message

ad infinitum...

I've tried the various strings in Google, on Boing Boing, and on MetaFilter to no avail. Anyone out there have this story?

Is "bonzer" bonzer?

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:57:58 -0800

To bonzer or not to bonzer, that is the question for our Aussie MeFites. Do real Australians actually use the word "bonzer" in conversation? I'm writing a book (no, really - it's for my chapter in the MetaFilter novel) in which a character has been identified as Australian. I'm toying with the idea of having the character use the term "bonzer idea," however, I'm not really sure if this is just a cliché for tourists, or if people really say it. Google results return a lot of commercial sites, so that makes me suspicious. Thanks in advance.

anybody recognize this alphabet?

garfy3 — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:54:27 -0800

anyone familiar with the language/alphabet used in this WWII-era document from western China? my best guess is something related to the Yi language, but that could (of course) be totally wrong.

Done and done

Mach5 — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:26:16 -0800

I do this menial task at work at least once, and usually several times a day, which involves running my scripts and then sending out a mass email. The body of my email currently consists of the word 'Done'. I'd like as many ways as possible to say 'the task is completed' and be generally silly. Go all out, synonyms, colloquialisms, slang, foreign languages, everything. This task will be all done within a month or two, and I just want to amuse myself and weird out coworkers.

Help me find this quote.

overglow — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:30:31 -0800

Help me find this quotation. The gist of it is something like this: in current times, fantastical metaphors are the only way of describing the convoluted reality of experience. I have tried to google this, but the problem is that I can't remember who wrote it, where I read it, or any specific words that are definitely in the quote. I'm pretty sure the quote doesn't come from any of the "big names" in fantasy or literature. I'm hoping that someone here has read the quote too and can point me to it. Thanks!

Define this bewildering quote for me!

annie7978 — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:30:52 -0800

I'm perplexed by a quote in the signature line of an e-mail that I received this morning: "Bridges prohibit the progress they promote." "Bridges prohibit the progress they promote."

Have you ever heard of this? Do you have any idea what it could possibly mean? Is there some anti-bridge coalition that I am unaware of? Does this have something to do with the free masons? J/K on that last one...but really, I'd love any insight you may be able to provide.

I can't respond to the person whose signature line this is in (don't bother asking for the drab details on why...I assure you it's very unthrilling), but I'm dying to know what to make of this! I've overheard five or six others who received the same e-mail wondering aloud about it as well.

Make my Monday in the office more exciting -- I dare you!

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

bryon — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:57:30 -0800

And that's very nearly the limit of my Latin, such as it is. Is Latin really a supremely clear and precise language? BBC News is quoting Reginald Foster, an American Roman Catholic priest, as supporting the Vatican's use of Latin on part of its Web site. He told the BBC:

"You have to say something and move on. It's not like French and some of these philosophical languages where you can write a whole page and say nothing - in Latin you can't do that!''

I'm curious whether this is, in fact, true and if so in what sense or senses.

Back when I was in school (uphill both ways, you know) I was told that Latin, for all its contributions to English, was a dead language. I opted to study French and German instead. Are people such as myself missing out on something wonderful by not knowing Latin?

Looking for half-remembered word from Toronto schoolyard

jb — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:56:58 -0800

Looking for a lost word (Torontonian/Canadian dialect): There is a word that my husband and I both remember from our childhood, but cannot spell, and we can't find anyone else who knows this word. It sounds like "coal-liss" or "coal-lass", and it was used in Etobicoke, Ontario in the 1980s to mean the asphalt part of a schoolyard. Did we just collectively dream this word? Or did (does) it exist, and how is it spelled, and where is it used? We have already done a small poll at a party, with no luck - not even the other Canadian there (from Edmonton) had heard of it, and none of the Americans (several of whom said their word for the same thing was "blacktop").

Translation of chinese math related words?

elpapacito — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:58:22 -0800

Help a chinese student: I am teaching elementary statistic to a young chinese , but I have an hard time explaining him words such as : average, mean, median, mode, quotient, ratio, standard deviation etc. I am looking for a list of math/science words english<>chine, a mini vocabulary (doc/pdf/whatever) as I don't trust online translation programs too much.

Literature sites in spanish?

ersatz — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:52:57 -0800

Do you know any good sites in Spanish about literature, preferably with an emphasis on classic books or writers? Sites about both international and Spanish/Latin American literature are welcome. After recently reading a couple of book reviews in Spanish, I decided to do it more often. Being familiar with some of the books or writers discussed enhances my enjoyment, hence the "classic books" part, but I'd like to know your favorite contemporary literature/reviews/criticism site too.

Searching past questions tagged with Spanish gave me globalvoicesonline.org (and el chiste del caballo verde, but that's another story).

Can you translate this?

summit — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:10:37 -0800

What is this? It's in Russian. Inside is a clear gel.

How to improve my southern speakin' skillz

willie11 — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:14:16 -0800

Please help me expand my base of quaint southern expressions, aphorisms and witticisms. Obviously I need to read more southern literature and spend some quality time with the good ol' boys here in beautiful Raleigh, NC. But are there any online resources out there? Recommended books? Any southern maxim or locution you're partial to?

Quotes or poems for a soon-to-be mother?

phr4gmonk3y — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:20:46 -0800

I'm looking for quotes or a short poem for my sister, whose expecting her first child in the next several days. Any ideas?

Lowdown on Croatian literature

anonymous78 — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:09:30 -0800

I'm looking for recommendations of Croatian authors whose works are available in English. I'd prefer contemporary writers but I'm open to anything. I'm interested in novels, short stories, memories - anything. I'd just like to know who the major Croat authors are.

Philo what? Well I never!

oddman — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:32:46 -0800

Can someone provide an Ancient Greek translation for "love of style?" Actually I'm not really looking for the Ancient Greek wording. I'm looking for a transliteration from Ancient Greek to English.

Basically I'd like an English word (that you make up if necessary) that means "love of style" just like "philosophy" means "love of wisdom," and is taken from the ancient Greek just like "philosophy" is taken from (the roughly Greek words) philo and sophia.

Bonus points if you can give a properly declined Latin phrase meaning "love of style."

In this context style refers to personal style, including but not limited to fashion. If you feel that "pursuit" or "passion" (or similar) provides a nice word than "love" feel free to suggest that too.

What is the plural of "print out"?

ChasFile — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:56:57 -0800

What's the plural of "print out," as in, "hey John, if you're going near the printer could you get me that print out?" What would we say to John if we wanted him to get us more than one?

Which books are most representative of each city?

reenum — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:21:37 -0800

What one book will allow others to gain the truest insight into the soul of each city or region Inspired by this recent Metafilter post and blatantly stealing the idea (and some text) from this AskMe post, I have decided to try and read a book about all of the major cities in the United States and the world. I've seen AskMe's in the past about various cities, such as London and New York.

So: which single book from each city is most revealing of the lifestyle, customs, struggles, and spirit of that nation? I lived in San Francisco a while back, and I would recommend any of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City' books to get a true idea of life in the City.

Muy delicioso

cabingirl — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:53:15 -0800

SpanishFilter: How can I politely say "I've had enough" or "I'm full" in Spanish? As mentioned in a previous AskMe I am headed to Guatemala next week and I don't speak Spanish beyond the basic tourist phrases. Due to a medical issue I can't eat very much at one time. In many restaurants the server will ask me if the food was okay since it looks like I didn't eat anything. I usually reassure them that it was delicious but I'm already full, or I wasn't very hungry, or something like that.

What would be the best way to express that in Spanish? Who knows if I'll even need it, but I've had this experience in both the US and Europe and I certainly wouldn't want to insult anyone.