SEVERAL readers have written to us adding their own examples of what Colum Clarke called āapposite adjacentsā at the top of the pages of dictionaries (7 October). Among our favourites are two that Jonathan Ormond found in his Readerās Digest Reverse Dictionary (1989 edition). āArmpit Artā, he suggests, sounds like a plausible future winner of the Turner Prize or some other award for contemporary art, while his favourite pairing is āsomething I would never want to hear in any religious serviceā: a āKazoo Kyrie Eleisonā.
Other readers have expanded the field to include encyclopedias. Glyn Williams remembers the spine of volume IV of an encyclopedia he once saw ā he thinks it might have been Arthur Meeās Childrenās Encyclopedia ā which announced that it was āFun to Hugā. And John Shortridge recalls a volume of the first edition of The Australian Encyclopedia that was labelled āMarsupials to Parliamentā, which seems to us a worthy aim.
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THE exploration of the language error known as an āeggcornā ā in which a word is confused with another one that sounds similar but still makes sense at some level (26 August, p 52) ā reminded Trevor Magnusson of a colleague a few years back. An earnest Christian, he had obviously been exposed to various bromides such as āIn times of trial, we must rest on the pillars of our faithā and āEven Christ himself when facing crucifixion could not see beyond the portals of the tombā.
When he related these gems to others, Magnusson tells us, what came out were two entirely logical eggcorns: āIn times of trial, we must rest on the pillows of our faithā and āEven Christ himself when facing crucifixion could not see beyond the portholes of the tombā.
āFrom the press office of The Lancet: āPrime Minister of Norway to give lecture on child survival in London next week.ā We hadnāt realised child mortality in London was particularly high. Or that Norway caredā
This in turn reminded Feedback of a relative in her fifties who, like a recent letter-writer to The Guardian newspaper in London, remembers in all innocence mistaking the words āOur father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,ā that begin the classic version of the Lordās Prayer, as āOur father, a chart in heaven, Harold be thy name.ā
THEREāS something about unusual units of measurements that brings out the fussy precision in people. Take the piece we ran on 29 April exposing the amount of dog faeces deposited in the New Forest in the UK each year ā āthe same weight as 240 double-decker busesā. This comparison does at least give a fairly good impression of the quantities involved, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about the quote in The Hastings Observer that Jackie Field has forwarded to us. It comes from the manager of a crane that caused alarm among council safety officials when it was placed on the seaside resortās pier overnight in preparation for repair work the following day: āāThe crane weighs almost 4 tonnes,ā he said. āThe same weight as lots of people.'ā
FINALLY, the emergency instructions for passengers on First Great Western trains, which serve the south and west of England, seem unusually solicitous. Ian Haggo spotted this in one of their carriages: āStrike cover of emergency release with fist (located above external door)ā. Haggo is impressed that a fist is provided in case you forget to bring your own with you.
