Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Been meaning to post this for months....

Remember when Neil and some readers were puzzling over the difference
between "syllepsis" and "zeugma"? 
(http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2004/01/some-wonderful-pot-noodles.asp)
 A few months after that, my mother was cleaning out some old papers
and came across an old newspaper column about figures of speech.  I
don't know what paper it's from or what the date was, but according to
Michael Gartner of Cowles Syndicate:

"A syllepsis is a construction in which a verb does double duty of
sorts, carrying two objects in different ways.  Example:  She left in a
huff and a Cadillac.  He lost his wig and his cool.  He felt his way
and her ankle.  You get the idea.  A syllepsis must be grammatically
correct.

"An ungrammatical syllepsis -- a sentence in which the double-duty
word doesn't make sense with one of the objects -- isn't a syllepsis at
all; it's a zeugma.

"Example:  His nose and heart were bloodied."

I wish he'd given more examples of zeugma, though.  I'm still a little
unclear whether he _meant_ grammatical sense or was thinking in terms
of literal sense.

On another note, I suspect that "the lurghi" can be transmitted
through the Internet.  Cough cough.
  

    
Jouniac---Congratulations!  Can't wait to see pictures.  What does
Joonias (did I spell that right?) think about a baby brother?  

Mary (reading The Wizard by Gene Wolfe.  It rocks!)
  

    
I think a zeugma, from what that shows, would be something like mixing
a fact (his nose) and a metaphor (his heart).

But I may be wrong.
  

    
What would he have been named if he'd been born vaginally?
  

    
Well, every reference I could find of zeugma and syllepsis shows the
second as a definition of the first and the first as a definition of
the second. And that's including in the OED. I'm guessing the subtlety
of the distinction is something someone made up somewhat recently and
that has come into common (er, can you even use that word on something
so obscure?) use. That's my answer to why it's so damned confusing any
way.
  

    
NP:  Crazy Hair

:)
  

    
What happened to yesterday's post? I went into Neil's journal as I do
every day and I copied the 26th into a Word document and this morning
he skips from 25th to 27th and all the 26th post is not there. Hm. But
boy do I wish I lived near Salt Lake City right now. Or alternately
that I had the time and money to go to Sundance. I bet Neil is gaining
lots of new fans because he doesn't act like other people in the movie
biz. And, hey, Mirrormask. Can't wait to see it.
  

    
No. Wait. The 26th item is one of the reviews I clicked on though how
Neil posted on the 25th a link to a 26th review... 
  

    
I don't think he's had the right time zone set on his blog for a long
time.
  

    
> But boy do I wish I lived near Salt Lake City right now.

Those high school kids who live there sure get some great field trips.
 Boy.
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
Absolutely!
  

    
Speaking of Mike
(http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2005/01/son-and-dance.asp), does he
graduate this year?


(Why am I asking here?  Neil hasn't logged on since November.)
  

    
Ohh, looky what *I* found linked all of a sudden from the front page
of Neil's site:  http://www.neilgaiman.com/books/mirrormask_hc.asp

Time for me to start telling relatives what I want for my birthday in
the Spring.
  

    
Okay, it's official. I'm tired of reading all the wonderful stuff
about Mirrormask and seeing the great previews and all that. I want to
just see the thing already! /jumping and pouting and throwing minor
tantrums

Sorry, had to get it out of my system. So can't wait to see it. feh.
back to being impatient again.
  

    
miss-mousey
The international here knows how you feel, but think... I'll have to
see Mirrormask when it comes out in DVD :(. No big screen for me.

Dan
I made a sticker for my FG shadowbox that says:
Neil has the nicest fans. :D
And I think you are right - it has to do with how nice he is. Except
I'd say it's beyond nice, he rates mensch.

Rant of the week
I was supposed to be in Bath (yes, the one in England) and am not. I'm
starting to understand why my Nanna used to say health is everything.

Aging sucks.
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
You know Dan, that doesn't just apply to moving. The boy and I are
painting our bedroom in a week or three and we'll have to move most of
the stuff in there into the living room. I can already foresee many
cases of "but I thought I put that over here!" Good luck with
unpacking. May the things you need first be on top and easy to get to!
  

    
Dan
Congrats on selling the house! Good luck with the packing. Been there
and done that so many times I started selling as much stuff as I could
and only carrying my books from house to house (from country to
country, city to city, etc.).

About mensch - mensch is okay, though the mentsh spelling is what
you'll find when Yiddish is kosher. No pun intended.

Mirrormask... *insert loud whine* 
Sundance... *insert very loud whine*
  

    
DanGuy--Congrats on the new house!  I also wish for you an easy
unpacking.

Mary (reading What's the Matter With Kansas? by Thomas Frank)
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
Um, this month's Gothic Beauty has an interview with Himself.  No
news, really, in the interview itself, I was just amazed to see his
name in large letters on the front of a magazine.  Now that Sundance is
over, I will be less amazed--it's probably going to become a regular
occurance.  
  

    
It still takes some getting used to. I've been following his writing
since Mr. Punch came out (I was reluctant to start in on Sandman
because I didn't discover it until several issues into the series, and
I'm one of those anal people who HAS to start with issue ONE), and
every time he does something that people notice I think "wow, now he's
REALLY going to be inaccessible". So far it's been noticeable but
certainly not painful. I'm mostly only curious if Mirrormask's release
will keep people from giving me that look and saying "Neil who?" when I
mention him in the future. 
  

    
People mention him all the time, surely.

Like tonight, as I was walking home from the SPCA, I heard this fragment of
conversation between a tall guy in glasses and a brown hoody, and a woman
with dyed-black hair walking a bike:

He: You know the Sandman books, right?

She: Sure.

He: So the guy who does the cover art?  Dave McKean?  He--

And then I lost them.  But it's not like that was hugely unusual.
  

    
Well, maybe not where YOU live....

But since I'm a programmer, at least everybody I _work_ with seems to
know who he is.  I probably win the office "fan" prize, though.

The SPCA -- Did you get a new pet, Martha?