first ratings

I decided I would rate the things I come in contact with on a regular basis, to share and to archive.

Today's ratings include several pages from the daily calendars, and a book review.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Word-a-Day 2008 Calendar (Houghton Mifflin) 4/3/8:

hinterland: 1. The land directly adjacent to and inland from a coast. 2a. A region remote from urban areas; backcountry. b. A region situated beyond metropolitan centers of culture.

I think I grew up in the hinterland—Cecil County, MD seems to fit definition 2 (a and b). Though I'm not sure how many people will know what I mean, I'll try to use it. It does seem to have a Scandanavian sound to it, though it comes from German (which it sounds like also). Rating: 3/4 Golden Elks (the mascot, not the beverage).

***
365* New Words a Year [Merriam Webster] (Workman Publishing) 4/3/8:

amphibology: a sentence or phrase (as “nothing is good enough for you”) that can be interpreted in more than one way.

The Did You Know portion offered that the Latin base for this word "literally means 'encompassing' or 'hitting at both ends'." Examples given include a "dinner guest who feels the onset of heartburn [that] might say something like 'Ah, that was a meal I shall not soon forget!'" But it's also indicated that amphibology "can be unintended and undesirable as well, as in 'When Mom talked to Judy, she said she might call her back the next day.' (Who said who might call whom back?)" But will I use it? I guess it's nice to know a term for a common phenomenon. (Is that an oxymoron?) Rating: 8/10 onsets of heartburn.

***
365* New Words a Year [Merriam Webster] (Workman Publishing) 3/29/8:

effigy: an image or representation especially of a person; especially : a crude figure representing a hated person — in effigy : publicly in the form of an effigy in effigy>

This word was just defined last week in the AHDWAD calendar. Their definitions differ slightly, more so in the idiom in effigy, defined by AHD as "Symbolically, especially in the form of an effigy." The example sentence also includes a public effigy, but it seems that we can infer from AHD's definition that they feel something can be done in effigy privately as well. The MW calendar's DYK section informs us that the same root for effigy gives us fiction, figments, and figures (all of which you can shape). I doubted I'd be able to use this word, but just the other day it seemed that someone I know heard of something being broken that had her name written on it, as if in effigy (whether this was a public or private performance, Merriam Webster, is yet to be determined). Rating: 10/10 voodoo dolls.

***
Schott's Almanac Page-A-Day Calendar 2008 4/3/8:

SOME INHABITANTS

Per Ben Schott, a person from Aberdeen (presumably both the city in MD and the one across the pond) is called an Aberdonian. Los Angeles would breed an Angeleno; Mars, PA a Martian, Lancaster a Lancastrian, and Naples a Neapolitan. Rating: 10/10 Bristolians.

***
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

I just finished reading this book for probably the fourth time. It's hilarious. It's very real. It's not a difficult read at all. And if you can realize the setting, everything about this book is fabulous. Wish Toole was still with us, but thank God for persistent moms. Rating: 18/18 Indian Chief Notebooks.