Right-o

[evilhippo]

Definitely a little worse for wear after the five hours I spent at work yesterday. My brain is clambering to escape, and is managing it in the oddest of ways. I kept typing completely unrelated (though interesting) words into documents today (foreclosing on a mortgage from "Homestar Mortgage" didn't help anything at all). I hope I caught all of them. Also, on my way to work, while passing through the intersection of Madison and Clark, just as I was considering whether I should ride over the manhole cover or swerve to avoid it, it occurred to me how strange it is that no one pays any mind to the fact that "Roman" is most of the word "romance." "What the heck is up with that?" says my brain and so, now that I'm home and enjoying the few hours of free time I get, I find myself poking around etymology dictionaries. It turns out "romance" was more a term for adventure stories/chivalrous tales told in the vernacular (or at least, romance-language vernacular, specifically French which, of course, is derived from Latin, the language of the Romans, hence romance in that sense). It was basically just knight-in-shining-armor stuff until about the 1600s (300 years from when it first appeared), when it gained the love story sense, then it puttered along for another 200+ years before it was possible to have "a romance" outside of a story, and then, around the 1940s, supposedly, is when the verb form appeared. Until the 1940s, you couldn't romance someone! How weird is that? (How easy is it to be unintentionally anachronistic when writing period pieces, too!)

I'm pretty sure this is a sign that it's time for me to go back to school (this will be the theme, I think, for the next few months, as if it hasn't been for the months prior to this as well). As such, I'm really looking forward to my trek up to Northwestern next Friday to check out Medill (especially since Northwestern is supposed to be the sworn enemy of the UofC). Hopefully they won't say anything like "Oh, you'll never get in with that GPA," or "No journalism experience? What are you thinking?" Also, hopefully I won't just hide in the corner, and will actually talk to someone about whether it's what I really want to do. Hrm.

Comments

[love-barracuda.livejournal.com]

actually... i'm fairly certain that even in present day, most guys STILL can't romance someone ~_^
maybe just the guys i hang out with anyway.
it is a funny word though. when i used to take piano lessons as a little girl, i used to wonder just what was so romantic about beethoven anyway?

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's definitely not just the ones you hang out with. I know a fair handful too. The worst, though, are the ones for whom "romance" isn't even a verb yet and is still mostly set in some amalgam of the 1600s and the 1920s and is full of knights and adventure and a gentlemanly tip of your hat to the girl on the piano. That's a mess and a half. (Mercifully I only have one guy friend like that, and he's enough on his own.)

And great... now you've brought musical terms into this. (-; For those romances you apparently have to blame the Russians for adapting French 'romances' into songs. And then other people came along and took the lyrics away and kept the name.

I apologize, I'm easily distracted by this stuff. ^_^

[love-barracuda.livejournal.com]

oh, boys.... lol

haha that's ok! i think it's interesting. however, it being your area of study, i know you know much more about it all. i'll just take your WORD for it. (GET IT?!?! OH MAN, I KILL ME SOMETIMES XD)

ANYway. for me it all makes sense in art terms. that's the nice thing about lit, music, and art. they all go together so well ^^ so romantic art makes all the other romantic era stuff makes sense in my head. well, to a certain extent :p

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Nah, my studies mostly involved dealing with words on a macro level. I only had one course that actively encouraged the use of an etymology dictionary (or really a dictionary at all), and I think that was just because the professor enjoyed it. In short: my word on words is not to be trusted! I'm just sitting here being an armchair etymologist. (-;

Say, given that you've turned up all the way over here, and I keep running into your comments in BSR... friends?

[love-barracuda.livejournal.com]

ummmmmm CHYEAH :P

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Friended! ^_^ (I apologize in advance for all the ranting I do about my job behind friends-lock. Please disregard it at your convenience. (-;)

[love-barracuda.livejournal.com]

Lol. It's ok. Everyone needs a good rant now and then :p I actually have random f-locked posts too. And god knows what I put in them