The Dictionary Defeats Dogma

The Dictionary Defeats Dogma The Dictionary Defeats Dogma The Dictionary Defeats Dogma By Mark Nichol Responses to one of my recent posts brought up two interesting related issues: misunderstandings about idioms and their origins, and about linguistic terms. First, numerous readers wrote to Daily Writing Tips recently to inform me that I had misspelled a word in one of the items in â€Å"35 Fossil Words†: It’s â€Å"just desserts,† not â€Å"just deserts,† to refer to getting what you deserve, I was told. But as I noted in this post last year, deserts is commonly misspelled desserts in this idiomatic phrase; years ago (perhaps influenced by the name of a bakery called Just Desserts), I, too, had long assumed that the latter spelling was correct. The word, however, is related to deserve, though except for occasional use of the singular form in legal documents, it is unknown outside the idiom and the phrase â€Å"get (one’s) just deserts† and its truncated version, â€Å"get (one’s) deserts.† Many idioms are similarly misunderstood; another example, also listed in my recently posted roster of fossil words, is â€Å"beck and call.† In a post on my esteemed colleague Mignon Fogarty’s popular website Quick and Dirty Grammar Tips, numerous commenters insisted with variously amusing and alarming self-righteousness that despite definitive linguistic documentation of the idiom the correct phrasing is â€Å"beckon call† (what kind of call? a beckon call) or â€Å"beck or call† (because, honestly, why would somebody both beck and call?). (Thanks to Daily Writing Tips visitor Roberta for the link.) The post you’re reading right now is intended not to ridicule people who misunderstand idiom (after all, a couple of paragraphs up, I admitted doing so myself, and I am not prone to self-ridicule), but it is intended to drop a hint to those who might doggedly cling to dogma, stubbornly misapprehending a word or phrase’s source. Many elements of English are of uncertain etymological or syntactical origin, but most are well attested, and corroboration is a simple matter of looking something up online or in print. A bumper sticker word to the wise: Don’t believe everything you think. The related issue is the term â€Å"fossil words.† Some Daily Writing Tips readers took exception to that phrase and to my definition of such terms as those that â€Å"survive only in isolated usage,† arguing that they employ some or many of the listed words. (Does that mean, more than one person asked, that that makes the correspondent a fossil?) However, note that the definition of the titular phrase, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is â€Å"A word or other linguistic form preserved only in isolated regions or in set phrases, idioms, or collocations.† By â€Å"isolated usage,† I meant not â€Å"frequency of use† but â€Å"scope of use†; these words are rarely, if ever, uttered other than as part of the idiomatic phrases they are associated with. When was the last time you used bated other than in the expression â€Å"bated breath,† or mettle when it was not preceded by something like â€Å"test your†? If you can tick off the occasions on your fingertips, you likely have a season pass to a Renaissance fair. And to that I say, â€Å"Huzzah!† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Passed vs PastHang, Hung, HangedHonorary vs. Honourary

Biography of Georges Seurat, Father of Pointillism

Biography of Georges Seurat, Father of Pointillism Georges Seurat (December 2, 1859 – March 29, 1891) was a French painter of the post-impressionist era. He’s best known for developing the techniques of pointillism and chromoluminarism, and one of his iconic paintings was instrumental in ushering in the era of Neo-Impressionism. Fast Facts: Georges Seurat Full Name:  Georges-Pierre SeuratOccupation: ArtistKnown For: Creating the techniques of pointillism and chromoluminarism, with scenes emphasizing smooth lines and colors blended by visual observation, not mixed pigmentsBorn: December 2, 1859 in Paris, FranceDied: March 29, 1891 in Paris, FrancePartner: Madeleine Knobloch (1868-1903)Children: Pierre-Georges (1890-1891), unnamed child (died at birth, 1891)Notable Works:  Bathers at Asnià ¨res, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe Early Life Georges Seurat was the third and youngest child of Antoine Chrysostome Seurat and Ernestine Seurat (nà ©e Faivre). The couple already had a son, Émile Augustin, and a daughter, Marie-Berthe. Thanks to Antoine’s success in property speculation, the family enjoyed considerable wealth. Antoine lived separately from his family, visiting them weekly rather than living under the same roof. Georges Seurat began studying art early; his first studies occurred at the École Municipale de Sculpture et Dessin, an art academy run by the sculptor Justin Lequien near the Seurat family’s home in Paris. In 1878, he moved to the École des Beaux-Arts, where his studies followed the typical courses of the time, focusing on copying and drawing from existing works. He finished his artistic training in 1879 and left for a year of military service. Early Career and Innovation When he returned from his military service, Seurat shared a studio with his friend and fellow artist Edmond Aman-Jean, where he worked to master the art of monochrome drawing. In 1883, he had his first work exhibited: a crayon drawing of Aman-Jean. The same year, he spent most of his time working on his first major painting, Bathers at Asnià ¨res. Final Study for Bathers at Asnieres by Georges Seurat. Francis G. Mayer / Getty Images Although Bathers at Asnià ¨res had some impressionistic influences, specifically in its use of light and color, it broke from that tradition with its textures and outlined figures. His process also departed from impressionism, as he sketched out several drafts of the piece before actually starting to work on the final canvas itself. The painting was rejected by the Paris Salon; instead, Seurat showed it in May 1884 at the Groupe des Artistes Indà ©pendants. Among that society, he met and befriended several other artists. However, the society’s disorganization soon frustrated Seurat and some of his friends, and together, they split from the Indà ©pendants to create a new artists’ society of their own, called the Socià ©tà © des Artistes Indà ©pendants. Georges Seurat was heavily influenced by contemporary ideas about color theory, which he tried to apply to his own works. He subscribed to the idea of a scientific approach to painting with color: that there was a natural law to the way colors worked together to evoke emotion in art, similar to how musical tones worked together in harmony or dissonance. Seurat believed that he could create a new artistic â€Å"language† using perception, color, and lines. He called this theoretical visual language â€Å"chromoluminarism;† today, it’s included under the term divisionism, referring to how the technique requires the eye to combine adjacent colors, rather than the artist mixing pigments before painting. Family Life and Famous Work Right on the heels of the debut of Bathers at Asnià ¨res, Seurat began work on his next piece, which would come to be his most famous and enduring legacy. A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte depicts members of different social classes all spending a leisure afternoon at a park on the waterfront of the Seine in Paris. Sunday on the Island of la Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. To create the painting, Seurat used his color and pointillism techniques, using tiny dots of individual colors overlapping and adjacent to each other so that they would be â€Å"blended† by viewers’ eyes, rather than mixing the paints themselves. He also prepared for the painting by spending significant time at the park he depicted, sketching his surroundings. The resulting painting measures 10 feet wide and currently is displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago. A smaller, related study, Study for A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, resides in New York City in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although Seurat never married, he had a significant romantic relationship with Madeleine Knobloch, an artist’s model. She was the model for his 1889/1890 painting Jeune femme se poudrant, but they took pains to conceal their relationship for some time. In 1889, she moved into Seurats apartment, and she became pregnant sometime in 1889. The couple moved to a new apartment to accommodate their family, and Knobloch gave birth to their son, Pierre-Georges, on February 16, 1890. Final Years and Legacy During the summer of 1890, Seurat spent most of his time at the commune of Graveline, along the coast. He was incredibly prolific that summer, producing four canvas paintings, eight oil panels, and several drawings. Out of his works from that time period, the most notable was his painting The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe. The Channel at Gravelines, in the Direction of the Sea by Georges Seurat. Francis G. Mayer / Getty Images Georges Seurat began working on another painting, The Circus, but he did not live to continue innovating and working. In March 1891 he fell ill, and on March 29, he died at his parents’ home in Paris. The nature of the illness that caused his death is unknown; theories include meningitis, diptheria, and pneumonia. Whatever the illness was, he passed it on to his son Pierre-Georges, who died weeks later. Madeleine Knobloch was pregnant at the time, but their second child did not survive long after birth. Seurat was buried on March 31, 1891 at Cimetià ¨re du Pà ¨re-Lachaise, the largest cemetery in Paris. He left behind a legacy of significant artistic innovation, despite dying at the very young age of 31. Seurat’s use of color and his work with pointillism have been his most enduring artistic legacies. In 1984, nearly a century after his death, Seurat’s most famous painting became the inspiration for a Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. Sunday in the Park with George is inspired by the painting, and the first act of the musical depicts Seurat himself in a highly fictionalized way, imagining his creative process. The musical focuses more on his artistic pursuits but also does depict a fictionalized version of his personal life, notably in the character of his mistress â€Å"Dot,† who seems to be an avatar for Madeleine Knobloch. Art students still study Georges Seurat today, and his influence on other artists began not long after his death. The cubist movement looked at his linear structures and form, which then influenced their ongoing artistic developments. And of course, even young children in the modern world learn about pointillism, usually through A Sunday Afternoon. Despite his short life, Georges Seurat established himself as a key and permanent player in the art world. Sources Courthion, Pierre. â€Å"Georges Seurat: French Painter.† Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georges-Seurat.Georges Seurat, 1859–1891. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1991Jooren, Marieke; Veldink, Suzanne; Berger, Helewise.  Seurat. Krà ¶ller-Mà ¼ller Museum, 2014.