Elizabeth Lunday's Blog, page 11
October 11, 2011
Finished Gleick's "The Informa…
Finished Gleick's "The Information"–can't recommend it highly enough. It's the kind of book you can't stop talking about over dinner.
October 10, 2011
Has Malcolm Gladwell figured o…
Has Malcolm Gladwell figured out how to disprove the efficacy of Occupy Wall St. using peanut butter prices & Mark Ruffalo's birthday yet?
October 8, 2011
Some sort of liquid substance …
Some sort of liquid substance is falling from the sky. In the legends of my people, now scoffed at and forgotten, this is known as "rain."
October 7, 2011
Word of the day: cephalophoric…
Word of the day: cephalophoric. A saint who carries around his or her own head. I dare you to use it in conversation! http://t.co/OjAGTirG
My new favorite word: cephalophoric
I love words for which I had no idea we even needed a word. "Defenestrate" is my go-to word in this category–it means "to throw someone out a window." Having never personally thrown someone out a window, or watched someone be thrown out a window, the fact that the English needs this word fills me joy.
My new favorite: "cephalophoric." This translates, from Greek, as "head carrier" and refers specifically to saints who, after beheading, carried around their own heads.
Who knew this was even a thing? I knew about St. Denis after our visit to France this summer, who can be found hoisting his own noggin on the exterior of Notre Dame in Paris. Denis is believed to have been the first bishop of Paris; he was beheaded on Montmartre (hence: the hill of the martyr) by pagan priests alarmed by the number of his converts. Denis casually picked up his head and walked six miles to where he wanted to be buried, his head giving a sermon all the way. He became the patron saint of Paris:
But that this was so common that there's a word for it? That there's an entire category of saints? And a Wikipedia entry? Apparently a French scholar found 134 examples in French hagiography alone.
Cephalophoria: it's a meme.
Of course I had to hunt down examples.
There's more St. Denis, poor man:
St. Justus of Beauvais, depicted here by Peter Paul Rubens, a third-century boy killed during the persecutions of Diocletian:
Women got in on the act, too. When St. Valerie of Limoges was decapitated for refusing to marry a pagan, she carried her own head to the bishop who had converted her. I'm not sure why he wanted it, but there you are.
But just to be clear, St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne is not carrying his own head, which is quite firmly on his own neck, but that of St. Oswald of Northumbria. The connection between the two is obscure; they didn't know one another in life but became associated after their respective deaths as saints of Northern England. Oswald's head was reportedly buried with that St. Cuthbert, although why that would mean Cuthbert would be depicted as hauling it around during his life is one of those mysteries of the medieval mind.
Your assignment for the day: work the word "cephalophore" in your conversation. And report back–this I've got to hear!
October 6, 2011
Also if I escape from hanging …
Also if I escape from hanging and torture by a serial killer, I'm taking the rest of the day off. Maybe that's just me. #luther #BBCAmerica
Is anyone else watching #Luthe…
Is anyone else watching #Luther on #BBCAmerica Amazing, but HOLY CRAP when the bad dude busted out the hammer I leapt out of my skin.
Can't get over how fascinating…
Can't get over how fascinating is Gleick's "The Information," although the concept of "negative entropy" makes my head hurt.
October 5, 2011
Checking out library books on …
Checking out library books on my Kindle is pretty darn awesome, my friends.
