Comments on: The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by Simon Winchester http://www.franz-kafka.info/the-professor-and-the-madman-a-tale-of-murder-insanity-and-the-making-of-the-oxford-english-dictionary-by-simon-winchester Visual Arts from Spain and Latin America Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:07:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Editor A http://www.franz-kafka.info/the-professor-and-the-madman-a-tale-of-murder-insanity-and-the-making-of-the-oxford-english-dictionary-by-simon-winchester#comment-240 Editor A Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:07:39 +0000 http://www.franz-kafka.info/the-professor-and-the-madman-a-tale-of-murder-insanity-and-the-making-of-the-oxford-english-dictionary-by-simon-winchester#comment-240 <p>That sounds fantastic! Nice review. I saw the title in your “what I’ve been reading” section a while back and I almost harassed you in your comments section for info, but here you have psychically delivered. It seems “penectomy” is the more common parlance nowadays. (And you can affix “auto” to it if you so desire.) Although “peotomy” is tucked safely away in the Oxford online (presumably sourcing from Unabridged). I wonder if back in those days peotomy was the medical procedure used to cure priapism. </p> That sounds fantastic! Nice review. I saw the title in your “what I’ve been reading” section a while back and I almost harassed you in your comments section for info, but here you have psychically delivered. It seems “penectomy” is the more common parlance nowadays. (And you can affix “auto” to it if you so desire.) Although “peotomy” is tucked safely away in the Oxford online (presumably sourcing from Unabridged). I wonder if back in those days peotomy was the medical procedure used to cure priapism.

]]> By: pedestriansaga http://www.franz-kafka.info/the-professor-and-the-madman-a-tale-of-murder-insanity-and-the-making-of-the-oxford-english-dictionary-by-simon-winchester#comment-239 pedestriansaga Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:07:45 +0000 http://www.franz-kafka.info/the-professor-and-the-madman-a-tale-of-murder-insanity-and-the-making-of-the-oxford-english-dictionary-by-simon-winchester#comment-239 <p>Aha! I hoped this might draw out the lexicography nerds! Editor A, so glad you enjoyed the review; previous comments of yours (and psychic waves too, perhaps) goaded me to sit my butt down and write it.</p> <p>I discovered access to the OED online through the university library–sweet!–and of course studied the entries for “peotomy” and his brethren.</p> <p>I fondly recall that once upon a time you too sported a “magnificently fecund arrangement” of facial hair. Wish I’d have thought to compliment it as such. </p> Aha! I hoped this might draw out the lexicography nerds! Editor A, so glad you enjoyed the review; previous comments of yours (and psychic waves too, perhaps) goaded me to sit my butt down and write it.

I discovered access to the OED online through the university library–sweet!–and of course studied the entries for “peotomy” and his brethren.

I fondly recall that once upon a time you too sported a “magnificently fecund arrangement” of facial hair. Wish I’d have thought to compliment it as such.

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