In Oklahoma there are three Canadian rivers, known and designated respectively as the Canadian (and not uncommonly as the South Canadian), the North Canadian and the Deep Fork of the Canadian.  There is also a county of that name and a town called Canadian.  In addition to these, there are townships, schools, churches and sundry business enterprises which carry the word Canadian as a part of their respective official names.  Directly or indirectly, all of these designations have been derived from the name of the Canadian River.  But how did it happen to be so named?  And who named it?  And when?  And where?  And why?  Although these questions have been often asked, yet it has been seldom that an answer to any of these has been even attempted.  One pronouncement upon this subject, which has been accepted as authentic in some quarters, was that of Dr. Elliott F. Coues, who was a physician and surgeon by profession and a naturalist by inclination and practice.  Rather late in life, he evinced an active interest in the early history of the region west of the Mississippi, editing and annotating for publication the journals of Lewis and Clark and of Zebulon M. Pike and also the manuscript narrative of Jacob Fowler.  In his edition of “The Explorations of Zebulon Montgomery Pike,” he appends an editorial note concerning the derivation of the name of the Canadian River, which reads in part as follows:  “‘Canadian,’ as applied to the main fork of the Arkansas, has no more to do with the Dominion of Canada in history or politics than it has in geography, and many have wondered how this river came to be called Canadian.  The word is from the Spanish Rio Cañada, or Rio Cañadiano, through such a form as Rio Cañadian, whence directly, ‘Canadian’ r., meaning ‘Cañon’ r., and referring to the way in which the stream is boxed up or shut in by precipitous walls near its headwaters.”  Unfortunately for Doctor Coues’ deduction in this instance, he utterly failed to present any evidence to the effect that there was or ever had been any stream in New Mexico known locally as the “Rio Cañada” or as the “Rio Cañadiano.”  Moreover, he entirely disregarded the fact that, in its upper course, in New Mexico, the Canadian River never was and is not now locally called by that name, but, on the contrary, has always been known as the Rio Colorado, or Red River.  What is even more significant is the further fact that the words Cañadian and Cañadiano do not occur even in the more comprehensive Spanish dictionaries or lexicons.  The Spanish word cañada, literally translated into English, signifies “a small or narrow, gorge, or a sheep path, in a steep place,” or, in other words, a gully, an eroded channel or diminutive canyon, too insignificant in size or proportions to be deemed worthy of distinction by an individual name.  Joseph B. Thobrun  http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v006/v006p181.html 

Paraphrases from Citizens Creek (historical fiction about black Creek Indians covering 1820s to 1890s) by Lalita Tademy  When neighbor helps neighbor, fortune balances out.  If you hold a bird too tight, you end up squeezing out the life.  

See also list of books on the Trail of Tears, 1838-1839, at http://www.librarything.com/subject/Trail+of+Tears%2C+1838-1839

Right Place, Wrong Time? by Marilyn vos Savant 

What’s the difference between these phrases?  1.  In the right place at the right time  2.  In the right place at the wrong time  3.  In the wrong place at the right time  4.  In the wrong place at the wrong time  —Anthony C., Romeoville, Ill.  Say four people are crossing a street.  Two are in a crosswalk with the light in their favor; two are jaywalking.  One of each is hit by a cyclist.  The unhurt person in the crosswalk was in the right place at the right time; the hurt person was in the right place at the wrong time.  The unhurt jaywalker was in the wrong place at the right time; the hurt jaywalker was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  http://parade.com/405669/marilynvossavant/right-place-wrong-time/

Marilyn vos Savant was born in 1946 as Marilyn Mach in St. Louis, Missouri.  Her parents—Joseph Mach and Marina vos Savant—were German and Italian respectively.  Savant says one should keep premarital surnames, with sons taking their fathers’ and daughters their mothers’.  The word savant, meaning someone of learning, appears twice in her family:  her grandmother’s name was Savant; her grandfather’s, vos Savant.  She is of Italian, Czechoslovakian, German, and Austrian ancestry, being descended from physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach.  Teenage Savant worked in her father’s general store and wrote for local newspapers using pseudonyms.  She married at 16 and divorced ten years later.  Her second marriage ended when she was 35.  She went to Meramec Community College and studied philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis but quit two years later to help with a family investment business.  Savant moved to New York City in the 1980s to pursue a career in writing. Prior to starting “Ask Marilyn,” she wrote the Omni I.Q. Quiz Contest for Omni, which included IQ quizzes and expositions on intelligence and its testing.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_vos_Savant

Adder, apron and umpire all used to start with an "n".  Linguists call this kind of thing reanalysis or rebracketing.  Wasp used to be waps; bird used to be brid and horse used to be hros.  It's called metathesis, and it's a very common, perfectly natural process.  Given that it was once "Woden's day" (named after the Norse god), the "d" isn't just for decoration, and was pronounced up until relatively recently.  Who now says the "t" in Christmas?  These are examples of syncope.  The simple mechanics of moving from a nasal sound ("m" or "n") to a non-nasal one can make a consonant pop up in-between.  Thunder used to be "thuner", and empty "emty".  You can see the same process happening now with words like hamster, which often gets pronounced with an intruding "p".  This is a type of epenthesis.  The "l" in folk, talk and walk used to be pronounced.  Now almost everyone uses a "w" instead--we effectively say fowk, tawk and wawk.  This process is called velarisation.   David Shariatmadari  http://www.alternet.org/culture/8-pronunciation-errors-changed-modern-english

Toward v. towards  “Some critics have tried to discern a semantic distinction between toward and towards, but the difference is entirely dialectal.  Toward is more common in American English; towards is the predominant form in British English.”  American Heritage Dictionary, 1995

The Bibliophile is the master of his books.  The Bibliomaniac is their slave.  Hans Bohatta   At the close of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, the increased availability and circulation of antique and new books led to an explosion of book collecting throughout Europe.  Throughout this great age of auctions and bouquinistes, aristocrats used their large libraries as a means to exhibit wealth and prestige.  Many middle-class collectors also became consumed by the desire to build their libraries, even neglecting their need for clothing, food, and lodging.  The story of Don Vincent, the Spanish monk and collector who murdered booksellers for their books, inspired Gustave Flaubert to write his first short novel, Bibliomania.  Charles Nodier also wrote a fictional essay concerning the plight of his friend Theodore, who succumbed to "bibliomaniacal typhus" after learning that his copy of Virgil was not the large-paper copy of 1676.  A critical examination of bibliomanical behavior began in 1809, when physician John Ferriar coined the term "Bibliomania" in a poem describing the phenomenon where this love of collecting books eventually becomes an obsession.  Ever since, the line between Bibliophilia and Bibliomania has been difficult to draw.   http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/pwp/browse.php?p=001

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg  Words derived from the names of places  are called toponyms, from Greek topos (place) + onoma (name) 

antimacassar  (an-ti-muh-KAS-suhr)  noun  A piece of covering placed over the back or arms of a seat to protect from hair oil, dirt, etc.  From anti- (against) + Macassar oil (a hair oil), said to be made from ingredients from Macassar (now spelled as Makassar), a city in Indonesia.  Earliest documented use:  1852.

podunk  (POH-dungk)  noun  A small, unimportant town.  Podunk is the name of a river and a native tribe in Connecticut.  Over time the name came to be used for several small towns including a mythical small and insignificant town.  Earliest documented use:  1657.

spaniel  (SPAN-yuhl)  noun  1.  A submissive or fawning person.  2.  Any of several breeds of small to medium-sized dogs with long drooping ears and a silky coat.  From Old French espaignol/espaigneul (Spanish dog), from Hispaniolus (Spanish), from Hispania (Spain).  Earliest documented use:  1386.

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From:  Creede Lambard  Subject:  antimacassar  Ah, memories.  Today’s word caught my eye because of a slim volume that hung around our house when I was young called, And So’s Your Antimacassar, which was full of Victorian-era pictures of the lace furniture protectors.  The five-syllable word in the title caught my preschool self’s attention much more than the pictures did.

From:  Tracy Johnston  Subject:  antimacassar  I have an e-book copy of the 1887 White House Cookbook.   http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13923?msg=welcome_stranger Under the chapter of toilet items there is a recipe for “Macassar Oil for the Hair”.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1321  July 8, 2015  On this date in 1663, Charles II of England granted John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island.  On this date in 1822, Chippewas turned over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.