The John P. Parker House is a historic house museum at 300 North Front Street in Ripley, Ohio. It was home to former slave and inventor John P. Parker (1827–1900) from 1853 to his death in 1900. Parker was an abolitionist and a well-documented conductor on the Underground Railroad, helping hundreds of escaped slaves. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and it was further designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997. It is now owned and managed by a local nonprofit organization as a museum about Parker's life and the abolitionist movement. The John P. Parker House is located on the Ohio River waterfront, north of the center of Ripley. The building is a two-story brick structure, with a side gable roof that has stepped gables. A lower two-story wood frame ell extends to the rear. The front facade is three bays wide, with the entrance in the rightmost bay, topped by a transom window. Windows are plain sash, set in rectangular openings with stone lintels. The house is all that is left of a larger manufacturing complex built about 1853 for the business of John Parker, which originally included a machine shop, blacksmithy, and foundry. Most of these facilities were damaged or destroyed by a fire in 1889, and were not rebuilt by Parker. Ripley was a hotbed of abolitionist sentiment in the antebellum period, and it was thus a well-known target for slaves escaping across the river from Kentucky, a slave state. Although Parker's property was close to the river, he apparently rarely sheltered slaves in his home, its remote location equally attractive to fugitive slaves and slave catchers. Parker was born into slavery, but was given an education by his physician owner, and was able to purchase his freedom. He regularly crossed into Kentucky in search of escaping slaves, and brought them into the network of Underground Railroad supporters in Ripley. The property was sold by Parker's wife not long after his death, and was used in support of a coal shipping operation for many years. In the 1990s it was purchased by a local nonprofit and rehabilitated for use as a museum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_P._Parker_House
“I’ll buy you a beer when this is all over,” declares Christo Tofalli, the
landlord of Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, which lays claim to the contentious title
of Britain’s oldest pub and is no stranger to pandemics. While closed, Ye Olde
Fighting Cocks, in the historic city of Saint Albans, has become a Community
Supply Point, providing much-needed groceries and offering free delivery to the
elderly. They are even delivering Sunday
Roast dinners to residents in lockdown.
Richard Collette https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-the-oldest-pub
A
webster is, literally, a weaver. And
what is compiling a dictionary but assembling it one thread/word at a
time? Also, if you go by his first name,
he did herd words in one place, in the style of Biblical Noah: Noah Webster, Word herder. Herded words
from A to Z* Into An American Dictionary. He’s best known for his An American
Dictionary of the English Language (1828), but he published all sorts of
stuff, including textbooks, his own version of the Bible (Common Version),
newspaper articles, and more. Besides
writing, he served as a legislator in two states (Connecticut and
Massachusetts), started an anti-slavery group (Connecticut Society for the
Abolition of Slavery), co-founded a college (Amherst College), founded a
newspaper (American Minerva, New York’s first daily), and served as a
teacher, lawyer, soldier, and more. The
week of October 12 marks Webster’s 262nd birthday and in his honor we’ll
feature words about words and language. *Yes,
Z rhymes with dictionary around here.
endonym (EN-duh-nym) noun A name used internally to refer to a place, people, language, etc. For example, Germany’s endonym is Deutschland, because that’s what Germans call their country. From Greek endo- (inside, within) + -onym (word, name). Some related words endogenous and endogamy
metonymy (muh-TAHN-uh-mee) noun A figure of speech in which someone or something is referred to by the name of something associated. For example, the use of the word crown to refer to monarchy. From Latin metonymia, from Greek metonymia (change of name), from meta- (after, beyond) + onama (name). Ultimately from the Indo-European root no-men- (name) which also gave us name, anonymous, noun, synonym, eponym, renown, nominate, misnomer, moniker, and ignominy. Earliest documented use: 1553. When a part is used to refer to the whole, it is synecdoche. For example, the use of the word eyeballs to refer to viewers or website visitors. In metaphor, the substitution is based on analogy, in metonym on association.
Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From: Michael Poxon This reminds me of an incident in the USA, where I was giving a talk at an astrophysics meeting. One of the stars I was discussing was RZ Piscium which, as a Brit, I pronounced “ah-zed”, and at which I could see some of the Americans briefly turning to one another. Knowing why, I then said “If you want to know why we say zed and you say zee, see me afterwards.” Several were interested enough to ask why. Zed is a worn-down version of the Greek zeta. It can also be seen in the cedilla (little zed) used to indicate that a c is to be sounded as an s, not a k.
From: Tom Henderson In Stephen Ambrose’s magnificent work Undaunted Courage, his account of the Lewis and Clark expedition, he noted the many critical commentaries over the years regarding, specifically, William Clark’s many “misspellings” in his journal of the expedition. Professor Ambrose points out that Clark’s efforts pre-dated Webster’s publication of his dictionary by about 25 years, prior to which spelling (and diction) was a “hit or miss” proposition.
From: Paul Varotsis
Endonym is a particularly interesting word for me as I have had various
puzzled looks from custom officers and reception staff wondering which country
I came from and some even pointing that I should not follow the European Union
citizen queue as my passport states Hellenic Republic. Lots of people do not know that it means
Greece.
From: Gregory Craner I often say “I am the only person I know
without an accent.” AWADmail issue 955
Claire the Scottish Deerhound beat out hundreds of canines to take home the top prize at the National Dog Show of 2020. Claire was named Best in Show at the event, which this year was scaled down slightly--due to Covid-19. The show featured just 600 dogs rather than the usual 2,000. The National Dog Show, hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia, was held over two days on November 14 and 15. The show, which was first broadcast on NBC in 2002, has aired on Thanksgiving following the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for almost 20 years. Founded by The Kennel Club of Philadelphia in 1879, the show has been held annually since 1933. Like other events in 2020, spectators were not allowed at the show this year because of the ongoing pandemic--cardboard cutouts replaced a live audience. Masks and social distancing were also strictly enforced. This year's show introduced three new dog breeds: the Barbet, the Belgian Laekenois and the Dogo Argentino, according to NBC. Leah Asmelash https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/26/us/national-dog-show-2020-trnd/index.html
Fed up with the cold connection of virtual Netflix Parties and digital game nights, Americans are increasingly turning to old-fashioned letter writing to establish a more tactile and intimate rapport. Paper Source, a national stationery chain, reports that sales of “just because” cards, those not associated with life events, are up nearly 2,000% year-over-year since March, 2020. But these aren’t just letters, and the more ambitious missives, increasingly embellished and fun to look at, have started landing on social media, as an outlier form of expression called Mail Art. Rachel Wolfe https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-snail-mail-renaissance-is-soothing-americans-tired-of-zoom-11606401233
Snail Mail is the American indie rock solo project of guitarist and singer-songwriter Lindsey Jordan. In 2015, she started playing her songs live with her band, and released the EP Habit in 2016. Snail Mail's debut studio album, Lush, was released on June 8, 2018, via Matador Records. Snail Mail's Lush was nominated for Breakthrough Artist/Release and Best Rock Album at the 2019 Libera Awards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snail_Mail_(musician)
THOUGHT FOR NOVEMBER 30 Laws are like cobwebs which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through. - Jonathan Swift, satirist (30 Nov 1667-1745)
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 2291 November 30, 2020
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