Busy week

[alexxkay]

Not much posting lately, been too busy with life.

Got to dance practice Wed, for the first time in months. Only danced a few dances, as I was worried about my cold relapsing. It doesn't seem to have, thankfully. Flirtes with some Fabulous Babes (tm), and got to chat some with friends who I hadn't seen in a while. Quote of the evening: "Thundercats should not wear lingerie!"

Thursday kestrell and I meant to go to a ship-party sponsored by my employers. Sadly, the directions we had were written by a Boston native, so we eventually gave up and went home.

Friday evening, we watched Kes' new DVD of Gattaca. One of the very few movies I've sen that were actually science fiction, as opposed to sci-fi. Certainly Hugo-worthy (it was beaten out that year by Contact). Kes especially appreciated Jude Law's voice, so she is now more interested in going to see Sky Captain. Apparently, Jude Law will also be in the upcoming Series of Unfortunate Events film, as the voice of Lemony Snicket.

Saturday, I went to pick up comics. Thankfully, last month's huge stack of expensive stuff *was* an anomaly, so I broke neither my back nor my bank. Then I went into work for a few hours. There's a script deadline coming up Wednesday, and meeting it will be a bit tight. It would have been less of an issue if Ken had actually started writing his first drafts two months ago like he was supposed to, rather than leaving it until the last week or so. Sigh. Came home once my brain was used up and played computer games until Too Late (but not Far Too Late).

Today, I spent the morning going through not one but two months worth of Diamond's Previews catalogs. Sturgeon's Law is certainly still out in force. There are still enough diamonds in the rough to make it worth doing, but it's still a chore. Spending this evening catching up on email and web stuff. More anon...

Comments

Re: Definitions?

[jducoeur]

Definition 2(b) is the relevant one in my personal dictionary. This is specifically a common Masonic usage. Obviously, the concept is a very important one in Masonry, an organization that really *does* have passwords and silly handshakes and such to distinguish members from non, and in that context, a "shibboleth" is well-understood to mean, essentially, an identifying mark.

I believe this is the original and oldest meaning -- the word is Hebrew, and this usage is derived from a biblical story, in which the word "shibboleth" is itself used as a password in a key battle. I'm pretty sure that all of the other usages derive directly or indirectly from that. The original Hebrew word has nothing to do with any of these meanings. Its relevance as a password was because of differences in pronunciation between tribes, so the warders could tell which tribe someone was from by listening to how they said the word.

(Hmm. Surely someone describes the story online. Ah -- okay, here is a good brief account of the original story.)

As for the original point: when I was new to fandom, the distinction between "SF" and "scifi" was *very* much a shibboleth in the above sense. Serious con-goers always called it "SF", and tended to more or less sneer at "scifi" fans. However, time has worn the edges off the distinction, and I doubt that anyone under 30 is even particularly aware of it. Indeed, the term "scifi" has pretty much won -- it's far more commonly used than "SF" in all contexts I know of nowadays...