"Autobiographies of great nations are written in three manuscripts – a book of deeds, a book of words, and a book of art. Of the three, I would choose the latter as truest testimony." - Sir Kenneth Smith, Great Civilisations

"I must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine." - Leo Tolstoy

I have never believed that one should wait until one is inspired because I think the pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again. - John Updike

"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it." - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations." - Lawrence Ferlinghetti


[Note - If any article requires updating or correction please notate this in the comment section. Thank you. - res]


Showing posts with label Writing Resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing Resources. Show all posts

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Homophones, Homonyms, and Homographs for Adults


Witty Scribble: The world is a play of words - Part II : know ...



AN  INTRODUCTION



Heteronym (linguistics) - Wikipedia



References & Definitions


HOMOPHONE

Wikipedia - A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A homophone may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of "rise"), or differently, such as carat, and carrot, or to, two, and too. The term "homophone" may also apply to units longer or shorter than words, such as phrases, letters, or groups of letters which are pronounced the same as another phrase, letter, or group of letters. Any unit with this property is said to be "homophonous". Homophones that are spelled the same are also both homographs and homonyms.

HOMONYM

Wikipedia - In linguistics, homonyms, broadly defined, are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation) or homophones (words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. For example, according to this definition, the words row (propel with oars), row (argument) and row (a linear arrangement) are homonyms, as are the words see (vision) and sea (body of water).

A more restrictive or technical definition sees homonyms as words that are simultaneously homographs and homophones – that is to say they have identical pronunciation and spelling, whilst maintaining different meanings. Examples are the pair stalk (part of a plant) and stalk (follow/harass a person) and the pair left (past tense of leave) and left (opposite of right).

A distinction is sometimes made between true homonyms, which are unrelated in origin, such as skate (glide on ice) and skate (the fish), and polysemous homonyms, or polysemes, which have a shared origin, such as mouth (of a river) and mouth (of an animal).

The relationship between a set of homonyms is called homonymy, and the associated adjective is homonymous.

The adjective "homonymous" can additionally be used wherever two items share the same name, independent of how closely they are or are not related in terms of their meaning or etymology.

HOMOGRAPH

Wikipedia - A homograph (from the Greek: ὁμός, homós, "same" and γράφω, gráphō, "write") is a word that shares the same written form as another word but has a different meaning. However, some dictionaries insist that the words must also sound different, while the Oxford English Dictionary says that the words should also be of "different origin". In this vein, The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography lists various types of homographs, including those in which the words are discriminated by being in a different word class, such as hit, the verb to strike, and hit, the noun a blow.

If, when spoken, the meanings may be distinguished by different pronunciations, the words are also heteronyms. Words with the same writing and pronunciation (i.e. are both homographs and homophones) are considered homonyms. However, in a looser sense the term "homonym" may be applied to words with the same writing or pronunciation. Homograph disambiguation is critically important in speech synthesisnatural language processing and other fields. Identically written different senses of what is judged to be fundamentally the same word are called polysemes; for example, wood (substance) and wood (area covered with trees).


R E F E R E N C E S




Example: Write a Poem of Homophones

The Girl And The Frog

Their once was a girl 
Knot two pretty an knot two ugly
Just a normal ordinary girl
She was inn love with the prints,
Butt couldn’t get clothes enough two hymn

Won day she came upon a frog
The frog said, “I’m and enchanted frog,
If ewe kiss me, ewe will become beautiful.”
The girl thought about what the frog had said  
An decided two take the frogs advice

She kissed hymn 
An with a poof
The frog transformed into and enchanted prints

Two her shock, she  was still the same

The enchanted prints had other plans of his own
He was inn love with the prints's sister 
Sew he went two the castle looking four the princess

The girl was left with a broken hart an crying



* * * * * * * * * * * *


An Angry Friend
- Anon

Wear/Where were you yesterday

Who were you meating/meeting?

I saw poor /pour John waiting

Out there in the reign/rain

I know/no you were busy

And had not much time/thyme,

Sow/So now I’m going to give you

A peace/piece of my mind!

Bye/by/buy!



* * * * * * * * * * * *


(downloadable PDF)

ANOTHER LIST OF HOMOPHONES


S A M P L E
Homo & Heterographs,Homophones, Polysemes, Homonyms, Heteronyms ...



S A M P L E
Homo & Heterographs,Homophones, Polysemes, Homonyms, Heteronyms ...



* * * * * * * * * * * *


NATIVE ENGLISH SPAIN: Wise Wednesday Grammar: Homonym



What word has the most homophones?

Suggestion 1

Since (preposition, conjunction, & adverb) in the intervening period between (the time mentioned) and the time under consideration, typically the present; for the reason that.

Sense (noun) a feeling that something is the case.

Scents (noun) a distinctive smell, especially one that is pleasant.

Cents (noun) plural of cent.

Cense (verb) perfume (something) ritually with the odor of burning incense.

I thought a homophone was a word with different spelling and same sound.
[So Rose (past tense) and Rose (flower) would not count as homophones]

I’m seeing online that Since is phonetically | sins | but I would argue that it is most often heard | sens | so I’m including it. Enter dynamic language argument.


Suggestion 2

Without stretching this is the most common homophone I’m aware of carrot, caret, carat, karat. 

They are: A vegetable, a typographical mark, the weight of gems, the fineness of gold.


Suggestion 3

In Chinese, my stats, from my mobilephone dictionary, indicate that there are 20902 characters sharing 415 pinyins (1383 pīnyīns considering tones). There are 15 homophones for each pīnyīns averagely. It's said by a Chinese author Li Ao that yì has the most homophones, totalling 205.

They are ( all below are pronounced yì):

亿
.
.
.
* * * * * * * * * * * *


What word has the most homonyms?


Suggestion 1

One can arguably claim that the following words have the same pronunciation (kinda-sorta), different spellings (kinda-sorta), and different meanings (kinda-sorta).

Feel free to reject any for whatever reason you consider rejection-worthy; the remaining set will still be impressively large.

/ɛr/:

aer-, prefix: “air-related”.
air, verb: to publicly discuss. As: to air a grievance.
aire, obsolete spelling of air (noun, a tune or melody).
Aire: river in northern England.
-aire, suffix indicating a person who is or has something (as in millionaire, concessionaire, legionnaire).
are, noun: unit of areal measure, one-hundredth of a hectare.
Ayer, Sir Alfred Jules: English positivist philosopher.
ayre: sea-formed sand-spit.
ear, noun: organ of hearing (dialect pronunciation). Plural: earen.
e’er, contraction of ever.
eare, noun: organ of hearing (dialect pronunciation, obsolete spelling). Plural: earen.
eere, noun: organ of hearing (dialect pronunciation, obsolete spelling). Plural: eeren.
eir, gender-neutral third-person singular possessive adjective like their but singular; belonging to em.
eir, a measure of data rate in packet networks.
ere, adverb, archaic or poetical: before.
err, verb: make a mistake (variant American pronunciation).
eyr, obsolete spelling of air (noun, the gas forming our atmosphere).
eyr, noun: organ of hearing (dialect pronunciation; obsolete spelling). Plural: eyren.
eyre, mediæval-England circuit court.
Eyre, surname of the protagonist of an 1847 novel by “Currer Bell” (Charlotte Brontë).


Suggestion 2


bow - To bend forward at the waist in respect (e.g. "bow down")
bow - the front of the ship (e.g. "bow and stern")
bow - the weapon which shoots arrows (e.g. "bow and arrow")
bow - a kind of tied ribbon (e.g. bow on a present, a bowtie)
bow - to bend outward at the sides (e.g. a "bow-legged" cowboy)
bough - a branch on a tree. (e.g. "when the bough breaks...")
bō - a long staff, usually made of tapered hard wood or bamboo
beau--a male paramour



* * * * * * * * * * * *



by Joe Tessitore and James A. Tweedie

From Joe:

On Seymour’s Weight Gain
There’s more to see of Seymour,
So I see Seymour more.


---


The First Time I Saw Paris
When I got
an eyeful of Eiffel, I ful-
Filled a life-time dream.


---


From James:

Icy Eyes
A frosty Highlands sky
Caught Scots by surprise.
When asked, one man said, “Aye,
“I see icy eyes.”


---


Oui, Oui!
This little piggy went to Paris, and this little piggy went to Rome
I asked them if lattés in Bern
Affected them on their return.
And this little piggy went, “Oui, oui! We wee-ed all the way home!”


---


Susan Jarvis Bryant
September 16, 2019

Oh Yeah!

I saw a bare bear
and a hare without hair
on the stair – did I stare?
Oh yeah!

I spied with shy eye,
sidled by to go buy
underwear for the daring pair.

“Was it dear, deer?” they said
with cheeks blushing red
at the price tag they read –
Oh yeah!

But, I’m a doe in the know
with a dough-splashing beau
who never says no coz he’s fair.

A toad towed them home
in a cart with a groan
from a hoarse horse who waived the fare.

“Cheap! Cheap!” the birds cheeped.
“Bald! Bald!” bawled the beasts.
“Please! Please!” rose my pleas, “Spare a care
for the bare bear and hare without hair!”

Oh yeah!


---


A tale of two tivs
by Joe Spring, September 16, 2019


Barry built a wooden tiv
and Billy bought a tin one,
and each one said he wouldn’t’ve
done what his friend had done.
Then Billy said “Look at my tin tiv!”
Said Barry “It’s pretty good!
If I had money I mightn’t’ve
made this here tiv of wood.”
Said Billy, “Have you thought’f
Trading yours for mine?
For now I think I oughtn’t’ve
gone to the shop and bought a tiv
when p’r’aps your wooden tiv’ll’ve
been really rather fine.”
Then trade they did, a tiv for a tiv
And happy they were to trade:
the one for the tiv the other had bought
And the other the other had made.


---


From the unhumorous side
by Joe Tessitore, September 16, 2019

One nightstand, that and just a bed.
One bare bulb, burning overhead.
Two lie there, nothing to be said,
in the glare of a one-night stand.


---


Confusion
by Troy Camplin, September 16, 2019

The constant, cruel cacophony can crush
My nerves at times and overwhelm my days —
I long for days when I’d enjoy the hush
Of forest walks that kept me from the glaze
That cataracts my mind when music, voices,
Such overwhelming sounds come from my choices.

The constant tugging, pulling, neediness
Of everyone exhausts me, makes a haze
Through which all light seems blinding bright — I bless
Those moments, ever-rarer, when I gaze
Upon a room of nothingness, where none
Is present, making their demands I run.

The constant pettiness that seems to fill
The days of everyone are like a blaze
Of heat, oppressing me. Do what I will,
Yet going through my days brings on a daze,
Where I cannot collect my thoughts, my self —
I feel a toy forgotten on the shelf.


---


On History
by Troy Camplin, September 16, 2019

The restless river runs deep red
While on the bank the people glance
With love, make children, song, and dance.

They come, enjoy the festive spread—
The river tries to make a trance—
While on the bank the people glance
With love, make children, song, and dance.

While killing, stealing, crimes are read
As history—our only stance
Great criminals or weary chance
The restless river runs deep red.
While on the bank the people glance
With love, make children, song, and dance.


---


Baited Breath
by Susan Jarvis Bryant, September 16, 2019

I hear a soft pause in the pad of her paws
as I pray for the fate of her prey.
Oh, for a flaw as she skulks across floor;
the slam of a door near the pet I adore,
as I weigh up the scene for a way

to give you a tale where the mouse keeps his tail
when I’ve sent Kitty off of the scent;
that ripe rodent reek causing felines to wreak
mayhem for a week; no time to be weak
in this SHOO-WITH-A-SHOE event!




* * * * * * * * * * * *


From Hello P'try: Homonyms


Farmer's best sign of luck
by A.W., April 2018

Pitter-patter;
     pelting peaking the poignant hearing of a peering, personable
     person.

Awakened she walks;
     waiting for water to weaken against the small windows,
     withering away.

Flourishing souls;
     stemming from spring came spitting droplets, refreshing flora.

Drab days;
      dead development dawdled by dreary dates - winter is gone.
    
Joyful cheers!
     Carrot's stones cherished close for colder days.

Winter disappears for departure.
    Spring reappears for resurgence


---


Homonyms
by Alessandra Vargas, Mar 2018

people leave
and
people live
and, often,
these two
can depend
on each other


---


Temptress Pride and all Hubris!
by Dawn of Lighten, Nov 2015

I have two persona with very different duality,
I have too extreme of a personality,
And I have a hard time expressing myself to your factuality.

Only veiled my discreet personal past with thin layers of exclamation,
To diverge, veer, or in discrete my own expression.

To die within my own words to save my honor,
Or to stay translucent to dye my tongue in fake color.

For I have failed myself in becoming true to my belief,
For eye to eye I can't seem to meet any sort of relief,

Are these my real eyes point of view,
Or have I realized I been dreaming of you,
Or were they simply all real lies of my personal skew?

This desire to raise your understanding,
But your voice raze my defense to oblivion,
And heavenly rays depart like the moons with wolf howl with your gaze!

Was there nothing of me that sparkled to your kindred spirit,
Was I that loathing of your presence to lose your smile?

No matter as past are like the whim of a sail,
I Know that happiness has no sale.

Believe me when I say I want you to be happy,
But my hunger to eat this precious apple pie will hurt me more,
Much more than my desire to be fit like those men in commercials.

Sorry possibly good looking ads,
But I must cheat on you for good!

Those eight pies, I ate them with pride and prejudice!
For my temptation was hubris!


---


the corner of page 6
by M. Eastman, Apr 2015

Maybe they'll publish me
one the corner of the
daily
page 6
and sorry ***** black smears
bite they no longer
print any questions about what
or why
the daily exposition celebrity
murders
all bright screens now
farms as far as you can squint


---


My Style Is Poor : Living On Change
MaryJane Doe, May 2014

I'm the prophet in my life
Nothing in my wallet
The only paper that I make
Hold the words of a sonnet
Nothing left but sense
Just the change in my pocket
Safe near my heart
Without a way to lock it
Yeah My style is poor
So who's gonna rob it
When these words
Are all I own

When I can't buy what I want
I learn to live
With what I've got
Cuz happiness
Just can't be bought
It must be found
It must be sought
When I can't buy what I need
I learn I need the change
That's in my pocket
Yeah Change is all I need

I don't buy things on credit
I won't make that promise
My truth is my proof
I'm just trying to be honest
Flying high on life
Blazing tales like comets
You'll never be low
When life has you high on it
My style is poor
But I'm gonna rocket
Cuz the sky is where I fly

When I can't buy what I want
I learn to live
With what I've got
Cuz happiness
Just can't be bought
It must be found
It must be sought
When I can't buy what I need
I learn I need the change
That's in my pocket
Change is all I need



Monday, January 18, 2016

Odyssey - An Online Writer's Mecca of Classes, Course Work, and Webinars


Here is a great online help for any writer wishing to develop their craft and/or profession. The Main Home Page link will explain who and what the organization is and the Online Courses Link will direct you to the most current classes which are meeting. Enjoy! ~ R.E. Slater




Odyssey Online Writing Classes






Friday, January 25, 2013

Review: "An Exaltation of Larks," by James Lipton


1993 Edition
50 Collective Nouns to Bolster Your Vocabulary
 
Lucas Reilly
January 18, 2013

Collective nouns may seem like quirky ways to describe groups, but 500 years ago, they were your ticket to the in-crowd. Most collective nouns, or “terms of venery,” were coined during the 15th century. Many were codified in books of courtesy, like the 1486 classic Book of St. Albans. St. Albans was a handbook for medieval gentlemen, and it contained essays on hawking, hunting, and heraldry. Appended to the hunting chapter sits a list of 164 collective nouns, titled “The Compaynys of Beestys and Fowlys.” (Contrary to the title, many terms actually describe people—a biting example of ye olde satire.)
 
As silly as some sound today, the phrases were formal and proper descriptions. St. Albans was, after all, a vocabulary-booster, a primer designed to help gentlemen-in-training avoid the embarrassment of “some blunder at the table.” Over the next century, the book’s popularity bloomed. Similar courtesy handbooks caught on, and by the end of the 16th century, a slew of collective nouns had entered the lexicon.
 
Some have achieved widespread currency and acceptance, like a “flight of stairs,” “a board of trustees,” and a “school of fish.” Others, like a “murder of crows,” barely cling on. However, a handful of obscure phrases have made a comeback, thanks to James Lipton’s wonderful compendium of collective nouns, An Exaltation of Larks. Here are a few from Lipton’s book that you should add to your repertoire.
 
1. Business of Ferrets
2. Labor of Moles
3. Mustering of Storks
4. Shrewdness of Apes
5. Gam of Whales
6. Smack of Jellyfish
7. Host of Angels
8. Fusillade of Bullets
9. Baptism of Fire
10. Quiver of Arrows
11. Tissue of lies
12. Murder of Crows
13. Unkindness of Ravens
14. Dule of Doves
15. Clowder, Cluster, or Clutter of Cats
16. Kindle of Kittens
17. Mute of Hounds
18. Pass of Asses
19. Ostentation of Peacocks
20. Team of Ducks (when flying)
21. Paddling of Ducks (when on water)
22. Trip of Goats
23. Sloth, or Sleuth, of Bears
24. Charm of Finches
25. Hill of Beans
26. String of Ponies
27. Hand of Bananas
28. College of Cardinals
29. Shock of Corn
30. Band of Men
31. Knot of Toads
32. Wedge of Swans (when flying)
33. Parliament of Owls
34. Superfluity of Nuns
35. Abominable Sight of Monks
36. Untruth of Summoners
37. Doctrine of Doctors
38. Damning of Jurors
39. Sentence of Judges
40. Rascal of Boys
41. Gaggle of Women
42. Gaggle of Gossips
43. Impatience of Wives
44. Tabernacle of Bakers
45. Poverty of Pipers
46. Fighting of Beggars
47. Neverthriving of Jugglers
48. Herd of Harlots
49. Worship of Writers
50. Hastiness of Cooks
 
According to Lipton, the terms above “are authentic and authoritative. They were used, they were correct, and they are useful, correct—and available—today.”
 
 
1991 Edition

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

An "exaltation of larks"? Yes! And a "leap of leopards," a "parliament of owls," an "ostentation of peacocks," a "smack of jellyfish," and a "murder of crows"! For those who have ever wondered if the familiar "pride of lions" and "gaggle of geese" were only the tip of a linguistic iceberg, James Lipton has provided the definitive answer: here are hundreds of equally pithy, and often poetic, terms unearthed by Mr. Lipton in the Books of Venery that were the constant study of anyone who aspired to the title of gentleman in the fifteenth century. When Mr. Lipton's painstaking research revealed that five hundred years ago the terms of venery had already been turned into the Game of Venery, he embarked on an odyssey that has given us a "slouch of models," a "shrivel of critics," an "unction of undertakers," a "blur of Impressionists," a "score of bachelors," and a "pocket of quarterbacks."
 
This ultimate edition of An Exaltation of Larks is Mr. Lipton's brilliant answer to the assault on language and literacy in the last decades of the twentieth century. In it you will find more than 1,100 resurrected or newly minted contributions to that most endangered of all species, our language, in a setting of 250 witty, beautiful, and remarkably apt engravings.
 
About the Author
 
James Lipton is the creator, executive producer, writer, and host of Inside the Actors Studio, which is seen in eighty-nine million homes in America on the Bravo network, and in 125 countries, and has received fourteen Emmy nominations. He is the author of the novel Mirrors, which he then adapted and produced for the screen, and of the American literary perennial An Exaltation of Larks, and has written the book and lyrics of two Broadway musicals. His television productions include Jimmy Carter’s Inaugural Gala, the first presidential concert ever televised; twelve Bob Hope birthday specials, reaching record-breaking audiences; and The Road to China, the first American entertainment program from the People’s Republic. He is a vice president of the Actors Studio, is the founder and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University, has received three honorary PhDs, is a recipient of France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
 
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
 
 
5.0 out of 5 stars
April 4, 2001
Format:Paperback
 
Here's a real gem! AN EXALTATION OF LARKS (Ultimate Edition) is the culmination of more than two decades of Lipton's research of "nouns of multitude," which he prefers to call "terms of venery." (noun archaic usage - the practice or sport of hunting; the chase; more commonly the gratification of (sexual) desire.)
 
Many of these terms are commonplace: plague of locusts, pride of lions, litter of pups. Imagine, though, hearing these expressions for the first time. Lipton invites us to "sharpen our senses by restoring the magic to the mundane."
 
Lipton traced a number of these terms back to the 1400s, specifically to THE BOOK OF ST. ALBANS, printed in 1486. In addition to today's ordinary terms, he discovered some that had a fresh sound, precisely because they had not made the 500-year journey to our modern era.
 
Lipton identifies six sources of inspiration for the terms. He lists these "Families" with the following examples:
 
1. Onomatopoeia ("a formation of a word by imitation"): a murmuration of starlings, a gaggle of geese.
 
2. Characteristic (by far the largest Family): a leap of leopards, a skulk of foxes.
 
3. Appearance: a knot of toads, a parliament of owls.
 
4. Habitat: a shoal of bass, a nest of rabbits.
 
5. Comment (pro or con depending on viewpoint): a richness of martens, a cowardice of curs.
 
6. Error (in transcription or printing; sometimes preserved for centuries): "school" of fish was originally intended to be "shoal."
 
Lipton enthusiastically joined the "game" of coining terms, which had been in progress for more than 500 years. In 1968 he published his first EXALTATION OF LARKS, which contained 175 terms -- some from Middle English, some original. Neither the hardbound nor the paperback edition went out of print before the Ultimate Edition (with more than 1,000 terms) was published in 1991. As Lipton puts it, textbooks and various media "used the book like sourdough to leaven new batches of terms."
 
Lipton believes that a pun or a play on words detracts from the vigor of a term. Alliteration, likewise, is unnecessary. Rather the success of the term hinges on identifying the "quintessential part" of the group of people or things and allowing it to represent the whole: a blur of impressionists, a brood of hens, a quiver of arrows. (Lipton's research on this last item revealed that as early as 1300 a poetic soul rejected the available words "case" and "scabbard" and turned "quiver" into a noun.)
 
AN EXALTATION OF LARKS includes a few pages detailing Lipton's lexical odysseys and triumphs. Most of the book comprises the lists themselves. The origin of some of the terms is explained, and more than 250 of the terms are illustrated with witty engravings by Grandville, a 19th Century French lithographer. More than half the book lists terms in 25 categories, such as professions (an aroma of bakers), daily life (a belch of smokestacks), and academe (a discord of experts).
 
Lipton includes several versions of games in which players coin new terms. His index lists his 1,000+ terms with a blank replacing the first item, which is the source of a term's poetry. The reader is thus encouraged to discern the essence of the thing collected. The page number facilitates the comparison of newly coined terms with existing ones.
 
AN EXALTATION OF LARKS is indeed "a word lover's garden of delights."
 
 
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
 
Images of Engravings by Grandville
 
~ click any image below to enlarge ~