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Re: [OM] IMG: Anekdot

Subject: Re: [OM] IMG: Anekdot
From: Bob Whitmire <bwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:17:21 -0400
Ah! Thanks for not being too lazy to look it up! <g> I have a passing interest 
in language, having been a wordsmith for a portion of my adult life, but of 
late I seem to have little interest in expending research energy for much of 
anything. My wife says it's because I've got so much junk knowledge (trivia) 
stored in my head that there isn't room for anything else. Someone told me gin 
was a good brain defragger, but I think they were blowing smoke up my arse. 
<wnnk> Should have known the French-Russian relationship, as I was and am aware 
of the whole court language thing, and how the 18th and 19th century Russian 
court partially assuaged its perceived inferiority complex by adopting French 
culture in huge portions. (And I did perceive a connection to the Greek, which 
I should have mentioned at the time, thus making myself look really smart _and_ 
intuitive. <g>)

The two most common usages of anecdote I'm familiar with are "anecdotal 
evidence" and, in journalism, the "anecdotal lede", which all feature writers 
are hell-bound to employ to separate their stories from "hard" news. ("Feature" 
in this sense meaning soft news, or "cat rescued from dryer" story.)  I myself 
despise anecdotal ledes, and yell at the newspaper whenever I encounter one. 
But then I'm jaded, and find few features worthy of the newsprint it took to 
share them. Ooops! Letting out my inner curmudgeon. Better stop now.

Anyway, thanks for the linguistics lesson. It is much appreciated.

--Bob


On Mar 18, 2013, at 3:19 PM, Piers Hemy wrote:

> Don't know about "too lazy", Bob, as you would need to know where to look.
> 
> Yes, of course it has a common origin with "anecdote", although the meaning 
> in modern Russian is subtly different - in English, I think it's simply a 
> tale, in Russian it's more specifically a joke (although one which is more 
> often than not impenetrable to a foreign ear!).
> 
> Vasmer's Etymological dictionary suggests that, judging by the word ending, 
> it is from the French anecdote, itself a borrowing from Greek ἀνέκδοτα 
> although it isn't clear to me how the word ending excludes a borrowing from 
> English. Dal' agrees with Vasmer (perhaps vice versa). However, Ushakov's 
> dictionary cites from both Pushkin and Gogol using the word - that would 
> coororate Vasmer, as French was the court language in 18th and 19th century 
> Russia, and thus a more likely source than mere English.
> 
> I had long ago forgotten all those great lexicographers - thanks for giving 
> me the reason to revisit them.

-- 
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