(No, I didn't subscribe. It's a gift subscription.)
A few pages in I found the Word Power column -- you know, the quiz that contains twenty relatively obscure vocabulary words. Guess what the twentieth word was.
Defenestration.
I about fell off my sofa. I never would have known that word if it weren't for Hatrack.
[ October 14, 2004, 12:50 PM: Message edited by: UofUlawguy ]
Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
Yay for Hatrack!
I've always liked that magazine!
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
Hehe, the only reason I knew the word "Defenestrator" was because it was the title of a Mac nerd short film. Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
hehe, I learned that word in second year latin, it was so we would remember Fenestra means window. That's probably one of the few words I remember from latin. The sentence our teacher used was "the defenestration of prague" Apparently this is discussed in the world history classes at my school, but I took world geography.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Working as a writer, I can barely stand to read anything in Reader's Digest anymore. It's such schlock. I have to write that type of "light informative" article every once in a while and I know the fudging and pure off-the-top-of-my-headness that goes into it. I have a hard time trusting any "pop culture" writing anymore, and when it's as blatantly bad as the stuff in Reader's Digest, reading it is almost physically impossible for me.
Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
It's the perfect magazine to have in the doctor's waiting room, especially if you're nervous or anxious in any way and can't really concentrate.
Light reading is not always a bad thing.
I rarely read the stories. I stick to the funny stuff and the "did you know" kind of articles.
Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
I admit I stopped reading "Word Power" years ago. Some of the words are ones I expect my 7 year old to know. Like most of the publications of the type, many of the articles show the hand of their corporate masters.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Reader's Digest is written at a 5th-grade reading level, which is why I stopped subscribing in 4th grade. The "word power" thing is ridiculous; I've yet to find one word in it I don't know. Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
Okay people!
I just like the pictures on the back. Okay?
*goes off to read the embarrassing Reader's Digest in complete private away from the way to literate ones*
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
I got $400 from them once for sending in a funny story from work. The down side was that someone I knew found out about it, and shared the darn thing with everyone I knew. Including my coworkers. Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Speaking of interesting associations of words, I may be completely wrong (stop me if I am, this is a theory) that the term "broken in to" as in when your house gets robbed, comes from the medieval ages when house's walls (wattle and daub) were literally smashed in order to steal.
Imagine coming home and finding that not only had you been robbed that there was a great gaping hole in your house's wall!
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
Tammy -- no kidding, that's why I made it clear that I didn't choose to subscribe, but received a gift subscription. I knew some hatrackers would sneer.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
*Sniffs, then goes back to the latest copy of The New Yorker*
Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
Hey, I can go both ways. They both have pictures!
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
Well, if we're going to get really snooty, I much prefer American Heritage. I just can't justify the expense right now.
Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
*glares, then resumes the impossible task of figuring out the mystery of her latest cable bill*
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
The thing I used to love about Reader’s Digest was that they put the table of contents right on the cover. It was so much easier to turn back to it than in other magazines, where you have to flip around in the ads that fill up the first few pages to find the ToC on page 3 or 7 or whatever.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
I learned the word defenestration in my high school sophomore English class. Ms. Bettis was the teacher. In the mid 70's, it was quite provocative to be a "Ms." instead of a Miss or a Mrs. What made it even more provocative was that she was divorced from our psychology teacher.
Whoa. Heady stuff. But I still remember her telling us about the word defenestration, as well as hermaphrodite...
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Well I invented the word defenestration. So there.
You people who read stuff off of tree corpses disgust me. Didn't you watch "Ghostbusters"? Print is dead. Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
Pooka tell that to my cable company.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Sorry, Tammy, I wasn't really trying to attack you there. :mybad: It's just that I've had to throw the magazine across the room in disgust once or twice. But that's mostly because I can identify with the rhetorical situation the writer found himself or herself in and that takes all the mystery out of it. Somehow that makes the whole thing hard to read.
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
I learned the word defenestration from an episode of Dark Angel. We even had visuals.
quote: You people who read stuff off of tree corpses disgust me. Didn't you watch "Ghostbusters"? Print is dead.
I don't know the reference, but if you really want an alternative reading material, check out Cradle to Cradle. Look at the last paragraph.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Actually, it's written on an eighth grade level. Which is not saying much, since the average American adult reads below this level.
I like the Spanish version, because, sadly, my Spanish reading level is not quite as high as my English reading level.
(And I hope nobody thinks I am sneering. I enjoy many things on or below an eighth grade reading level. )
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
<--- Likes Reader's Digest. My mom's been getting it for a while now. I think that the first article I ever read from it was The Last Passenger some years ago-- I don't remember how old I was at the time.
Now I usually don't have the time to pick up anything other than Laughter, The Best Medicine and other shorts. :/
--j_k
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
And the book excerpts expose people to books they might not otherwise have thought to buy. I can think of at least one nonfiction book I bought because I read an excerpt of it.
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