Laurus Magazine

nevver:

When some words have hit the big time, they’ve left clunky related words behind.

1. EXHAUST/INHAUST
   While “exhaust,” from the Latin for “draw out of,” was first attested in 1540 and went on to a great career in the English vocabulary, “inhaust,” with the meaning “draw into,” was attested in 1547 (something about a “flye inhausted into a mannes throte sodenly”) but soon became obsolete.
2. OMNISCIENT/NESCIENT
   You know about “omniscient,” which comes from the Latin for “all knowing,” but did you know there was a counterpart meaning “not knowing”? You can now consider yourself more-scient!
3. RESUSCITATE/EXSUSCITATE
   “Exsuscitate” was around in the 1500s, as was “resuscitate,” but where “resuscitate” was for the act of bringing someone back from the dead, “exsuscitate” was for the less impressive act of rousing or waking someone up from sleep. It didn’t stick, and it doesn’t look likely to be resuscitated.
4. PRELIMINARY/POSTLIMINARY
   “Postliminary” has a technical use in international law, where it refers to the “right of postliminy” (stuff taken in war gets returned), but it’s also been used sporadically since the early 19th century as the opposite of “preliminary.”
5. INCANTATION/EXCANTATION
   If your incantation turns out to be a magic spell that somehow gets you in a jam, it might be good to be able to perform an excantation to get yourself out of it. Too bad the word, attested in 1580, is now obsolete.
6. INCRIMINATION/CONCRIMINATION
   It wouldn’t be fun to be the subject of an incrimination, but it might be a little more fun to be part of a concrimination with your friends, meaning “a joint accusation.” The word shows up in a 1656 dictionary, but we have no evidence that anyone ever used it.
7. INAUGURATE/EXAUGURATE
   Back in 1600 the word “inaugurate” was used to describe a ceremonial act of consecration or induction into office, but there was also the word “exaugurate” meaning, according to the OED, “To cancel the inauguration of; to unhallow, make profane.”

more

 Herein, musician Neko Case discusses art and writing with author Sherman Alexie. You can catch a screening of his film Smoke Signals for free at Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center on Monday at 7 PM. On Tuesday night, Alexie will host a reading and discussion at the same time. Alexie is visiting the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on behalf of Prairie Schooner’s winter 2012 issue launch.

A humorous essay from McSweeney’s website on the trials and triumphs of the modern age. Here’s an excerpt:

The warrior closed his eyes, summoning the power of his ancestors, long departed but watchful still. And then with the echoing beep of his digital watch, he moved with deadly speed, wrapping his battle-hardened hands around the power cord at the back of the Router. 

This comes from JRR Tolkein, five tips creating complex heroes in fantasy epics, but it’s really sound advice for anyone trying to write compelling characters.

Here’s a letter from the always poignant Kurt Vonnegut to the head of a North Dakota school board after the board had decided to ban his Slaughterhouse-Five

neil-gaiman:

I’ve seem to be hitting writer’s block far too often now. My grade in my creative writing class is suffering because i don’t turn in anything because i’m never really satisfied with anything i do. all my good ideas seem to turn into bad ones once i write it down. How do you get pass writers…