No news is - the absence of news

Having received a contract on Wednesday, I posted it on the contract review thread on Dave’s ESL Café. And got some off-putting comments on it. The person commenting concluded, ‘I needed a really good laugh and this was it. Terrible terrible contract. Run! No amount of correction will change that. Move on.’

The thing about the ESL Café is that some of the most prolific posters are rather cynical. I worried about it for a while, and settled on two opposite opinions: a badly written contract isn’t a good augur, and yet it may only be a symptom of inept contract-writing and the feedback I had from the foreign teacher at the hagwon is perhaps a better guide. Being in two minds, I didn’t want to either accept it unconditionally or reject it out of hand.

So late last night I wrote an e-mail to my recruiter, Mi Young, pointing out some of the problems and suggesting improvements. It’s been nearly 24 hours now, and I’ve had no response. Presumably, she forward my comments to the hagwon and they haven’t given a response yet. No other news to report.

Except that I bought a couple of pairs of shoes yesterday. My primary footwear for the last few months are the cheap boots that served me well in Canada and India, but are getting increasingly worn away on the bottom - so much so, that the water that’s entered through the holes in the soles provides an almost permanent squelch. So I got a new pair of boots - brown, laceless - and a pair of blue sneakers. The latter I’ve tied loosely enough that I can put them on and take them off without bothering with the laces - this will be especially useful in Korea, where taking your shoes off is a way of life.

cicatrix

To understand ‘cicatrise’ it would help to know what a ‘cicatrix’ is.

cic·a·trix /ˈsɪkətrɪks, sɪˈkeɪtrɪks/
-noun, plural cic·a·tri·ces /ˌsɪkəˈtraɪsiz/
1. Physiology. new tissue that forms over a wound and later contracts into a scar.
2. Botany. a scar left by a fallen leaf, seed, etc.

Also, cic·a·trice /ˈsɪkətrɪs/

[Origin: 1350-1400; ME < L: scar]

-Related forms
cic·a·tri·cial /ˌsɪkəˈtrɪʃəl/, adjective
ci·cat·ri·cose /sɪˈkætrɪˌkoʊs, ˈsɪkə-/, adjective

Source: Dictionary.com.

cicatrise

Another word from Dracula. Well, near enough - the actual word was ‘cicatrised’.

cic·a·trize /ˈsɪkəˌtraɪz/ verb, -trized, -triz·ing.
-verb (used with object)
1. Physiology. to heal by inducing the formation of a cicatrix.
-verb (used without object)
2. to become healed by the formation of a cicatrix.

Also, especially British, cic·a·trise.

[Origin: 1350-1400; ME < ML cicātrizāre. See cicatrix, -ize]

-Related forms
cic·a·tri·zant, adjective
cic·a·tri·za·tion, noun
cic·a·triz·er, noun

Source: Dictionary.com.

bloofer

I could find no official definition of this word from Dracula. It appears in the expression ‘bloofer lady’, referring to Lucy Westenra. It’s pretty obvious from the text that it’s a childish rendition of ‘beautiful’ (the vampire Lucy abducts and feeds on Hampstead children, and this is how they describe her). Stoker’s use of it may well have been influenced by the ‘boofer lady’ - Bella Wilfer - in Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend.

triturate

Here to make sense of the previous entry.

trit·u·rate /v. ˈtrɪtʃəˌreɪt; n. ˈtrɪtʃərɪt/ verb, -rat·ed, -rat·ing, noun
-verb (used with object)
1. to reduce to fine particles or powder by rubbing, grinding, bruising, or the like; pulverize.
-noun
2. a triturated substance.
3. Pharmacology. trituration (def. 3).

[Origin: 1615-25; < LL trītūrātus (ptp. of trītūrāre to thresh), equiv. to L trītūr(a) a threshing (trīt(us) rubbed, crushed (see trite) + -ūra -ure) + -ātus -ate]

-Related forms
trit·u·ra·tor, noun

Source: Dictionary.com.

trituration

Another word from Dracula.

trit·u·ra·tion /ˌtrɪtʃəˈreɪʃən/
-noun
1. the act of triturating.
2. the state of being triturated.
3. Pharmacology.
a. a mixture of a medicinal substance with sugar of milk, triturated to an impalpable powder.
b. any triturated substance.

[Origin: 1640-50; < LL trītūrātiōn- (s. of trītūrātiō), equiv. to trītūrāt(us) threshed (see triturate) + -ion -ion]

Source: Dictionary.com.

colubrine

Suggested by the previous entry.

col·u·brine /ˈkɒləˌbraɪn, -brɪn, -yə-/
-adjective
1. of or resembling a snake; snakelike.
2. belonging or pertaining to the subfamily Colubrinae, comprising the typical colubrid snakes.

[Origin: 1520-30; < L colubrīnus, equiv. to colubr- (s. of coluber) snake + -īnus -ine]

Source: Dictionary.com.

culverin

Another word from Dracula.

cul·ver·in /ˈkʌlvərɪn/
-noun
1. medieval form of musket.
2. a kind of heavy cannon used in the 16th and 17th centuries.

[Origin: 1400-50; late ME < MF coulevrine < L colubrīna, fem. of colubrīnus colubrine]

Source: Dictionary.com.

calash

This word appeared in Dracula as calèche, which looks nicer, but this definition is much fuller.

ca·lash /kəˈlæʃ/
-noun
1. Also, calèche. a light vehicle pulled by one or two horses, seating two to four passengers, and having two or four wheels, a seat for a driver on a splashboard, and sometimes a folding top.
2. a folding top of a carriage.
3. calèche (def. 1).
4. a bonnet that folds back like the top of a calash, worn by women in the 18th century.

[Origin: 1660-70; < F calèche < G Kalesche < Czech kolesa carriage, lit., wheels; see wheel]

Source: Dictionary.com.

perfervid

One of a number of words found in Dracula. Except not in Dracula, in the foreword to the edition I read (a tie-in to the Francis Ford Coppola film).

per·fer·vid /pərˈfɜrvɪd/
-adjective
very fervent; extremely ardent; impassioned: perfervid patriotism.
[Origin: 1855-60; < NL perfervidus. See per-, fervid]

-Related forms
per·fer·vid·i·ty, per·fer·vid·ness, noun
per·fer·vid·ly, adverb
per·fer·vor; especially British, per·fer·vour, noun

Source: Dictionary.com.