Date:    Wed, 10 Jun 1998 02:39:54 EDT
<br>From:    "Barry A. Popik" <Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>
<br>Subject: He Got Game; Jesse's Words; McFedries' Words; Computer databases
<br>
<br>HE GOT GAME
<br>
<br>    All this discussion on the decade-old "you da man," and nothing on Spike
<br>Lee's HE GOT GAME?
<br>
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<br>JESSE WORD'S
<br>
<br>    Jesse Sheidlower has a new book out that's a compilation of his word-a-day
<br>column on the internet (www.jesse.com or www.randomhouse.com).  The internet
<br>address is given on the cover.
<br>    This is one of those rare books that tells you right away how to get the
<br>entire thing for free!!  :-)
<br>
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<br>McFEDRIES' WORDS
<br>
<br>     Paul McFedries also has a word-a-day internet site
<br>(www.logophilia.com/WordSpy/).  Maybe Jesse can tell me which site is
<br>"hotter."  McFedries's site gets some hits because he's also the author of
<br>some computer books.
<br>     The site is called "Word Spy"--probably because "Word Detective" was
<br>already taken.  Say, doesn't a "spy" look at other people's stuff and steal?
<br>     Maybe Gareth Branwyn can explain this site.  Much of it overlaps with
<br>Branwyn's work.  Who steals from whom?
<br>     Words can be formed nowadays by a handful of these internet guys.  In the
<br>old days, most of these words would die quickly as amusing-for-the-moment
<br>"Sniglets."  (Comedian Rich Hall's series of books in the early 1980s.)  Now,
<br>they're on web sites for years to come!
<br>      It's an interesting site for some word amusement.  It appears that it
<br>gets 2,322 hits a day--which is over four times the number of members in the
<br>American Dialect Society.
<br>
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<br>COMPUTER DATABASES
<br>
<br>     I have a read-only NYU pass for its Bobst Library (which I paid for),
<br>which does NOT allow me home access to Bobcatplus databases.
<br>     Thus, I can get wonderful databases such as JSTOR or WORLDCAT during NYU
<br>hours only.  And I work during most of those hours!  If I eat dinner, I might
<br>get to the library at 8 p.m. (very tired), and things close at 9:45 p.m.
<br>     To reserve the one NEXIS terminal (for a half hour, without a printer) at
<br>NYPL's Science and Business Library is a major pain.
<br>     So when I look for something I usually can find it, but it takes a lot of
<br>time just to get to the databases or libraries I need!
<br>    (In the case of "status symbol," JSTOR led to one cite which led to
<br>another; NYU had every volume of the British Journal of Sociology EXCEPT the
<br>one I needed, and when I finally got to the NYPL a week later I had misplaced
<br>my other notes.  Nothing is easy.)
<br>     Which all leads me to a suggestion:
<br>
<br>     WHY NOT A GROUP "COMPUTER DATABASE" PLAN?  The MLA has a large selection
<br>of medical plans, and I'm looking into them.  Why not a group "computer
<br>database" plan for its members?  Why doesn't the MLA and/or the ADS offer the
<br>MLA BIBLIOGRAPHY (which has American Speech) or NEXIS or WORLDCAT or EUREKA or
<br>JSTOR or MUSE or NEWS ABSTRACTS or PERIODICAL ABSTRACTS or READERS GUIDE at
<br>reduced rates for the scholar members who have computers but (for whatever
<br>reason) don't have home access to these databases?
<br>     Why not make life easier for members?
<br>     Just askin'.
<br>
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<br>YANKEES (continued)
<br>
<br>     Last weekend, the new stadium fight between Yankees owner George
<br>Steinbrenner and City Council Speaker (and Governor wannabe) Peter Vallone
<br>made front page news.  I mailed 'em both stuff about the origin of the name
<br>"New York Yankees," and how a true fan had been completely dissed.
<br>    Yankees Magazine editor Tim Wood left a message on my answering machine
<br>today.  He has great respect for the Society for American Baseball Research!
<br>The stuff based on my SABR lecture that I had sent him eight weeks ago, well,
<br>HE NEVER GOT IT!
<br>    Of course, I had also sent ONE e-mail to www.yankees.com, and then ANOTHER
<br>e-mail, and e-mail usually arrives...
<br>