Web address: https://sites.google.com/view/wordsatrit
What are words? How do they behave? How much can we depend on them? What do they do to each other? Why do they keep changing their shape and meaning? Each week we’ll look at an individual word and see how its structure, variability, and usage give us ways to think about these questions. Emerson said Montaigne's words are alive: "cut them and they would bleed.” Looking at the Oxford English Dictionary (even though we won't fully trust it) will help us to see some of that life.
Procedures
Usually we'll start with a word that helps us think about what words are and do. Sometimes we'll start with a literary, even poetic use of the word and start out by examining its properties—its structures, ranges of meanings, history, and syntactic functions. Then we'll do what my wife calls fun with words—stuff that's interesting to talk about. Several times I'll present a word that seems to me to be likely to incite an interesting discussion.
Starting today, I'll solicit words you think will open good discussions of our questions. My guess is that a sentence that contains an interesting, maybe even odd use of a relatively familiar word would be a good place to start. We'll try out some ways to nominate words later today. Send choices to dhill33@gmail.com with the title Words.
We'll have specific—and extended—times for questions and commentary that will include everyone on Zoom. Following suggestions made by members of the RIT Osher Institute, we will call on people a second time only after everyone else who wishes to speak has had an opportunity to speak. In addition we'll make sure our Zoom members are as much part of the action as those in the room. Let's do our best to include everyone in the discussions.
Note that the Web pages for the course are more like an outline than a text; the class recordings will be more useful as records of what happens in a particular class session.
Introductions
Me: David Hill
Wizards: Joy Goodman, Julian Thomas
You: participants
Schedule (your preferences may lead to changes)
Sessions 1. and 2. Sept. 18 and Oct. 2 (no class Sept. 25)
What are words and how do they behave? (It's possible we'll need more time here.)
Session 3. Oct. 9
How much can we depend on them?
Sessions 4., 5., 6., and 7. Oct 23, 30 (Zoom only), Nov. 6
Why do they keep changing form and meaning ?
Sessions 8. and 9. Nov. 13, 20
Do we have words for what other cultures find to be important?
Session 10. Dec. 4
What else do we want to talk about?
Resources
Now a subpage here