Mark is right about how much general vocabularies
differ. I knew many of the words that seemed obscure
("caryatid" and "scrim," e.g.) to Meek from my theatre
days and coined "scrimshow" on that slippery surface
in a poem where I wanted to set a certain distant
(upstage center) scene.
When I was first reading Prynne's poetry years ago, I
found by looking up a number of (to me) new terms that
a whole vocabulary of _golfing_ is embedded in the
earlier work.
But the word that most intrigued me in the article,
and which Meek didn't comment on, was "raincurtain"
spelled closed (by McCarthy, I think it was), as
"rainforest" typically is now. When I consulted the
new (11th) edition of Webster's Collegiate--the bible
for U.S. university presses--however, I failed to find
it under any spelling and noted that "rainforest" is
still being rendered in its older (1903) open
spelling. Mr. McCarthy probably has a long wait in
store for "raincurtain's" appearance in Webster's
(this edition of which finally includes "aporia" for
the first time). I did come across the lovely "rain
shadow" in Webster's, though: "a region of reduced
rainfall on the lee side of high mountains."
Candice
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