Just another day at the library...
Monks of New Skete
The monks' method of dog training is quite popular, and I have seen the books before, but when people ask for the books or the videos, it sounds like they are saying "do you have that dog book by Munskov Nuskit?" (or something Russian) to my ears.
A note about the videos -- seems like the monks are kind of ticked about something -- they no longer own the rights to the videos it seems (did they ever?) and have a stern note on their website: If you have placed an order for the videos with any other company or concern, we can make no representation about the service you will receive or if you will even receive the videos that you order. (Emphasis mine). Yyyyyouch!
Continuity Editors
Did you know that there are people whose job it is to check for inaccuracies and ensure consistency in series? What a cool (and tough) editing gig! (I'm not saying that a child could do this job) every young reader I know notices when there is inconsistency in their favorite series, and they can be quite vocal about it. (Story found via LISNews. I do, on occasion, have a chance to read through some library blogs at work.)
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient epic poem of India, and, along with the Mahabharata is considered a sacred text of the Hindu religion. Apparently, there are parallels between The Ramayana and The Iliad. I leave it to you, dear readers, to find them.
Autologous stem cell transplants
Ugh. Basically, this means that the transplant procedure uses stem cells from your own body, rather than a donor. A patron wanted a specific article from PubMed. I had not used PubMed before (that I can remember, at least. Other resources from the National Library of Medicine? sure!), and I am here to report that it is not intuitive - particularly when it comes to linking to the full text. And (this is the part where it isn't always fun to be a librarian) I don't particularly want to figure it out. I will, I'm sure, but I'm resisting it. I think my three weekends of learning to use DIALOG will come in handy, though.
Bellering
A word that I know to mean "to shout" or "to yell", but I could not find it in a dictionary for the patron who wanted it. I checked the American Heritage (my second favorite), the Random House and the Dictionary of American Slang we have on hand at my library, as well as the Roget's Thesaurus (under yell), and online at various dictionary sites. The only place I could find it was at Urban Dictionary (which is an awesome community-written dictionary).
It was kind of bothering me, so I did some more looking around when I got home. I checked my Oxford American English Dictionary (my favorite) (no luck) and did some more simple googling. Webster's Online Dictionary (no affiliation with RandomHouse or Merriam-Webster, it seems to be a personal project) says that beller has been in use in the English language since the 1800s, and that it might be a cognate of bellen, which is German for "bark." They also quoted its usage in Lady and the Tramp (Trusty: And if I remember correctly...they beller a lot.)
My favorite lexicographer, Erin McKean, wrote about using words that are not in the dictionary for the Boston Globe last month, and said that "instead of being defensive, demand that any who dare to quibble over your use prove that your word is, in fact, not a word. In short, if it seems wordish, use it. No apologies necessary."
So, I'll just chillax about the bellering for now.
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