binder%dosadi.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (08/14/84)
From: binder%dosadi.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (The Stainless Steel Rat)
Being taken to task for my comment regarding 'maven', I'll defend my
stance. What this has to do directly with SF I don't know, but here
goes.
The interesting thing, to me, is that the word does not appear in the
following list of dictionaries, all of which I have examined personally
today:
Webster's Seventh New Collegiate (It is said to be in the Ninth)
Webster's Third New International
American Heritage
Oxford American
Mrs Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words
(Josefa Heifetz Byrne, daughter of Jascha Heifetz the
violinist)
It does show up in the most recent supplement to the Oxford English,
where it is defined as someone possessing great skill or understanding.
It is called a colloquialism, from the Hebrew 'mevin', understanding.
No mention of sex is made.
Now comes the rebuttal. Consider this passage from the Curmudgeon's
Dictionary, which is modelled after Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary:
> DICTIONARY: A collection of what the editors fondly hope passes for
> educational material, intended to record how words are used. Widely
> believed to prescribe the correct usage of language, in consequence of
> which belief the language is rapidly going to hell in a handbasket.
> Dictionaries are not entirely without merit, however; they often earn
> their editors large sums of money.
If we draw a fairly direct conclusion from this incontrovertibly
accurate definition, we arrive at the realisation that dictionaries are
NEVER fully current. 'Maven' is today used almost exclusively to
describe females dealing with the occult, both in fiction and in real
life. Given that we are subscribers to a science fiction (and fantasy)
lovers' network, I think we should at least make a stab at using words
in the way ordinarily accepted in the field. But then I've always been
strongly opinionated and prejudiced against people who I feel won't be
bothered to use language properly.
Cheers,
Dick Binder (The Stainless Steel Rat)
UUCP: { decvax, allegra, ucbvax... }!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-dosadi!binder
ARPA: binder%dosadi.DEC@decwrl.ARPA
Posted Tuesday 14th August 1984, 15:22 EDT by DOSADI::BINDERgino@voder.UUCP (Gino Bloch) (08/17/84)
I still side with the genderless meaning of `maven' = `expert', and its etymology from Yiddish.