Take 43 common concepts I never realised I don't really understand, and actually learn what they mean

After investigation, all I can tell you is that I don’t understand what McLuhan meant very well at all, and I won’t be throwing that phrase around EVER.

This site was helpful if difficult reading. I think the 2 most important parts are:

Many people presume the conventional meaning for “medium” that refers to the mass-media of communications – radio, television, the press, the Internet. And most apply our conventional understanding of “message” as content or information. Putting the two together allows people to jump to the mistaken conclusion that, somehow, the channel supersedes the content in importance, or that McLuhan was saying that the information content should be ignored as inconsequential.

and

Thus we have the meaning of “the medium is the message:” We can know the nature and characteristics of anything we conceive or create (medium) by virtue of the changes – often unnoticed and non-obvious changes – that they effect (message.)

Yikes. And this is why I’m not a humanities scholar. Don’t ever let them tell you science is harder.

At the risk of turning this goal into “take 43 French words I don’t understand…”

There was a cartoon in French on the wall of the coffee shop tonight, and my husband asked me to translate it. And I got stuck on the word “créancier.” “Hmm,” I said. ”’Créance’ means ‘belief’, but I’m not sure what to do with that.”

In the spirit of not B.S.ing, I went home and looked it up.

“Créance” does mean “belief,” but it also means “credit,” and so “créancier” is “creditor.” Also, “créance” and “croyance” are both words for “belief,” but I don’t know what the nuances are…anyone?

Last night, in that surreal not-yet-asleep state, it hit me: what’s up with the French names Josée and Joséphine? Could they both be feminine forms of Joseph? Isn’t there just one feminine counterpart to most masculine names?

Turns out that they are both feminine forms of Joseph, as is the name Josèphe, which I’ve never encountered. Furthermore, Josette and Josiane are shortened forms of Joséphine. At least one site says that “Joséphine” means “God shall add [a son].” Mmm, ancient sexism.

Napoleon’s first wife, the Empress Joséphine, is pictured here. Ironically, she was infertile.

Husband and I have always pronounced it “DWEEK-er” when we saw these cute little guys in zoos, but we had a revelation last night: duikers live in South Africa (among other places), and the word “huis” is pronounced “house” in Dutch, which is similar to Afrikaans, so maybe we’ve been messing up.

Turns out it’s DIKE-er. D’oh! Still cute though.

seems to be orignal (m.) Though please correct me if that’s wrong.

I was watching an episode Growing Up… on Animal Planet about a baby moose at a zoo in Quebec and realized I had no idea what the French word for “moose” was. Although I imagine it’s only useful in Quebec.

From Wikipedia:

The rules of football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863, and the name association football was coined to distinguish the game from the other versions of football played at the time. The word soccer is a colloquial abbreviation of association (from assoc.) and first appeared in the 1880s. The word is sometimes credited to Charles Wreford Brown, an Oxford student said to have been fond of shortened forms such as brekkers for breakfast and rugger for rugby football.

Lacking intelligence and vitality; dull.

I re-opened this goal because I realized how much stuff blows by me: words (in English and the languages I’ve studied in school) that I don’t actually know the definition of, isolated facts with no context, things I’ve heard but can’t vouch for the accuracy of…these aren’t all strictly “concepts,” but they all fit the spirit of this goal, which is making sure you understand the things around you and aren’t just B.S.ing.

I ran across something about a “palanquin-bearer” yesterday and kinda inferred the definition, but it was good to look it up. Plus I was pronouncing it wrong in my head. From dictionary.com:

pal·an·quin, pronunciation[pal-uhn-keen], noun, (formerly in India and other Eastern countries) a passenger conveyance, usually for one person, consisting of a covered or boxlike litter carried by means of poles resting on the shoulders of several men.

I’m ready to tackle this, provided we define “concept” loosely :)

I’ll put it back on the list when I’m ready to do it.