Word of the day

Actually, it's not a word of the day, it's a definition of the day.

One of the happy coincidences about what I'm working on and where I'm working: here in the Silence Room of the Lit & Phil, right by my table is a shelf of old dictionaries. I would almost say redundant dictionaries, except that they're not. I may be the only one who uses them, but I do it all the time. It's like linguistic research, all done for me; my particular favourite is an edition of Nuttall's Standard Dictionary from 1930. Basically, if a word's in here, it would have been available for use in the early '40s, which is when my current novel's set. If it's not in here, not so much, and I have to be more careful.

I would have said "in common use", as it's clearly meant for a popular dictionary (it even has pictures, occasional little line-drawings, like a cyclopaedia); but actually the other reason I love it, besides its usefulness? It is full of words I don't know. Words that have plunged out of use, even out of dictionaries, in the eighty years between then and now. I can't look in this book without discovering new stuff.

Today's word is "fatiscence", and its definition goes like this:

a gap or opening; a state of being chinky.

A state of being chinky. Hee.

A question of hours

Can you think offhand of any contemporary cultures that do not divide the day into 24 hours?

Another question! Born of ignorance...

Is there an extant generic word for vessels that occupy fixed positions at sea - light-ships, eg, stationed on particular sandbanks; or possibly floating oil-rigs, and like that? Vessels that you might call buoy-ships and hope to be understood?

And, by extension, has anyone extended such a word to spaceships similarly fixed, in geostationary orbits or at Lagrange points or whatever?

('Cos if not, I'm just going to make it up, but, y'know. If there is a word already, it doesn't hurt to use it.)

ETA: in other news, I've only just realised, I have non-ironically adopted (in my head) the US pronunciation of "buoy". First time I heard it, I didn't understand it. Then I figured it out, and laughed at it. Then it became commonplace. And now, as I say, I do it myself (in my head). Because of course the UK pronunciation is simply "boy", and that way lie - well. Carry-On movies, among other things. Innuendi.

Review!

Last year, The Write Fantastic (of whom I am fantastically proud to be a member) published a first anthology, under the aegis of Ian Whates and Newcon Press.

It's just been reviewed at SF Crowsnest, and you can read the whole review here. On the other hand, I can pre-empt at least some of your curiosity by citing this here:

A barber is called upon to shave the Emperor in 'I Shaved Half Emperor Cyrrhenius'. He is marched past his father, who is slowly dying in agony, having cut the great one, and ordered to finish the shave. Chaz Brenchley has surely written the best barber story of the 21st century with a great title, a beautiful fantasy premise, real drama and a surprise ending. Detectives, soldiers and reporters are staple fictional protagonists but barbers have had their moments, too. The notes on authors at the back indicate that Brenchley is something of a prodigy. He's been making his living as a writer since the age of eighteen, is prolific and has won numerous prizes. I will certainly look up more of his stuff. This is the advantage of anthologies: you get a quick taste of new writers without forking out big sums for a novel you can't finish.