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Saturday, January 14, 2017

The Ellipsis--Hot, Hot, Hot, Dot, Dot, Dots. . . And the Solar Eclipse of August 21, 2017

      This week's Partial Ellipsis of the Sun will focus on the ellipsis in our blog title as well as the upcoming solar eclipse, visible in the U.S. on August 21, 2017. 




     I discovered this week that three dots on clothing labels signifies hot, hot, hot (ok, truly just "hot," but you get the idea)





.  .  .and look at our logo!



      Ellipsis, from the Ancient Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission" or "falling short") is a series of three dots that usually indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning (Look! A typewriter!)







      Depending on their context and placement in a sentence, ellipses can indicate an unfinished thought, a slight pause, an echoing voice, a leading statement, or a nervous or awkward silence. 




     Aposiopesis is the use of an ellipsis to trail off into silence, for example: "I wonder about where to go to view the August 2017 eclipse. . ." When placed at the beginning or end of a sentence, the ellipsis can also inspire a feeling of wonder, sadness, or imagining.





     The most common form of an ellipsis is a row of three periods or full stops (. . .)




or a precomposed triple-dot glyph (…). The triple-dot punctuation mark is also called a suspension point, points of ellipsis, periods of ellipsis, or colloquially, framed as "dot-dot-dot".



     In Anne Toner's book on the ellipsis, Ellipsis in English Literature: Signs of Omission  she suggests that the first use of the punctuation in the English language dates to a 1588 translation of Terence's Andria, by Maurice Kyffin. In that case, however, the ellipsis consists not of dots but of short dashes.




    
     There are numerous widely acknowledged types of ellipsis. Nine of them are: 1) gapping, 2) stripping, 3) VP-ellipsis, 4) pseudogapping, 5) answer fragments, 6) sluicing, 7) N-ellipsis, 8) comparative deletion, and 9) null complement anaphora. However, rather than getting into further discussion of these nine types of ellipses. . .



let's move on to the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017. 



     The eclipse has its own website. Maizie and I are already planning a camping trip with friends to Wyoming to view the eclipse. How about you? Will your path cross with the solar eclipse. . .?




Only 219 days to go!
Steph



Wow! { { { Photograph by Walker Berg, Oregon: CROWS ON SNOW} } }


29 comments:

  1. We are now at 99,899 page views as of this posting. Who will be the 100,000 page view?

    . . . Suspense. . .

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    1. 100,003! Thanks, Partial Ellipsis of the Sun readers from all over the globe for dropping by.

      Let us know from where you will observe the total eclipse on August 21, 2017.

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    2. I have no plans to observe the eclipse. I'm sure it will be well covered, but, given that these events have been mechanically predictable since the time of the ancient Greeks (see last week's post on the Antikythera mechanism), they hardly seem noteworthy.

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    3. jan, how about as an excellent reason to make a trek to Wyoming and Montana?! With a stop in Colorado, of course. . .

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    4. Or Idaho or Nebraska, since the path just hits the southwest tip of MT. . .

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  2. "Looks like an S to me," said Samuel Morse umpteen times...


    You probably shouldn't be washing your virgin woolens in hot hot hot water... but hot hot ironing is OK..?

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    1. Ok, it's truly just one "hot," but you get the idea for in front of the sun; I added the clothing care label chart above.

      I think the only time I use a hot iron is when pressing leaves in waxed paper (with a towel between the iron and the waxed paper. There I go again, waxing nostalgic about leaves, about the moon. . .

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    2. And the Morse Code connection: ... .-- . . -, jan!

      Btw, I've seen a few ump teens refereeing my kids' sporting event. But, not umpteen ump teens. . .

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    3. I think they should have included those laundry label symbols on the Pioneer 10 plaque. Keep those smart-ass aliens guessing!

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  3. My younger daughter just got a new job in Missouri. It looks like the eclipse will be total - or near total - for her. Exciting!

    And I love to use ellipses! I can't imagine writing a dissertation on them, though...

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    1. Congrats to your daughter, Joanne! What will she be doing in Missouri?

      I have a friend who despises the ellipsis. Kristi, this one is for you. . . :-)

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  5. Congrats on turning 100(k), WW! I hope the ellipsis article is not the start of your dotage.

    And thanks for the link to the eclipse site, tempting to go to the Grand Tetons, can one bear the grizzlies? Or Oregon, there's a library by one of the world's greatest architects near the path of totality.

    It's ironic and depressing to think of this year as "The Great American Eclipse!"

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    1. Thanks, eco. 100,000 is fabulous!

      If you are seriously considering Wyoming, I'd go for the central part of the state. Much less crowded and closer to the path of totality. Medicine Bow Mountains and Powder River Basin offer some great camping, fishing, and eclipse viewing spots. Lots of National Forest land to explore!

      Rather a fitting title for 2017. I am determined to find lots of natural beauty this year to balance out other things. . .

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    2. And, you know, "Great American Eclipse" is the newest salon for all your e-haircut needs! ;-)

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  6. Just a bit of triple-dot hijinkery:
    I shall not be traveling in August to Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Tennessee or South Carolina to view the solar ellipsis. I plan to go instead to Beijing and Fiji.

    LegoWhoBelievesTheUmlautIsJustA"PartialEllipsis"

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  7. Very clever, Lego! Did you learn that in the almost-as-elegant Bemidji, North Dakota?

    It's been a . . . week from playing the Firefly Matching Game with Morse code and flashlights with kindergartners, to the partial ellipsis(!) on Zoë's name, to our ellipsis topic this week. . .

    And, my dear Smith College friend, who has known me since we were both 18 and was a bridesmaid at my wedding? Dot, Dot, Dot!

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    1. Bemdiji (siiic), Minnesota.
      Note the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Bemidji, Brainerd... It's all the same.

      I just saw "Fargo" for the first time a few days ago. Too violent for my delicate tastes. But even more offensive were the exaggerated thick Minnee-soe-tah accents. Funny for the first scene or three, but after that, just annoying.
      The Coen brothers, who grew up in "the Twin Cities," had been exposed to this, of course, but their lampooning was really over the top.

      LegoWhoYouBetChaChaCha

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    2. Uff-da, dontcha know, Lego? Were hot dishes involved? (I've not seen Fargo).

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    3. Look. All I know is:
      Everything in the Universe is ... connected.
      [It's kind of an inside joke.]

      Like:
      The Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop ...

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    4. Paul, walks into not out of?

      Yes, I agree about connections or connect ions, if you chemically lean that way.

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  8. Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, died today at age 82. Coincidentally, he was the photographer of Wikipedia's featured picture today.

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    1. I remember Cernan wrote his daughter's initials on the moon.

      Wonderful image.

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  9. .-.. --- ...- .

    ^^^ This was the message the kindergarteners decoded today in science.

    They all got it.

    ... - . .--. ....

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  10. New post on "Are Your Ducks All in A Row?: Women's Marches in Denver and Around the World" is now up.

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