genealogical languages

 A quick internet search reveals a situation in need of a term -- a person wants to learn the language of a distant ancestor, a language out of use in the family for generations. There is a term, "ancestral language," but it's used to refer to a linguistic ancestors rather than human ones, as in Proto-Indo-European being an ancestor of Hindi. "Recovered language" is usually used to mean languages brought back from the brink of extinction. "Heritage language" would seem an accurate way to talk about any language from someone's heritage, but in most of the recent literature it has a narrower meaning, specifically referring to a language spoken in the home, perhaps by the learner as a child, or by the learner's parents, and often imperfectly learned or later forgotten. It's often used in the context of minority languages or languages that are less respected by a privileged, majority community.  

I propose the term "genealogical language." Yes, it's sometimes used in the way "ancestral language" is, but it seems to be a much less common phrase. It also has the advantage of evoking searching for one's personal past as an intellectual hobby -- whether you disapprove of such a thing, or think it's self-affirming, or just harmless fun. 

It's possible (even likely) that someone else has thought of this, or that there is some other way of talking about this situation, buried in the tenth or twelfth page of the search engine. If so -- especially if it's bona fide linguistic jargon -- please let me know. In the meantime, I need a way of referring to this topic.

rare picture of a dragonmouse

Not that dragonmice themselves are rare. They breed like, well, rodents. But portraits of them are rare because they scurry around so fast. And if one does sit still enough, close enough to draw, chances are good it will singe your paper.

not-to-be-forgotten authors: james hilton

Not-to-be-forgotten authors -- some have a cult following, some have titles studied as classics, some you may never have heard of if you're under a certain age, but all have been popularly read for pleasure, and are worth a seeking out for a good read.

James Hilton (1900-1954), best known for Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips, both of which were made into movies (and in both cases, in my opinion, the novels were much better) was a British author of psychological novels. Some, such as Lost Horizons or Random Harvest have an odd twist, a hint of unreliable reality, and often the main character is touched by the trauma of World War I in some way, but even so, most are, overall, gentle reads.

There's a list of his works, including any alternative U.S. titles, on his Wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hilton_(novelist)

blame it on the gremlins

Think about it: personal computers were first becoming popular in the early 1980s -- about 40 years after World War II, at a time when many of the last WW II planes were being grounded or scrapped. And we all know that those planes were infested with gremlins (I have it on the word of veteran who served in the Army Air Force in the war.)  So what was a gremlin to do when he was kicked out of his airplane home? The little guys have an affinity for machines, so I think they found new homes in PCs. In fact, I'm sure of it, because they're still up to their old tricks, causing trouble.

not-to-be-forgotten authors: daphne du maurier

not-to-be-forgotten authors: daphne du maurier

Not-to-be-forgotten authors -- some have a cult following, some have titles studied as classics, some you may never have heard of if you're under a certain age, but all have been popularly read for pleasure, and are worth a seeking out for a good read.

On windswept moors or tangled corridors and alleyways -- or in everyday, ordinary, homey settings -- British author Daphne Du Maurier (1907-1989) delved into the dark corners of the human mind. She's best known as the author of The Birds and Rebecca, which were made into movies by Alfred Hitchcock.

There's a list of her works, including any alternative U.S. titles, on her Wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_du_Maurier

not-to-be-forgotten authors: nevil shute

Not-to-be-forgotten authors -- some have a cult following, some have titles studied as classics, some you may never have heard of if you're under a certain age, but all have been popularly read for pleasure, and are worth a seeking out for a good read.

Nevil Shute (1899-1960) was a British-Australian author who usually wrote about aviation and/or World War II and/or Australia. One of these, What Happened to the Corbetts, is a novel of The Blitz -- written two years before The Blitz. His autobiography, Slide Rule, is a fascinating account of his aeronautic engineering career.

He was quite popular in Britain, Australia, and the United States during the War and in the postwar years, and today he's best known now for his novels that were made into movies or television mini-series, including:

On the Beach (1959)
  starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins

A Town Like Alice (1981 television mini-series)
  starring Helen Morse, Bryan Brown, Gordon Jackson

The Thorn Birds (1983 television mini-series)
  starring Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Christopher Plummer

There's a list of his works, including any alternative U.S. titles, on his Wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevil_Shute

fantasy libraries online: project gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is the granddaddy of them all. It started in 1971 at the University of Illinois, which is logical, as the U. of I. was the home of PLATO and touch screens and chat rooms and pretty much the general turn-of-the-millennium internet world except twenty to thirty years earlier. Now there are tens of thousands of public domain and creative commons e-books, and even some audio books.

One fantasy-library-like aspect of this site is that it allows for serendipity more than many online databases. You can search for specific items but you can also wander through the stacks browsing the catalog by title, author, category, or language (yes, there are lots of 'em). Or put in a key word in the search blank and browse by subject. Title and author browsing are true browsing -- you get a page with all the authors or titles beginning with your chosen letter, so you scan stroll -- uh, scroll -- around and see what's on nearby "shelves." Besides the obvious classics, there are pop-culture items, eyewitness testimonies of times past, and all sorts of odd and esoteric items in the shadowy nooks.

Project Gutenberg is truly free -- no money, no advertisements, no strings attached, no sign-ins or other hoops to jump through. And you can download the books and truly own your copies until your flash drive or computer burns out.

http://www.gutenberg.org/