Friday 7 March 2008

Hurray!

Hurray for the interweb! And I'll tell you why.
1) There are tons of resources out there for someone trying to edit the Anglo-Saxon Charters of Wilton Abbey. E.g. Bosworth and Toller (the old Old English dictionary) and the Toronto OE Dictionary (needs a subscription and has only got to G); Lewis and Short, and the Latin word analyzer; the Ordnance Survey maps thingy and Google Maps, which lets you build your own maps, like this one of most of Wilton's estates; and Edina Digimap which is brilliant but requires further registration beyond Athens because they want to be sure you're really serious about it; the Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England so I know whether or not I'm just making up a name in a way which would make Prof. Page huffy; my very own Revised Sawyer for bibliography, mostly so I can see what I should have photocopied while still in England; the OED's etymological details; the Unbound Bible for sourcing Bible quotations; and more. I could do with some Old English grammar online, though, cos I can't remember any paradigms and forgot to bring Mitchell and Robinson. The only one I can still remember is this little table of noun endings which I offer to you now, and which can actually get you a surprisingly long way:



SING.PLU.
GEN.~es~a
DAT.~e~um

Andy Orchard told us that when he handed us over to the Prof. for Old English in our first year, and we used to scribble it on the top of all our set texts for reference in moments of panic.

2)
Furthermore the www (the only abbreviation which takes three times as long to say as the phrase it abbreviates) offers us entertainment! I've been doing another YouTube trawl for mash-ups, specifically those by Pheugoo and PartyBen. Here is Christina Milian, in one of the most offensively lyricked songs of all time, turning into something rather mellow over the top of Jimi Hendrix; here is Gwen Stefani vs Martha and the Vandellas; here's Dead or Alive and Justice; here's Led Snoopelin; here's Madonna vs Destiny's Child; here are Nirvana and Daft Punk. You've got to love Nirvana, it was so long ago, though it's hard now not to be forcibly reminded of Chris Morris singing Panty Smile (also as Sukie Bapswent). Below I have put a mix of Coldplay and the Pussycat Dolls. After all, if Coldplay and the Pussycat Dolls (featuring Timbaland) can live together in perfect harmony maybe there is hope for the rest of us; maybe we could all just get along.

No comments:

Post a Comment