Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2012 May 21

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May 21

Definition of phrase "one-handed novel"

In Christopher Hitchens' book "Hitch-22" he uses the phrase "one-handed novel" and I have seen it in one other place but cannot find the meaning on any search engine website, or any reference work of any kind. What does it mean?ElizabethHinchey691 (talk) 00:45, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

I haven't actually come across this term before, but reading the way it's used it seems to simply refer to a trashy erotic novel (presumably you hold the novel in one hand while you use the other to, uh, do your thing). --Tyrannus Mundi (talk) 01:00, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Googling "one handed novel" gets 1,370 ghits, including this very question (page 2). Most of the refs seem to have a sexual flavour, so I think you're on the money, TM (not to be confused with the money shot). -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 01:47, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes, that's an old joke. I first heard it in reference to The Happy Hooker. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:20, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Even older than that. Gershon Legman, in The Rationale of the Dirty Joke, reports the joke as being made in a nightclub in 1946, and attributes to an 18th century Maréchale de Luxembourg the remark that such a book "can be read only with one hand". --Antiquary (talk) 19:27, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

They've been doing that since way back then? Wow, I thought they only invented sex in the 20th century. Specifically, some time after I left home.  :) -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 19:48, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Would that be 1963? --Antiquary (talk) 22:14, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks to all of you. It was driving me crazy, and since the book is by Hitchens, I am sure you are correct in it's meaning. (BTW, I did, of course, google it and went to page 3 of the websites listed but still could not find anything that gave me the meaning---several of them simply listed Hitchens' quote) I realize I was just being obtuse---my mind just wasn't going in that direction. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ElizabethHinchey691 (talk • contribs) 21:25, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps a more common phrase is "one-handed magazine." However, a 1942 reference is to the size, not the content of a magazine. Textorus (talk) 23:59, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Check grammar, spelling and more

Will a native English/American speeking person please check the article Gottlieb Ernst Clausen Gad for grammar mistakes, incorrect spelling and more. Thanks. --Moviedk (talk) 03:25, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

I made a first pass. -- Elphion (talk) 04:47, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

I made a second and changed a few things, including the name of the booksellers association per their own translation: http://www.boghandlerforeningen.dk/ - Cucumber Mike (talk) 06:18, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

"5th avenue executive"

What ist the meaning (the idiom?) of "5th avenue executive" in:

• And you might like to know that your concept of metrosexuality has been hugely influential in the lives of young men I study. Your term, long morphed form (from?) a 5th ave. executive, has given straight men permission to act, dress, or partake in entertainment/music choices that were once ‘gay.’ Eric Anderson (Soziologe) zu Metrosexualität [1] Grey Geezer 11:45, 21 May 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grey Geezer (talk • contribs)

From the context, I would assume it means someone who works in advertising, although Madison Avenue is the more common metonym. See Fifth Avenue for the street mentioned in the quotation. Tevildo (talk) 12:22, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Advertising - does it have an undertone of "showing off" or "pretending" (analogy www.urbandictionary.com) 5th ave. girl) ?? Grey Geezer 12:30, 21 May 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grey Geezer (talk • contribs)

Thanks, advertisment is a good hint for a direction. Fifth Avenue#Shopping: "prestigious boutiques and flagship stores" and this branch / the marketing take the term after 2002 mentioned in Metrosexual. --Franz (Fg68at) de:Talk 13:46, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Fifth Avenue is shorthand for high-end retail (since that is the street in New York City where fashion and high-end retail establishments are located). To me, "5th Avenue executive" means a retail executive, particularly for a brand such as Bloomingdale or Saks Fifth Avenue. Marco polo (talk) 17:37, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

There are analogies such as "Harley Street specialists" in London. I'm sure there are plenty of perfectly fine specialists who don't have their rooms in Harley St, but that address provides a certain cachet. Or used to, anyway. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 19:42, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Or indeed Savile Row tailors, which implies an address in that area, rather than in the actual road itself. (Hope you don't mind me adding a link to your post Jack). Alansplodge (talk) 20:15, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Not at all. There are also Macquarie Street, Sydney specialists, Collins Street, Melbourne boutiques, and I'm sure many other epithets of this kind. Article, anyone? -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 20:43, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Some of these appear in the List of metonyms. Deor (talk) 20:52, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Chapter recall or review

I want to write at the top of my notebook about chapter that has been discussed in the classroom previously. I want to make notes of the chapter. Should I make the headline like "Chapter review or recall"? thanks--180.234.216.180 (talk) 20:07, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

If this is a general question, I'd say you can write whichever makes more sense to you. If it's a usage question, in my experience Americans tend to say "review" where people from the UK tend to say "revision" -- meaning, the process of going over material as a form of study. So, "Chapter 5 Review" or "Chapter 5 Revision," as seems appropriate to you. The verb "recall" in the sense of "remember" for me has a sense of recollection without any aid ("Connie is able to recall all of the points her professor made about the Wilmot Proviso") and so it wouldn't be my first choice as a title for notes from a book or class. --- OtherDave (talk) 21:36, 21 May 2012 (UTC)