Busy Clanger
Jun. 19th, 2007 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerSaturday was the BSFA/SFF Joint AGM Event in Sheffield, so ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bugshaw, despotliz and I headed off up the A1 at about 7.15 or so to make sure that we got to the venue well in time despite promised transport chaos. As it is, we were there by half nine, so after second breakfast we met up with guest Jon Courtenay Grimwood, who I went on to interview for a small but keen audience. Following an AGM, lunch, and another AGM, Sheffield fandom (thanks frandowdsofa!) laid on a very interesting panel covering Sheffield in SF and assorted local legends; we then finished off with JCG, Francis Spufford and coalescent in a stimulating exploration of the boundaries of alternate history. Thanks very much to everyone who helped, took part or turned up.
As an aside though, I did have one illusion shattered: it turns out that Francis Spufford is only 99.8% Completely Nice after all. Witness the following exchange:
Me: ...it's like the Irregular Verb joke about how I am a Renaissance Man, You are a Dilettante, and He is constitutionally incapable of finishing anything.
Bridget: Except that most people pronounce it dilla-tant-ee, not dilla-tont.
Me: Oh dear, not another word I've been mispronouncing my whole life.
Francis: So this is probably not the best time then to correct your pronunciation of renna-san-key...?
[Half-second frantic pause]
Me: Francis, you are very evil.
Sunday was down to Cthulhu Towers to joinpurplecthulhu and Tom WLOLJ to view the Falklands Flypast (see previous post) before DC and I headed off to the Hackney Geek Pub for Beer and Boardgames. I failed to win at War on Terror although I did briefly get to wear the Balaclava of Evil. Note: this is not a game to play in airport departure lounges!
Monday was off up to Liverpool for the annual liaison meeting between the Science Fiction Foundation and Liverpool University Library, which hosts the SFF Collection. A useful and productive trip, and since I had my camera with me I played around with the wide-angle zoom to get some more pictures of the Collection stacks; I'll post the results soon.
Today: Act as secretary to the project board meeting for the Big System Upgrade Project I'm running, then up the A1 again to brief the engineering management at RAF Cottesmore on it, and hopefully convince them that I'm not about to ground most of the Harrier Force. Then another meeting with our prospective tenants to sort out the fine print of the tenancy agreement (they're allowed to use our boardgames as long as they undertake not to lose any of the little counters from Arkham Horror) and thence to LJ to write all this up.
bugshaw, despotliz and I headed off up the A1 at about 7.15 or so to make sure that we got to the venue well in time despite promised transport chaos. As it is, we were there by half nine, so after second breakfast we met up with guest Jon Courtenay Grimwood, who I went on to interview for a small but keen audience. Following an AGM, lunch, and another AGM, Sheffield fandom (thanks frandowdsofa!) laid on a very interesting panel covering Sheffield in SF and assorted local legends; we then finished off with JCG, Francis Spufford and coalescent in a stimulating exploration of the boundaries of alternate history. Thanks very much to everyone who helped, took part or turned up.As an aside though, I did have one illusion shattered: it turns out that Francis Spufford is only 99.8% Completely Nice after all. Witness the following exchange:
Me: ...it's like the Irregular Verb joke about how I am a Renaissance Man, You are a Dilettante, and He is constitutionally incapable of finishing anything.
Bridget: Except that most people pronounce it dilla-tant-ee, not dilla-tont.
Me: Oh dear, not another word I've been mispronouncing my whole life.
Francis: So this is probably not the best time then to correct your pronunciation of renna-san-key...?
[Half-second frantic pause]
Me: Francis, you are very evil.
Sunday was down to Cthulhu Towers to join
purplecthulhu and Tom WLOLJ to view the Falklands Flypast (see previous post) before DC and I headed off to the Hackney Geek Pub for Beer and Boardgames. I failed to win at War on Terror although I did briefly get to wear the Balaclava of Evil. Note: this is not a game to play in airport departure lounges!Monday was off up to Liverpool for the annual liaison meeting between the Science Fiction Foundation and Liverpool University Library, which hosts the SFF Collection. A useful and productive trip, and since I had my camera with me I played around with the wide-angle zoom to get some more pictures of the Collection stacks; I'll post the results soon.
Today: Act as secretary to the project board meeting for the Big System Upgrade Project I'm running, then up the A1 again to brief the engineering management at RAF Cottesmore on it, and hopefully convince them that I'm not about to ground most of the Harrier Force. Then another meeting with our prospective tenants to sort out the fine print of the tenancy agreement (they're allowed to use our boardgames as long as they undertake not to lose any of the little counters from Arkham Horror) and thence to LJ to write all this up.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-06-20 04:47 am (UTC)oh, and my pause while thinking about renna-san-key was (blush) well over half a second. It may be pre-6am, but you better tell Francis he caught another one by leaving the line in the water overnight.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-20 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-20 07:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-20 06:33 am (UTC)dilettante
Date: 2007-06-20 07:18 am (UTC)Re: dilettante
Date: 2007-06-20 08:06 am (UTC)Having said all this, I have the support of none other than John Clute for my pronunciation of dilettante; in his view, it is perfectly natural for English to assimilate words by moving the stress forward and silence final vowels. So There.
Re: dilettante
Date: 2007-06-20 08:09 am (UTC)Re: dilettante
Date: 2007-06-20 10:51 am (UTC)He wouldn't dare...
And it wasn't a valid English pronunciation according to the big fat dictionary I looked it up in. Now, if Simon chooses to believe Clute over the OED...
Re: dilettante
Date: 2007-06-20 12:42 pm (UTC)