I'll be there, but other people will have to make up the details. I'll be staying at Hotel 71 on East Wacker. I also won't have tons of time for a big kick-ass party, but I could do dinner and drinks!
Well, I suppose the vital question is how many people plan on showing. I can certainly host provided that there are 20-25 or fewer people. If we only have around a dozen or fewer, we could certainly arrange a dinner and drinks.
I doubt it'll be 20-25, but I don't know. The regular Chicago contingent plus the MLAites?
The regular Chicago contingent plus the MLAites?
Yes, I think this is correct. Snark and I are also staying at Hotel 71! I suppose it's the natural choice.
Yeah, from people who expressed interest in the initial thread, I expect only a dozen at most. But I don't know if there are any lurkers or the such around who would join in.
To be honest, I don't know if there's a regular Chicago contingent. I've only shown up at one such meet-up for about 15-20 minutes before pressing engagements demanded my attention.
I wish there were a regular Chicago contingent. But I'm likely to be in NY then. Sorry.
What, huh? Oh, yeah, sounds like fun. I think I'll be there, if I'm not in DC for DCon yet (which I don't even know if I'm going to).
I'll show up for whatever.
Leblanc, you should totally come to DCon.
I'm broke, yo! I just dropped mega cash on a ticket to Paris.
But I'm thinking seriously about it.
Leblanc, you should totally come to DCon
And you should totally come to SCon. Chicago's beautiful in the middle of winter, I swear! Bracing!
Boo to you MLAsians, I say. The AP(hilological)A (or as we call it Chez Oudemia, chick APA, as opposed to dick APA, which is philosophical, of course) will be meeting in Chicago, but not until after the New Year.
I'll think about coming, but I'm the worst sort of lurker.
14: Yes. In the hearts of all geeky little boys and girls who still read their copy of D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Mythology.
Philology died when the first kid said, philology's not dead.
I thought it all got folded into either classics or the MLA umbrella or something.
Well, almost but not quite. That's still the name of the professional organization for classicists, but it's quite presumptuous (much like the name "classics," in fact), since there's all sorts of kinds of philologists (German, Italian, whatever). Add to that the fact that a rather small percentage of classicists is actually engaging in the careful study of usage, diction, and grammar that counts as philology. What I do is basically comp litty, I suppose. Still the name persists; not just in the APA, but also things like the journal Classical Philology and probably some department names.
IDP also expressed interest when I emailed him under the mistaken impression that he was hosting.
I'm bummed that I can't make it. Mommy duties. One of these days, I really would like to meet some of you guys!
People have taken kids to meetups before, Di.
19: Bring Rory! On second thought, don't. You wouldn't want that brought up in the custody hearing.
11: ontology recapitulates philology.
"And then my mommy took me to dinner with her imaginary friends who all have pretend names."
Mostly, I think she'd be annoyed if she had to go have dinner with a bunch of grown-ups she doesn't know.
Hotel 71 is way cool. I had some great skyline-viewing sex there recently.
Ah, that explains why he was able to concentrate on the skyline.
And also illustrates why Rory will never meet you people.
And also illustrates why Rory will never meet you people.
I looked at the illustration but didn't see a reason there: can you be more specific?
I looked at the illustration but didn't see a reason there: can you be more specific?
Because Di doesn't want Rory's budding drawing ability to retrogress, duh!
Hotel 71 is way cool.
That bend in the river is indeed amazing for the view down Wacker Drive it affords. I always love my walk home across those bridges, provided it's warm enough to tarry a while.
oudemia, you must come to UnfoggeDCon so that I can bitch about one of my professors from college. We had such an annoyingly philologically oriented department. If it had been someone with the broad humanism of Werner Jaeger, it would have been tolerable, but no.
People talk about people who can't see the forest for the trees, but I think that true philogists can't see the forest for the leaves of the trees, or worse yet, the tree for the veins of the leaves. It really depressed me a lot.
Coordinate!
I'll wear corduroys.
I was planning to catch up on my Netflix that day, but I might be able to pencil in dinner and drinks.
32: Ooh, I don't know that I can come to DC, but I know just what you mean. I took a class with such a person on a particularly delightful author and my literary questions were met with snorts and eyerolls, but we would talk about "ge" for an hour. And that's cool, but, I mean, can't we do both, please?
35: The worst offender was a Latinist. He didn't have the excuse of particles.
Hm, maybe I should have majored in classics. Oh well, too late now.
36: I'd like to sit down with a Latinist someday and say, "What the fuck is up with having infinitives inflected for tense? The whole point of the infinitive is that it's the neutral form of the verb!" I may grab the Latinist's shoulders and shake him or her while making this statement, to indicate my urgency.
36: Yeah, particles are kind of cool, with their delicate ninja ways. Hmm, just tried to figure out who you mean by looking at the faculty. I think I can guess.
Did you ever take a class with Hen/richs? I love him. I was also reminded of a dick move CJ pulled with me once. Ugh.
38: No that's fun! Especially in dependent/subordinate clauses! Best is when Caesar decides he's so bad ass he doesn't even need to conjugate his verbs and just uses the infinitive.
Why are you more worked up about tense than about mood, Adam?
And where by Where by "mood" I mean "voice"
I mean, where by "mood" I mean voice.
Yes, I adore him. I once had him to a dinner at my Hosue and introduced him to my House master. Professor X, this is John Young. Professor Young, this is Paul X. Professor X was very casual, but when, after a bit of mumbling, Professor X, said, hmm, and Professor Young replied, "Young" in his German accent, my House Master figured out that he shuldn't call him by his first name. Since my House master studied Near Eastern stuff, he made some nice comments about Professor Young's (H's) early work on gn/ostics.
The person I'm thinking of has a name which could be shortened to a word that's popular here on unfogged; it's also synonymous with jerk. He wasn't really a jerk. That's what made it so sad.
The person I'm thinking of has a name which could be shortened to a word that's popular here on unfogged; it's also synonymous with jerk.
44: Yes, that is who I thought!
AH was totally charming at a small conference last year and managed to work an aside on his distaste for factory farming into a talk on tragedy. And I'm fairly worshipful of most of his work.
So speaking of the Chicago meetup, anybody in Boston want to go see the Celtics tonight?
46: I was initially really intimidated by AH, but he was great about telling stories about his piano playing neighbor. One of my classmates called him at hope at 11PM, and he didn't seem to mind too much. I think that he frequently pulled all nighters.
I absolutely worshipped and feared (because he was so damn brilliant). C Se/gal. He was inordinately kind and not to be feared, but I was intimidated nonetheless.
43: Ben, you make a valid point. Inflection for voice, of course, only compounds the problem. If they had infinitives with mood as well, that would really be the last straw.
Back to coordination. I looked at the MLA schedule. The Long 18th roundtable (Laura Rosenthal, Dave Mazella et al.) is set for Friday 7:15 to 8:30. Some of us who want to be at the meetup will also want to be at the roundtable. If the meetup is dinner and drinks and reservations are for 8:30 or earlier, we'll be put to a choice.
50: I am in this boat. I didn't look at the schedule yet. Glad you did, jim!
Actually, I wasn't totally clear. There are two professors with that first name. They are both rather philologically minded.
Tweety, do you have free tickets. I can not afford to spend any money, but I would love to go otherwise.
I'm very open, time-wise, as I plan to blow off most of the conference. I'd ideally prefer a casual gathering at someone's home or hotel or something over dinner at a restaurant, but on that, too, I am flexible. (Especially because it's pretty obnoxious to demand that Po-Mo Polymath play host if going to a restaurant would be more pleasant!)
I sent you an e-mail. I'd love to go if Blume's unavailable. I've never been to one.
I wrote a shitty, shitty paper for the seminar I took with L*ura R*senth*l, alas. Very embarrassing! She's great, though.
Is Butler doing anything at the MLA?
52: First and last letter of his surname is the same? That's the guy I was thinking of.
59: Nope, in the alphabet the last letter of his surname comes before the first letter of his surname.
Oh, and, I think I've said this to you before but, I have never, ever heard anyone speak anything less than high praise of CS -- and academics are a nasty, gossipy lot. I'm probably going to get a tattoo of something I first came across in a book of his. The thing I have in mind is not "his" -- but it was through him that I first encountered it.
So speaking of the Chicago meetup, anybody in Boston want to go see the Celtics tonight?
Sports, ah, you're making me jealous. Packers-Cowboys starts in just under an hour, and I'm at work because we're welcoming my new boss with a conference call between the Chicago and Shenzhen teams. We're scheduled 'til 8:30.
Boo!
(Hm, having said that, I wouldn't mind if someone went back and spoilerized LR's name.)
Packers-Cowboys starts in just under an hour
AND NO ONE IN AMERICA CAN WATCH IT ON TV.
Your wish is to me a command, redfoxtailshrub.
60: OMG, BG. Did you look at the pictures of his 20 year old self on his webpage??!!
oudemia, here's some nasty gossip then. [Story redacted because while incomprehensible to anyone outside the relevant academic community, someone who understood it might have happened along. LB]
General question, what does the z in "zomg" stand for? That's a phrase AWB seems to lijke a lot.
The reason was that people thought it was impossible for anyone to write so much and have it not be crap.
Did it occur to any of them that they could sample some of the work and see if it was crap?
69: I just did. I'd forgotten about that. It's pretty hilarious. I find it terribly hard to imagine him acting like that.
71: there was extensive discussion of this recently on another thread. I'm too lazy to search. It stands for "sloppy pressing of the shift key."
General question, what does the z in "zomg" stand for? That's a phrase AWB seems to lijke a lot.
It doesn't stand for anything. It contributes to intensity.
Some people argue that "zomg" is pronounced "zoh my god". I say that "zomg" has transcended abbreviating anything, and should be pronounced "zoŋ", except if the "ŋ" were more like an m than an n, or "zomguh", with the "mguh" kind of swallowed.
70: Sheesh! Well, leave it to that department to be nasty in ways undreamt by others! (Not that anyone doubts their brilliance, but some of them are not nice. Do you know about the time all the women grad students quit?)
It stands for "sloppy pressing of the shift key."
It's actually a neat question whether it stands for sloppy pressing of the shift key.
There are circumstances in which we are inclined to say that it does, but then again other circumstances in which it clearly doesn't, any more than "I am in pain" stands for a cry.
Five guesses as to whom I've been reading recently.
I should say, there are circumstances in which we are inclined to say that it does, and correctly so.
76: No, I never heard that story, and GN is wonderful too. His younger brother in English and Cel/tic stuff at UC/LA is also super nice. Anyway, I think that I might be revealign too much. We definitely need to meet up in real life some day.
Bah, when I get excited, I type too quickly, and my sentences don't hang together well.
Yes, I agree. And I love GN, too. He and my adviser are tight. But the other story is definitely not an on-line affair.
81: Yup, I think that you're right. The person told me that for very kind reasons related to a less than fawning review of my undergraduate thesis, but I should not have repeated it. Would someone please redact 70?
(85: The joke I intended to make was that it was super-obvious that it was Wittgenstein.)
Oh ah. *grunts enigmatically*
I'm all too appeasing. "Sure, or Quine, if you like! That's a lovely answer."
Hey BG -- I meant the grad students quitting story! That other one is pretty Google proof, I think. But do what BG says, anyway, Powers that Be(n).
damn...a chicago meet-up. i came to the last one and had a good time, but am in italy for the year and not coming home for christmas. damn. have a great time, a happy christmas, heppy new year and so on...
Yay! A Chicago meetup! Count me in. Maybe. I think.
Just in case it wasn't clear from 50, as long as we can avoid the conflict with the Long 18th roundtable, count Ellen and me in.
We won't be in Hotel 71 with the rest of the cool kids, though. We're old. We'll be at the Regency where we don't have to wear a coat to get to the sessions.
i'm down, awb. wondering if i'll be interviewing any of you there ... if i meet you on the 28th and your interview is on the 29th, well, shit, we should work out a secret handshake in advance.
i'm staying some godforsaken place a mile away because i never book a room in time to prevent coat wearing.
I'm not interviewing, yet, LHD. I'm there for, uh, administrative reasons.
Looking forward to meeting/seeing you all there!
Bummer. I'll be out of town. I'd have loved to meet all you imaginary people.
I'll be there. If anyone wants to interview me for a position, I'd appreciate it. What with me not having applied anywhere, if I landed a job, it'd be the best story ever. Don't you want to be a part of it?
What with me not having applied anywhere, if I landed a job, it'd be the best story ever.
I'm sort of trying this method right now. I did actually get an offer out of the blue recently, but not t-t. So I can't say it's working that well.
Given that it's you, the story would also almost certainly involve inappropriately public sex, adding to the fun.
uh, administrative reasons
A rare case in which "administrative" is used to intriguing and mysterious purpose.
involve inappropriately public sex,
well that's one way to get the recruiters attention.
I'll be there. If anyone wants to interview me for a position, I'd appreciate it. What with me not having applied anywhere, if I landed a job, it'd be the best story ever.
Pretty much happened to a guy I knew at grad school. And he had only just passed his exams, hadn't even started the diss! I suppose it's a relevant detail that his field is modern Arabic literature...
I suppose it's a relevant detail that his field is modern Arabic literature...
Intriguing.
yes, I know, late, late, late to comment, but I have an above 50 percent chance of showing up to take photos, and keep my face hidden.
Oh, and I forgot to make some joke about lurking. So I'm making it now.
