Word Nerd Wednesday: Hangdog

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Have y’all ever heard of this word before today? I must admit that I had not. I heard a southern twanged baritone say it in line at a store and originally thought that it must be a southern colloquialism that had escaped my notice.

I’m still pretty sure that it’s a southern colloquialism that escaped my notice (more on that in a moment), but it’s much more than that, as I learned from a quick perusal of etymology online:

hang-dog (adj.)

also hangdog, 1670s, apparently “befitting a hang-dog,” that is, a despicable, degraded fellow, so called either from being fit only to hang a dog (with construction as in cutthroat, daredevil) or of being a low person (i.e. dog) fit only for hanging. The noun, however, is attested only from 1680s.

This is quite an exciting development for me; learning that this word is centuries old! However, the expression as I heard it did not indicate the meaning above. It indicated this meaning, as defined by Merriam-Webster:

hangdog: (adjective)

1: SAD, DEJECTED

2: SHEEPISH

As in, “Why are you wearing that hangdog face?”

Add this one to my ever growing collection of words that are simple yet interesting.

Happy Wednesday!

History Nerd Post: Tampa Bay Hotel

Henry B. Plant Museum on the campus of University of Tampa, formerly the Tampa Bay Hotel.

I believe I mentioned before my enjoyment of all things historical, combined with my great fortune of having a man who indulges the passion. Over the course of a recent anniversary celebration, we took a little jaunt to the Henry B. Plant Museum, located on the current campus of the University of Tampa. Before it was any of those things it was the Tampa Bay Hotel, the crown jewel of the Gulf Coast, completed by railroad magnate Henry Plant in 1891.

We discuss the ugliness of modern architecture at regular intervals in our house. The combination of utilitarian supremacy, expedience, and throw away mentality has made for large swaths of ugliness throughout many of our major cities and suburbs. Beauty is never a consideration, and when it is, what passes for beauty in the postmodern west is more accurately described as avant garde. However, there was a time when beauty permeated the buildings we built, and somehow they were useful as well.

The architecture, furnishings and history of this building was a delight to tour from beginning to end. Check out the mahogany interior of this elevator:

The cost to build this hotel in 1891 was $2,000,000. The furnishings were collected by Plant and his wife from all over the world and cost $500,000.

This door, in fact all of the rich wood trims and mouldings, were among my favorite parts of the hotel:

It was also quite a thrill to learn that Booker T. Washington spoke here as part of a fundraising tour for his Tuskeegee Institute. Washington is the black hsitorical figure I admire most for his philosophy of life and education.

Like Henry Flagler on the east coast of Florida, Plant spared no expense building his luxurious hotel which was admittedly, priced far out of the reach of the average American. Nevertheless, it speaks to a way of building things that we have long since abandoned.

How’s this for fishing attire?

Hope you enjoyed this History Nerd exploration of Florida history.

Dostoyevsky is Still One of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived…

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

His works require some investment, but the writing is worth it. Tolstoy’s as well, while I’m at it. Also, check out my review of Anton Chekhov’s The Lady with the Little Dog. It’s a great short story, if you can stand that there’s no happy ending.

Hypnotized by postmodern soma. picture credit

No matter what hysterical fools hyped up on media soma have to say concerning all things Russian, supporting great classic art and literature has nothing to do with the current conflict nor the current leader of Russia. Where is the sense in this?

“Dear professor, this morning the Vice Rector for Didactics informed me of the decision taken with the rector to postpone the journey on Dostoevsky. The aim is to avoid any form of controversy, especially internal as it is a moment of strong tension”, announces Nori in a live video on Instagram.

The emotion of the author originally from Parma is evident, as well as the disbelief and anger. «The course on the Russian author’s novels – explains Nori – was to begin next Wednesday a course of four lessons. They had invited me, it was an hour and a half each, it was free and open to everyone. I – he continues – find that what is happening in Ukraine is a horrible thing and I feel like crying just thinking about it. But what is happening in Italy today, these things here, are ridiculous things: censoring a course is ridiculous ». And he adds: «Not only being a living Russian is a fault in Italy today. But also being a dead Russian, who was sentenced to death when he was alive in 1849 because he had read a forbidden thing is. That an Italian university prohibits a course on an author like Dostoevsky is something I can’t believe, when I read this email I didn’t believe it “.

I am flabbergasted at how stupid the West has grown. Good grief…

h/t: Rod Dreher’s