Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth

In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.

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Altar or Alter? Censer or Censor?

Altar or alter? Censer or censor?

Pagans being people of praxis, our vocabulary generally references ritual rather than belief. When it comes to writing, though, homonymy can be problematic, and with homonyms, Spell Check can't help you.

Why should you care? Credibility. If you get the small stuff wrong, why should we trust you on the large?

Here as elsewhere, the ancestors knew what to do. With a mnemonic—what French would call an aide-memoire—you can remember anything.

Here's mine.

Alter is a verb. Altar is a place.

Censor is a person. Censer is an object.

The Greeks had it right: Memory is a goddess.

 

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Poet, scholar and storyteller Steven Posch was raised in the hardwood forests of western Pennsylvania by white-tailed deer. (That's the story, anyway.) He emigrated to Paganistan in 1979 and by sheer dint of personality has become one of Lake Country's foremost men-in-black. He is current keeper of the Minnesota Ooser.

Comments

  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham Sunday, 16 June 2019

    I find it helpful to have my Dictionary in a place where I can find it easily. Spellcheck is sometimes problematic but way better than autocorrect which appears to have been programed with malicious intent.

  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch Tuesday, 18 June 2019

    I agree entirely. Autocorrect is the enemy of poetry.

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