May 14, 2008 Posted | 4 comments

Technical Details Resolved and a Quick Etymological Challenge

A thorough code-rejiggering [this is hyperbole] fixed the little javascript issue I had earlier today. All paragraph tags and line breaks are restored!

So, as I play catch up, this here’s an image of a shovel that I lifted from The New York Botanical Garden.

Or is it a spade?

What’s the difference? Do you know? Why or why not?

It’s time for a little agrarian etymology.

The rules:

1. No cheating. Googling stinks.
2. Personal vignettes about shovels and spades are encouraged.
3. Insinuations and/or protests that “calling a spade a spade” is inherently a racist phrase won’t be tolerated. It simply isn’t true. And, as Mr. Obama might say, it’s a “distraction” from a substantive discussion about digging tools.

GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOOGOGOGO! In the comments, that is.

4 Responses to “Technical Details Resolved and a Quick Etymological Challenge”

1. Brian Nelson says:

   May 14, 2008 at 5:25 pm

   Is this a lesson to show me how I use Google as a substitute for my own memory?

   Because it worked.
2. Matthew K. Tabor says:

   May 14, 2008 at 5:26 pm

   Mr. Nelson,

   You have violated Rule #1. That’s a 50 DKP minus.

   It’s an interesting point, though - Google as a reinforcer. I certainly use it a ton for that purpose. It comes up with the edu-tech crowd frequently. Some seem to see it as we might [reinforcement] while some think that if you can Google it, there’s no point in spending time knowing or memorizing it.

   Unfortunately, access to Google is limited on first dates, at dinner parties, and in most all other face-to-face interactions.
3. Stephen Downes says:

   May 15, 2008 at 3:45 pm

   > Insinuations and/or protests that “calling a spade a spade” is inherently a racist phrase won’t be tolerated. It simply isn’t true.

   And so you are running this post… why?
4. Matthew K. Tabor says:

   May 15, 2008 at 3:48 pm

   Stephen,

   I’m running the post because I think the difference between a shovel and a spade is an interesting tidbit. I didn’t claim that the knowledge would save the world.

   And, my first instinct - a post about walking around Montreal reading Heidegger - was recently covered.