Heat Wave!

It's hot as hell here. Literally. Even when it is windy, it's hot because the wind itself is hot. Yesterday it was 41c. Now, I am not sure what exactly that translates into as far as Fahrenheit...but I can tell you this: it's HOT. Our plan is to head to the Lake this weekend for some respite from the heat. That may prove impossible because, as usual, we waited until the last minute to actually plan it and now it seems all rooms are sold out. Apparently Formula One is in town this weekend and Europeans are crazy about their Formula One (supposedly it makes our NASCAR look like a junior high pajama party!). So they - mostly Germans, I guess - have descended upon Hungary and this means they are also going to Lake Balaton in droves. My guess: The wives and daughters are spending the weekend at the lake while the husbands and sons bake in the heat and watch other men drive as fast as they can in big circles, sometimes crashing.

I don't know if I could stand being in the hot city for the weekend. There are no public pools (none, anyway, that you can visit just one time, rather you need to buy a monthly pass) and the only water is the dirty Danube or the hot tubs of the bathhouses...hot water in the hot sun? No thanks.

But, with only two weekends left (yes, I come home two weeks from today!), I guess I can stay in the city and explore some of the as-yet-unexplored sights and treasures of this place. For example, I haven't been to a museum yet...who goes to Europe and doesn't go to a museum? Well, next weekend we will be hosting GB and his girlfriend and so we will surely do some tourism with them. And then, next Sunday, Peter and I are off on a roadtrip to Prague and Austria! Our plan is to be in Prague for my birthday (Aug 9 in case you are wondering how much time you have to get my present!). Sounds fun, no?

I stand corrected...sort of
So, I have gotten a number of responses to my post about use of the word myriad - who knew how many people suffered from this pet peeve right along with me? In response to one friend's email, I decided to look on dictionary.com for a more succinct way of explaining the proper usage of the word. In so doing, here is what I found:

myr·i·ad: Constituting a very large, indefinite number; innumerable: the myriad fish in the ocean.
Composed of numerous diverse elements or facets: the myriad life of the metropolis.

Usage Note: Throughout most of its history in English myriad was used as a noun, as in a myriad of men. In the 19th century it began to be used in poetry as an adjective, as in myriad men. Both usages in English are acceptable, as in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Myriad myriads of lives." This poetic, adjectival use became so well entrenched generally that many people came to consider it as the only correct use. In fact, both uses in English are parallel with those of the original ancient Greek.

So there you have it. It seems to be okay to use the word myriad with the preposition "of" but I assure you that most people who care about language will continue to find it unacceptable if not downright crude.

Much to my chagrin, incorrect usage of the word "comprise" is also becoming more acceptable. According to dictionary.com, "Usage Note: The traditional rule states that the whole comprises the parts and the parts compose the whole. In strict usage: The Union comprises 50 states. Fifty states compose (or constitute or make up) the Union. Even though careful writers often maintain this distinction, comprise is increasingly used in place of compose, especially in the passive: The Union is comprised of 50 states. Our surveys show that opposition to this usage is abating. In the 1960s, 53 percent of the Usage Panel found this usage unacceptable; in 1996, only 35 percent objected." Hmph. I don't like it one bit.