For those still interested in stylometry, and with a bunch of airline miles jangling around in their accounts: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/atnu/news/introductiontostylometryworkshop.html It's free, and run by the best stylo hacker going. I may show up myself and report back (will be in London in April) Leslie On Mon, Feb 18, 2019 at 3:36 PM Mac Donnell Rare Books < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > Another problem in stylometric studies is finding an accurate text of > the piece being studied as well as accurate texts for the control group. > Texts taken from 19th century books often reflect house styles imposed > by editors. This doesn't make all texts look alike, of course, but it > makes them look a wee bit less different. > > I always laugh when I think of the scholarly excitement over Herman > Melville's "soiled fish" --until it was discovered that Melville's fish > were merely coiled, like everybody else's fish. > > Kevin > @ > Mac Donnell Rare Books > 9307 Glenlake Drive > Austin TX 78730 > 512-345-4139 > Member: ABAA, ILAB, BSA > > You can browse our books at: > www.macdonnellrarebooks.com > > > ------ Original Message ------ > From: "Leslie MYRICK" <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: 2/18/2019 1:46:43 PM > Subject: Re: Rediscovered Twain Sketch? > > >Update: now that I've removed my gearhead cap and looked again at the > >sources, the Wilkie piece adhering too closely to Dickens was the first > >chapter of A House to Let, on which he and Dickens collaborated. So, > >hurray, R Studio application. > >But misattributions are entirely possible when you use algorithms to read > >texts. > > > > > > > >On Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 1:12 PM Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > >> BTW: even today there are pockets in America, often in the south and > >> among more ardent groups of evangelical and/or fundamentalist > Christians, > >> who continue to pronounce the word "humble" as "umble." As in, "he's > an > >> umble man!" > >> > >> > >> I even know a few. > >> > >> > >> That fact sort of reminds me of all the ballyhoo & brouhaha when our > great > >> leader the President mentioned "2 Corinthians." Actually, it turns out > >> that many pockets of church folks still call it 2 Corinthians, or 2 > >> Timothy, or whatever. Of course it is beyond the scope of this post to > >> argue that our leader said it that way due to his sympathies for the > blue > >> collar believers of the flyover district. > >> > >> > >> ballyhoo & brouhaha are 2 great words making a comeback in our umble > Age > >> of Trump... > >> > >> > >> > >> Dr. Hal Bush > >> > >> Dept. of English > >> > >> Saint Louis University > >> > >> [log in to unmask] > >> > >> 314-977-3616 > >> > >> http://halbush.com > >> > >> author website: halbush.com > >> > >> ________________________________ > >> From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Leslie MYRICK < > >> [log in to unmask]> > >> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2019 12:40:44 PM > >> To: [log in to unmask] > >> Subject: Re: Rediscovered Twain Sketch? > >> > >> It appears that "humble" was occasionally pronounced with a dropped H > even > >> in the US at the time, especially if the speaker was from a family that > >> immigrated from the UK, or, like the Express's political editor, from > >> Canada. (Bob Hirst would know whether Larned's editorialzing was ever > this > >> *sustainedly* humorous). > >> > >> Or, as I think someone else has noted, "an humble" could have been in > this > >> case, if it *was* written by MT, a typesetter's mistake. > >> > >> I took a look at "an humble" in the NYS newspapers archive, and found > an > >> interesting case of "a humble" vs "an humble" in the transcription of a > >> speech by an Illinois congressman on the effects of Republican tariffs > on > >> farmers. If you compare these two versions, whose links will hopefully > >> preserve the highlighting, you'll see at least one case of humble > treated > >> with a silent H and a voiced H in two reprints, suggesting an > intervention > >> based on differences in dialect. > >> Geneva Gazette, 10 Jun 70 > >> > >> > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__nyshistoricnewspapers.org_lccn_sn83031108_1870-2D06-2D10_ed-2D1_seq-2D4_-23date1-3D01-252F01-252F1869-26index-3D6-26date2-3D01-252F31-252F1874-26searchType-3Dadvanced-26SearchType-3Dphrase-26sequence-3D0-26words-3Dhumble-26proxdistance-3D-26to-5Fyear-3D1874-26rows-3D20-26ortext-3D-26from-5Fyear-3D1869-26proxtext-3D-26phrasetext-3Dan-2Bhumble-26andtext-3D-26dateFilterType-3Drange-26page-3D1&d=DwIFaQ&c=Pk_HpaIpE_jAoEC9PLIWoQ&r=f7i-Uq4rMQU8-TBe45qVLg&m=BuDtlZHCJHyBlf3h10-HisntoNDpMHXAqbPsxUoX3pE&s=SIIkmP3l4lRXiZF_U176dVFoRkNSv3hV1OoCv-Ai9qQ&e= > >> Herkimer Democrat, 3 Aug 70 > >> > >> > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__nyshistoricnewspapers.org_lccn_sn83031101_1870-2D08-2D03_ed-2D1_seq-2D2_-23date1-3D01-252F01-252F1869-26index-3D2-26date2-3D01-252F31-252F1874-26searchType-3Dadvanced-26SearchType-3Dphrase-26sequence-3D0-26words-3Dflannel-2Bhumble-2Bshirt-26proxdistance-3D-26to-5Fyear-3D1874-26rows-3D20-26ortext-3D-26from-5Fyear-3D1869-26proxtext-3D-26phrasetext-3Dhumble-2Bflannel-2Bshirt-26andtext-3D-26dateFilterType-3Drange-26page-3D1&d=DwIFaQ&c=Pk_HpaIpE_jAoEC9PLIWoQ&r=f7i-Uq4rMQU8-TBe45qVLg&m=BuDtlZHCJHyBlf3h10-HisntoNDpMHXAqbPsxUoX3pE&s=LNyV6qFT08f4UGZP0RnTigIayuZ4EUcUQsQ5b4vV5Nc&e= > >> > >> A survey of the same speech in newspapers.com shows 44 cases of "an > >> humble," which is apparently how it was enunciated by Rep. Marshall, > and > >> faithfully transmitted, vs 9 cases of "a humble." The typesetter's or > >> editor's intervention was apparently the dropping of the "n" in this > case. > >> But this sort of intervention could go both ways, depending on a > person's > >> dialect affinities > >> > >> All to say, I suggest that "an humble" could just be a typo, and not > >> necessarily a viable data point -- or what I used to call, before I > retired > >> from MTP, "a glitch." > >> > >> I say data point, because in at least one branch of stylometry, > articles, > >> conjunctions, and other words more unconsciously generated by a > writer's > >> brain appear to make the best case for identification. > >> > >> For Too Much Information on how stylometry works (yet you can cherry > pick > >> really useful information from it) see > >> > >> > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__programminghistorian.org_en_lessons_introduction-2Dto-2Dstylometry-2Dwith-2Dpython&d=DwIFaQ&c=Pk_HpaIpE_jAoEC9PLIWoQ&r=f7i-Uq4rMQU8-TBe45qVLg&m=BuDtlZHCJHyBlf3h10-HisntoNDpMHXAqbPsxUoX3pE&s=vfp8dReeCNT4rgCh1AlUx3IEy30LApZzm5Ke3z2D9_w&e= > >> Leslie > >> > >> On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 10:13 PM Clay Shannon <[log in to unmask]> > >> wrote: > >> > >> > Thanks, Barb! I've added it to my amazon shopping list - will > purchase it > >> > later. > >> > - B. Clay Shannon > >> > > >> > On Wednesday, February 13, 2019, 5:57:19 PM PST, Barbara Schmidt > < > >> > [log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> > > >> > Clay asked -- Has anybody compiled a list of Twain's "vocabulary" > -- > >> > Yes. > >> > > >> > A MARK TWAIN LEXICON by Robert Ramsay and Frances Emberson. > Published in > >> > 1963. > >> > > >> > Barb > >> > > >> > > >> > > >