the new limits of "novel" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Garson O'Toole]

Here are two examples of the word novel applied to a play from a few years ago.

In the novel Hamlet who was the character name Yorick?
5 years ago
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060907195907AAiExxb

What is the theme of the novel "merchant of venice"? by shakespeare..
2 years ago
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090121111149AAcmiEe

But I wonder, Jon, how you will prevent the confusion caused when
"book" is used in the following sense.

The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of
the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Award_for_Best_Book_of_a_Musical

On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 8:14 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: the new limits of "novel" (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Gee, guys, it feels great to be up there with Gresham, Keynes, Hubble,
> Murphy, Boyle, Ohm, Kirchhoff, Zipf, Grimm, Burke, et al. But there is a
> more disturbing corollary to Lighter's Law:
>
> "Anything broadcast by communications media will be believed and embraced by
> somebody."
>
> It seems certan that the drift of _novel_ from "book-length work of fiction"
> to "book-length work of fiction or nonfiction" resulted from simple
> misunderstanding enforced by continued ignorance. The hypothetical broader
> meaning ("*any lengthy creative work") could have a similar trajectory.
>
> With luck it won't, but indeed time will tell.
>
> JL
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 6:07 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
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>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: the new limits of "novel" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Given my experience with journalism students, I agree completely.
>>
>> VS-)
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 6:03 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
>> <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> I don't want to think so. Surely the boundary between "fiction" and
>> > "drama"
>> >> is still widely recognized. It's easier to assume that somebody at CNN
>> > just
>> >> didn't know what he was talking about.
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> > " It's easier to assume that somebody at [any given media or internet
>> > outlet; a political office; anyplace with a microphone or keyboard] just
>> > didn't know what he was talking about."
>> >
>> > I propose this as Lighter's Law.
>> >
>> > I predict it will zoom past Murphy's in importance as the years go by.
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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