The Word Box: Unusual Divinations I-X

More unusual divinations and magics!  Really, I just want to see someone use these.  Or at least one of these.

Just make sure you're not doing a moromancy (a foolish divination) or a pseudomancy (a false or fake divination.)

ichnomancy - ( )

         Divination using footprints

ichthyomancy - ( )

        Divination or magic involving fish

iconomancy - ( )

         Divination using icons

idolomancy - ( )

 Divination using idols

keraunoscopia - ( )

  Divination using thunder

knissomancy - ( )

  Divination using burning incense

lithomancy - ( )

           Divination by stones

logomancy - ( )

Divination by words or by speech

macromancy - ( )

  Divination by studying the largest object in the area

maculomancy - ( )

  Divination by spots

margaritomancy - ( )

  Divination using pearls

mathemancy - ( )

  Divination using mathematics

meconomancy - ( )

  Divination by sleep or magic using sleep

meteoromancy - ( )

  Divination using meteors

metopomancy - ( )

  Divination using a person's forehead

micromancy - ( )

  Divination by studying the smallest object in the area

narcomancy - ( )

  Divination by sleep or magic using sleep

necromancy - ( )

  Divination using black magic or the dead

necyomancy - ( )

  Divination involving summoning the devil

odontomancy - ( )

           Divination using teeth

oenomancy - ( )

  Divination by wine

omoplatoscopy - ( )

  Divination involving a shoulder blade which has been charred or cracked from a fire

oneiromancy - ( )

  Divination by dreams, or interpreting dreams

onimancy - ( )

  Divination using fingernails

onomancy - ( )

  Divination using a name or the letters in a name

onychomancy - ( )

  Divination using fingernails

oomancy - ( )

  Divination or magic using eggs

ophiomancy - ( )

  Divination by snakes or serpents

ornithomancy - ( )

  Divination using birds' flight and cries

oryctomancy - ( )

  Divination by studying excavated objects

ossomancy - ( )

  Divination using bones

 

osteomancy - ( )

  Divination using bones

pegomancy - ( )

Fortunetelling using the bubbles in a fountain

pessomancy - ( )

Divination using stones or rocks

phyllomancy - ( )

Magic using leaves or foretelling one's future from leaves

physiognomancy - ( )

Divination using a person's face

psephomancy - ( )

Divination by drawing marked stones from a container

psychomancy - ( )

Divination by talking to the dead

pyromancy - ( )

Divination using fire or magic involving fire

rhabdomancy - ( )

  Divination using a stick or rod, such as dowsing for water

rhapsodomancy - ( )

  The art of predicting the future using poetry

scapulimancy - ( )

  Divination involving a shoulder blade which has been charred or cracked from a fire

scatomancy - ( )

  Magic or divination using excrement

schematomancy - ( )

  Divination using the appearance of people

sciomancy - ( )

  Divination by talking to the dead

selenomancy - ( )

  Divination using the moon

sideromancy - ( )

  1 Foretelling the future by studying the stars

 

sideromancy - ( )

  2. Divination using straw burned on hot metal

spasmatomancy - ( )

  Divination using convulsions or twitching of one's limbs

 

spatilomancy - ( )

  Divination using animal droppings

 

spatulamancy - ( )

  Divination involving the shoulder blades of animals

spheromancy - ( )

  Divination using a crystal sphere

spodomancy - ( )

  Divination using ashes

stichomancy - ( )

  Divination using random lines from a book or the Bible

sycomancy - ( )

  Divination using figs

theomancy - ( )

  Using gods or oracles to foretell the future

theriomancy - ( )

  Divination using animals or their movement

topomancy - ( )

  Divination using the shape of the land

trochomancy - ( )

  Divination by studying wheel tracks

tyromancy - ( )

  Divination or magic using cheese

uranomancy - ( )

  Divination by consulting the heavens

urimancy - ( )

  Magic or fortunetelling using urine

xenomancy - ( )

Divination by using the first stranger to be found

xylomancy - ( )

Divination using a piece of wood or magic using wood

I've seen -mancy added to many words to pertain to magic as well as divination.  Necromancy, for example, is the well-known school of magic of villains everywhere (and occasionally heroes, as well, depending on the story...)

Tell me about the unusual magic your characters use. 

The Word Box: Unusual Divinations A-H

Running through the Grandiloquent Dictionary, I came across ailuromancy - divination by studying a cat's jump.
Thus begins the Word Box: a writer's toolkit for unusual words that just beg to be included in a story.

Today's theme?  Strange divinations.  (Note that all of these are brought to you by Grandiloquent.)

aeromancy -( )

 Divination using the air

ailuromancy -( )

 Divination by studying a cat's jump

alectryomancy -( )

 Magic using corn

 

aleuromancy -( )

 Divination using flour

alphitomancy -( )

 Divination using barley meal

ambulomancy -( )

 Divination by walking

anthomancy -( )

 Divination using flowers

anthracomancy -( )

 Divination using burning coals

anthropomancy -( )

 Magic or divination using people, or foretelling the future using the entrails of a sacrificed person

armomancy -( )

 Divination involving the shoulder blades of animals

astragalomancy -( )

 Divination using dice

augury -( )

 Divination using bird's flight

austromancy -( )

 Divination using the wind

bibliomancy - ( )

 Divination using books or Bible passages

botanomancy - ( )

 Divination using plants

brontomancy - ( )

 Divination by or magic involving thunder

catoptomancy - ( )

 Divination using a mirror or several mirrors

catoptromancy - ( )

 Divination based on how a face appears when viewed in a mirror underwater

ceneromancy - ( )

 Divination using ashes

cephalomancy - ( )

 Divination by boiling a head, usually that of a donkey

ceraunomancy - ( )

 Divination by or magic using thunderbolts

cleidomancy - ( )

 Divination using a key

cleromancy - ( )

 Divination involving dice

conchomancy - ( )

 Divination using shells

crithomancy - ( )

 Divination by spreading flour or dough over a sacrificed animal

cromnyomancy - ( )

 Magic or divination using an onion

capnomancy - ( )

 Divination by smoke

dririmancy - ( )

  Divination by dripping blood

demonomancy - ( )

  Divination by demons

extispicy - ( )

  Divination using entrails

enoptromancy - ( )

  Divination using a mirror

gastromancy - ( )

  Divination using a crystal ball

geloscopy - ( )

  Divination involving laughter

graptomancy - ( )

  Divination using hand writing

gyromancy - ( )

  Divination involving walking in a circle until you fall down

halomancy - ( )

  Divination or magic using salt

haruspication - ( )

  Divination using entrails

hieromancy - ( )

  Divination using entrails

hematomancy - ( )

  Divination using blood

hippomancy - ( )

  Divination by horses, or by the neighing of horses

hydromancy - ( )

  Divination by water of magic involving water

hypnomancy - ( )

  Divination by hypnosis

On Wednesday, we'll continue the list of unusual divinations.  Is anyone else disturbed by the number of words for "divination by entrails"?

Shaking down the plants

I haven't had much time for blogging lately.  Perhaps you noticed a lack of posts on Wed?  Whoops. 

But I have had enough time to shake my plants down for seeds.

Basil, apparently, stops being "sweet basil" after it blooms.  However, the leaves still taste good in a pasta sauce, and blooms lead to seeds.  I sent two friends away with basil seeds for their own garden.

Morning glory seed pods dry out, and it's easy to harvest the seeds for next year's use.  I've heard, however, that the flowers that bloom from a second-generation vine always come out white, and not the vibrant blue of my current vine.  We'll see.

Of course, the gerbera daisies keep popping up new blooms; big, bright yellow flowers that live for a few days and then die.  The middle of the flower becomes a dandelion-esque hank of seeds, which can be replanted.

The stock grows long seed pods that look sort of like beans.  They dry out, and if you pull them off and open them up, the small, flat disks inside are the seeds.  I've now got a pot full of stock seedlings, some of which I had to weed out and replant in order to make room for the rest.

http://diffflowers.blogspot.com/2010/04/beautiful-pictures-of-marigold-flowers.html
Not my picture.  Didn't think to get the camera during the seed heist.

The marigolds - after the flowers die, the petals turn brown.  They can then be pulled out from the husk to reveal the flat seeds, again rather reminiscent of dandelion fluff (except with less fluff and more dried-yellow-petal). 

Peeled a bulblet off my amaryllis, too.  Replanted it in its own pot - ironically, the new pot is larger than the old one, so the old amaryllis is still rootbound.  Whoops.

I really don't know what the lavender seeds will look like, but I've got a bunch of flowering lavender. 

Oh, and I got more flowerpots.  Hit the clearance aisle of Lowes.  Don't ask how much I spend - just know that it was much less than it ought to have been.

Have you ever grown a plant from a seed?  What's your most successful from-a-seed (or a bulb) adventure?

Grammar Brigade: Tense? It's all in the timing.

(Edit: You may also want to read the post The verb "to be")

Tense - not tension, although it can cause that - is all about when things occur.  But sometimes, it's a little more complicated than it looks, figuring out how to express the when, especially if you're trying to keep your tenses in agreement.

Tense, the verb forms express when things happen, can be loosely categorized into past, present, and future.  That's easy; you already know those!

But tense can also be sub-categorized into simple, progressive, and perfect.  That's a little more complex.

Let's look at an example:

The tense forms of "to walk"

Now let's throw them into a relative timeline:

The "simple" tense takes place right at the specified time - a certain point in the past, the present, or a certain point in the future.  This is a point in time to which you are directly referring, the setting of your story.  It begins during your moment of reference, and ends during the moment of your reference.  For example, Angela walks down to the training arena to talk to Mick.  Angela begins the walk and ends the walk during this sentence.

The progressive tense is an action which is taking place at that time - a continuous action which begins before and continues after the moment of referral.  For example, he is walking around the training yard while Angela updates him on the status of the knights.  He was walking before Angela began talking to him, and he will continue walking throughout the conversation, and possibly even after.

The perfect tense is an action which has taken place before the time of reference. By the point of reference, it has already ended.  Angela has walked with Mick through the training yards many times before.  Those walks are all completed.

The perfect progressive indicates a verb taking place over a long period of time, began before the moment of reference and probably before some progressive event.  For example, Laurel has been walking in the courtyard since noon.  That's before Angela came down, and before Mick began walking.  It also continues during the moment - Laurel is still walking while Angela and Mick are walking.

These terms are all relative to one another, and can help place events in order.  See how they're applied here:

The knight Laurel had been practicing his jousts when Mick, Captain of the Guard, joined him in the courtyard.  They sparred together for a few minutes, before Angela interrupted.  Angela was working the purchase order, and needed to know how many straw dummies she should order.  Mick had inventoried the dummies the week night before.  He told her he needed fourteen more.

One last note - you can use all the subtenses in a single paragraph, but it's usually considered poor form to switch tenses (past, present, or future) in the same work without clear time transitions.  This is a general note, and there are cases where it's acceptable, but it's something to avoid.

Try using all four subtenses in a paragraph of your own, and share them here, in the comments!

Grammar Brigade: That. Yes, That.

To each which is a college professor telling you to use that.  Is it true?  Is that the cure-all for whiches?  Just consider:

Which cat do you prefer? =>  That cat do you prefer?

I told my mother the dress she wore made her butt look big, which got me in trouble. =>  I told my mother the dress she wore made her butt look big, that got me in trouble.

The tulips, some of which were red, looked lovely. =>  The tulips, some of that were red, looked lovely.

Houston, we have a problem.

That should be used only in restrictive clauses, after the noun is modified by a superlative adjective, after counting words (such as seven or forty-five), and after the following pronouns:

{all, any, anything, every, everything, few, little, many, much, nothing, none, some, something}

Also, that should never be used to represent people.  Use who or whom instead.

All the zebras got into the clown car, including twelve zebras that belonged to the Evil League of Evil.

In a side note... "of which" may be used in place of "that" post-number concepts.  For example: All the zebras got into the clown car, twelve of which belonged to the Evil League of Evil.

Any explanations of how the zebras earned their invitations from Bad Horse into the Evil League of Evil?  Oh, and bonus points if you know from which show "Evil League of Evil" comes.

Interlude

I went to see The Help yesterday.  Awesome movie!  Also, if you go, be prepared to get there early, because it sold out. 

In related news, today's post was not yet written, which means this morning will provide none of the usual helpful stuff.

Instead, I give you a cat.

Also, a short rant to retailers:  It is August.  Now is the time to begin stocking supplies for fall - not put them on the final sale.  I am not going to begin decorating my house for Christmas in August.  Please stop trying to turn a single day into a four-month continuous holiday.  You've completely forgotten the point of the holiday, anyway, so there's really no reason to start advertising until after Thanksgiving - which, I may add, is also a decorating-holiday.  Only not anymore, because by the time I think to decorate for Thanksgiving (you know, early November), there are no longer any decorations left on the shelves to buy, because Christmas now begins in mid-October.

Everyone else: Guard your Halloween decoration displays closely.  Their days are numbered...

Grammar Brigade: More Whiches!

More whiches! 

...  Uh, no.

In a previous post, I spoke about the uses of that versus which.  But 'which' isn't only used in restrictive clauses: it fills several parts of speech!  Some professors might send you which-hunting, and claim that the word 'which' is the phonetic version of ultimate evil.  Not true.  Which has several legitimate purposes, and ridding your vocabulary entirely of it is an equally dangerous proposition to overusing it.

Which, according to Dictionary.com, can be used as an adjective, a pronoun, or a determiner.  In today's blog, we'll look at which as a pronoun.

All information except definitions of which taken from OWL at Purdue. Examples are mine, but everything I learned came from OWL.  It's one of my favorite sites.  Shouldn't it be one of yours, too?

Which as a Pronoun:

In a relative clause:
As a pronoun, it is used in relative clauses or as the object of a preposition.  To be specific, which is a relative pronoun, or a pronoun which introduces a relative clause.  Other examples are who, whom, whoever, whomever, whose, and that. 

A relative clause is a phrase that modifies a word, phrase, or idea.  The word, phrase, or idea is called the antecedent. We'll illustrate with my cat, Bard.

Ex:

Also, I misspelled "antecedent."  Whoops.

That is a pronoun that replaces bird, and "that Bard caught" modifies bird.  Therefore, bird is the antecedent, because it is the word being modified, and "that Bard caught" is the relative clause.

Ex. 2:

The mouse, which Bard ate, had destroyed my cheese.



"which Bard ate" is the relative clause, with which being the relative pronoun that replaces mouse.  Mouse is therefore the antecedent, being modified by "which Bard ate." 

Note:  Why did I use which in one example, and that in the other?  Because in the latter example, which Bard ate is a non-restrictive clause: there is only one mouse to which I could be referring.  In the former, that Bard caught is a restrictive clause: there are lots of birds, so I had to specify which one Bard caught.  Restrictive/non-restrictive clauses don't mean the same thing as relative clauses, but sound enough alike that they're easily confused.  Read up on that vs. which to compare!

Which as the object of a preposition

The barn at which I threw the baseball was blue.

The dragon with which I ate lunch smelled bad.

For which of the following would I pay $10?

Which can be used as the object of a preposition, in which case it is also considered a pronoun.  It can replace an undetermined object (for which), or act as a replacement for a determined object you don't want to restate (the dragon).  In the dragon's case, which should be used, despite the fact that "with which I ate lunch" is a restrictive phrase - because which is the object of the preposition with.

Incorrect: The dragon with that I ate lunch smelled bad.
Incorrect: The dragon that I ate lunch with smelled bad.  (Note: The latter use is accepted in most informal settings, but should not be used in formal writing, because it splits the preposition from the object of the preposition.)

Which can also refer to the previous clause as a whole (which we probably should have seen coming). 

We would later grow hungry, which we probably should have seen coming.

In this case, which is a pronoun replacing the entire previous clause.

In cases in which you are uncertain as to whether to use that or which, check out the Online Writing Lab at Purdue.

What's your favorite example of using which as an object of a preposition?