[from the NB side ] Thesauri tricks

[Daniel Say say@xxxxxxxx]

For those one on the 'sister' Notabene list, here
is a recent thesauri trick.

Date:     Wed, 29 Jan 1997 22:09:26 -0500
Reply-To: Nota Bene List 
Sender: Nota Bene List 
From: Edward Yadzinski 
Subject:   Custom Thesauri

Dear NB LIST:

Perhaps some NB users might derive advantage from this:

At some point along the way it finally dawned on me that most
Thesaurus searches were for terms closely related to
one general subject area - (in my case program narratives on orchestral
music) - while NB's thesaurus does fine for most general purposes - the
one I find best -- BY FAR -- is a flying thesaurus (really a
customized lexicon) which I assembled myself - and if a clarinet player
can do it - anyone can

XPL to the rescue: It works like this - if/when/as I need a term with a
lively snap or scintillating ring...& if/when/as my senza con brio
imagination flails & fails -- then I hit CTRL/Home & POOF..! - right on
screen appears a rather long file with terms bunched like grapes around a
common stem -- say "resonance" has all around it:
 radiance, timbre, hue, color, lambent, ichor, lustre, resplendent,
 aerie, chroma, essence, celestial, sonoluminescence (there's a term!)
 etc etc etc

...in some cases fifty or more words surround any such "key-terms" -- then
via NB search the rest is easy

XPL encore: to build this flying thesaurus all that is needed is to hit
CTRL/SHIFT/Home & whatever line of text is at cursor gets copied into
the master file - which for convenience I call LEX.DEX...which about every
few weeks or so I open.cut.paste.refine --- but DO NOT ALPHABETIZE
because that is counter-creative...better to have myriad terms/tones like
butterflies & bees everywhere...

In fact I now have 3 such custom thesauri - one for music, another
for color/light, another called SERENDIP.DEX...a grab bag of things
"...too short & sweet for words" -- (Coventry Patmore)

My XPL.run skills are limited & primitive -- but these little routines
work without fail...and I was surprised at how quickly the LEX.DEX
developed

In sum -- It is a big surprise how much a "home-made" thesaurus
has become a boon - now invaluable - won't stay at home without it

Cheers

Ed Yadz