another story...
this goes back to when i was an undrgrad in comp. lit and was working with marc on my honors thesis...
i had written it all, was close to being done and met him in his office to see if he had any comments; he'd circled one word in the whole draft--liminal--and asked me why i'd used it; i said i liked it better than threshold, it sounded nicer, more lyrical and he said, no: you can't use use this word until you know what it means; there's a long history to this word and i want you to know what it is and then decide if it's still the word you want. i remember being frustrated for a few moments feeling my neatly laid plans of 'being done' and meeting deadlines, being derailed by more trips to the library, more research, more rewriting...but marc had said it in that voice that brooks no reistance so, ofcourse i immersed myself in the history of the word and it turned out to be one of the most important lessons in not using language loosely, not trusting the dictionary; it is a lesson that still resonates, and one that i continue to apply thanks to marc.
poonam