To satisfy those linking from hydrochloric acid:

M is a unit in chemistry called molarity.  Molarity means moles of a solute per liter of a solvent.

So 5 liters of a .5 M glucose aqueous (water is the solvent) solution will contain 2.5 moles of glucose molecules.
5 L * .5 M = 2.5 mol

The stock market symbol that the NYSE has reserved for Microsoft in an attempt to seduce it to transfer its stock listing over from the NASDAQ.

Also the Roman numeral for 1000. I'm actually looking forward to seeing movies copyright MM (rather than MCMXCIX) in 1999.

Gruff, terse boss/commander/ringleader who directs and wields James Bond's MI6 (a.k.a. Her Majesty's Secret Service). In the case of the original one in the Bond stories, it was an eponymous code name; his real name was Admiral Sir Miles Messervy. M indeed.

In the James Bond films, the part of M has been played by Bernard Lee, Robert Brown, and (presently) Dame Judi Dench.

Essential 1931 Fritz Lang film starring Peter Lorre (in his first major role) as a child murderer. Instead of concentrating on the killer or the crimes, Lang concentrates on the underworld's search for the demented murderer, as the enhanced police presence is bad for their business. This early talkie's minimal and dramatic use of sound, as well as its rather dark plot, put it way ahead of its time (not unlike his earlier film, the magnificent Metropolis). Lang's vision of a diseased world reminds us that the killer too is a victim, a somewhat controversial idea for such an early film.

Favorite scene: After Lorre buys a child a balloon, Lang shows us the child's mother calling the child for dinner. As her voice echoes among the empty streets, the camera cuts to a view of the balloon, tangled in the power lines.

Trivia: the Red Hot Chili Peppers' video for Otherside seems to be largely inspired by the images in this film, as well as in Metropolis.

"Who knows what it's like to be me?" -M

M is the 13th letter of the alphabet--in English anyway.

In the IPA and in many languages it represents a bilabial voiced nasal.

It is related to, among others, the Greek letter mu and the Hebrew letter mem.

M is the coolest letter of the alphabet, IMHO.

M was the name of an incarnation of Dave Pajo's band currently known as Papa M.

The group had one release which was split 7" with Monade. The song was entitled Vol De Nuit which was rereleased under the Aerial M moniker as a three-song single entitled Vivea.

"M." is an honorific applied to people in the Hyperion series of novels by Dan Simmons.

This title replaced "Mr." "Miss" "Ms." and "Mrs." (probably "Madame", "Monsieur" "Mademoiselle" and "Master", too), and I found it strangely pleasing to both the eye and ear. It added greatly to my sense of immersion in the books.

Examples: "M. Gladstone", "M. Weintraub", etc.

luser = M = M$

M pref. (on units) suff. (on numbers)

[SI] See quantifier.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

M is a novel by John Sack. Published in 1967, it is about M company of the US Army, its journey through bootcamp to Vietnam and back home. The book begins with a description of the boys as they are drafted, a little exposition on their training, what they thought about in Vietnam and ends with the return of one member of the company at the end of his tour. The person who returned was the least disciplined and most opinionated of the lot. An Armenian called Demirgian, he reminded me a bit of Yossarian in Catch-22. Those aren't the only similarities because the 2 books have a similar tone. One of flippancy at the absurdity of war.

I did not like the book because of that flippancy. Even though war is said to be good for nothing, among other such disparaging remarks; I, having only known it from books and films have an opinion about how it should be represented. The fact that it is a matter of life and death, a means to display the virtues of courage and valour (with all their attendant grandeur) means that a focus on its absurdities or a mocking attitude appear petty and mean. On the other hand, focusing too much on the grimness of wounds and dirt and death is just a downer and would make the work really unenjoyable. Thus, I'd like a more balanced presentation, like in the movie Good Morning, Vietnam which showed tragedy, comedy and absurdity in complementary proportions. Or We Were Soldiers, in which the protagonists acknowledged the humanity of their opponents. But perhaps a better book would be Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried A book whose prose is poetic in its beauty, reminding me of a poem by a north Vietnamese soldier:

The crab lies still on the chopping block
Never knowing when the knife will fall

I got that from a PBS documentary on the war. It was an objective and poignant narration of the war. Well worth watching. Unlike this book, which I really did not like and don't think is worth reading. It is a slim book, just 177 pages. Can be read in about 2 days. But it is not recommended.

Iron Noder 2020, 8/30

M (em).

1. M, the thirteenth letter of the English alphabet, is a vocal consonant, and from the manner of its formation, is called the labio-nasal consonant. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 178-180, 242.

The letter M came into English from the Greek, through the Latin, the form of the Greek letter being further derived from the Phœnician, and ultimately, it is believed, from the Egyptian. Etymologically M is related to n, in lime, linden; emmet, ant; also to b.

M is readily followed by b and p. the position of the lips in the formation of both letters being the same. The relation of b and m is the same as that of d and t to n. and that of g and k to ng.

2. As a numeral, M stands for one thousand, both in English and Latin.

 

© Webster 1913.


M, n.

1. (Print.) A quadrat, the face or top of which is a perfect square; also, the size of such a square in any given size of type, used as the unit of measurement for that type: 500 m's of pica would be a piece of matter whose length and breadth in pica m's multiplied together produce that number. [Written also em.]

2. (law) A brand or stigma, having the shape of an M, formerly impressed on one convicted of manslaughter and admitted to the benefit of clergy.

 

© Webster 1913.

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