And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, March 28, 2018, brought to you by Lawson, Lawton, Lawman, and La-La, P.D.G., Serious Law; Lyrical Filings, new offices opening soon in suburban Williams.
March 28 is the 87th day of the year with are 278 days remaining until the end of the year and 363 days remaining until the Chairman's next birthday.
Earth/Moon Almanac for March 28
Sunrise: 7:10am; Sunset: 7:48pm
Moonrise: 4:31pm; Moonset: 6:04am
Temperature Almanac for March 28
Average Record
High 39 74
Low 20 -28
National Black Forest Cake Day
National Weed Appreciation Day
National Little Red Wagon Day
National Something on a Stick Day
Notable historic events, literary or otherwise, include:
Astrid Lindgren sprains her ankle and begins writing Pippi Longstocking, 1944
Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and Nobel Prize laureate, makes a famous statement on the BBC World Service opposing the junta in Greece, 1969
Pope Francis becomes the first Pope to wash the feet of women in the Maundy Thursday service, 2013
Author birthdays include:
Teresa of Avila/Teresa de Jesus, 1515, Spanish mystic writer/saint
Maxim Gorky, 1868, The Lower Depths
Bohumil Hrabal, 1914, Czech author of Too Loud a Solitude
Mario Vargas Llosa, 1936, Peruvian writer, poet, journalist, presidential candidate and Nobel Prize Laureate for Aunt Julia
Daniel Dennett, 1942, American philosopher, From Bacteria to Bach and Back
Words I looked up this week:
March 28 is the 87th day of the year with are 278 days remaining until the end of the year and 363 days remaining until the Chairman's next birthday.
Earth/Moon Almanac for March 28
Sunrise: 7:10am; Sunset: 7:48pm
Moonrise: 4:31pm; Moonset: 6:04am
Temperature Almanac for March 28
Average Record
High 39 74
Low 20 -28
National Black Forest Cake Day
National Weed Appreciation Day
National Little Red Wagon Day
National Something on a Stick Day
Notable historic events, literary or otherwise, include:
Astrid Lindgren sprains her ankle and begins writing Pippi Longstocking, 1944
Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and Nobel Prize laureate, makes a famous statement on the BBC World Service opposing the junta in Greece, 1969
Pope Francis becomes the first Pope to wash the feet of women in the Maundy Thursday service, 2013
Author birthdays include:
Teresa of Avila/Teresa de Jesus, 1515, Spanish mystic writer/saint
Maxim Gorky, 1868, The Lower Depths
Bohumil Hrabal, 1914, Czech author of Too Loud a Solitude
Mario Vargas Llosa, 1936, Peruvian writer, poet, journalist, presidential candidate and Nobel Prize Laureate for Aunt Julia
Daniel Dennett, 1942, American philosopher, From Bacteria to Bach and Back
Words I looked up this week:
bursary, droll, evince, gaydar, inapposite, obsequies, olio, oneiric, poltroon, sardonic
Today's Riddle:
As certain readers have noted the low-brow nature of Word-Wednesday riddles, so today's more literary riddle comes from The Exeter Book [Codex Exoniensis], "mycel Englisc boc be gehwilcum þingum on leoð-wisan geworht" [a large English book of poetic works about all sorts of things], written in Old English some time between 960 and 990, first heard of in the library of the first Bishop of Exeter, Leofric, in 1072. The Exeter Book is one of only four Old English books to have survived to the present, the most famous of which is Beowulf. In recent times, interest in The Exeter Book has been rekindled, particularly by WH Auden and JRR [John Ronald Reuel] Tolkien, both known to have been influenced by The Exeter Book poems and riddles. Today's riddle is number 25 of that collection, where the answer to this riddle is a word-lovers delight.
I'm a strange creature, for I satisfy women,
a service to the neighbors! No one suffers
at my hands except for my slayer.
I grow very tall, erect in a bed,
I'm hairy underneath. From time to time
a good-looking girl, the doughty daughter
of some churl dares to hold me,
grips my russet skin, robs me of my head
and puts me in the pantry. At once that girl
with plaited hair who has confined me
remembers our meeting. Her eye moistens.*
Today's Riddle:
As certain readers have noted the low-brow nature of Word-Wednesday riddles, so today's more literary riddle comes from The Exeter Book [Codex Exoniensis], "mycel Englisc boc be gehwilcum þingum on leoð-wisan geworht" [a large English book of poetic works about all sorts of things], written in Old English some time between 960 and 990, first heard of in the library of the first Bishop of Exeter, Leofric, in 1072. The Exeter Book is one of only four Old English books to have survived to the present, the most famous of which is Beowulf. In recent times, interest in The Exeter Book has been rekindled, particularly by WH Auden and JRR [John Ronald Reuel] Tolkien, both known to have been influenced by The Exeter Book poems and riddles. Today's riddle is number 25 of that collection, where the answer to this riddle is a word-lovers delight.
I'm a strange creature, for I satisfy women,
a service to the neighbors! No one suffers
at my hands except for my slayer.
I grow very tall, erect in a bed,
I'm hairy underneath. From time to time
a good-looking girl, the doughty daughter
of some churl dares to hold me,
grips my russet skin, robs me of my head
and puts me in the pantry. At once that girl
with plaited hair who has confined me
remembers our meeting. Her eye moistens.*
Back in the January 08, 2018 edition of The New Yorker, Louis Menand wrote the COMMENT section in The Talk of the Town, titled, "Words of the Year". Many of the major dictionaries honor different choices:
Oxford Dictionaries: youthquake
Cambridge Dictionary: populism
Merriam-Webster Dictionary: feminism
Dictionary.com: complicit
and my favorite
Macquarie Dictionary: milkshake duck
Criteria used by different dictionaries selected a word-of-the-year vary widely. If dictionaries honor words, so should the Wannaskan Almanac. WA Word of the Year nominations are now open.
Be more colorful than yesterday, learn a new word today, and to stay out of trouble - at least until tomorrow.
*Accepted socially acceptable answers include: onion, leek, hip of the wild rose, hemp, and mustard;
Accepted innuendo answers include, in Old English: pintle, pillicok, prick, pillo(c)k, pusher, pouting stick, horny pipe, and linkie pinkie
Oxford Dictionaries: youthquake
Cambridge Dictionary: populism
Merriam-Webster Dictionary: feminism
Dictionary.com: complicit
and my favorite
Macquarie Dictionary: milkshake duck
Criteria used by different dictionaries selected a word-of-the-year vary widely. If dictionaries honor words, so should the Wannaskan Almanac. WA Word of the Year nominations are now open.
Be more colorful than yesterday, learn a new word today, and to stay out of trouble - at least until tomorrow.
*Accepted socially acceptable answers include: onion, leek, hip of the wild rose, hemp, and mustard;
Accepted innuendo answers include, in Old English: pintle, pillicok, prick, pillo(c)k, pusher, pouting stick, horny pipe, and linkie pinkie
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