Word-Wednesday, December 12, 2018

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, December 12, 2018, brought to you by Scandinavian Holiday Open House, 9:00am-4:00pm, En Liten Svensk Shoppe; and by the All Seasons Market, 10:00am-4:00pm, Four Seasons Center, Roseau.

December 12 is the 346th day of the year, with 19 days remaining until the end of the year, 110 days remaining until April Fools Day, and 1,168 days until Twosday, February 22, 2022.

Nordhem Lunch: Hot Turkey Plate

Earth/Moon Almanac for December 12, 2018
Sunrise: 8:08am; Sunset: 4:27pm
Moonrise: 11:53am; Moonset: 9:37pm, waxing crescent

Temperature Almanac for December 12, 2018
           Average      Record       Today
High       44               69             24
Low        27                -1              22

December 12 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Ambrosia Day
• National Ding-a-Ling Day
• Gingerbread House Day
• Poinsettia Day

December 12 Riddle
How do sheep in Mexico say "Merry Christmas"?*

December 12 Pun

December 12 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1792 In Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven (22) receives 1st lesson in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn
• 1920 Maurice Ravel's ballet La Valse premieres in Paris
• 1926 Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Sonata Number 1 premieres in Leningrad
• 1964 Shooting starts for Star Trek pilot

December 12 Author/Artist Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1821 Gustave Flaubert
• 1863 Edvard Munch

Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge
Make a single sentence (or poem) from the following words:

• chelonian: a reptile of the order Testudines (formerly Chelonia ); a turtle, terrapin, or tortoise.
• igneous: (of rock) having solidified from lava or magma; relating to or involving volcanic.
• ludic: showing spontaneous and undirected playfulness.
• precariat: people whose employment, income, and living standards are insecure or precarious; such people considered collectively as a social class.
• pareidolia: the perception of recognizable patterns or images, in random or vague arrangements of shapes, lines, colors.
• tribology: the study of friction, wear, lubrication, and the design of bearings; the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion.
• trophallaxis: the mutual exchange of regurgitated liquids between adult social insects or between them and their larvae.

December 12 Word-Wednesday Feature
Today we look at the fascinating phenomenon of the long place name. The longest known place name is Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu, coming in at 85 letters, which is Māori for "The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one".

Surveying the place names of Wannaskan Almanac contributors:
The longest Irish place name is Bullaunancheathrairaluinn, at 25 letters, meaning Bullaun of the Four Beauties.

The longest Norwegian place name is Kvernbergsundsødegården, at 23 letters, meaning "The Deserted Farm of The Mill Mountain Strait".

The longest Polish place name is Jazgarzewszczyzna, at 17 letters, meaning "Jazgarzewski's estate".

The longest place name in the Czech Republic resort to spaces, Nová Ves u Nového Města na Moravě, at 33 characters, meaning Nová Ves near New Town in Moravia.

For the Lebanese, one need go no further than their official country name, in Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية‎, and rendered in English, al-Jumhūrīyah al-Lubnānīyah, at 23 letters, meaning Lebanese Republic.

For the longest average number of letters in place names for any language, we can surely turn to our original neighbors, the Ojibwa, where at least one or more of our native loyal readers might provide some examples in the comment section.

Be better than yesterday, learn a new word today, and try to stay out of trouble - at least until tomorrow.

*Fleece Navidad