And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, January 16, 2019, brought to you by the Middle River Winter Fest 2019 on Sunday, January 20 at the Middle River Legacy Building. You’ll find lots of food, drawings, and events, and admission is totally and completely free. The fun starts at 2pm with Snowshoe Bingo, followed by a Dodgeball Tournament and Adult and Kid Sign Making, both at 3pm. Don't miss the Great Chili Cook-Off at 5pm. Finish off the day with the Moonlight Luminary Walk at 7pm, when temperatures should be well above -10F. All proceeds will go to the Legacy Building.
January 16 is the 16th day of the year, with 349 days remaining until the end of the year, 75 days remaining until April Fools Day, and 1,133 days until Twosday, February 22, 2022.
Nordhem Lunch: Hot Ham Sandwich w/Potatoes & Gravy
Earth/Moon Almanac for January 16, 2019
Sunrise: 8:10am; Sunset: 4:55pm; 2 minutes, 12 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 1:11pm; Moonset: 3:02am, waxing gibbous
Temperature Almanac for January 16, 2019
Average Record Today
High 12 38 3
Low 7 -42 -8
January 16 Grammar
From Charles Dickens: "I am the Ghost of Christmas Future Imperfect Conditional", said the spirit. "I bring news of what would have been going to happen, if you were not to have been going to change your ways."
January 16 Celebrations from National Day Calendar
- National Without a Scalpel Day
- National Nothing Day
- National Religious Freedom Day
- National Fig Newton Day
January 16 Literary Riddle
Emma's Riddle, from Jane Austen's Emma:
My first displays the wealth and pomp of kings,
Lords of the earth! their luxury and ease.
Another view of man, my second brings,
Behold him there, the monarch of the seas!*
January 16 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day
- 1492 The first grammar of a modern language, Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
- 1605 The first edition of "El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha" (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid.
- 1938 First jazz concert held at Carnegie Hall, featuring Benny Goodman.
- 1939 Daily newspaper comic strip "Superman" debuts.
- 1988 Czech dissident Václav Havel is arrested in Prague for taking part in demonstrations against the communist government.
- 1868 Cyril Metodej Hrazdira, Czech composer
- 1890 Lloyd Bacon, US actor (Charlie Chaplin)
- 1901 Frank Zamboni, American inventor
- 1908 Ethel Merman
- 1932 Dian Fossey, American zoologist
- 1933 Susan Sontag
Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge
Make a single sentence (or poem) from the following words:
- jabroni: a stupid, objectionable, or ridiculous man; a loser, a knuckle-head.
- odor: a lingering quality or impression attaching to something; a state of being held in a specified regard; state of holiness; a distinctive smell, especially an unpleasant one.
- pentalpha: pentagram, so called for its resemblance to five alphas superimposed at different rotations.
- skittle: one of the pins used in the English ninepins game played with a wooden disk or ball
- spinney: a small area of trees and bushes.
- treacle: a thick, sticky dark syrup made from partly refined sugar; molasses; cloying sentimentality or flattery.
- tussock: a small area of grass that is thicker or longer than the grass growing around it; a woodland moth whose adults and brightly colored caterpillars both bear tufts of irritant hairs.
- verbarian: of or relating to words.
January 16 Word-Wednesday Feature
This week we examine the demonym, from Greek δῆμος, dêmos, "people" and όνομα, ónoma, "name". Demonyms are words that identify residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place, e.g., Wannaskans are from Wannaska.
Another interesting set of words sometimes associated with the discussion of demonyms is the word ethnonym: a name applied to a given ethnic group. Please note that ethnonyms are divided into two categories that depend upon the native status of the user. Foreigners use exonyms: a name used by non-native persons to refer to a people or social group that the group itself does not use, such as Germans for Deutsche. A country's or ethnic groups native persons to refer to themselves or their language with names referred to as autonyms.
Writer's note: In English, demonyms are capitalized, and demonyms are commonly used in the adjective form of the country the natives inhabit, but not always: a person from Egypt is an Egyptian, but a person from Spain is a Spaniard, not a Spanish.
And just to split hairs, some differentiate a further classification with the word gentilic: of or relating to a noun or adjective that denotes ethnic or national affiliation. One of the most famous fictional examples of gentilic fabrications are the Lilliputians and Brobdingnagians, from the islands of Lilliput and Brobdingnag, respectively, Jonathan Swift's, Gulliver's Travels.
Do your research for existing informal demonyms if you write fiction about an actual place. While we all know Australians like to be called Aussies, and while those of us in Palmville Township are raised to know who Canucks are, those from Connecticut like to be called Nutmeggers; those from Liverpool like to be called either Scousers or Liverpudians; some from Pittsburgh like to be called Yinzers; and those from Sydney, Australia like to be called Sydneysiders.
Be better than yesterday, learn a new word today, try to stay out of trouble - at least until tomorrow, and write when you have the time.
*courtship
Regarding Lloyd Bacon: I looked him up to see why Charlie Chaplins's name was in parentheses. Of course! Lloyd co-starred with Charlie in "The Tramp."
ReplyDeleteBut I discovered Bacon was born not on this day but on Dec. 4, 1889. Were you using the Julian calendar? That would account for the discrepancy.
Setting up skittle's a job for jabronis.
ReplyDeleteA pentalpha on my door will warn off the phonies.
Fluffed up my tussock, Spruced up my spinney.
Crankin' treacle verbarian until I grow skinny.
My critics say I'm bonkers, crazy, insane
That's fine: an authorial odor I'll gain.
I think your Word-Wednesday poems are my new favorite. And that's saying a lot because I adore the squibs.
DeleteThe goal is to use all the words in as few lines as possible. Doing it in a haiku is my Rubik's cube.
DeleteI wonder what Woe is reading to find such words.
Word-Wednesday reflections:
ReplyDeleteMiddle River Winter Fest 2019 on Sunday, January 20th sounds like a blast and I would love to attend! (Please confirm authenticity of said event?)
I can't wait until Twosday, February 22, 2022. John is so lucky.
I'll gladly take 12 more seconds of sunshine.
Here's a hat tip (klobouk dolu!) for the Czech mentions. I have several fiction and nonfiction books by Havel if you're interested.
What would the hockey world be like without Zamboni? As a teen, I adored Dian Fossey (Gorillas in the Mist came out during my impressionable adolescent years). I have a book by Susan Sontag still unread on my bookshelf. Must read.
Demonyms - What do you call a person from Japan? Last week I was working on character development and landed on the very interesting Hafu2Hafu Project. A Japanese-Belgian photographer wants to interview and photograph people from every recognized country in the world that is half-Japanese. "Hafu" is the Japanese derogatory term for a person who is not fully Japanese. The project is fascinating. Which led to the discovery of the awkwardness that came in describing the man from Belgium with the Japanese dad and Belgian mom. I described him as a Japanese-Belgian which feels only slightly less awkward than a Belgian-Japanese.
https://hafu2hafu.org/
Winter Fest confirmation: https://wiktel.com/
ReplyDeleteNemáš zač! Naším cílem je potěšit.
Character development idea: As a reader, I would enjoy learning how the Japanese-Belgian character personally struggles with her ethnonymic/exonymic/autonymic contradictions, both with respect to how others treat her and how she struggles with her sense of selfhood. What a marvelous window into a character's identity! In the end, your character may decide to be idionymic, where she develops her own personalized demonym along the lines of Jonathan Swift, and where her personalized demonym is a clever combination of her Japanese, Belgian, and current local affiliations. For example, if she currently lives in London, she might call herself Beljapanockney.