And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, July 8, 2020, the 28th Wednesday of the year, the third Wednesday of summer, and the 190th day of the year, with 176 days remaining.
Wannaska Nature Update for July 8, 2020
It’s a jungle out there!
Nordhem Lunch: Closed.
Earth/Moon Almanac for July 8, 2020
Sunrise: 5:30am; Sunset: 9:28pm; 1 minutes, 29 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 11:56pm; Moonset: 9:02am, waning gibbous
Temperature Almanac for July 8, 2020
Average Record Today
High 78 99 82
Low 56 41 61
July 8 Celebrations from National Day Calendar
July 8 Word Riddle
What letter causes a small word to make a loud noise?*
July 8 Pun
Eyes hurt from excess screen time? There’s a nap for that.
Wannaska Nature Update for July 8, 2020
It’s a jungle out there!
VITA BREVIS, MANDUCA GLOBUM CAVERNA
(Life is short, eat the donut.)
(Life is short, eat the donut.)
Earth/Moon Almanac for July 8, 2020
Sunrise: 5:30am; Sunset: 9:28pm; 1 minutes, 29 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 11:56pm; Moonset: 9:02am, waning gibbous
Temperature Almanac for July 8, 2020
Average Record Today
High 78 99 82
Low 56 41 61
July 8 Celebrations from National Day Calendar
- National Freezer Pop Day
- National Chocolate with Almonds Day
- International Town Criers Day
July 8 Word Riddle
What letter causes a small word to make a loud noise?*
July 8 Pun
Eyes hurt from excess screen time? There’s a nap for that.
July 8 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day
- 1777 Independent Vermont introduces a new constitution, prohibiting slavery.
- 1836 Charles Darwin reaches Saint Helena in HMS Beagle and takes up lodgings near the tomb of Napoleon.
- 1889 Wall Street Journal begins publishing.
- 1907 Florenz Ziegfeld stages first Follies on New York Theater roof.
- 1977 Sabra Starr finishes longest recorded belly dance, 100 hrs.
- 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is published.
- 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is published.
July 8 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day
- 1621 Jean de la Fontaine, French poet.
- 1857 Alfred Binet, French child psychologist who invented the first practical IQ test.
- 1869 William V Moody, American poet.
- 1891 Josef Hora, Czech writer/poet.
- 1898 Alec Waugh, English novelist.
- 1934 Marty Feldman.
July 8 Word Fact
“I’m sorry” and “I apologize” have the same meaning, unless you are at a funeral.
Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge
Make a single sentence (or poem) from the following words:
- ambigue: an ambiguous statement or expression.
- billyminawky: a foolish fellow; a dunce, fool, simpleton, schmuck.
- chicane: a hand without cards of one particular suit; a void.
- daedal: ingenious and complex in design or function; intricate; finely or skillfully made or employed; artistic. From Latin /daedalus/ from Classical Greek /daidalos/ from /daidallein/, to work artfully from Indo-European base an unverified form /del-/, to split, carve from source Classical Latin /dolere/, to feel pain.
- flibbertigibbet: a frivolous, flighty, or excessively talkative person.
- hupomnema: a note, a public record, a commentary, an anecdotal record, a draft, a copy, and other variations on those terms.
- mordacious: denoting or using biting sarcasm or invective.
- pulveratricious: covered in dust; dusty.
- quisquous: difficult to deal with or settle; perplexing; of dubious character.
- Taoiseach: the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland.
July 8, 2020 Word-Wednesday Feature
Palindrome
ˈpælənˌdroʊm, a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backward as forward, e.g., mom, madam, or a Santa at NASA. The art of the multi-word palindrome is to have it make sense on some level of the imagination.
Nurse, I spy gypsies—run!
or
A dog, a panic, in a pagoda.
as opposed to
Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
or
Six at party, no pony trap, taxis.
Word geeks find enjoy a good palindrome as much as Mr. Hot CoCo enjoys a good pun. Word geeks are unsurprised that palindromes exist in other languages. Looking to older languages, from Latin we have:
In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni”,
which translates as
“At night we spin around and are consumed by fire.”
From verse 21:33 of the Qur’an we have:
“كل في فلك”,
or
“Each floating in its orbit”.
In more modern languages, Japanese word geeks have:
“物虱炊狎”邸羌玟肺玟羌邸”狎炊虱物”,
rendered in English as,
“How many light clever cats are there?”
One of the most challenging exercises for any writer is to create an entire poem or tale in palindrome. Jim Puder came up with this in 2012:
Was it a canoe on a cat I saw?
Was it Lucy’s sassy cult I saw?
Was it Nurse Tate’s runt I saw?
Was it Ackroyd, a mad York cat, I saw?
Was it Wendel, Bram’s marbled newt, I saw?
Was it Lucy’s sassy cult I saw?
Was it Nurse Tate’s runt I saw?
Was it Ackroyd, a mad York cat, I saw?
Was it Wendel, Bram’s marbled newt, I saw?
Of course, no review of palindromes can be complete without Panama.
There are two world records for the longest Panama palindrome. One is held by Guy Steele:
And the other by a computer:
A man, a plan, a caret, a ban, a myriad, a sum, a lac, a liar, a hoop, a pint, a catalpa, a gas, an oil, a bird, a yell, a vat, a caw, a pax, a wag, a tax, a nay, a ram, a cap, a yam, a gay, a tsar, a wall, a car, a luger, a ward, a bin, a woman, a vassal, a wolf, a tuna, a nit, a pall, a fret, a watt, a bay, a daub, a tan, a cab, a datum, a gall, a hat, a fag, a zap, a say, a jaw, a lay, a wet, a gallop, a tug, a trot, a trap, a tram, a torr, a caper, a top, a tonk, a toll, a ball, a fair, a sax, a minim, a tenor, a bass, a passer, a capital, a rut, an amen, a ted, a cabal, a tang, a sun, an ass, a maw, a sag, a jam, a dam, a sub, a salt, an axon, a sail, an ad, a wadi, a radian, a room, a rood, a rip, a tad, a pariah, a revel, a reel, a reed, a pool, a plug, a pin, a peek, a parabola, a dog, a pat, a cud, a nu, a fan, a pal, a rum, a nod, an eta, a lag, an eel, a batik, a mug, a mot, a nap, a maxim, a mood, a leek, a grub, a gob, a gel, a drab, a citadel, a total, a cedar, a tap, a gag, a rat, a manor, a bar, a gal, a cola, a pap, a yaw, a tab, a raj, a gab, a nag, a pagan, a bag, a jar, a bat, a way, a papa, a local, a gar, a baron, a mat, a rag, a gap, a tar, a decal, a tot, a led, a tic, a bard, a leg, a bog, a burg, a keel, a doom, a mix, a map, an atom, a gum, a kit, a baleen, a gala, a ten, a don, a mural, a pan, a faun, a ducat, a pagoda, a lob, a rap, a keep, a nip, a gulp, a loop, a deer, a leer, a lever, a hair, a pad, a tapir, a door, a moor, an aid, a raid, a wad, an alias, an ox, an atlas, a bus, a madam, a jag, a saw, a mass, an anus, a gnat, a lab, a cadet, an em, a natural, a tip, a caress, a pass, a baronet, a minimax, a sari, a fall, a ballot, a knot, a pot, a rep, a carrot, a mart, a part, a tort, a gut, a poll, a gateway, a law, a jay, a sap, a zag, a fat, a hall, a gamut, a dab, a can, a tabu, a day, a batt, a waterfall, a patina, a nut, a flow, a lass, a van, a mow, a nib, a draw, a regular, a call, a war, a stay, a gam, a yap, a cam, a ray, an ax, a tag, a wax, a paw, a cat, a valley, a drib, a lion, a saga, a plat, a catnip, a pooh, a rail, a calamus, a dairyman, a bater, a canal, Panama!
A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.
A man, a plan, a cat, a canal, Panama.
A man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal, Panama!
A man, a plan, a cat, a canal, Panama.
A man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal, Panama!
There are two world records for the longest Panama palindrome. One is held by Guy Steele:
A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs, a coloratura, maps, snipe, percale, macaroni, a gag, a banana bag, a tan,
a tag,
a banana bag again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, Spam, a rut, a Rolo, cash, a jar, sore hats, a peon, a canal, Panama!
And the other by a computer:
A man, a plan, a caret, a ban, a myriad, a sum, a lac, a liar, a hoop, a pint, a catalpa, a gas, an oil, a bird, a yell, a vat, a caw, a pax, a wag, a tax, a nay, a ram, a cap, a yam, a gay, a tsar, a wall, a car, a luger, a ward, a bin, a woman, a vassal, a wolf, a tuna, a nit, a pall, a fret, a watt, a bay, a daub, a tan, a cab, a datum, a gall, a hat, a fag, a zap, a say, a jaw, a lay, a wet, a gallop, a tug, a trot, a trap, a tram, a torr, a caper, a top, a tonk, a toll, a ball, a fair, a sax, a minim, a tenor, a bass, a passer, a capital, a rut, an amen, a ted, a cabal, a tang, a sun, an ass, a maw, a sag, a jam, a dam, a sub, a salt, an axon, a sail, an ad, a wadi, a radian, a room, a rood, a rip, a tad, a pariah, a revel, a reel, a reed, a pool, a plug, a pin, a peek, a parabola, a dog, a pat, a cud, a nu, a fan, a pal, a rum, a nod, an eta, a lag, an eel, a batik, a mug, a mot, a nap, a maxim, a mood, a leek, a grub, a gob, a gel, a drab, a citadel, a total, a cedar, a tap, a gag, a rat, a manor, a bar, a gal, a cola, a pap, a yaw, a tab, a raj, a gab, a nag, a pagan, a bag, a jar, a bat, a way, a papa, a local, a gar, a baron, a mat, a rag, a gap, a tar, a decal, a tot, a led, a tic, a bard, a leg, a bog, a burg, a keel, a doom, a mix, a map, an atom, a gum, a kit, a baleen, a gala, a ten, a don, a mural, a pan, a faun, a ducat, a pagoda, a lob, a rap, a keep, a nip, a gulp, a loop, a deer, a leer, a lever, a hair, a pad, a tapir, a door, a moor, an aid, a raid, a wad, an alias, an ox, an atlas, a bus, a madam, a jag, a saw, a mass, an anus, a gnat, a lab, a cadet, an em, a natural, a tip, a caress, a pass, a baronet, a minimax, a sari, a fall, a ballot, a knot, a pot, a rep, a carrot, a mart, a part, a tort, a gut, a poll, a gateway, a law, a jay, a sap, a zag, a fat, a hall, a gamut, a dab, a can, a tabu, a day, a batt, a waterfall, a patina, a nut, a flow, a lass, a van, a mow, a nib, a draw, a regular, a call, a war, a stay, a gam, a yap, a cam, a ray, an ax, a tag, a wax, a paw, a cat, a valley, a drib, a lion, a saga, a plat, a catnip, a pooh, a rail, a calamus, a dairyman, a bater, a canal, Panama!
Can you find the middle?
Now that your mind has been thoroughly numbed, please take time to let your imagination soar with these human-generated palindromes, and check out this Web site if you want to play with developing your own.
Or as Chairman Joe's youngest son heard just after he proposed to Victoria:
From A Year with Rilke, July 8 Entry
The Island (II), from New Poems.
As if lying in some crater on the moon,
each farm is encircled by its earthen banks.
And like orphans the gardens inside
are dressed and combed the same
by the storm that rises them so roughly,
scaring them all the time with threats of death.
That’s when you stay indoors, gazing into
the crooked mirror at the assorted things
reflected there. Toward the evening one of you
steps outside the door and draws from the harmonica
a sound as soft as weeping
such as you heard once in a distant port.
Out there, silhouetted against the sky,
one of the sheep stands motionless on the far dike.
Now that your mind has been thoroughly numbed, please take time to let your imagination soar with these human-generated palindromes, and check out this Web site if you want to play with developing your own.
Deliver no evil, avid diva I saw die.
Able I was ere I saw Elba.
Madam, I’m Adam.
Rats live on no evil star.
Niagara, O roar again!
Yes, Syd, Owen saved Eva’s new Odyssey.
Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog!
A nan, a banal plan—a banana!
O, Geronimo, no minor ego.
Able I was ere I saw Elba.
Madam, I’m Adam.
Rats live on no evil star.
Niagara, O roar again!
Yes, Syd, Owen saved Eva’s new Odyssey.
Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog!
A nan, a banal plan—a banana!
O, Geronimo, no minor ego.
Or as Chairman Joe's youngest son heard just after he proposed to Victoria:
“Now, Ned, I am a maiden won.”
From A Year with Rilke, July 8 Entry
The Island (II), from New Poems.
As if lying in some crater on the moon,
each farm is encircled by its earthen banks.
And like orphans the gardens inside
are dressed and combed the same
by the storm that rises them so roughly,
scaring them all the time with threats of death.
That’s when you stay indoors, gazing into
the crooked mirror at the assorted things
reflected there. Toward the evening one of you
steps outside the door and draws from the harmonica
a sound as soft as weeping
such as you heard once in a distant port.
Out there, silhouetted against the sky,
one of the sheep stands motionless on the far dike.
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.
*d makes in into din.
ReplyDeleteBilly, my friend, who lives in Milwaukee
In a cruel hupomneme called me billyminawky
A flibbertigibbet I am and often loquacious
But there’s no call for him to be mean and mordacious
So I fashioned some wings out of my cradle
Flew to Old Mil, even Bill thought that daedal
We went to a pub run by an old Taoiseach
“Let’s play us some cards, for your insult, I’ll teach ya”
But the cards were pulveraticious and quisquous for starts
“What’s this chicanery! The deck has no hearts!”
Then the old president wondered what he should do
Said, “I think, have a drink?” in a mood ambigue”
Hupomnema: a note
Billyminawky: a foolish fellow
Flibbertigibbet: a flighty fellow
Mordacious: bitterly sarcastic
Daedal: ingenious in design
Taoiseach: president of Ireland
Pulveraticious: dusty
Quisquous: difficult to deal with
Chicane: hand with no cards of one suit
Ambigue: ambiguous statement
I do enjoy a good pun...and palindrome! But a pun/palindrome hybrid...that would be awesome!
ReplyDeleteBelow is my poor offering. I'll never write like the Chairman! Is that a good thing? I must admit, my poet's ego worries that His Highness the Scribe will catch up to my Monday posts. Is that a good thing? That assumes he is behind me which I'm an ass for assuming. Eneways . . .
ReplyDeleteOh, palindrome
please stay at home
so our brains
can stay mostly sane
away from you
and your spelly brew
There must be
something more for me
than to slap my knee
and say you are fine
like some too-old wine
when all along
it's the same old song:
At play with words
We must all be nerds
See, I told you. The Chairman wins
Sheesh! K-fuffle! B-Dangga!