Word-Wednesday for June 30, 2021

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, June 30, 2021, the 26th Wednesday of the year, the second Wednesday of summer, and the 181st day of the year, with 184 days remaining.


Wannaska Nature Update for June 30, 2021
Blueberry Status

Coming along…

Nordhem Lunch: Closed


Earth/Moon Almanac for June 30, 2021
Sunrise: 5:24am; Sunset: 9:31pm; 50 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 1:01am; Moonset: 12:09pm, waxing gibbous, 63% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for June 30, 2021
                Average            Record              Today
High             77                     96                     87
Low              55                    38                     59


June 30 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Meteor Watch Day
• Social Media Day
• National OOTD Day
• National Parchment Day

June 30 Word Riddle
Why do lawyers love Mexican restaurants*


June 30 Pun
Our neighbor’s dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.


June 30 Etymology Word of the Week

Click here for larger version.

June 30 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1860 Famous debate on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution held at the Oxford University Museum and dominated by arguments between Thomas Henry Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce.
• 1862 Gustave Flaubert completes his novel Salammbo.
• 1936 Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind published.
• 1938 Superman first appears in DC Comics' Action Comics Series issue #1.

June 30 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1685 John Gay, English poet and dramatist.
• 1722 Jiří Antonín Benda, Czech composer and violinist.
• 1803 Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet.

June 30, 2021 Song of Myself
Verse 35 of 52
Would you hear of an old-time sea-fight?
Would you learn who won by the light of the moon and stars?
List to the yarn, as my grandmother’s father the sailor told it to me.

Our foe was no skulk in his ship I tell you, (said he,)
His was the surly English pluck, and there is no tougher or truer, and never was, and never will be;
Along the lower’d eve he came horribly raking us.

We closed with him, the yards entangled, the cannon touch’d,
My captain lash’d fast with his own hands.

We had receiv’d some eighteen pound shots under the water,
On our lower-gun-deck two large pieces had burst at the first fire, killing all around and blowing up overhead.

Fighting at sun-down, fighting at dark,
Ten o’clock at night, the full moon well up, our leaks on the gain, and five feet of water reported,
The master-at-arms loosing the prisoners confined in the after-hold to give them a chance for themselves.

The transit to and from the magazine is now stopt by the sentinels,
They see so many strange faces they do not know whom to trust.

Our frigate takes fire,
The other asks if we demand quarter?
If our colors are struck and the fighting done?

Now I laugh content, for I hear the voice of my little captain, We have not struck, he composedly cries, we have just begun our part of the fighting.

Only three guns are in use,
One is directed by the captain himself against the enemy’s mainmast,
Two well serv’d with grape and canister silence his musketry and clear his decks.

The tops alone second the fire of this little battery, especially the main-top,
They hold out bravely during the whole of the action.

Not a moment’s cease,
The leaks gain fast on the pumps, the fire eats toward the powder-magazine.

One of the pumps has been shot away, it is generally thought we are sinking.

Serene stands the little captain,
He is not hurried, his voice is neither high nor low,
His eyes give more light to us than our battle-lanterns.

Toward twelve there in the beams of the moon they surrender to us.


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

• addlepated: /AD-uhl-pey-tid/ adj., having or showing a muddled or confused mind; confused, stupid, or befuddled; mixed up; addled; flustered; eccentric.
• confute: tell someone about a secret or private matter while trusting them not to repeat it to others.
• griot: /'grē-rēō/ n., a member of a class of traveling poets, musicians, and storytellers who maintain a tradition of oral history in parts of West Africa.
• ingannation: /IN-gah-NAY-shun/ n., a cheat, trick or clever deception.
• kenspeckle: /ˈkenˌspek(ə)l/ adj., easily recognizable; conspicious.
• laodicean: /lāˌädəˈsēən/ adj., lukewarm or halfhearted, especially with respect to religion or politics.
• mephitic: /məˈfidik/ adj., smelly.
• pleonexia: /PLEE-oh-NEX-ee-ya/ n., extreme greed for wealth or material possessions; avarice; covetousness.
• schlub: /SHləb/ n., a talentless, unattractive, or boorish person.
• wheeple: [WEE-puhl] v., to give forth a prolonged whistle or shrill cry; to make an ineffectual attempt to whistle; also, to whistle in a low and flat tone.

June 30, 2021 Word-Wednesday Feature
Words and Phrases from Minnesoter
Yesterday we read about the World of Canadas, and today Wannaskan Almanac looks a little closer to home.  We native Minnesotans tend to look down our unusually long noses at other dialects in these great United States, but we seem blind to our own distinctly unique cultural and linguistic peculiarities. I remember being teased by my cousins whenever they visited from California, where they noted that we seem to vocalize as much through our long noses as we do through our mouths. Remember the first time you ever watched Fargo? I remember my mom complaining (in a nice way) that we don’t talk like that.

The land of 10,000 lakes is a place where people try to be nice, and frequently do so by turning phrases into exclamations, where some Minnesotans always exclaim, and where some Minnesotan's never exclaim. Here are a few favorites, used from barnyard to boardroom:

borrow me: beginning of a request to use someone else's property or belonging.

breezers: hockey pants.

cold: temperatures double-digits below zero.

could be worse: statement made after hearing bad news.

crapola: exclamation of incredulity used to avoid profanity. (!)

darn tootin: phrase used to avoid profanity. (!)

didn't care for it: severe criticism of an unfamiliar food.

dontcha know: statement at the end of a sentence to express universal certainty in the proposition just stated.

fer cripes sake: another phrase used to avoid profanity. (!)

fer cute: that is attractive. (!)

geeze: exclamation of disbelief to avoid taking the Lord’s first name in vain. (!)

gosh darn it: another phrase used to avoid taking the Lord’s name in vain. (!)

hotdish: casserole.

I didn't hate it: criticism slightly less severe than "I don't care for it", which would not be nice.

I'm just gonna squeeze right past ya there: excuse me.

interesting: passive-aggressive criticism slightly less severe than "I didn't hate it" used when something should be judged and critiqued but the speaker  doesn’t want to explain their reasoning because it might be perceived as offensive (not nice).

it was fine: criticism less severe than "interesting" to avoid being not nice.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph: exclamation of shock using only the first name of the Lord along with his parents' first names to avoid appearances of taking the Lord's name in vain. (!)

kinda spendy: criticism of what others have spent on a purchase while trying to be nice about it.

oh fer crying out loud: exclamation of frustration (but plausible deniability of actual anger, which would not be nice). (!)

okie dokie: yes.

outstate: anyplace else than the Twin Cities.

pop: any sweetened carbonated beverage.

skol: cheers.

time to say goodbye: attempt to leave in a nice way.

uff-da, offda, offdah: exclamation of surprise - multiple contexts. (!)

up nort: anywhere north of Interstate 694

what the heck: question meant to imply another person's behavior or decision is unfathomable while trying to be nice about it. (!)

Wisconsin: place to buy fireworks; where Cheeseheads and Sconnies live.

you betcha: phrase uttered to express or solicit agreement.

From A Year with Rilke, June 30 Entry
I Dig for You, God, Like Treasure, from The Book of Hours II, 34

My hands are bloody from digging.
I lift them, hold them open in the wind,
so they can branch like a tree.

Reaching, these hands would pull you out of the sky
as if you had shattered there,
dashed yourself to pieces in some wild impatience.

What is this I feel falling now,
falling on this parched earth,
softly,
like a spring rain?



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.


*That’s where they get great case ideas.