And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, November 17, 2021, the 46th Wednesday of the year, the ninth Wednesday of fall, and the 321st day of the year, with 44 days remaining.
Wannaska Nature Update for November 17, 2021
The Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is heading south away from our recent weather. Canada geese are known for their seasonal migrations. Most Canada geese have staging or resting areas where they join up with others. Their autumn migration can be seen from September to the beginning of November.The lifespan in the wild of geese that survive to adulthood ranges from 10 to 24 years.
Nordhem Lunch: Hot Beef Sandwich with dressing; Italian Wedding Soup; Grille Cheese Sandwich.
Earth/Moon Almanac for November 17, 2021
Sunrise: 7:36am; Sunset: 4:42pm; 2 minutes, 37 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 4:07pm; Moonset: 5:39am, waxing gibbous, 95% illuminated.
Temperature Almanac for November 17, 2021
Average Record Today
High 32 63 32
Low 17 -13 24
November 17 Celebrations from National Day Calendar
- National Butter Day
- National Baklava Day
- National Take A Hike Day
- National Homemade Bread Day
- National Educational Support Professionals Day
November 17 Word Riddle
How do you stop Canadian Bacon from curling in the pan?*
November 17 Word Pun
testicle: /ˈtes-tə-k(ə)l/ n., a humorous question on an exam.
November 17 Etymology Word of the Week
intelligence: /in-ˈte-lə-jəns/ n., the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills, from late 14c., "the highest faculty of the mind, capacity for comprehending general truths;" c. 1400, "faculty of understanding, comprehension," from Old French intelligence (12c.) and directly from Latin intelligentia, intellegentia "understanding, knowledge, power of discerning; art, skill, taste," from intelligentem (nominative intelligens) "discerning, appreciative," present participle of intelligere "to understand, comprehend, come to know," from assimilated form of inter "between" (see inter-) + legere "choose, pick out, read," from Proto-Indo-European root leg- (1) "to collect, gather," with derivatives meaning "to speak (to 'pick out words')."
November 17 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day
- 1853 Street signs authorized at San Francisco intersections.
- 1863 Abraham Lincoln begins first draft of his Gettysburg Address.
- 1917 Vladimir Lenin defends "temporary" removal of freedom of the press.
November 17 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day
- 1503 Il Bronzino, Florentine painter.
- 1690 Noel-Nicolas Coypel, French painter and cartoonist.
- 1790 August Ferdinand Möbius, German mathematician.
- 1808 Alberich Zwyssig, Swiss monk and composer.
- 1816 August Wilhelm Ambros, Austrian Czech musicologist .
- 1827 Petko Slavejkov, Bulgarian writer.
- 1859 Gerhard Schjelderup, Norwegian opera composer and musicologist.
- 1895 Gregorio López y Fuentes, Mexican author.
- 1904 Salomėja Nėris [Salomėja Bačinskaitė - Bučienė], Lithuanian poet.
- 1951 Nasty Canasta, Warner Brothers cartoon character.
Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge
Make a single sentence (or poem) from the following words:
- almuce: /ˈæl-mjus/ n., a hood, cape, or similar garment made of or lined with grey fur and worn by a member of a religious order (esp. a canon).
- bâtard: /bə-ˈtärd/ n., a short loaf of French bread having a oval or oblong shape.
- cascara: /ka-ˈsker-ə/ n., a purgative made from the dried bark of an American buckthorn.
- dybbuk: /ˈdi-bək/ n., (in Jewish folklore) a malevolent wandering spirit that enters and possesses the body of a living person until exorcized.
- epulary: /‘e-pju-lər-ē/ adj., of or relating to feasting.
- fosse: /fäs/ n., a long, narrow trench or excavation, especially in a fortification.
- ginnel: /ˈɡɪn-əl/ n., a narrow passageway between buildings.
- hebdomadal: /heb-ˈdä-mə-dᵊl/ adj., weekly.
- inscape: /ˈin-skāp/ n., the unique inner nature of a person or object as shown in a work of art, especially a poem.
- judas: /ˈjo͞o-dəs/ n., a peephole in a door.
November 17, 2021 Word-Wednesday Feature
language: /ˈlaN-Gɡwij; n., the principal method of human communication, consisting of words used in a structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture. Just as gaggles are composed of geese, murders of crows, prickles of porcupines, and sprinkles of snow fleas, the collective noun for words is surely language. Contributors and readers of Wannaskan Almanac share a love for words and language, and today, Word-Wednesday features some choice words from language lovers.
I like good, strong words, that mean something.
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
Language. I loved it. And for a long time I would think of myself, of my whole body, as an ear.
MAYA ANGELOU
A word is a bud attempting to become a twig.
GASTON BACHELARD
Words make love with one another.
ANDRE BRETON
I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels.
JOHN CALVIN
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
EMILY DICKINSON
Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still.
T. S. ELIOT
You can stroke people with words.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
Words themselves are the intimate attire of thoughts and feelings."
KAREN ELIZABETH GORDON
A word is no light matter. Words have with truth been called fossil poetry, each, that is, a symbol of a creative thought.
EDITH HAMILTON
In many souls, a hunger and thirst exists which can only be satisfied by printed words.
ERNEST HELLO
The mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that 'w-a-t-e-r' meant the wonderful
cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, joy, set it free!
HELEN KELLER
Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
RUDYARD KIPLING
To move among this bright, strange, often fabulous of beings, to summon them at my will to fasten them on to paper like flies, that they may decorate it, this is the pleasure of writing.
ROSE MACAULAY
The beautiful word begets the beautiful deed.
THOMAS MANN
A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
PROVERBS: 25:11
How long a time lies in one little word!
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Richard II
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet
A writer lives in awe of words for they can be cruel or kind, and they can change their meanings right in front of you. They pick up flavors and odors like butter in a refrigerator.
JOHN STEINBECK
I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead.
TOM STOPPARD
When old words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart; and where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with its wonders.
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
I fell in love—that is the only expression I can think of—at once, and am still at the mercy of words, though sometimes now, knowing a little of their behavior very well, I think I can influence them slightly and have even learned to beat them now and then, which they appear to enjoy.
DYLAN THOMAS
The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—'tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.
MARK TWAIN
Words should be an intense pleasure just as leather should be to a shoemaker.
EVELYN WAUGH
Uttering a word is like striking a note on the keyboard of the imagination.
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN
Words are always getting conventionalized to some secondary meaning. It is one of the works of poetry to take the truants in custody and bring them back to their right senses.
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
From A Year with Rilke, November 17 Entry
Orpheus, Do You Hear?, from Sonnets to Orpheus, I, 18
Orpheus, do you hear
the new sound
droning and roaring?
Many now exult in it.
Though the Machine
insists on our praise,
who can listen
with all this noise?
See, it rolls over everything,
weakening us
and taking our place.
Since its strength is of our making,
why can’t it serve
and not possess us?
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.
*Take away their little brooms.
"Take away their little brooms." Yoo yah! Too funny, eh Bouchard?
ReplyDelete"Betray me then, Judas? I'm looking at youse.
ReplyDelete"Can't hide in a fosse or inside your almuce.
"Some call you bâtard, some others dybbuk,
"You're like the cascara that makes them all puke.
"Bolt the table epulary, run down the ginnel,
" For those pieces of silver minted in hell.
"Your inscape shows out like a bloody red coat.
"In hebdomadal sermons, you're the holy scapegoat."
Ah!. One of my favorite subjects: words, those small elements that build empires, cause wars, create a religious congregation, and promise forever love. Actions may be a competitor for change, but the words stamp the actions in stone.
ReplyDeleteI dare to say that I had an experience somewhat like H. Keller's. Mine came in the form of a piece of grainy construction paper, held up by a Notre Dame nun, in front of a class of first graders. On the paper, one word was written in bold black letters surrounded by yellow rays of sunlight. The word was "GOD." It was a mystical moment that began a personal journey into the infinite re-presentation of all things we know