Word-Wednesday for December 14, 2021

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday, December 15, 2021, the 50th Wednesday of the year, the thirteenth Wednesday of fall, and the 349th day of the year, with 16 days remaining.


Wannaska Nature Update for December 15, 2021
Snow Flea Weather!

Nordhem Lunch: Tater Tot Hot Dish w/ Dinner Roll; Chile/Grilled Cheese w/ Egg Salad.


Earth/Moon Almanac for December 15, 2021
Sunrise: 8:11am; Sunset: 4:28pm; 32 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 2:32pm; Moonset: 4:37am, waxing gibbous, 86% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for December 15, 2021
                Average            Record              Today
High             18                     43                     40
Low                1                    -32                      8


December 15 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Cupcake Day
• Bill of Rights Day
• Cat Herders Day
• National Wear Your Pearls Day

December 15 Word Riddle
Why is the word queue ironic?*


December 15 Word Pun
During the Christmas season, I tell small rodent people puns at every opportunity, to no avail. 

I just can’t help mice-elf.


December 15 Roseau Times-Region Headline:
Truck Carrying Hair to Wig Factory Overturns on Highway 89:
Driver Reported Missing, Police Combing the Area

 

December 22 Etymology Word of the Week
Vaccine Etymology

 

December 15 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1582 Spanish Netherlands, Denmark and Norway adopt the Gregorian calendar.
• 1791 US Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gives its approval.
• 1810 First Irish magazine in US, Shamrock, is published.
• 1919 Edna St Vincent Millay's play Aria da Capo premieres.
• 1949 Albert Camus play, The Just Assassins premieres.

December 15 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1812 Isidor Dannström, Swedish composer.
• 1875 Emilio Jacinto, Filipino poet.
• 1892 David Guion, American composer of Home on the Range.
• 1896 Betty Smith, American author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
• 1911 Stan Kenton, American musician, jazz pianist, arranger and bandleader.
• 1913 Muriel Rukeyser, American poet.
• 1921 Bloody Mary
  
• 1930 Edna O'Brien, Irish novelist and short story writer.
• 1931 Evald Schorm, Czech film director.

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

• boyg: /ˈbȯig/ n., a formless or pervasive obstacle, problem, or enemy; a problem difficult to come to grips with because it strain the imagination or writers block.
• cunctator: /KUHNK-tay-ter/ n., a procrastinator; one who postpones work (especially out of laziness or habitual carelessness).
• fysigunkus: /fis-IH-gun-kus/ n., a person who lacks curiosity.
• goblocks: /GOB-loks/ n.pl., large mouthfuls of food.
• hebenon: /ˈhɛ-bə-nɒn/ n., anything containing a poison.
• mullocky: /ˈmə-lə-ki/ adj., dirty, untidy; rotten.
• obambulate: /ob-AM-byuh-leyt/ v., to walk in a leisurely, casual, or aimless way.
• scribacious: /ˌskraɪˈbeɪʃəs/ adj., enthusiastic about or fond of writing.
• travestied: /ˈ’trav-ə-stēd/ past participle, represented in a false or distorted way.
• zill: /zɪl/ n., a finger cymbal used to keep rhythm in belly-dancing.

December 15, 2021 Word-Wednesday Feature
Neologism
/nē-ˈäl-ə-jizəm/ n., a newly coined word or expression. Spanning the globe for news of the word each year, Word-Wednesday staff follow annual word celebrations, such as The Washington Post neologism contests. Contestants coin new words in a variety of different categories, such as the Tour de Fours, We Bee Back, and the Typo:

• hurrito: a pre-made, pre-hardened breakfast wrap.
• Streeptococcus: the acting bug.
• sayonada: So long, and thanks for nothing.

Here are the sixteen winners in the Language and Popular Culture category. Attentive Word-Wednesday readers will recognize some of these winners, which have been slipped into several Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge throughout 2021:

• abdicate: v., to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
• balderdash: n., a rapidly receding hairline.
• circumvent: n., the opening in the front of boxer shorts.
• coffee: n., a person who is coughed upon.
• esplanade: v., to attempt an explanation while drunk.
• flabbergasted: adj., appalled over how much weight you have gained.
• flatulence: n., the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
• Frisbeetarianism: n., The belief that, when you die, your Soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there
• gargoyle: n., an olive-flavored mouthwash.
• lymph: v., to walk with a lisp.
• negligent: adj., describes a condition in which you absent-mindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
• oyster: n., a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddish expressions.
• Pokemon: n., A Jamaican proctologist.
• rectitude: n., the formal, dignified demeanor assumed by a proctologist immediately before he examines you.
• testicle: n., a humorous question on an exam.
• willy-nilly: adj., impotent.

From A Year with Rilke, December 15 Entry
The Capacity to Be Alone, from Rome, December 23, 1903, Letters to a Young Poet

 
Could there be a solitude that had no value to it? There is only one solitude; it is vast and hard to bear. How often do we gladly exchange it for any kind of sociability, however trivial and cheap, or trade it for the appearance of agreement, however small, with the first person who comes along. But those may be the very moments when your solitude can grow; its growing is painful as the growing of boys and sad as the beginning of spring. But don’t be confused. All that is needed is the capacity to be alone with yourself, to go into yourself and meet no one for hours—that is what you need to achieve. To be alone, the way you were as a child, when the grown-ups walked around so busy and distracted by matters that seemed important because they were beyond your comprehension.



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.

*It’s just a “q” with a bunch of silent letters waiting in line.