And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday, March 2, 2022, the ninth Wednesday of the year, the eleventh Wednesday of winter, and the 61st day of the year, with 304 days remaining.
Wannaska Nature Update for March 2, 2022
Spring happens this month; the forest awaits...
Mark your calendars: Astronomical Spring begins on March 20 in Wannaska at 10:33am.
March 2 Nordhem Lunch: Updated daily.
Earth/Moon Almanac for March 2, 2022
Sunrise: 7:04am; Sunset: 6:08pm; 3 minutes, 34 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 7:34pm; Moonset: 6:08pm, new moon, 0% illuminated.
Temperature Almanac for March 2, 2022
Average Record Today
High 26 44 15
Low 3 -34 -18
Days without a humpf-humpf-a-dumpfer-related injury for Wannaskan Almanac contributing authors:
27,370
March 2 Celebrations from National Day Calendar
- National Banana Cream Pie Day
- National Old Stuff Day
- World Teen Mental Wellness Day
- National Read Across America Day (Dr. Seuss Day)
- Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent)
March 2 Word Riddle
Gravity is the most fundamental force in the universe. What would happen if you took it away?*
March 2 Dr. Seuss Word Pun
There's nobody
than
March 2 Etymology Word of the Week
nerd: /nərd/ (n.) 1951, U.S. student slang, probably an alteration of 1940s slang nert "stupid or crazy person," itself an alteration of nut. The word turns up in a Dr. Seuss book from 1950 ("If I Ran the Zoo"), which may have contributed to its rise.
March 2 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day
- 1789 Pennsylvania ends prohibition of theatrical performances.
- 1872 Louis Riel goes into voluntary exile in St. Paul, Minnesota.
- 1939 Massachusetts Legislature votes to ratify the US Bill of Rights - 147 years late.
- 1955 William Inge's Bus Stop premieres.
March 2 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day
- 1578 George Sandys, English colonist and poet.
- 1800 Evgeny Baratynsky, Russian poet.
- 1817 Janos Arany, Hungarian epic poet.
- 1824 [Friedrich] Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer.
- 1904 Dr. Seuss [Theodor Geisel].
- 1917 David Goodis, American writer.
- 1931 Tom Wolfe, American journalist and author.
- 1935 Porky Pig.
- 1942 John Irving.
- 1942 Lou Reed.
Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge
Make a single sentence (or poem or pram) from the following words:
ambivert: /AM-bi-vurt/ n., one who is an equal balance of introvert and extrovert; one exhibiting features of an extrovert and an introvert.
bawn: /ˈbȯn/ n., an enclosure usually of mud or stone walls about a farmhouse or castle in Ireland: such a the fortified court of a castle, or a fold for livestock, especially cattle.
derp: /durp/ n., a person or thing considered to be foolish or awkward; foolishness; stupidity.
flambuginous: /flam-BUHJ-in-uhs/ adj., fictitious; fraudulent or untrue.
gaumless: /ˈɡɔm-lɪs/ adj., lacking in vitality or intelligence; stupid, dull, or clumsy, gormless.
keeve: /keev/ n., a large tub or vat for holding liquid, especially for purposes of brewing or fabric bleaching and dyeing.
provenienzprinzip: /PROH-vee-nee-ENTS-prihn-zeep/ n., an archival principle stipulating that records of one administrative unit be kept separate from any other based on origin and context.
sybaritic: /SIH-buh-RIH-tik/ adj., fond of sensuous luxury or opulent pleasure; self-indulgent; hedonistic, debauched, libertine.
tropism: /ˈtrō-ˌpi-zəm/ n., the turning of all or part of an organism in a particular direction in response to an external stimulus.
woofle: /ˈwʊf-(ə)l/ v., to consume (food or drink) with a snuffling, snorting, or growling sound; to eat eagerly, greedily, or noisily.
March 2, 2021 Word-Wednesday Feature
Words by Dr. Seuss
Born on this day, Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American children's author, political cartoonist, illustrator, poet, animator, and filmmaker, most popular for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books. Geisel adopted the name "Dr. Seuss" as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, and as a graduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford. This famous pen name, regularly pronounced /suːs/, is an anglicized pronunciation inconsistent with his German surname, pronounced, /ˈzɔʏ̯s/. Geisel publicly noted the correct pronunciation in verse:
You're wrong as the deuce
And you shouldn't rejoice
If you're calling him Seuss.
He pronounces it Soice (or Zoice).
Ever the entrepreneur, he eventually switched to the anglicized pronunciation because it "evoked a figure advantageous for an author of children's books to be associated with Mother Goose".
Like Lewis Carrol and Charles Dickens, Dr. Seuss in famous for making up words. Many of the words coined by Dr. Seuss are nonsense words that facilitate his anapestic tetrameter, such as ham-ikka-schnim-ikka-schnam-ikka-schnopp. A few of his words have become common parlance, such as nerd; and every family has a grinch. A favorite of the Word-Wednesday staff is thneeds: /ˈthnēdz/ n., useless products that are advertised as being needed by everybody, but which in fact no one needs.
An extensive search of the World Wide Web yielded the following list of words coined by Dr. Seuss:
amberella
bar-ba-loots
beft
bippo-no-bungus
bofa
diffendoofer
fiffer-feffer-feff
fizza-ma-wizza-ma-dill
floob-boober-bab-boober-bubs
flunnel
ga-fluppted
glikker
gluppity-glupp
gootch
grickily gructus
grinch
guff
hakken-kraks
ham-ikka-schnim-ikka-schnam-ikka-schnopp
humpf-humpf-a-dumpfer
jertain
jibboo
midwinter jicker
jill-ikka-jast
jogg-oons
kweet
kwigger
lerkim
lorax
murky-mooshy
na-nupp
nerd
nizzards
nooth grush
obsk
once-ler
oobleck
quimney
rink-rinker-fink
sala-ma-goox
schlopp
schloppity-schlopp
skritz
squitsch
sneedle
sneetche
snunkoople
snuvs
spazzim
thnadners
truffula tree
vipper
whisper-ma-phone
wocket
wumbus
yekko
yuzz
yuzz-a-ma-tuzz
zamp
zatz-it
zax
zillow
zizzer-zazzer-zuzz
zlock
zong
zummers
T'was March in Wannaska, when nothing was bofa.
With the midwinter jinkers, did rink-finker-finkers.
Nnaskans were cold from thadners to kwigger tubs,
Specially the girl kweets, floob-boober-bab-boober-bubs!
From A Year with Rilke, March 2 Entry
To the Beloved, from The Book of Hours II, 7
Extinguish my eyes, I’ll go on seeing you.
Seal my ears, I’ll go on hearing you.
And without feet I can make my way to you,
without a mouth I can swear your name.
Break off my arms, I’ll take hold of you
with my heart as with a hand.
Stop my heart, and my brain will start to beat.
And if you consume my brain with fire,
I’ll feel you burn in every drop of my blood.
Be better than yesterday,
make up a new word today,
try to stay out of trouble - at least until tomorrow,
and write when you have the time.
*You would have nothing but gravy.
As my old buddy Steev
ReplyDeleteTook a sip from his keeve,
I told him his bawn
Had encroached on my lawn.
He accused me of flambuginy,
Me and all of my progeny.
“Don’t be stupid,” he woofled, “or even a derp.
“Folks will think you are gaumless, or some kind of perp.
“This land here is mine so your lips you must zip.
“Read the deed, stuff your whine in my provenienprinzip.”
Well the old sybarite,
I knew he was right.
My mood to divert,
He threw my switch ambivert.
“Take a trope to my vat,
“Let us two chew the fat.”
Keeve: vat
Bawn: enclosure
Flambuginous: fraudulent
Woofle: snuffle one’s drink
Derp: foolish person
Gaumless: stupid, dull, or clumsy
Provenienprinzip: keep records straight
Sybaritic: hedonistic
Ambivert: taciturn to glad-hander
Tropism: turn to the stimulant
Two lists: Old English from "Beowulf" and Dr. Seuss lingo from this post.
ReplyDeleteWhich is better? I say it's hard to decide
Which if funnier? Dr. S by ten miles
Which would you use if you were a Viking Age warrior? Well, duh!
Thanks for this post. I just love Dr. Suess! And this was fun to read.
ReplyDelete