Word-Wednesday for May 11, 2022

Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of new words... the trill of frippary... and the apogee of offbeat... the human drama of semantic explication...here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday, May 11, 2022, the eighteenth Wednesday of the year, the seventh Wednesday of spring, and the 131st day of the year, with 234 days remaining.


Wannaska Nature Update for May 11, 2022 

Watch out if you're been taking nature walks before sunrise or after sunset, the spiders are already busy!

And yes, the ticks are out.


May 11 Nordhem Lunch: Updated daily.



Earth/Moon Almanac for May 11, 2022
Sunrise: 5:48am; Sunset: 8:53pm; 2 minutes, 48 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 3:23pm; Moonset: 4:12am, waxing gibbous, 71% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for May 11, 2022
                Average            Record              Today
High             60                    87                     70
Low              40                    18                      52


May 11 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Eat What You Want Day
• National Foam Rolling Day
• National Twilight Zone Day
• National Receptionists’ Day
• National Third Shift Workers Day
• National School Nurse Day
• Minnesota Statehood Day
• First day of Diarrhea Awareness Week, runs until Tuesday.

May 11 Word Riddle
What’s the new chic word for box wine?*


May 11 Word Pun
Puns about communism aren’t funny unless everyone gets them.


May 11 Walking into a Bar Grammar
A dyslexic Wannaskan walks into a bra.


May 11 Etymology Word of the Week
Word path from Iceland to Ireland:

Ideland
Ieeland
Ifeland
Igeland
Iheland
Iieland
Ijeland
Ikeland
Ileland
Imeland
Ineland
Ioeland
Ipeland
Iqueland

May 11 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 330 Constantinople (Byzantium) becomes the capital of the Roman Empire.
• 868 The Diamond Sutra, the world's oldest surviving and dated printed book, is printed in Chinese and made into a scroll.
• 1812 Waltz introduced into English ballrooms. Some observers consider it disgusting and immoral.
• 1820 Launch of HMS Beagle, the ship that would later take a young Charles Darwin on his famous scientific voyage.
• 1858 Minnesota admitted as 32nd U.S.A. state.
• 1924 Pulitzer Prize awarded to Robert Frost.
• 1942 William Faulkner's collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published.
• 1950 Eugene Ionesco's first play, The Bald Soprano, premieres.
• 1969 British comedy troupe Monty Python forms.

May 11 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1720 Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German adventurer.
• 1763 János Batsányi, Hungarian poet.
• 1791 Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek, Czech composer.
• 1817 Fanny Cerrito, Italian ballet dancer.
• 1864 Ethel Voynich, Irish writer and musician.
• 1888 Irving Berlin.
• 1894 Martha Graham, American choreographer.
• 1897 Izak W van der Merwe [Boerneef], South African author of Tweetalige Woordeboek.
• 1901 Mari Sandoz, author of Cheyenne Autumn.
• 1902 Kaarlo Sarkia, Finnish poet.
• 1904 Salvador Dali.
• 1907 Rose Ausländer, German poet.
• 1928 Yaacov Agam, Israeli sculptor.
• 1930 Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Caribbean poet.

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

• chrysoprase: /ˈkris-ə-ˌprāz/ n., an apple-green variety of chalcedony containing nickel, used as a gemstone.
• fluffle: /FLəF-fəl/ collective n., a group of wild rabbits.
• guddler: /GUHD-ler/ n., a muddled affair; mix-up; confusion; a greedy drinker, one who is fond of liquor.
• lethologica: /LEH-thuh-LOJ-i-kuh/ n., the inability to remember a specific word or to put your finger on the right word.
• metastrophe: /mə-ˈtæ-strə-fi/ n., radical or fundamental change or transformation.
• pisher: /PISH-uhr/ n., an insignificant nobody; a loser; a young, inexperienced person; a bedwetter.
• redamancy: /RED-uh-man-see/ n., the act of loving the one who loves you; a love returned in full.
• tuque: /tyo͞ok/ n., CANADIAN, a close-fitting knitted stocking cap.
• wanderwort: /ˈwän-dər-ˌwȯrt/ n., a word borrowed from one language to another across a broad geographical area often as a result of trade or adoption of newly introduced items or cultural practices.
• zuihitsu: /随筆/ n., a genre of Japanese literature consisting of loosely connected personal essays and fragmented ideas that typically respond to the author's https://poets.org/poem/hybrida-zuihitsu surroundings. The name is derived from two Kanji meaning "at will" and "pen."

May 11, 2022 Word-Wednesday Feature
liff
 /lif/ n. a common object or experience for which no word yet exists; book, the contents of which are totally belied by its cover, for instance, any book the dust jacket of which bears the words, "This book will change your life".  Today, Word-Wednesday explores the meaning of liff - literally, figuratively, definitionally, speculatively, and Pythonically.

Word-maven readers no doubt already have a library stocked with volumes of useful dictionary arcana, including classics such as The Devil’s Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce, and The Klingon Dictionary by Marc Okrand. Today, Word-Wednesday is delighted to introduce another essential word resource book: The Meaning of Liff, a humorous dictionary of toponymy and etymology, by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd. The idea for the book grew out of an old school game starting when Adams and Lloyd were on holiday together in 1978 during the writing of the first Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel, where their original title was the Oxtail English Dictionary, not to be confused with the Uxbridge English Dictionary,  or the old standby, the Oxford English Dictionary. Interested readers may also explore a followup addition, The Deeper Meaning of Liff.

Good writers and attentive readers know that life is full of common experiences for which there is no official word. This should no longer be a problem for anyone, according to Adams and Lloyd - just make up your own words when the English language falls short of your experience. Here are but a few of their liffs to whet your lexical appetite.

• aboyne: /A-boyn/ vb., to beat an expert at a game of skill by playing so appallingly bad that none of his clever tactics or strategies are of any use to her/him [a common claim after unexpected game-day victories in WannaskaWriter’s home].
• beppu: /BEH-poo/ n., the triumphant slamming shut of a book after reading the final page.
• climpy: /KLIM-pē/ adj., allowing yourself to be persuaded to do something and pretending to be reluctant [a common response after losing a game to your spouse in WannaskaWriter’s home].
• dalmilling: /daa-MI-luhng/ ptcl. vb., continually making small talk to someone who is trying to read a book.
• didling: /DID-luhng/ participal vb., the process of trying to work out who did it when reading a whodunnit, and trying to keep your options open so that when you find out you can allow yourself to think that you knew perfectly well who it was all along.
• dufton: /DUH-fər/ n., the last page of a document that you always leave face down in the photocopier and have to go and retrieve later.
• ely: Ē-lē/ n., the first, tiniest inkling that something, somewhere, has gone terribly wrong [a common feeling after playing the letter Q in a Scrabble game in WannaskaWriter’s home].
• ferfer: /FəR-fər/ n., one who is very excited that they've had a better  idea than the one you've just suggested.
• gilling: /GIL-iNG/ n., the warm tingling you get in your feet when having a really good widdle.
• hobarris: hō-BÄ-rəs/ n., (Medical) a sperm which carries a high risk of becoming a bank manager or Wannaskan Almanac contributor.
• imber: /IM-bər/ vb., to lean from side to side while watching a car chase in the cinema or when watching your opponent decide to place a Scrabble tile in WannaskaWriter’s home.
• jeffers: /JEF-ərs/ pl. n., persons who honestly believe that a business lunch is going to achieve something.
• kirby: /KəR-bē/ n., small but repulsive piece of food prominently attached to a person's face or clothing.
• laxobigging: /LAKS-ə-biɡ-iNG/ ptcpl. vb., struggling to extrude an extremely large turd.
• mimbridge: /MIM-brij/ n., that which two very boring people have in common which enables you to get away from them.
• namber: /NAM-bər/vb., to hang around the table being too shy to sit next to the person you really want to.
• oughterby: /ÔT-ər-bē/ n., someone you don't want to invite to a party but whom you know you have to as a matter of duty.
• plumgarths: /PLəM-ɡärTH/ pl.n., the corrugations on the ankles caused by wearing tight socks.
• quenby: /KWEN-bē/ n., a stubborn spot on a window which you spend twenty minutes trying to clean off before discovering it's on the other side of the glass.
• ravenna: /rəh-VEN-uh/ n., poetic term for the cleavage in a workman's bottom that peeks above the top of his trousers.
• risplith: /RIS-pliTH/n., the burst of applause which greets the sound of a plate smashing in the Fickle Pickle.
• scronkey: /SCRÔNK-ē/n., something that hits the window as a result of a violent sneeze.
• shimpling: /SHIMP-iNG/ ptcpl. vb., lying about the state of your life in order to cheer up your parents.
• shoeburyness: /SHOO-be-rē-nəs/ abs. n., the vague uncomfortable feeling you get when sitting on a seat which is still warm from somebody else's bottom.
• sidcup: /SID-kəp/ n., a hat made from tying knots in the corners of a handkerchief [for Monty Python fans].
• sompting: /SəMP-tiNG/n., the practice of dribbling involuntarily into one's own pillow.
• stibbard: /STIB-ərd/ n., the invisible brake pedal on the passenger's side of the car.
• stody: /STÄ-dē/ n., a small drink which someone nurses for hours so they can stay in the pub.
• tidpit: /TID-pit/ n., the corner of a toenail from which satisfying little black spots may be sprung.
• tumby: /TəM-bē/ n., the involuntary abdominal gurgling which fills the silence following someone else's intimate personal revelation.
• urchfont: /əRCH-fänt/ n., sudden stab of hypocrisy which goes through the mind when taking vows as a godparent.
• wawne: //wôn/ n., a badly supressed yawn.
  

Here are a few liff endorsements from famous authors of many times and languages:

In order to write about liff first you must livv it. 

Ernest Hemingway

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about liff: It goes on. 

Robert Frost

If liff were predictable it would cease to be liff, and be without flavor. 

Eleanor Roosevelt

Liff is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. 

Soren Kierkegaard

My mama always said, liff is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. 

Forrest Gump

The unexamined liff is not worth livving. 

Socrates

Liff shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. 

Anais Nin

The way I see it, every liff is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don’t always spoil the good things and make them unimportant. 

Doctor Who

Liff is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated. 

Confucius

Liff is what we make it, always has been, always will be. 

Grandma Moses

We spend money, a. To survive, then, b. To enjoy liff. The miser merges these two into one. 

Chairman Joe

Enjoy liff, create new liff, and share your liff in the comment section. Here's one for the proctology procedure room, just as Dr. Brummer tells you, "Just take a deep breath, and relax. You'll feel a bit of pressure."

• sphink: /sfiNGk/ n., a reflexive muscle contraction.        ;-)
  

From A Year with Rilke, May 11 Entry
Orchard and Road, from Collected French Poems

In the traffic of our days
may we attend to each thing
so that patterns are revealed
amidst the offerings of chance.

All things want to be heard,
so let us listen to what they say.
In the end we will hear what we are:
the orchard or the road leading past.



Be better than yesterday,
create a new liff today,
try to stay out of trouble - at least until tomorrow,
and write when you have the time.



*Cardboardeaux.