Word-Wednesday for August 10, 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, August 10, 2022, the thirty-second Wednesday of the year, the eighth Wednesday of summer, and the 222nd day of the year, with 143 days remaining.


Wannaska Phenology Update for August 10, 2022
Chaterelles are Starting

Please eat only after picking with an experienced shroomer. 

August 10 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


August 10 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily by 11:00am, usually.


Earth/Moon Almanac for August 10, 2022
Sunrise: 6:10am; Sunset: 8:49pm; 3 minutes, 3 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 8:40pm; Moonset: 3:38am, waxing gibbous, 94% illuminated.
Full moon tomorrow

Temperature Almanac for August 10, 2022
                Average            Record              Today
High             77                     94                     75
Low              53                    36                     50


August 10 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• Agent Orange Awareness Day
• National Connecticut Day
• National Lazy Day
• National Shapewear Day
• National S’mores Day
• International Biodiesel Day

August 10 Word Riddle
What do you call a hippy’s wife?*


August 10 Word Pun
On a trip to Paris as a youth, a brigand stole Chairman Joe’s wallet and locked him in a pitch dark boulangerie for the night. The Chairman reported never having felt so much pain.


August 10 Walking into a Bar Grammar
Sisyphus walks into a bar, and says, “Whiskey, please.”
The bartender asks, “On the rocks?”


August 10 Etymology Word of the Week
charisma
/kə-ˈriz-mə/ n., compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others, from 1875, "special spiritual gift or power divinely conferred, talent from God" (as on the early Christians in "Acts," etc.), Latinized form of Greek kharisma "favor, divine gift," from kharizesthai "to show favor to," from kharis "grace, beauty, kindness" (Charis was the name of one of the three attendants of Aphrodite), which is related to khairein "to rejoice at," from Proto-Indo-European root gher- (2) "to like, want." In the form charism (plural charismata) it is attested in the "special spiritual gift from god" sense from 1640s. Middle English, meanwhile, had karisme "spiritual gift, divine grace" (c. 1500).


August 10 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 610 In Islam, the traditional date of the Laylat al-Qadr, when Muhammad began to receive the Qur'an.
• 1774 First Surinam newspaper, First Wednesday Suriname, begins publishing.
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.
• 1787 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his chamber piece Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Serenade).
• 1793 Louvre palace officially opens in Paris as The Museum Central des Arts.
• 1846 US Act of Congress passes establishing the Smithsonian Institution, now world's largest museum and research complex.

August 10 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1845 Abai Qunanbaiuli, Kazakh poet.
• 1848 William Harnett, Irish-American painter.
• 1860 Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, Indian musician.
• 1869 Lawrence Binyon, English poet.
• 1884 Panait Istrati, Romanian writer.
• 1909 František Bílkovský, Czech painter.
• 1912 Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer.
• 1949 Joyce Sutphen, Minnesota poet.
  
• 1953 Mark Doty, American poet.
• 1960  Vinnie Kilduff, Irish musician.
• 1962 Suzanne Collins, American author.

The Aunts
By Joyce Sutphen
I like it when they get together
and talk in voices that sound
like apple trees and grape vines,

and some of them wear hats
and go to Arizona in the winter,
and they all like to play cards.

They will always be the ones
who say “It is time to go now,”
even as we linger at the door,

or stand by the waiting cars, they
remember someone—an uncle we
never knew—and sigh, all

of them together, like wind
in the oak trees behind the farm
where they grew up—a place

I remember—especially
the hen house and the soft
clucking that filled the sunlit yard.

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

• administriva: /əd-ˌmɪn-ə-ˈstrɪ-vi-ə/ n., trifling administrative tasks, esp. those which take a significant amount of time to complete.
• beezer: /‘bi-ːzər/ n., BRITISH SLANG, nose.
• confect: /kən-ˈfekt/ v., make (something) by putting together various elements.
• gouache: /ɡo͞o-ˈäSH/ n., a method of painting using opaque pigments ground in water and thickened with a gluelike substance.
• jeofail: /JEH-feyl/ n., a very costly legal error; a lawyer’s mistake and his acknowledgment of it to the court.
• ludibrious: /loo-DIB-ree-uhs/ adj., sportive; ridiculous; wanton; or playful; frolicsome; undisciplined; or mocking, scornful.
• penetralia: /ˌpen-ə-ˈtrā-lē-ə/ n.,  the inner most parts of a building; a secret or hidden place.
• saudade: /sou-ˈdä-də/ n., a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia.
• xylopolist: a person who sells wood products.
• vibrissae: /vaɪˈbrisˌī/ n., long stiff hairs growing around the mouth or elsewhere on the face of many mammals, used as organs of touch; whiskers.

August 10, 2022 Word-Wednesday Feature
Musical Words
The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock, A Christmas Carol, Bel Canto, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Tin Drum, Song of Solomon (Bible or Toni Morrison), The Phantom of the Opera, The Music of Erich Zann... musical themes play a central role in many great works of poetry and fiction. Each of the three parts of Dante's Divine Comedy were divided into canto, Italian for song.

Today, Word-Wednesday enriches your vocabulary of musical terms, should you contemplate writing your own classic, such as Song of Sven, Sempre the Chairman, Savage Ad Libertem, Adagio Hot Rococo, or Hruba and Tutti, or not. And because it's Word-Wednesday, see if you can spot the humorous definitions sprinkled in the list below:


Volume Words

Crescendo: gradually increase the volume.

Decrescendo: gradually softer.

Diminuendo: gradually softer

Forte: strong or loud.

Fortepiano: loud then immediately soft.

Fortissimo: very strong or loud.

Gregorian Champ: title bestowed upon the monk who can hold a note the longest.

Mezzo: medium or moderately (as in mezzo piano or mezzo soprano).

Morendo: die away.

Pianissimo: very soft.

Piano: soft.

Sforzando: loud sudden attack

 

Tempo Words

Grave: very very slow and solemn  (30-50).

Largo: broad and slow  (40 – 50).

Lento: slow & calm  (but not as slow as Largo)  (50).

Adagio: slowly, leisurely  (60 – 80).

Andante: in a walking tempo, moderately slow  (80 – 96).

Maestoso: majestically (80 -104).

Allegretto: tempo between Allegro and Andante  (96-116).

Moderato: in a moderate tempo     (112-130).

Allegro: quick and lively  (120-160).

Vivace: very Fast  (140 – 180).

Presto: very fast (160-200).

Prestissimo: as fast as possible (180 + ).

Alleregretto: look on the conductor's face when sixteen measures into a piece the tempos is set too fast. (210-250)



Tempo Modifier Words

Accelerando: gradually increase the tempo.

Alla Breve: (same as cut time) – two beats per measure & half note get the beat.

Allargando: gradually slower and broader.

A tempo:  In the original speed.

Grand Pause (G.P.): a long pause in the music.

L’istesso tempo: in the same beat speed.

Meno Mosso: less motion, a little slower.

Piu mosso: more motion;  a little faster

Rallentendo: gradually slower.

Ritardando: gradually slower.

Rubato: not in a strict tempo.

Stringendo: press the tempo; gradually faster.

Tenuto: hold full value or stretch the notes.



Instrumentation Instruction Words

A Patella: accompanied by knee-slapping.

Ad Libertum: at the performer’s discretion, improvisation.

Dill Piccolini: an exceedingly small wind instrument that plays only sour notes.

Divisi: divide the between players.

Ossia: an alternate part.

Soli: like instruments playing same part.

Solo: one player.

Tacet: silent.

Tutti:  everyone.

Unison: all play same part.



Stylistic Indication Words

Animato: in an animated style.

Brio, con: with brilliance, with spirit.

Cantabile: in a singing style.

Dolce: sweetly.

Espressivo: with expression.

Fuoco, con: with fire.

Grazioso: gracefully.

Legato: smooth and connected.

Maestoso: majestically.

Marcato: marked with distinctness, every note accented.

Pesante: heavily, emphatic.

Semplice: simple.

Sostenuto: stained.

Spritzicato: for string instruments to produce a bright and bubbly sound.

Staccato: separated.

Secco: dryly,  extremely separated.

senza sordino: without mute.

Sordino: with mute.

Tempo Tantrum: play like an elementary school orchestra without a conductor.

    
Qualifier Words

Apologgiatura: a composition regrettably started.

Assia: very.

Con: with.

Flute Flies: tiny insects that bother musicians in outdoor settings.

Molto: much.

Non troppo: not too much.

Poco a poco: little by little.

Subito: immediately, suddenly.

Senza: without.

Sempre: always.

Simile: continue in a like manner.


Form Words

Angus Dei: play with a divinely beefy tone.

Attacca: attached.

Approximento: a musical entrance in the vicinity of the correct pitch.

Cadenza: extended section for soloist alone.

Coda: a finishing section (tail).

Da Capo: from the beginning.

Dal Segno: from the sign.

Fermantra: a note held over and over and over and over and over and...

Fine:  The End.



From A Year with Rilke, August 10 Entry
Gentlest of Ways, from Book of Hours I, 25

I love you, gentlest of Ways,
who ripened us as we wrestled with you.

You, the great homesickness we could never shake off,
you, the forest that always surrounded us,

you, the song we sang in every silence,
you dark net threading through us.

you began yourself so greatly
on that day when you began us.

Edge of a Wood
by  Vincent van Gogh

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.









*Mississippi.