Word-Wednesday for May 3, 2023

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for May 3, 2023, the eighteenth Wednesday of the year, the seventh Wednesday of spring, and the one-hundred twenty-third day of the year, with two-hundred forty-two days remaining. Brought to you by Bead Gypsy Studio on 101 Main Avenue North in beautiful downtown Roseau, HUGE 25% off clearance sale today through May 13, with 50% off stainless steel rings, and with a humongous selection of Mother's Day gifts. You've been officially reminded.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for May 3, 2023
Peepers
The spring peepers, Pseudacris crucifer, started singing this week in Wannaska, just about the same time as last year.

Hummingbird migration progress: Keep your eyes out; they’ve already been sighted in Saskatchewan.

Musca domestica is now out and about, so keep those outhouse doors closed.

May 3 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


May 3 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily by 11:00am, usually.


Earth/Moon Almanac for May 3 2023
Sunrise: 6:00am; Sunset: 8:41pm; 3 minutes, 5 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 6:34pm; Moonset: 5:16am, waxing gibbous, 93% illuminated, full moon this Friday.

Temperature Almanac for May 3, 2023
                Average            Record              Today
High             57                     90                     71
Low              34                     17                      41

Forgotten Language
Shel Silverstein

Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the housefly
in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling dying
flake of snow,
Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .
How did it go?
How did it go?

May 3 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Interpreter Appreciation Day
• World Press Freedom Day
• National Skilled Trades Day
• National Montana Day
• National Textiles Day
• National San Architect Day
• National Paranormal Day
• National Raspberry Popover Day
• National Bike to School Day
• National Chocolate Custard Day
• National Two Different Colored Shoes Day
• National Specially-abled Pets Day
• National Garden Meditation Day
• National Lumpy Rug Day
• International Sun Day

May 3 Word Riddle
What’s the most popular Fickle Pickle menu item for Musca domestica?*


May 3 Word Pun
Jack Pine Savage told a joke during a Zoom meeting, but nobody laughed; she’s not even remotely funny.


May 3 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
HELPMATE, n. A wife, or bitter half.

    "Now, why is yer wife called a helpmate, Pat?"
         Says the priest. "Since the time 'o yer wooin'
    She's niver [sic] assisted in what ye were at—
         For it's naught ye are ever doin'."

    "That's true of yer Riverence [sic]," Patrick replies,
         And no sign of contrition envices;
    "But, bedad, it's a fact which the word implies,
         For she helps to mate the expinses [sic]!"

                                                            Marley Wottel


May 3 Etymology Word of the Week

May 3 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1810 English poet Lord Byron swims the Hellespont.
• 1926 Pulitzer prize awarded to Sinclair Lewis for Arrowsmith.
• 1937 Margaret Mitchell wins Pulitzer Prize for Gone With The Wind.
• 1943 Pulitzer prize awarded to Upton Sinclair for Dragon's Teeth.
• 1948 Pulitzer prize awarded to James Michener & Tennessee Williams.
• 1971 National Public Radio begins programming.
• 1976 Pulitzer prize awarded to Saul Bellow for Humboldt's Gift.

May 3 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1469 Niccolo Machiavelli.
• 1647 Joannes Antonides van der Goes, Dutch poet.
• 1729 Florian Leopold Gassmann, Czech composer.
• 1843 Edward Dowden, Irish poet.
• 1849 May Laffan, Irish novelist and short-story writer.
• 1857 Gertrude Elizabeth Blood, Irish writer.
• 1859 Andy Adams, American writer.
• 1873 Nicoline Magdalene Roll Anker.
• 1891 Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet.
• 1896 Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright.
• 1912 May Sarton, American poet, novelist.
• 1913 William M. Inge, American playwright.
• 1922 Marina Svetlova, American ballerina and choreographer.
• 1933 James Brown.

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

• alcahest: /ˈælkəˌhɛst/ n., the hypothetical universal solvent sought by alchemists.
• baksheesh: /ˈbak-ˌshēsh/ n., payment (such as a tip or bribe) to expedite service.
• cromlech: /ˈkräm-ˌlek/ n., dolmen; a circle of monoliths usually enclosing a dolmen or mound.
• descant: /ˈde-ˌskant/ v., talk tediously or at length.
• fichu: /ˈfi-(ˌ)shü/ n., a woman’s light triangular scarf that is draped over the shoulders and fastened in front or worn to fill in a low neckline.
• listicle: / [ˈli-sti-kəl / n., an article consisting of a series of items presented as list, see also, blistog.
• pantofle: /ˈpæn-tə-fəl/ n., slipper.
• reboant: /ˈre-bə-wənt/ adj., resounding or reverberating loudly.
• swither: /ˈswi-t͟hər/ v., doubt, waver.
• teapoy: /ˈtē-ˌpȯi/ n., a small three-legged table or stand, especially one that holds a tea caddy.

May 3, 2023 Word-Wednesday Feature
portmanteau words
/pȯrt-ˈman-tō/ n., a large trunk or suitcase, typically made of stiff leather and opening into two equal parts; a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, from 1580s, "flexible traveling case or bag for clothes and other necessaries," from Middle French portemanteau "traveling bag," originally "court official who carried a prince's mantle" (1540s), from porte, imperative of porter "to carry" (see porter (n.1)) + manteau "cloak" (see mantle (n.)). Sometimes partially Englished as portmantle. Portmanteau word: (1882) was coined by "Lewis Carroll" (Charles L. Dodgson, 1832-1898) for the sort of words he invented and used in Jabberwocky, on the notion of "two meanings packed up into one word." As a noun in this sense from 1872. As Humpty-Dumpty explains to Alice, "You see, it’s like a portmanteau – there are two meanings packed into one word."

It's the first Wednesday of a new month, so today Word-Wednesday explores portmanteau words, and encourages you to come up with at least one of your own. Portmanteau words come in a number of categories, where some of the best, most enduring examples can be found:

• motel (motor + hotel) - lodging designed for motorists.
• fortnight (fourteen + night) - period of fourteen nights, or two weeks.
• ampersand (and + per se + and) - & symbol that means and.
• splatter (splash + spatter) - wet messy marks.
• stash (store + cache) - hidden collection of valuables.

Comestibles feed the list of familiar portmanteau words:

• cronut (croissant + doughnut) - flaky iced pastry.
• frappuccino (frappé + cappuccino) - iced coffee drink.
• froyo (frozen + yogurt) - frozen treat made of yogurt.
• mocktail (mock + cocktail) - cocktail without alcohol.
• tofurky (tofu + turkey) - tofu food product flavored to taste like turkey.

For dog lovers:

• Blabrador - offspring of a Bloodhound and Labrador (barks incessantly).
• Chug - offspring of a Chihuahua and a Pug (owners must limit beverage consumption).
• Collapso - offspring of a Collie and Lhasa Apso (highly portable).
• Cockapoo - offspring of a Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle.
• Derriere - offspring of a Deerhound and a Terrier (a dog that’s true to the end).
• Horgi - offspring of a Husky and a Corgi.
• Labradoodle - offspring of a Labrador and a Poodle.
• Moot Point - offspring of a Malamute and a Pointer (not that it really matters).
• Peekasso - offspring of a Pekingese and a Lhasa Apso (an abstract dog).
• Puggle - offspring off a Pug and a Beagle.

Boomer portmanteau words:

• botox (botulism + toxin) - dermatological procedure that injects a strain of botulism into the skin to prevent and treat wrinkles.
• Medicare (medical + care) - a government-funded healthcare plan for specific citizens.
• Reaganomics (Ronald Reagan + economics) - “trickle-down” economic policy in the Reagan presidency).
• smog (smoke + fog) - polluted air.
• sitcom (situation + comedy) - narrative comedy story based on a specific situation.

Post-Boomer portmanteau words:

• bromance (brother + romance) - close friendship between two males.
• ginormous (gigantic/giant + enormous) - very large.
• guesstimate (guess + estimate) - an estimate made without enough information or data.
• hangry (hungry + angry) - the feeling you get when your hunger affects your emotions.
• mansplain (man + explain) - term for when a man oversimplifies an obvious fact, usually to a woman.
• mockumentary (mock + documentary) - a fictional story in the style of a documentary movie.
• Pokémon (pocket + monsters) - popular Japanese animation about fictional creatures that battle each other.
• prequel (previous + sequel) - sequel to a film or book that occurs earlier in the fictional timeline than its predecessor.
• sheeple (sheep + people) - derogatory term for those who are perceived to follow orders and avoid critical thinking.

Yes, Wannaskan Almanac writers, there's still a place in poetry and fiction for new creative portmanteau words. Namwali Serpell has many in her new book, The Furrows, a Lewis Carroll/Edgar Allan Poe dramedy featuring the word splummeshing as a key plot feature — a portmanteau of plummeting and splashing. So, climb into your wordicopter (word + helicopter — a creative linguistic transportation device) and shattinkle (shatter + tinkle — break a word-window) in your writing today by flomping (flop + romping — playfully dropping) a new portmanteau word of your own into the world’s vocabulary.

Jabberwocky
By Lewis Carroll

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
      And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
      The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
      The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
      Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
      And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
      The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
      And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
      The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
      He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
      Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
      He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
      And the mome raths outgrabe.

From A Year with Rilke, May 3 Entry
The Scale of the Heart, from Letter to Rudolf Bodlander, March 13, 1922

To take things seriously—as my books are said to do—betokens no heaviness of spirit. Taking things seriously is no more than according things their true weight and seeing their innate value. It springs from a desire to weigh things on the scale of the heart rather than indulging in suspicion and distrust.

by Marc Chagall

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




*the Number Two.