Word-Wednesday for June 7, 2023

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for June 7, 2023, the twenty-third Wednesday of the year, the twelfth Wednesday of spring, and the one-hundred fifty-eighth day of the year, with two-hundred seven days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for June 7, 2023
Fireflies
An annual celebration here at Word-Wednesday, the fireflies are now out in our neck of the woods. With the appropriate family name, Lampyridae, and also known as lightening bugs and glow worms, Minnesota has nineteen species. The males flash in flight, and females flash on the ground helping the males to locate them.

Otherwise, the wild roses are blooming, the ferns have finished fiddling around and opened completely, and the blueberries are happy with Monday’s 1.5 inches of rain out in the forest.

Our next aurora borealis opportunity appears to be June 18.


June 7 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


June 7 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily by 11:00am, usually.


Earth/Moon Almanac for June 7, 2023
Sunrise: 5:22am; Sunset: 8:40pm; 1 minutes, 10 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 12:41am; Moonset: 8:40am, waning gibbous, 86% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for June 7, 2023
                Average            Record              Today
High             70                     91                     78
Low              49                    29                     59


A June Night
by Emma Lazarus

Ten o'clock: the broken moon
Hangs not yet a half hour high,
Yellow as a shield of brass,
In the dewy air of June,
Poised between the vaulted sky
And the ocean's liquid glass.

Earth lies in the shadow still;
Low black bushes, trees, and lawn
Night's ambrosial dews absorb;
Through the foliage creeps a thrill,
Whispering of yon spectral dawn
And the hidden climbing orb.

Higher, higher, gathering light,
Veiling with a golden gauze
All the trembling atmosphere,
See, the rayless disk grows white!
Hark, the glittering billows pause!

Faint, far sounds possess the ear.
Elves on such a night as this
Spin their rings upon the grass;
On the beach the water-fay
Greets her lover with a kiss;
Through the air swift spirits pass,
Laugh, caress, and float away.

Shut thy lids and thou shalt see
Angel faces wreathed with light,
Mystic forms long vanished hence.
Ah, too fine, too rare, they be
For the grosser mortal sight,
And they foil our waking sense.

Yet we feel them floating near,
Know that we are not alone,
Though our open eyes behold
Nothing save the moon's bright sphere,
In the vacant heavens shown,
And the ocean's path of gold

June 7 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• World Caring Day
• World Food Safety Day
• National Oklahoma Day
• National Chocolate Ice Cream Day
• National VCR Day
• National Boone Day
• National Running Day
• Tourette Syndrome Awareness Day
• Tourette Syndrome Awareness Day

June 7 Word Riddle
Why shouldn’t you tell secrets in a garden?*


June 7 Word Pun
Of all the jobs to have, being a teacher is the absolute classiest.


June 7 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
HOVEL, n. The fruit of a flower called the Palace.

     Twaddle had a hovel,
           Twiddle had a palace;
     Twaddle said: “I’ll grovel
           Or he’ll think I bear him malice”—
A sentiment as novel
     As a castor on a chalice.

     Down upon the middle
           Of his legs fell Twaddle
     And astonished Mr. Twiddle,
Who began to lift his noddle.
     Feed upon the fiddle-
           Faddle flummery, unswaddle
A new-born self-sufficiency and think himself a [mockery.]

                                                                                        G.J.


June 7 Etymology Word of the Week
scad
/ˈskad/ n., a large number or quantity, usually used in plural, from circa 1600, Cornish name for a type of fish (also known as horse mackerel) abundant on the British coast; a name of uncertain origin, perhaps a variant of shad. OED compares Welsh ysgaden "herrings," Norwegian dialectal skad, Swedish skädde "flounder"
scads, plural from "large amounts," 1869, American English, earlier "a dollar" (1855, usually in plural), a word of uncertain origin. Unknown connection to scad, the fish, which, along the British coasts, were often very abundant and occasionally seen in immense shoals.


June 7 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1195 Earliest report of ball lightning in London by Benedictine monk Gervase of Christ Church Cathedral Priory, Canterbury.
• 1769 American frontiersman Daniel Boone ascends Pilot Knob, setting sight on the fertile hunting grounds of what is now known as the Bluegrass Region of the State of Kentucky.
• 1776 Richard Lee (Virginia) moves Declaration of Independence in Continental Congress.
• 1798 Thomas Malthus publishes the first edition of his influential Essay on the Principle of Population.
• 1892 Creole shoemaker Homer Plessy buys whites-only train ticket in New Orleans in act of civil disobedience - results in landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, in 1896.
• 1933 George Balanchine and Kurt Weills' ballet chanté "7 Deadly Sins" premieres in Paris.
• 2012 Sixteenth century archaeology remains of the Curtain Theatre, where some of Shakespeare's plays first performed found under a pub in London.

June 7 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1730 Georg von Pasterwiz, Austrian composer.
• 1778 Beau [George Bryan] Brummel, English dandy.
• 1825 R. D. Blackmore, English novelist.
• 1831 Amelia Edwards, English author.
• 1843 Susan Blow, American educator who pioneered kindergarten education.
• 1846 Władysław Górski, Polish violinist.
• 1848 Paul Gauguin, French post-impressionist painter.
• 1885 Percy Brier, Australian composer.
• 1899 Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish novelist.
• 1909 Virginia Apgar, American physician and childbirth specialist.
• 1910 Marion Post Wolcott, American photographer.
• 1917 Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet.
• 1943 Nikki Giovanni, American poet.
• 1952 (Ferit) Orhan Pamuk, Turkish novelist,Nobel Prize for Literature, 2006.
• 1953 Jaromír Nohavica, Czech poet.
• 1954 Louise Erdrich, author born in Minnesota.
• 1958 Prince Rogers Nelson.
• 1973 Nihad Hrustanbegović, Bosnian-Dutch concert and jazz accordionist.

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

• croupier: /ˈkrü-pē-ər/ n., the person in charge of a gaming table, gathering in and paying out money or tokens; the assistant chairman at a public dinner, seated at the lower end of the table.
• ejective: /i-ˈjek-tiv/ adj., denoting a type of consonant in some languages (e.g. Hausa) produced by sudden release of pressure from the glottis.
• fibranne: /ˈfī-ˌbran/ n., a fabric made of spun-rayon yarn, spelled by Amy Marie Dimak to win the 1990 Sixty-third Annual National Spelling Bee.
• interoception: /ˌɪn-t̬ɚ-rə-ˈsep-ʃən/ n., the collection of senses understanding the internal state of the body; the feeling of knowing what is happening in your body; sensitivity to stimuli inside the body, resulting from the response of specialized sensory cells called interoceptors to occurrences within the body.
• leguleian: /ˌleg-yə-ˈlē-ən/ n., pettifogger, a lawyer whose methods are petty, underhanded, or disreputable, a 2023 Scripps Spelling Bee word.
• psammophile: /ˈsam-ə-ˌfīl/ n., an organism that prefers or thrives in sandy areas, a 2023 Scripps Spelling Bee word.
• quay: / ˈkwā/ n., a structure built parallel to the bank of a waterway for use as a landing place.
• revehent: /ˈre-və-hənt/ adj., carrying back, a 2023 Scripps Spelling Bee word.
• sororal: /sə-ˈrȯr-əl/ adj., of or having to do with sisters.
• tenebrous: /ˈte-nə-brəs/ adj., dark; shadowy or obscure.

June 7, 2023 Word-Wednesday Feature
Scripps Spelling Bee Words
In another annual Word-Wednesday tradition, this week we review some of the Scripps Spelling Bee words — this time, words that appeared in the final round. Fourteen-year-old Dev Shah from Largo, Florida was this years winner with the word psammophile.

It’s understandable that the contestants would face the toughest words in the last round, but we at Word-Wednesday are disappointed at the number of scientific words. Not to point the finger, but dactylic would have been a good word.

Have a go at testing your own spelling abilities and those of your Scrabble™ partner with the words below, presented in phonetic spelling, where you get a break because the list is presented in alphabetical order. Write down your entries for each word and check your results against the official list** at the end of this post.

/ā-ˈgra-gus/ n., a wild species of ibex found in troops on the Caucasus, believed to be the original source of at least one variety of the domestic goat.

/ˌa-pə-ˈfi-ˌlīt/ n., a mineral composed of a hydrous silicate of potassium, calcium, and fluorine that is related to the zeolites and is usually found in transparent square prisms or white or grayish masses.

/ˈȯ-tə-ˌkȯid/ n., a physiologically active substance (such as serotonin, bradykinin, or angiotensin) that is produced by the body and typically has a localized effect of brief duration.

/ˈbär-dān/ n., another name for burdock, any of a genus (Arctium) of coarse composite herbs bearing globular flower heads with prickly bracts.

/ˈbī(ə)ˌrīt/ n., bituminous coal resembling albertite.

/ˈkla-məs/ n., a short oblong mantle worn by young men of ancient Greece.

/nē-məs/ n., shin; tibia.

/ˌkän-vər-ˌsät-sē-ˈō-nē/ n., a meeting for conversation especially about art, literature, or science.

/ˈkrenᵊl/ n., one of the embrasures alternating with merlons in a battlement.

/sī-phō-ˈnȯt(ˌ)ēz/ n., the free-swimming bivalve larva of certain bryozoans.

/ˈda-tək/ n., a tropical African tree (Detarium senegalense) of the family Leguminosae having rounded to oval pods with a sweet edible pulp and a single oily edible seed.

/ˈdā-vi-li/ adj., listlessly.

/ˈdip-ə-ˌlän/ adj., distinctive of an elaborate stage of ancient Greek pottery making and decorating in the geometric style marked by pictures of funerals.

/ˈem-ə-ˌgram/ n., a thermodynamic chart on which temperature is shown on a linear scale as abscissa and pressure on a logarithmic scale as ordinate.

/ˈent‧ˌru̇m(p)f/ n., peneplain, a land surface of considerable area and slight relief shaped by erosion.

/ˈek-sə-pəl/ n., a saucer-shaped rim around the hymenium of various lichens formed (1) from the hypothecium or (2) from the upper layer of the thallus.

/ˈfel-ˌfer/ n., variant of fieldfare, a medium-sized Eurasian thrush (Turdus pilaris) with an ash-colored head and chestnut wings and back.

/fœ̅-yȧȧzh/ n., foliage.

/ˈgär-nət/ v., in textiles, to reduce (waste material) to its fibrous state for reuse in textile manufacturing.

/hä-ˈli-dik/ adj., having the active constituents chemically defined.

/in-ˈkrēt-ə-rē/ adj., endocrine.

/ˈkə-tə-kə/ n.,  russell's viper.

/kəˈlep/ n., a Central American stinging ant (Ectatomma tuberculatum) that lives in small colonies in the ground especially near clearings.

/ˈlü-mə/ n., shipping fever.

/ˈliv-ət-ən/ n., a protein obtained from egg yolk.

/'lū-cū-līt/ n., an Egyptian marble colored black by carbon.

/mə-ˈral-j(ē-)ə/ n., pain especially of a neuralgic kind in the thigh.

/mer-ə-'mik-tik/ adj., of a lake, undergoing incomplete circulation at the fall overturn.

/məˈläs/ n., a series of fossiliferous sedimentary deposits in and near Switzerland that are chiefly of Miocene age but include some Upper Oligocene beds.

/ˌmü-vē-ˈō-lə/ n., a device for editing motion-picture film and synchronizing the sound.

/nōt-ə-ˈkæn-θəs/ adj., having spines on the back.

/ˈȯr(ə)l/ n., heraldry, a number of small charges arranged so as to form a border within the edge of the field.

/pä-ˈstēs/ n., a French liqueur flavored with aniseed.

/pə-ˈtä-kə/ n., the basic monetary unit of Macao.

/päⁿˈsā/ n., a thought expressed in literary form.

/pə-ˈri-dē-əm/ n., the outer envelope of the sporophore of many fungi.

/ˈfarə‧ˌtrōn/ adj., of or relating to the Pharetrones.

/prō-bü-'lü-tik/ adj., concerned with preliminary discussion of and deliberation on something (as a legal measure) later to be submitted to another body of voters.

/sȯl-'ti-rē-əl/ adj., of or relating to the psalterium, or omasum, the third chamber of the ruminant stomach that is situated between the reticulum and the abomasum.

/ˈkē-ij/ n., a charge for use of a quay.

/ˈkwər-kən/ trans. v., to cause to gasp.

/rə̇-ˈvel-ənt/ adj., a revulsive agent.

/ram-ˈnā-sē-ˌē/ plural n., a widely distributed family (order Rhamnales) of thorny shrubs and trees having undivided stipulate leaves and cymose flowers with the stamens opposite the petals and a superior ovary that becomes a three-celled capsule or a drupe.

/ˈten-ˌrek/ n., any of numerous small often spiny mammalian insectivores (family Tenrecidae) chiefly of Madagascar.

/ˈtōl-ˌses-tə(r)/ n., a toll paid to the feudal lord by a tenant for liberty to brew and sell ale.

/ˌyü-nᵊl-ˈhek-sē-əm/ n., seaborgium, a short-lived radioactive element that is produced artificially.

/ˈvir-ə-ˌdanz/ adj., producing alpha hemolys


From A Year with Rilke, June 7 Entry
The Oldest Work of Art, from Early Journals

God is the oldest work of art. He is very poorly preserved, and many parts of Him are later additions. But that is the way things get built: by our being able to talk about Him, by our having seen everything else.

Five Dancers
by  Auguste Rodin

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.




*because the corn has ears, the potatoes have eyes, and the beanstalk.

**aegragus
apophyllite
autacoid
bardane
byerite
chlamys
cnemis
conversazione
crenel
cyphonautes
dattock
daviely
dipylon
emagram
endrumpf
exciple
fellfare
feuillage
garnett
holidic
incretory
katuka
kelep
leuma
livetin
lucullite
meralgia
meromictic
Molasse
Moviola
notacanthous
orle
pastis
pataca
pensee
peridium
pharetrone
probouleutic
psalterial
quayage
querken
revellent
Rhamnaceae
tenrec
tolsester
unnilhexium
viridans