Word-Wednesday for October 18, 2023

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for October 18, 2023, the forty-second Wednesday of the year, the fourth Wednesday of fall, and the two-hundred ninety-first day of the year, with seventy-four days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for October 18, 2023
They Seem Bigger This Year, Too…
It's a banner year for the Ladybug, also known as harlequin, Asian, multicoloured Asian lady beetle, or Harmonia axyridis. Ladybugs may look pretty to kids and visitors from Virginia, but they also have a dark side. Not only do they become a nuisance in Wannaska by invading homes and crops, they produce a foul-smelling liquid composed of isopropyl methoxy pyrazine in the hemolymph secreted in their legs as a defensive chemical to deter predation. (9Z,17R)-9-Octadecene-1,17-diamine (harmonine) is the active ingredient. Some people have allergic reactions to this stinky stuff, including allergic rhinoconjunctivitis. And yes, Ozaawaa, they bite.

October 18 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


October 18 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily by 11:00am, usually.


Earth/Moon Almanac for October 18, 2023
Sunrise: 7:48am; Sunset: 6:30pm; 3 minutes, 27 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 12:32pm; Moonset: 8:09pm, waxing crescent, 16% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for October 18, 2023
                Average            Record              Today
High             49                    77                      57
Low              30                    14                      40

Autumn Rain
by D.H. Lawrence

The plane leaves
fall black and wet
on the lawn;

the cloud sheaves
in heaven’s fields set
droop and are drawn

in falling seeds of rain;
the seed of heaven
on my face

falling — I hear again
like echoes even
that softly pace

heaven’s muffled floor,
the winds that tread
out all the grain

of tears, the store
harvested
in the sheaves of pain

caught up aloft:
the sheaves of dead
men that are slain

now winnowed soft
on the floor of heaven;
manna invisible

of all the pain
here to us given;
finely divisible
falling as rain.

October 18 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• International Legging Day
• National Exascale Day
• National No Beard Day
• Medical Assistants Recognition Day
• Hagfish Day
• Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day
• Alaska Day
• World Menopause Day

October 18 Word Riddle
What kind of noise does a witch’s vehicle make?*


October 18 Word Pun
Sven has to eat toast with his breakfast, because he’s lack-toast intolerant.


October 18 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
CONTROVERSY, n. A battle in which spittle or ink replaces the injurious cannon-ball and the inconsiderate bayonet.

In controversy with the facile tongue—
That bloodless warfare of the old and young—
So seek your adversary to engage
That on himself he shall exhaust his rage,
And, like a snake that's fastened to the ground,
With his own fangs inflict the fatal wound.
You ask me how this miracle is done?
Adopt his own opinions, one by one,
And taunt him to refute them; in his wrath
He'll sweep them pitilessly from his path.
Advance then gently all you wish to prove,
Each proposition prefaced with, "As you've
So well remarked," or, "As you wisely say,
And I cannot dispute," or, "By the way,
This view of it which, better far expressed,
Runs through your argument." Then leave the rest
To him, secure that he'll perform his trust
And prove your views intelligent and just.
Conmore Apel Brune

October 18 Etymology Word of the Week
peace
/pēs/ n., freedom from disturbance; tranquility; a state or period in which there is no war or a war has ended, from mid-12th century, pes, "freedom from civil disorder, internal peace of a nation," from Anglo-French pes, Old French pais "peace, reconciliation, silence, permission" (11th century, Modern French paix), from Latin pacem (nominative pax) "compact, agreement, treaty of peace, tranquility, absence of war" (source of Provençal patz, Spanish paz, Italian pace), from Proto-Indo-European root pag- "to fasten" (which is the source also of Latin pacisci "to covenant or agree;" see pact), on the notion of "a binding together" by treaty or agreement.

It replaced Old English frið, also sibb, which also meant "happiness." The modern spelling is from 1500s, reflecting vowel shift. From mid-13th century as "friendly relations between people." The sense of "spiritual peace of the heart, soul or conscience, freedom from disturbance by the passions" (as in peace of mind) is from circa 1200. Sense of "state of quiet or tranquility" is by 1300, as in the meaning "absence or cessation of war or hostility." Specifically as "treaty or agreement made between conflicting parties to refrain from further hostilities," circa 1400.

Used in various greetings from circa 1300, from Biblical Latin pax, Greek eirēnē, which were used by translators to render Hebrew shalom, properly "safety, welfare, prosperity." As a type of hybrid tea rose (developed 1939 in France by François Meilland), so called from 1944.

The Native American peace pipe, supposedly smoked as the accompaniment of a treaty, is recorded by 1760. Peace-officer "civil officer whose duty it is to preserve public peace" is attested from 1714. Peace offering "offering that procures peace or reconciliation, satisfaction offered to an offended person" is from 1530s. Phrase peace with honor dates to 1607 (in "Coriolanus"). The U.S. Peace Corps was set up March 1, 1962. Peace sign, in reference to both the hand gesture and the graphic, is attested from 1968.


October 18 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1775 African-American poet Phillis Wheatley freed from slavery.
• 1790 Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling is granted permission to enroll at the Tübinger Stift at an earlier age than usually permitted.
• 1855 Franz Liszt's symphonic poem Prometheus premieres.
• 1867 Alaska Purchase: US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia, having paid $7.2 million.
• 1869 Henrik Ibsen's De Unges Forbund (The League of Youth) premieres.
• 1878 Edison makes electricity available for household use.
• 1904 Gustav Mahler's 5th Symphony premieres.
• 1910 E. M. Forster publishes novel Howards End.
• 1918 Czechoslovakia declares independence from Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• 1929 Women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.
• 1946 Aaron Copland's 3rd Symphony premieres.
• 1952 Date of the first Mad Magazine issue.

October 18 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1587 Lady Mary Wroth, English poet.
• 1638 Lasse Lucidor [Lars Johnstown], Swedish poet.
• 1777 Heinrich von Kleist, German writer, dramatist and poet.
• 1785 Thomas Love Peacock, English satirical writer.
• 1859 Henri Bergson, French philosopher, winner of Nobel Prize for Literature 1927.
• 1868 Ernst Didring, Swedish author.
• 1889 Fannie Hurst, American novelist.
• 1890 Agathe Henriette Trip-de Beaufort, Dutch writer.
• 1891 Václav Kálik, Czech composer.
• 1894 H. L. Davis, American autho.
• 1897 Isabel Briggs Myers, American psychological theorist.
• 1919 Anita O'Day [Colton], American jazz singer.
• 1922 Richard Stankiewicz, American sculptor.
• 1924 Egil Hovland, Norwegian composer.
• 1946 James Robert Baker, American novelist.
• 1948 Ntozake Shange, American author.
• 1950 Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright.
• 1951 Terry McMillan, American author.
• 1952 Bảo Ninh, Vietnamese novelist.
• 1956  Kathy O'Beirne, Irish writer.

Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge
Write a story or pram from the following words:

• biduous: /bid'yū-ŭs/ adj., lasting for a period of two days.
• chignon: /SHēn-yän/ n., a knot or coil of hair arranged on the back of a woman's head.
• desiderate: /də-ˈsid-ə-rāt/ v., feel a keen desire for (something lacking or absent).
• emplacement: /im-ˈplās-mənt/ n., a structure on or in which something is firmly placed.
• gerontocracy: /ˌjer-ən-ˈtäk-rə-sē/ n., a state, society, or group governed by old people.
• joyance: /ˈjȯi-ən(t)s/ n., delight, enjoyment.
• offal: /ˈäf(ə)l/ n., the entrails and internal organs of an animal used as food.
• pellucid: /puh-LYOO-suhd/ adj., translucently clear.
• specie: /spēsē/ n., money in the form of coins rather than notes.
• tummler: /ˈto͝om-lər/ n., a person who makes things happen, in particular a professional entertainer or comedian whose function is to encourage an audience, guests at a resort, etc., to participate in the entertainments or activities.

October 18, 2023 Word-Wednesday Feature
African Words
The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
                                                    Emma Lazarus, November 2, 1883

American English has many cultural contributors among the tired, poor, huddled masses that found their to this country, and none more prolifically and artistically than Africans. The editors and researchers involved of the Oxford English Dictionary have made significant progress on a new Oxford Dictionary of African American English, from which the New York Times recently unveiled the first ten entries ahead of the expected March 2025 release:

• Aunt Hagar’s children (n.): A reference to Black people collectively. (Etymology: Probably a reference to Hagar in the Bible, who, with her son, Ishmael, was cast out by Sarah and Abraham [Ishmael’s father], and became, among some Black communities, the symbolic mother of all Africans and African Americans and of Black womanhood.)
• bussin (adjective and participle): 1. Especially describing food: tasty, delicious. Also more generally: impressive, excellent. 2. Describing a party, event, etc.: busy, crowded, lively. (Variant forms: bussing, bussin’.)
• cakewalk (n.): 1. A contest in which Black people would perform a stylized walk in pairs, typically judged by a plantation owner. The winner would receive some type of cake. 2. Something that is considered easily done, as in This job is a cakewalk.
• chitterlings (n. plural): A dish made from pig intestines that are typically boiled, fried or stuffed with other ingredients. Occasionally also pig intestines as an ingredient. (Variant forms: chitlins, chittlins, chitlings, chitterlins.)
• grill (n.): A removable or permanent dental overlay, typically made of silver, gold or another metal and often inset with gemstones, which is worn as jewelry.
• kitchen (n.): The hair at the nape of the neck, which is typically shorter, kinkier and considered more difficult to style.
• old school (adj.): Characteristic of early hip-hop or rap music that emerged in New York City between the late 1970s to the mid 1980s, which often includes the use of couplets, funk and disco samples, and playful lyrics. Also used to describe the music and artists of that style and time period. (Variant form: old skool.)
• pat (verb): 1. transitive. To tap (the foot) in rhythm with music, sometimes as an indication of participation in religious worship. 2. intransitive. Usually of a person’s foot: to tap in rhythm with music, sometimes to demonstrate participation in religious worship.
• Promised Land (n.): A place perceived to be where enslaved people and, later, African Americans more generally, can find refuge and live in freedom. (Etymology: A reference to the biblical story of Jewish people seeking freedom from Egyptian bondage.)
• ring shout (n.): A spiritual ritual involving a dance where participants follow one another in a ring shape, shuffling their feet and clapping their hands to accompany chanting and singing. The dancing and chanting gradually intensify and often conclude with participants exhibiting a state of spiritual ecstasy.

The first edition will be published March 2025, where researchers are drawing from multiple sources — including blues and hip-hop lyrics, Black literature, Black Twitter, and where anyone may submit entry suggestions by clicking here.

Since we're on the subject of African language, here are a few African proverbs about family, life, and love:

A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, when you are inside you see that each tree has its place.

When you show the child the moon, it sees only your finger.

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.   

If you want to know the end, look at the beginning.

No medicine exists that can cure hatred.

Wood already touched by fire is not hard to set alight.

Truth should be in love and love in truth.

Where there is love, there is no darkness.

Don’t be so in love that you can’t tell when it’s raining.

From A Year with Rilke, October 18 Entry
On Security, from Letter to Ilse Erdman, October 9, 1916

Outside of poetry and art, security is only and ever achieved at the cost of the most inescapable limitation. This diminishment consists of choosing to be satisfied and pleasured by a world where everything is known and where preoccupation with self is both possible and useful. But how could we want that? Our security must become a relationship to the whole, omitting nothing.

Sketch
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.





*Brrroooooom, brrrooooom.