Word-Wednesday for February 7, 2024

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for February 7, 2024, the sixth Wednesday of the year, the seventh Wednesday of winter, and the thirty-eighth day of the year, with three-hundred twenty-eight days remaining, sponsored by Bead Gypsy Studio, this week featuring a pre-Valentine's Day sale of twenty-five percent off all jewelry with a Heart Charm, Pendant, or Earrings.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for February 7, 2024

Snow Fleas are Active

Hypogastrura nivicola, Palmville Township's official bug, can be seen sprinkled in the snow on these warm February days, especially on sunny afternoons. They may be mating, so prepare to avert your eyes if you're shy about such activities. Snow fleas are a word-rich species. The males place spematophores (little packages containing sperm) on a leaf — fig, or otherwise — where the female picks it up places it in her special opening. She later lays her eggs on leaf litter, where the young hatch later in spring.

Snow fleas are arthropods, so their bodies are divided into three parts: head, thorax, and abdomen. They also have antennae and six legs, but they are not insects. Primitive creatures, having survived the dinosaurs, snow fleas are hexapods in the Class Collembola (kol-LEM-bo-la) or springtails

Looking this morning:

February 7 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


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


Earth/Moon Almanac for February 7, 2024
Sunrise: 7:46am; Sunset: 5:30pm; 3 minutes, 12 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 6:49m; Moonset: 2:15pm, waning crescent, 8% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for February 7, 2024
                Average            Record              Today
High             16                     45                    38
Low             -8                    -55                    36

Leap Year
by Annette Wynne

    Little month of February,
    You are small, but worthy—very!
    Will you grow up like the others,
    Like your sister months and brothers?
    Every four years with a bound
    With a leap up from the ground,
    Trying to grow tall as they—
    All you stretch is one small day!
    Even then you're not so tall
    But just the shortest month of all.


February 7 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Girls and Women in Sports Day
• National Periodic Table Day
• National Fettuccine Alfredo Day
• National Send a Card to a Friend Day
• Wave All Your Fingers at Your Neighbors Day
• National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

February 7 Word Riddle
What’s the opposite of a microwave?*


February 7 Word Pun
In da early days, though Monique vas yust a vhiskey-maker, Sven loved her still.


February 7 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
GENTEEL, adj. Refined, after the fashion of a gent.

    Observe with care, my son, the distinction I reveal:
    A gentleman is gentle and a gent genteel.
    Heed not the definitions your "Unabridged" presents,
    For dictionary makers are generally gents.
    —G.J.


February 7 Roseau Times-Region Headline:
Gatzke Dog Gives Birth on Roadside Cited for for Littering


February 7 Etymology Word of the Week
digit
/ˈdij-ət/ n., any of the numerals from 0 to 9, especially when forming part of a number; a finger (including the thumb) or toe, from late 14th century, "numeral below 10," from Latin digitus "finger or toe" (also with secondary meanings relating to counting and numerals), considered to be related to dicere "to say, speak" (from Proto-Indo-European root deik- "to show," also "pronounce solemnly"). The numerical sense is because numerals under 10 were counted on fingers. The "finger or toe" sense in English is attested from 1640s. See dactylonomy.


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

• 1639 Academie Française begins Dictionary of French Language.
• 1812 Poet Lord Byron (6th Baron Byron) makes his maiden speech in House of Lords.
• 1836 Sketches by Boz (essays) published by Charles Dickens.
• 1839 Henry Clay declares in Senate "I had rather be right than president."
• 1857 French writer Gustave Flaubert is acquitted on a charge of obscenity for his work Madame Bovary.
• 1907 The Mud March, first large procession organized by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.
• 1910 Edmond Rostand's play Chantecler premieres.
• 1922 John Willard's Cat & the Canary premieres.
• 1944 Bing Crosby records Swinging on a Star.
• 1968 Arthur Miller's stage drama Price opens.
• 1974 Mel Brooks' film Blazing Saddles premieres.
• 1992 The Maastricht Treaty is signed by 12 countries from the European Community (EC) to create the European Union (EU).

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

• 1478 Thomas More, English philosopher, Renaissance humanist, author.
• 1612 Thomas Killigrew, English dramatist and humorist.
• 1655 Jean-Francois Regnard, French comedy writer, dramatist.
• 1675 Hugh Howard, Irish artist.
• 1753 Rhijnvis Feith, Dutch poet.
• 1804 John Deere, American blacksmith and manufacturer.
• 1809 Frederik Paludan-Muller, Danish Romantic poet.
• 1812 Charles Dickens, English author.
• 1823 Richard Genee, Austrian playwright.
• 1833 Ricardo Palma, Peruvian writer and poet.
• 1863 Mieczyslaw Soltys, Polish composer.
• 1866 (Rafaël) "Raf" Verhulst, Flemish poet.
• 1867 Laura Ingals Wilder, American author.
• 1869 Jindřich Šimon Baar, Czech writer.
• 1875 Erkki Melartin, Finnish composer.
• 1885 [Harry] Sinclair Lewis, American writer.
• 1887 (James Hubert) "Eubie" Blake, American ragtime composer and pianist.
• 1889 Ludwig Winder, Czech writer.
• 1904 Benode Behari Mukherjee, Indian blind artist.
• 1914 David Ignatow, American poet.
• 1918 Markey Robinson, Irish painter.
• 1920 Oscar Brand, Canadian folk vocalist.
• 1923 Martha Holmes, American photographer.
• 1932 Gay Talese, American author.
• 1948 James Keane, Irish musician.
• 1954 Brian Morton, Scottish writer.
• 1974 Emma McLaughlin, American novelist.

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

• abatis: /ˈa-bə-ˌtē/ n., a defensive obstacle formed by felled trees with sharpened branches facing the enemy.
• bittock: /BID-uhk/ n., a little bit, a small piece or portion.
• blazon: /ˈblā-zᵊn/ n., French for “coat-of-arms” or “shield”; a literary blazon (or blason) catalogues the physical attributes of a subject, usually female.
• chantepleure: / shahnt-PLUR/ n., mixture or alternation of joy and sorrow, esp. as a literary image or device.
• dactylonomy: /dak-til-AHN-ə-mi/ n., the practice of counting on one’s fingers, or otherwise representing numbers with one’s fingers.
• hwæt: /xwæt/ pronoun, Old English, what; why; what kind; how many; how much; anything; something; who.
• mino-giizhigad noongom: /min-now-‘gēz-əh-gad ‘nū-gum/ Ojibwe greeting, It’s a good day today.
• moxa: /ˈmäks-ə/ n., a downy substance obtained from the dried leaves of an Asian plant related to mugwort. It is burned on or near the skin in Eastern medicine as a counterirritant.
• pursy: /ˈpə-sē/ adj., short-winded especially because of corpulence; fat; having a puckered appearance.
• scumble: /ˈskəm-bəl/ v., to make (something, such as color or a painting) less brilliant by covering with a thin coat of opaque or semiopaque color applied with a nearly dry brush; to apply (a color) in this manner; n., the act or effect of scumbling; a material used for scumbling.

February 7, 2023 Word-Wednesday Feature
epimone
/ə-'pi-mō-nē/ ἐπιμονή n., (rhetoric) persistent repetition of the same plea in much the same words, from the Greek epi “upon” and mone “tarrying”. During this twenty-nine-day February election year, Word-Wednesday will occasionally present some rhetorical terms to help readers sort through the political chaff. See also, leitmotif, refrain, and perseveration. Some examples from literature include the following:

Put money in thy purse; follow thou the wars; defeat thy favor with an usurped beard; I say, put money in thy purse. It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor — put money in thy purse — nor he his to her: it was a violent commencement, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration: put but money in thy purse.

Iago in William Shakespeare's Othello, Act 1, scene 3

Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him I have offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any speak; for him have I offended.

Brutus in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act 3, scene 2

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me;
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill;
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man. . . .

Mark Antony in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act 3, scene 2

We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.

Joan Didion, Keeping a Notebook

Mr. Dick shook his head, as utterly renouncing the suggestion; and having replied a great many times, and with great confidence, "No beggar, no beggar, no beggar, sir!"

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

"All his brains are in the nape of his neck", Simon Dedalus says. "Welts of flesh behind on him. Fat folds of neck, fat, neck, fat, neck."

James Joyce, Ulysses

You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room. Tell the others right away, "No, I don't want to watch TV!" Raise your voice — they won't hear you otherwise — "I'm reading! I don't want to be disturbed!" Maybe they haven't heard you, with all that racket; speak louder, yell; 'I'm beginning to read Italo Calvino's new novel!' . . .

Find the most comfortable position: seated, stretched out, curled up, or lying flat. Flat on your back, on your side, on your stomach. In an easy chair, on the sofa, in the rocker, the deck chair, on the hassock. In the hammock, if you have a hammock. On top of your bed, of course, or in the bed. You can even stand on your hands, head down, in the yoga position. With the book upside down, naturally.

Of course, the ideal position for reading is something you can never find. In the old days they used to read standing up, at a lectern. People were accustomed to standing on their feet, without moving. They rested like that when they were tired of horseback riding. Nobody ever thought of reading on horseback; and yet now, the idea of sitting in the saddle, the book propped against the horse's mane, or maybe tied to the horse's ear with a special harness, seems attractive to you.

Italo Calvino, If on a winter's night a traveler

From A Year with Rilke, February 7 Entry
Mineshaft, from Uncollected Prams

God will not let himself be lived like an easy morning.
Whoever enters that mineshaft
leaves wide-open earth behind,
crouches in tunnels to break Him loose.

Landscape with Carriage and Train in the Background
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.




*a tsunami