Word-Wednesday for April 3, 2024

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for April 3, 2024, the fourteenth Wednesday of the year, the third Wednesday of spring, the first Wednesday of April, and the ninety-fourth day of the year, with two-hundred seventy-two days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for April 3, 2024
Red-winged Blackbird
Also known as Agelaius phoeniceus, where agelaios is Greek for gregarious, this passerine (perching bird), one of the most abundant birds across North America is a familiar sight atop cattails, along soggy roadsides, and on telephone wires. Glossy-black males sport scarlet-and-yellow epaulets, which they can puff up or hide depending on their confidence level at any given moment. Females dress in a streaky brown, almost like a large, dark sparrow.

 

Their early and tumbling song are happy indications of the return of spring - Ooo-kuh-REEE - especially in Wannaska, which these feisty birds use as a breeding ground. Red-winged Blackbirds favor mixed grains and seeds, particularly during migration. Spread grain or seed on the ground as well as your bird feeders, because this is where Red-winged Blackbirds prefer to feed.

April 3 Hummingbird Migration Update:

April 3 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


April 3 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for April 3, 2024
Sunrise: 6:55am; Sunset: 7:57pm; 3 minutes, 34 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 4:59am; Moonset: 1:06pm, waning crescent, 34% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for April 3, 2024
                Average            Record              Today
High             41                     77                     48
Low              19                    -11                     25

Nothing to brag about…

The Seasons - in a Minor Key
by Joe McDonnell

Each season starts with fits and with starts

The worst is the Spring, with cruel practiced arts

The summer is nice, we start to have fun

Till the bugs start to bite and we're burnt by the sun

In Fall we must work to get in the crop

And rake every day as all the leaves drop

The Winter winds blow as everything dies

And Fall goes to Hell amidst all our cries

April 3 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Film Score Day
• National Find a Rainbow Day
• Childhelp National Day of Hope
• National Chocolate Mousse Day
• National Tweed Day
• National Walking Day

April 3 Word Pun
 

*

April 3 Word Riddle
What’s the difference between Iron Man and Aluminum Man?**


April 3 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
QUIVER, n. A portable sheath in which the ancient statesman and the aboriginal lawyer carried their lighter arguments.

    He extracted from his quiver,
    Did the controversial Roman,
    An argument well fitted
    To the question as submitted,
    Then addressed it to the liver,
    Of the unpersuaded foeman.
    —Oglum P. Boomp


April 3 Etymology Word of the Week
April
/Ā-prəl/ n., the fourth month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the second month of spring; from fourth month, circa 1300, aueril, from Old French avril (11th century), from Latin (mensis) Aprilis, second month of the ancient Roman calendar, from a stem of uncertain origin and meaning, with month-name suffix -ilis as in Quintilis, Sextilis (the old names of July and August).

Perhaps based on Apru, an Etruscan borrowing of Greek Aphrodite. Or perhaps ap(e)rilis "the following, the next," from its place as the second month of the old Roman calendar, from Proto-Italic ap(e)ro-, from Proto-Inod-European apo- "away, off" (see apo-; compare Sanskrit aparah "second," Gothic afar "after"). Old folk etymology connected it with Latin aperire "to open."

The name was in English in Latin form from mid-12c.; it replaced Old English Eastermonað, which was named for a fertility goddess (see Easter). It was re-spelled in Middle English on the Latin model (as apprile, a form first attested late 14th century).


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

• 1776 Harvard College votes to award George Washington an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree.
• 1860 Start of the Pony Express, delivers mail by horse and rider relay teams between St Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California.
• 1882 Wood block alarm invented, when alarm rang, it dropped 20 wood blocks.
• 1955 The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges.
• 1957 Samuel Beckett's play Endgame premieres in London as a French language production.
• 1970 Miriam Hargrave of England passes her drivers test on 40th attempt.
• 1973 First mobile phone call is made in downtown Manhattan, NYC by Motorola employee Martin Cooper to the Bell Labs headquarters in New Jersey.

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

• 1485 Lieven van der Maude [Ammonius], South Netherland poet.
• 1569 Giovanni Battista Massarengo, Italian composer.
• 1593 George Herbert, English metaphysical poet.
• 1727 Philippe-Lambert-Joseph Spruyt, Flemish painter and engraver.
• 1757 Ferenc Verseghy, Hungarian poet.
• 1783 Washington Irving, American author.
• 1793 Dionysius Lardner, Irish writer.
• 1798 John Banim, Irish writer.
• 1825 Adolf Rzepko, Polish composer.
• 1837 John Burroughs, American writer.
• 1861 Molly Barton, Irish artist.
• 1863 Henry Van de Velde, Flemish painter.
• 1871 Jose Juan Tablada, Mexican poet.
• 1874 Eduardo Sanchez de Fuentes, Cuban composer.
• 1881 Margaret "Daisy" Ashford, British child author.
• 1885 Bud Fisher, American cartoonist of Mutt and Jeff.
• 1896 Douwe Kalma, Dutch literary writer.
• 1900 Franz Carl Weiskopf, Czech writer.
• 1902 Siguringi Eirikur Hjorleifsson, Icelandic composer.
• 1903 Peter Huchel, German poet.
• 1910 Homesick James [Williamson], American blues slide guitarist and singer.
• 1910 Zika Ascher, Czech artist.
• 1916 Ken Kersey, Canadian jazz pianist and composer.
• 1918 Sixten Ehrling, Swedish pianist, conductor.
• 1919 Eoghan Ó Tuairisc, Irish poet.
• 1934 Jane Goodall, British primatologist.
• 1936 Jimmy McGriff, American jazz Hammond organist.
• 1937 Petunia Pig, Warner Bros. cartoon character.
• 1940 Pavel Šrut, Czech poet.
• 1943 Mario Lavista, Mexican composer and writer.
• 1946 Stella Chiweshe, Zimbabwean musician and storyteller.
• 1948 Arlette Cousture, French Canadian writer.
• 1954 Elisabetta Brusa, Italian-British composer.
• 1973 John Fanning, Irish writer.

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

• abarstic: /a-BÄR-stik/ adj., insatiable.
• bobolink: /BÄB-ə-ˌliNGk/ n., 1 a North American songbird of the American blackbird family, with a bill resembling that of a finch. The male has black, buff, and white plumage.
• ecphonesis: /ek-fuh-NEE-sis/ n., the use of an exclamatory phrase.
• fastuous: /FAS-choo-uhs/ adj., haughty, arrogant; showy, ostentatious.
• gastriloquist: /gas-TRIL-uh-kwist/ n., a grown adult who cracks jokes with creepy dolls for a living; a ventriloquist.
• misophonia: /miss-uh-FOH-nee-uh/ n., a condition characterized by a strongly negative and atypical emotional and physiological response to certain sounds.
• situla: /SI-chə-lə/ n., any of various bucket-shaped vessels, usually elaborately decorated.
• threnody: /ˈTHREN-ə-dē/ n., a lament.
• turpitude: /TəR-pə-ˌt(y)o͞od/ n., depravity; wickedness.
• uloid: /YOO-loid/ adj., resembling a scar.

April 3, 2024 Word-Wednesday Feature
More Gen Z Slang
The heart of language keeps pumping the lifeblood of new words to describe human characters and their experiences, and Gen Z flows on prolifically. Word-Wednesday offered a sample this time last year, so for our backwoods, Boomer readers, let’s catch up on some new words since then.

• ate: v.,  having a certain energy, used to show admiration or praise for someone who succeeded or performed well in something; “Girl, you ate that outfit!”
• coquette: n.,  an aesthetic based on reclaiming girlhood and embracing a fun-loving, bubbly personality.
• delulu: adj.,  a delusional fan girl/boy who believes they can/will end up with their favorite idol or celebrity and invest an unhealthy amount of time and energy into said idol.
• down bad: n., a desperate male person.
• drip: n., trendy, high-class fashion or style.
• gyatt: exclam., short term for “g-d d-mn” in reference to a curvy or big-butted person.
• heather: adj., irresistible; when someone says you’re heather, they mean that everybody can’t help but like you.
• ick: adj., unpleasant.
• giving: adj., embodying a particular mood, style or vibe.
• mid: adj., mediocre; used to insult or degrade something you don’t like, labeling it as average or poor quality.
• moots: n., short for mutuals of a social media relationship — when you follow someone on social media and they follow you back.
• NPC: n., acronym for non-playable character, meaning the opposite of a main character, usually a background character like Sven for Ula and Ula for Sven.
• on God: exclam., I swear it's true.
• opp: adj., oppositional or enemy.
• pookie: term of endearment, nickname you call your best friend or someone you really love.
• rizz: n., charisma.
• yeet: v., to violently throw an object that you deem to be worthless, inferior, or just plain garbage.

From A Year with Rilke, April 3 Entry
Shining in the Distance, from Uncollected Prams

Already my gaze is upon the hill, the sunlit one.
The way to it, barely begun, lies ahead.
So we are grasped by what we have not grasped,
full of promise, shining in the distance.

It changes us, even if we do not reach it,
into something we barely sense, but are;
a movement beckons, answering our movement . . .
But we just feel the wind against us.

Provence
by Paul Cézanne

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.





*Captain Log, Star Date April 03, 2024.
**Iron Man stops the bad guys; Aluminum Man foils their plans.