Word-Wednesday for October 2, 2024

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for October 2, 2024, the fortieth Wednesday of the year, the second Wednesday of fall, the first Wednesday of October, and the two-hundred-seventy-sixth day of the year, with ninety days remaining, sponsored by Bead Gypsy Studío, 101 Main Avenue North, Roseau’s FALL HARVEST FESTIVAL, Saturday, October 5, 9:00am-4:01pm, with fika all day (three flavors of coffee and cookies), aaaaand earring special: buy one, get one fifty percent off.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for October 2, 2024
Screaming Porcupines
It’s that time of year again — females of Erethizon dorsatum are clambering [clamber: /ˈklambər/ v., climb, move, or get in or out of something in an awkward and laborious way, typically using both hands and feet] up trees to loudly announce their readiness to engage with male companions.

October 2 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


October 2 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for October 2, 2024
Sunrise: 7:25am; Sunset: 7:01pm; 3 minutes, 33 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 7:15am; Moonset: 6:54pm, new moon, 0% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for October 2, 2024
                Average            Record              Today
High             58                     83                     62
Low              36                     18                      38

October
by Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

October 2 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Smarties Day
• National Walk to School Day
• National Pumpkin Seed Day
• National Coffee with a Cop Day
• National Custodial Worker’s Recognition Day
• National Name Your Car Day
• National Fried Scallops Day
• National Produce Misting Day
• International Day of Non-Violence
• Random Acts of Poetry Day

October 2 Word Pun
Now that Sven’s getting older, everything is starting to click!

— knees, back, neck…


October 2 Word Riddle
Why should you never trust a train?*


October 2 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH, n. In the Ojibwa tongue, disaster; an unexpected affliction that strikes hard.

    Should you ask me whence this laughter,
    Whence this audible big-smiling,
    With its labial extension,
    With its maxillar distortion
    And its diaphragmic rhythmus
    Like the billowing of an ocean,
    Like the shaking of a carpet,
    I should answer, I should tell you:
    From the great deeps of the spirit,
    From the unplummeted abysmus
    Of the soul this laughter welleth
    As the fountain, the gug-guggle,
    Like the river from the cañon,
    To entoken and give warning
    That my present mood is sunny.
    Should you ask me further question—
    Why the great deeps of the spirit,
    Why the unplummeted abysmus
    Of the soul extrudes this laughter,
    This all audible big-smiling,
    I should answer, I should tell you
    With a white heart, tumpitumpy,
    With a true tongue, honest Injun:
    William Bryan, he has Caught It,
    Caught the Whangdepootenawah!

    Isn’t the sandhill crane, the shankank,
    Standing in the marsh, the kneedeep,
    Standing silent in the kneedeep
    With his wing-tips crossed behind him
    And his neck close-reefed before him,
    With his bill, his william, buried
    In the down upon his bosom,
    With his head retracted inly,
    While his shoulders overlook it?
    Does the sandhill crane, the shankank,
    Shiver grayly in the north wind,
    Wishing he had died when little,
    As the sparrow, the chipchip, does?
    No 'tis not the Shankank standing,
    Standing in the gray and dismal
    Marsh, the gray and dismal kneedeep.
    No, 'tis peerless William Bryan
    Realizing that he's Caught It,
    Caught the Whangdepootenawah!


October 2 Etymology Word of the Week
October
/äk-TŌ-bər/ n., the tenth month of the year in the northern hemisphere, from late Old English, from Latin October (mensis), from octo "eight," from Proto-Indo-European root octo(u)- "eight" (see eight). The eighth month of the old Roman calendar (pre-46 B.C.E.), which began the year in March. For -ber see December. Replaced Old English winterfylleð. In Russian history, the October Revolution (in which the Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Government) happened Nov. 7, 1917, but because Russia had not at that time adopted the Gregorian calendar reform, this date was reckoned there (Old Style) as Oct. 25.


October 2 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1851 The pasilalinic-sympathetic compass(a contraption built to test the pseudo-scientific hypothesis that snails create a permanent telepathic link when they mate) is demonstrated but proves to be a fake.
• 1872 Phileas Fogg sets out on his journey as depicted in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days.
• 1902 Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit is published.
• 1933 Eugene O'Neill's comedy play Ah, Wilderness! premieres.
• 1950 First strip of Charlie Brown, Li'l Folks, later Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz is published.
• 1959 Rod Serling's anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres.

October 2 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1616 Andreas Gryphius, German lyric poet and dramatist.
• 1644 François-Timoléon de Choisy, French writer.
• 1704 František Tůma, Czech composer.
• 1756 Jacob van Strij, Dutch cartoonist and graphic artist.
• 1756 Józef Javurek, Polish-Russian composer.
• 1817 Gunnar Wennerberg, Swedish poet and composer.
• 1839 Hans Thoma, German painter.
• 1866 Charles Ricketts, British artist and illustrator.
• 1869 Mahatma Gandhi, Indian independence activist and spiritual leader.
• 1871 Martha Brookes Hutcheson, American landscape architect.
• 1875 Henry Février, French composer.
• 1878 Wilfrid Wilson, British Georgian poet.
• 1879 Wallace Stevens, American poet.
• 1881 Ferdinand [Fred] Barlow, French composer.
• 1890 Grocho Marx, American comedian.
• 1897 (William) "Bud" Abbott, American comedian.
• 1900 Coco the Clown, Russian-born British clown.
• 1901 Roy Campbell, South African poet.
• 1904 Graham Greene, English novelist.
• 1911 Jack Finney, American science fiction author.
• 1914 Albe Vidaković, Croatian composer.
• 1914 Bengt Johansson, Finnish composer.
• 1919 Shirley Clarke, American film director.
• 1919  Seán 'ac Dhonncha, Irish singer.
• 1922 Otmar Macha, Czech composer.
• 1925 Alois Pinos, Czech composer.
• 1930 Günter Kochan, German composer.
• 1933 Dimiter Khristov, Bulgarian composer.
• 1943 Franklin Rosemont, American poet.
• 1944 Vernor [Steffen] Vinge, American science fiction author.
• 1949 Annie Leibovitz, American photographer.
• 1950 Snoopy, Peanuts comic strip character.
• 1951 Margo Harking Irish film director.
• 1965 Keith Ridgway Irish novelist.

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

• banya: /BAHN-yuh/ n., a traditional Russian steam bath that utilizes a wood stove; a sauna.
• bosun: /BŌ-sn/ n., a ship’s officer in charge of equipment and the crew.
• corbicula: /kôr-BIK-yə-lə/ n., pollen basket.
• eglantine: /EG-lən-tēn/ n., another term for sweetbrier.
• feuilleton: /fəi-TÄN/ n., a part of a newspaper or magazine devoted to fiction, criticism, or light literature.
• iconicity: /ī-kə-NI-sə-tē/ n., correspondence between form and meaning, such as the Roman numeral, III.
• katzenjammer: /KAT-suhn-jam-er/ n., confusion; uproar; a hangover; a severe headache resulting from a hangover; remorse of conscience, vow to mend one’s ways.
• noob: /no͞ob/ n., a person who is inexperienced in a particular sphere or activity, especially computing or the use of the Internet.
• scrivenery: /SKRIV-en-ree/ n., the practice or act of writing with a pen or pencil; one’s particular style of writing.
• viduity: /və̇-D(Y)Ü-ə-tē/ n., widowhood.

October 2, 2024 Word-Wednesday Feature
Hip Hop Slang Words
As previously noted, also known as rap, and formerly as disco rap, Hip Hop originated as an anti-drug and anti-violence music genre, one that is rapidly supplanting Country and Western as the most popular form of music with preadolescents in Wannaskaland. Today we explore family-friendly Hip Hop words to expand the vocabularies of parents and grandparents, where words that appear with an asterisk in the definition are formally recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary.

• bae: /bā/ n., a person's boyfriend or girlfriend (often as a form of address).*
• boo: /bo͞o/ n., a person's boyfriend or girlfriend.*
• cake: /kāk/ n., a person's butt.
• cheese: /CHēz/ n., money.
• crunk: /krəNGk/ adj., very excited or full of energy.
• dope: /dōp/ adj., very good.*
• flex: /fleks/ v., boastfully display.*
• floss: /flôs/ v., to show off riches.
• fly: /flī/ adj., stylish and fashionable.*
• grind: /ɡrīnd/ v., to work hard in order to achieve a certain goal.*
• ice: /skrəb/ n., flashy jewelry.*
• ill: /il/ adj., great or nice.
• kicks: /kiks/ n., sports shoes, sneakers.*
• lit: /lit/ adj., highly energized.
• phat: /fat/ adj., excellent.*
• props: /präps/ n., respect or credit due to a person.*
• scrub: /skrəb/ n., an insignificant or contemptible person.
• shiesty: /SHĪ-stē/ adj., deceitful or conniving; n., ski mask.
• tight: /tīt/ adj., cool or amazing; close in relationship.*
• stan: /stan/ n., an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity; v., be an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity.*
• trap: /trap/ n., the ghetto or the music that documents activities in the ghetto.
• trill: /tril/ adj., genuine and authentic.
• twerk: /twərk/ v., dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.*
• whip: /(h)wip/ n., automobile.*

Once again, context is everything.


From A Year with Rilke, October 2 Entry
Autumn Day, from Book of Images

Lord, the time has come. Summer was abundant.
Cast your shadows over the sundial,
across the fields unleash your winds.

Command the final fruits to ripen.
Grant them two more southern days,
bring them to fullness and press
their last sweetness into the heavy wine.

Who now has no house will not build one.
Who now is alone will remain alone,
will read into the night, write long letters,
and, restless, wander streets
where leaves are blowing.

Autumn
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.






*They have loco motives.