Word-Wednesday for January 22, 2025

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for January 22, 2025, the fourth Wednesday of the year, the fifth Wednesday of winter, the fourth Wednesday of January, and the twenty-second day of the year, with three-hundred forty-three days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for January 22, 2025
Frost Crack
It's that time of year, when the trees complain about the cold temperatures, too. Trees make cracking sounds when temperatures drop rapidly in extremely cold weather because the watery sap inside the trees freezes and expands, splitting the bark and creating a loud cracking noise — "frost crack". Long vertical scars in some of your deciduous trees are obvious signs of frost crack, but evergreen trees that have scaly or plated bark don't always reveal the split beneath.

Spot the Space Station: Wednesday, January 22 at 5:57 PM, visible: 6 min, maximum height: 54°, appears: 10° above West, disappears: 14° above East North East.

January 22 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


January 22 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for January 22, 2025
Sunrise: 8:06am; Sunset: 5:05pm; 2 minutes, 35 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 1:56am; Moonset: 11:16am, waning crescent, 44% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for January 22, 2025
                Average            Record              Today
High             13                     50                     10
Low              -9                    -55                    -18

A Winter Bluejay
by Sara Teasdale

Crisply the bright snow whispered,
Crunching beneath our feet;
Behind us as we walked along the parkway,
Our shadows danced,
Fantastic shapes in vivid blue.
Across the lake the skaters
Flew to and fro,
With sharp turns weaving
A frail invisible net.
In ecstasy the earth
Drank the silver sunlight;
In ecstasy the skaters
Drank the wine of speed;
In ecstasy we laughed
Drinking the wine of love.
Had not the music of our joy
Sounded its highest note?
But no,
For suddenly, with lifted eyes you said,
“Oh look!”
There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple,
Fearless and gay as our love,
A bluejay cocked his crest!
Oh who can tell the range of joy
Or set the bounds of beauty?

January 22 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Polka Dot Day
• National Sanctity of Human Life Day
• Celebration of Life Day
• National Blonde Brownie Day
• Answer Your Cat’s Question Day

January 22 Word Pun

January 22 Word Riddle
What do Neologists have for breakfast?*

a Chairman Joe original

January 22 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
LIBERTY, n. One of Imagination's most precious possessions.

    The rising People, hot and out of breath,
    Roared round the palace: "Liberty or death!"
    "If death will do," the King said, "let me reign;
    You'll have, I'm sure, no reason to complain."
    —Martha Braymance


January 22 Etymology Word of the Week
pardon
/PÄR-d(ə)n/ n., the action of forgiving or being forgiven for an error or offense; v., forgive or excuse (a person, error, or offense), from circa 1300, pardoun, "papal indulgence, forgiveness of sins or wrongdoing," from Old French pardon, from pardoner "to grant; forgive" (11c., Modern French pardonner), "to grant, forgive," and directly from Medieval Latin perdonum, from Vulgar Latin perdonare "to give wholeheartedly, to remit," from Latin per "through, thoroughly" (from Proto-Indo-European root per- (1) "forward," hence "through") + donare "give as a gift," from donum "gift," from Proto-Indo-European donum "gift," from root do- "to give."

Meaning "a passing over of an offense without punishment" is from circa 1300, also in the strictly ecclesiastical sense; the sense of "pardon for a civil or criminal offense; release from penalty or obligation" is from late 14th century, earlier in Anglo-French. Weaker sense of "excuse for a minor fault" is attested from 1540s. To beg (one's) pardon "ask forgiveness" is by 1640s.


January 22 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1472 Great comet of 1471 (C/1471 Y1) becomes the closest comet in modern times, coming within ten million kilometers of Earth.
• 1673 Postal service between New York & Boston inaugurated.
• 1816 Lord Byron completes poems Parisina and Siege of Corinth.
• 1842 Charles Dickens arrives in Boston.
• 1938 Our Town, by Thornton Wilder premieres.
• 1951 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Johncrowe Ransom.
• 1953 Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, premieres.
• 1964 World's largest cheese (15,723 kg) manufactured in Wisconsin.

January 22 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1561 Francis Bacon, English philosopher.
• 1649 Pascal Collasse, French Baroque theatre composer.
• 1654 Richard Blackmore, English writer.
• 1690 Nicolas Lancret, French painter.
• 1707 Carl Höckh, German composer and violinist.
• 1729 Giuseppe Luigi Tibaldi, Italian tenor and composer.
• 1748 Lewis Edson, early American composer.
• 1756 Vincenzo Righini, Italian composer and singer.
• 1779 Stefano Pavesi, Italian opera composer.
• 1781 François-Antoine Habeneck, French composer.
• 1788 George Gordon Byron, English poet.
• 1802 Richard Upjohn, English-born American gothic architect.
• 1815 Ferdinand Christian Wilhelm Praeger, Dutch-British pianist, composer, composer, and writer.
• 1820 Hermann Lingg, German poet and playwright.
• 1820 Johan Hendrik Koelman, Dutch portrait painter.
• 1824 Josef Leopold Zvonař, Czech organist and composer.
• 1842 Henri Maréchal, French composer.
• 1849 August Strindberg, Swedish dramatist and novelist.
• 1861 Karel Stecker, Czech organist and composer.
• 1870 Charles Arnold Tournemire, French organist and composer.
• 1878 Constance Collier, British writer.
• 1882 Theodore Kosloff, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer.
• 1886 John Joseph Becker, American composer and conductor.
• 1887 Helen Hoyt, American poet.
• 1891 Moïse Kisling, Polish-French painter.
• 1893 Godfried Devreese, Belgian violist, conductor, and composer.
• 1894 Charles Morgan, English writer.
• 1897 "Blind" Willie Johnson, American gospel blues singer and guitarist.
• 1897 Josef Stanislav, Czech pianist and composer.
• 1897 Rosa Ponselle [Ponzillo], American soprano opera diva.
• 1898 Alexander Abramsky, Russian composer.
• 1898 Ben van Eysselsteijn, Dutch writer and playwright.
• 1898 Gustaf Paulson, Swedish organist and composer.
• 1900 Juan Tizol, Puerto Rican jazz trombonist.
• 1901 Hans-Erich Apostel, Austrian composer.
• 1903 Robin Milford, English composer.
• 1908 Melle Weersma, Dutch jazz arranger and composer.
• 1911 Roberto Garcia Morillo, Argentine composer.
• 1911 Suzanne Danco, Belgian operatic soprano.
• 1914 Dimitris Dragatakis, Greek composer.
• 1917 Herwig Hensen [Flor Mielants], Flemish poet and playwright.
• 1922 Howard Moss, American poet.
• 1923 Friedrich Zehm, German pianist and composer.
• 1924 J. J. Johnson, American composer.
• 1926 Aurèle Nicolet, Swiss flautist.
• 1930 Éamon de Buitléar, Irish writer.
• 1931 Pat O'Shea, Irish author.
• 1940 Tilo Medek [Müller-Medek], German composer.
• 1941 Jaan Kaplinski, Estonian poet.
• 1944 Khosrow Golsorkhi, Iranian poet.
• 1953 Myung-Whun Chung, South Korean pianist and conductor.
• 1957 Francis Wheen, English writer.
• 1970 Alex Ross, American comic book painter.
• 1980 Subhash Ram Prajapati, Nepalese writer.
• 1983 Barbara Kaszuba, Polish violinist, composer.

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

• altumal: /ahl-TOO-muhl/ adj., a dialect spoken by merchant seamen and shallow-water traders; the language of petty traders and tars, derived from the Latin altum, "the deep", i.e., the sea.
• bisamrotte: /BEE-sahm-rott-eh/ n., NORWEGIAN, muskrat.
• camorra: /kə-MÖR-ə/ n., a group of persons united for dishonest or dishonorable ends.
• crozier: /KRŌ-ZHər/ n., a hooked staff carried by a bishop as a symbol of pastoral office; the curled top of a young fern.
• exaptation: /eg-zap-TĀ-shən/ n., a trait, feature, or structure of an organism or taxonomic group that takes on a function when none previously existed or that differs from its original function which had been derived by evolution.
• maquette: /ma-KET/ n., a sculptor's small preliminary model or sketch.
• penurious: /pə-No͝o-rē-əs/ adj., extremely poor; poverty-stricken; parsimonious; mean.
• rakastaa: /RAH-kahs-tah/ v., FINNISH, to love.
• shoneen: /shō-NĒN/ n., IRISH, a would-be gentleman who puts on pretentious airs.
• woo-woo: / WOO-woo/ adj.,  designating a person or group holding beliefs or following practices conventionally regarded as unscientific, irrational, or outlandish, esp. ones relating to spirituality, mysticism, or alternative therapies. Also (and in earliest use) more generally: mad, crazy.

January 22, 2025 Word-Wednesday Feature
Nautical Words
At the recommendations of Chairman Joe, Word-Wednesday staff recently acquired a new lexicon to add to our collection: A Sea of Words: A Lexicon and companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian, by Dean King, with John B. Hattendorf and J. Worth Estes. Look here for information on Patrick O'Brian, best know for his series of seafaring novels known as the Aubrey–Maturin series. The book is replete with maps, sketches of different vessels, and reproductions of famous and infamous seafarers.

A Sea of Words is a comprehensive compendium of nautical terms, historical entries describing the people and political events that shaped the period, and detailed explanations of the scientific, medical, and biblical references that appear in seafaring novels. The listings also include many Latin phrases used by seafarers. If you intend to write about the sea, unless you were once an able-bodied seafarer, best obtain a copy of this quirky book to support the authenticity of your narrative. Quirky? Well, Word-Wednesday staff obtained a Third Edition copy of this lexicon, in which many of the pages go unnumbered for one or several pages running, but the numeration picks up correctly once the page numbers reappear. Also, despite the different pronunciations used in England and the United States of America, the volume seldom provides word pronunciations.

Here's a taste of the kinds of words that appear - some new, some part of our non-seafaring language with decidedly different meanings, where words appearing in all CAPITAL letters are referenced elsewhere in the lexicon:

• aetat: /EE-tat/ adj., of or at an age of; aged (a particular number of years).
• barky: /BAR-key/ n., a sailor's term for a vessel well liked by her crew.
• coaming: /KOH-ming/ n., rasiied border around HATCHES and SCUTTLES that prevents water on deck from running below.
• drabbler: /DRAB-ler/ n., an additional canvas laced to the bottom of the bonnet of a sail to give it greater depth.
• embay: /em-BAY/ v., to land a vessel within a bay. Also, of wind or tide, to force a vessel into or trap it within a bay.
• fid: /fid/ n., a square bar of wood or iron with a shoulder at one end, used to support the weight of the TOPMAST and also the TOPGALLANT MAST. Also, a tapered hand tool for opening up the strands of a rope with splicing.
• grobian: /GROH-bee-uhn/ n., a clownish and slovenly person.
• hoveller: /HUH-vuh-ler/ n., an unlicensed pilot or boatman, especially on the coast of Kent. A boatman who goes out to wrecks to render aid or sometimes to plunder. Also, the craft used by these boatmen.
• idler: /EYE-dler/ n., anyone on a ship-of-war who is on constant day duty and so not required to keep the night-WATCH, usually the Carpenter, Cook, Sailmaker, and BOATSWAIN.
• jactitation: /JACK-ti-TAY-shun/ n., extreme restlessness; tossing from side to side.
• kedge: /kej/ n., a small anchor with an iron or wooden stock used in MOORING to keep a ship steady and clear from her BOWER anchor while she rides in a harbor or river, particularly at the turn of the tide, when she might ride over her principal anchor, entangle the stock or FLUKES with her slack CABLE, and loosen the anchor from the ground. Also used in WARPing, a way of moving a ship from one part of a harbor to another by dropping the kedge anchor and pulling on the HAWSER, this "kedging off".
• levin: /LEV-in/ n., lightning or a flash of lightning. Also, a bright light or flame.
• mangonel: /MANG-guh-nell/ n., an apparatus for catapulting stones and other missiles at an enemy.
• nutation: /noo-TAY-shun/ n., a slight oscillation in the earth's axis.
• obnubilate: /ob-NYOO-buh-late/ v., to obscure, dim, or hide with or as with a cloud.
• parky: /PAR-key/ adj., cold, chilly.
• quay: /key/ n., an artificial bank or landing place, usually built of stone, alongside or parallel to navigable water for loading and unloading ships. When projecting into the water as a breakwater and a landing place, it is also known as a MOLE. In later American usage, this is also called a pier, but in England i the late 18th century, a pier was normally a quay protecting the entrance of a river, harbor, etc.
• reeve: /rēv/ v., to pass a rope through a hole, ring, eye, THIMBLE, or the throat of a BLOCK. Afteward the rope is said to be rove through it.
• sally: /SAL-ee/ v., to make a vessel roll by having the crew run from one side to the other. Used to loosen a ship from ice.
• thwart: /thwort/ n., a seat extending across a boat, on which the rower sits.
• urinator: /YOO-ri-nay-ter/ n., one who dives under water; a diver.
• vesical: /VES-i-kul/ adj., of or pertaining to the bladder; see CALCULUS.
• wherry: /WEH-ree/ n., a wide sailing BARGE with a single MAST and a large MAINSAIL, used to transport freight on the Norfolk Broads in England. Also, a light rowboat used chiefly on rivers to carry passengers.
• xebec: /ZEE-bek/ (also xebeque, jabeque, sciabecco, chebeck): n., a small, fast three-masted (originally two-masted) vessel with a shallow draft and a distinctive overhanging BOW and STERN. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, a large xebec carried a square RIG on the FOREMAST, LATEEN, sails on  the others, a BOWSPRIT, and two HEADSAILS. It was frequently used in the Mediterranean by CORSAIRS, carrying a crew of up to 400 men and mounting up to 24 guns.
• younker: /YUNG-ker/ n., a youngster; a boy or junior seaman on a ship. [aetat is important]
• zephyr: /ZEF-er/ n., the west wind, especially as personified, or the god of the west wind. A gentle breeze.

From A Year with Rilke, January 22 Entry
If I Cried Out, from the First Duino Elegy

If I cried out, who
in the hierarchies of angels
would hear me?

And if one of them should suddenly
take me to his heart,
I would perish in the power of his being.
For beauty is but the beginning of terror.
We can barely endure it
and are awed
when it declines to destroy us.

Guardian Angel Fountain, Rilkeplatz, Vienna

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.







*Calquer Oats.