Word-Wednesday for April 2, 2025

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for April 2, 2025, the twenty-fourth Wednesday of the year, the second Wednesday of spring, the first Wednesday of April, and the ninety-second day of the year, with two-hundred seventy-three days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for April 2, 2025
April Immigrants
The trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator) have returned! Wannaska-area waters remain iced in, but it's worth the trip down the road to Gully, where hundreds of bevies and gaggles (collective nouns) of trumpeter swans and Canada geese fill the peat bog waters. Males trumpeter swans average over twenty-six pounds, making them North America’s heaviest flying bird. To get that much mass aloft the swans need at least a 100 meter-long runway of open water, running hard across the surface like galloping horses as they generate speed for take off. The Gully-road peat bogs are just long enough for these impressive take-offs.

Trumpeter swans feed while swimming, sometimes up-ending or dabbling [/DAB-(ə)l/ v., immerse (one's hands or feet) partially in water and move them around gently.] in reaching submerged food. The diet is almost entirely aquatic plants and occasionally insects. Since trumpeter swans poop in the water, all those birds replenish the soil beneath the water. In late April, breeding pairs (they mate for life) begin the process of constructing a nest, which can take eleven to thirty-five days.

April 2 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


April 2 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for April 2, 2025
Sunrise: 6:59am; Sunset: 7:56pm; 3 minutes, 34 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 8:49am; Moonset: 1:07am, waxing crescent, 18% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for April 2, 2025
                Average            Record              Today
High             41                     77                     34
Low              19                    -11                     30

Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licóur
Of which vertú engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye,
So priketh hem Natúre in hir corages,
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially, from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.

Geoffrey Chaucer, Prologue from Canterbury Tales

April 2 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National DIY Day
• Childhelp National Day of Hope
• National Ferret Day
• National Walking Day
• National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day
• National Reconciliation Day
• International Children’s Book Day
• International Pillow Fight Day
• World Autism Awareness Day
• Feast Day of Bronach of Glen-Seichis

April 2 Word Pun
If you boil a funny bone, it becomes a laughing stock, especially if it’s a humerus.


April 2 Word Riddle
What’s the past-tense of William Shakespeare?*


April 2 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
ELEGY, n. A composition in verse, in which, without employing any of the methods of humor, the writer aims to produce in the reader's mind the dampest kind of dejection. The most famous English example begins somewhat like this:

    The cur foretells the knell of parting day;
    The loafing herd winds slowly o'er the lea;
    The wise man homeward plods; I only stay
    To fiddle-faddle in a minor key.


April 2 Etymology Word of the Week
bread
/bred/ n., food made of flour, water, and yeast or another leavening agent, mixed together and baked, from Old English bread "bit, crumb, morsel; bread," cognate with Old Norse brauð, Danish brød, Old Frisian brad, Middle Dutch brot, Dutch brood, German Brot.

According to one theory [Watkins, etc.] from Proto-Germanic brautham, from Proto-Indo-European root bhreu- "to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn," in reference to the leavening. But OED argues at some length for the basic sense being not "cooked food" but "piece of food," and the Old English word deriving from a Proto-Germanic braudsmon- "fragments, bits" (cognate with Old High German brosma "crumb," Old English breotan "to break in pieces") and being related to the root of break (v.). It cites Slovenian kruh "bread," literally "a piece." Either way, by circa 1200 it had replaced the usual Old English word for "bread," which was hlaf (see loaf (n.)).

The extended sense of "food, sustenance in general" (late 12th century) is perhaps via the Lord's Prayer. The slang meaning "money" dates from 1940s, but compare breadwinner, and bread as "one's livelihood" dates to 1719. Bread and circuses (1914) is from Latin, in reference to food and entertainment provided by the government to keep the populace content. "Duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et circenses" ["He anxiously desires only two things: bread and circuses.", Juvenal, Sat. x.80].


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

• 1800 First performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's First Symphony in C.
• 1819 First successful agricultural journal American Farmer first published.
• 1827 US inventor Joseph Dixon of Salem, Massachusetts, begins manufacturing lead pencils.
• 1845 H L Fizeau & Leon Foucault take first photo of the Sun.
• 1877 First human cannonball act performed by 14-year-old Rossa Matilda Richter known as Zazel at the Royal Aquarium in London.
• 1881 Sixth Impressionist Exhibition opens in Paris organized by Edgar Degas and showing his famous Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, the only sculpture shown in his lifetime.
• 1884 London prison for debtors closed.
• 1902 "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California.
• 1917 Jeannette Rankin (Rep-R-Montana) begins her term as first woman member of US House of Representatives.
• 1931 17-year old girl Jackie Mitchell strikes out New York Yankees stars Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition baseball game at Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• 1956 Peter Ustinovs' play Romanoff & Juliet premieres.
• 1972 Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings premieres.

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

• 742 Charlemagne, first Holy Roman emperor (800-14), born in Liège, Frankish Kingdom.
• 1628 Constantin Christian Dedekind, German composer and poet.
• 1711 Jan Punt, Dutch engraver, painter, illustrator.
• 1725 Giacomo Casanova, Italian writer, adventurer and famous lover.
• 1728 Franz Asplmayr, Austrian composer.
• 1733 Giacomo Tritto, Italian composer.
• 1735 Christian Gotthilf Tag, German composer.
• 1763 Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari, Italian composer.
• 1788 Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet.
• 1798 August Heinrich Hoffmann, German writer.
• 1805 Hans Christian Anderson, Danish author.
• 1817 Teodulo Mabellini, Italian composer.
• 1827 William Holman Hunt, English painter.
• 1834 Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor (designed the Statue of Liberty), and painter.
• 1840 Émile Zola, French novelist.
• 1854 Harry Furniss, Irish artist and illustrator.
• 1874 Oskar Nedbal, Czech composer.
• 1878 Émilie Charmy, French avant-garde artist.
• 1884 Sir J. C. Squire, British poet, writer.
• 1891 Max Ernst, German-French surrealist painter and sculptor.
• 1900 Anis Fuleihan, Lebanese-American classical pianist, composer.
• 1900 Roberto Arlt, Argentine writer.
• 1902 Danilo Svara, Slovenian composer.
• 1903 Ethna MacCarthy, Irish poet and paediatrician.
• 1905 Kurt Alfred Adler, Austrian therapist and writer.
• 1905 Serge Lifar, Russian-French dancer, choreographer.
• 1909 Jean Kurt Forest, German composer.
• 1913 Nora Niland, Irish librarian.
• 1915 Arthur Ballard, English artist.
• 1918 Charles White, American artist.
• 1921 Josef Hrnčíř, Czech conductor.
• 1925 George MacDonald Fraser, British poet and author.
• 1926 Michael Rizzello, English sculptor.
• 1929 Catherine Gaskin, Irish romantic novelist.
• 1930 Girolamo Arriego, Italian composer.
• 1931 Imre Olsvik, Hungarian composer.
• 1938 John Larsson, Swedish writer.
• 1945 Anne Waldman, American poet.
• 1947 Camille Paglia, American author.
• 1948 Joan D. Vinge, American science fiction author.
• 1951 Moriteru Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist.
• 1962 Mark Shulman, American children's author.
• 1969 A. J. Healy, Irish writer.
• 1970 Martin McDonagh, Irish playwright.

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

• braai: /brī/ v., to grill or roast (meat) over open coals.
• followership: /FÄ-lō-ər-SHip/ n., the action of following a person, a group of people, or an organization; the state or position of being a follower; the followers of an organization, country, etc.
• gigil: /GHEE-gill/ PHILIPPINE TAGALOG, n., a feeling so intense that it gives us the irresistible urge to tightly clench our hands, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze whomever or whatever it is we find so adorable; speechlessness in the presence of overwhelming cuteness.
• heathered: /HETH-ə(r)d/ adj., (of a yarn or fabric color) subtly flecked or mottled.
• lamprophony: /lam-PRUH-foh-nee/  n., loudness of voice and clarity of enunciation.
• panchreston: /pan-KRES-tən/ n., a broadly inclusive and often oversimplified thesis that is intended to cover all possible variations within an area of concern.
• poop: /po͞op/ n., the aftermost and highest deck of a ship, especially in a sailing ship where it typically forms the roof of a cabin in the stern.
• wist: /wist/ v., to know.
• woad: /wōd/ n., a yellow-flowered European plant of the cabbage family, formerly grown as a source of blue dye, which was extracted from the leaves after they had been dried, powdered, and fermented; dye obtained from the woad plant, now superseded by synthetic products.
• yeanling: /YĒN-liŋ/ n., lamb; kid.

April 2, 2025 Word-Wednesday Feature
PANda-Inspired Word List
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute recently sponsored a District of Panda Party in honor of the debut of Bao Li and Qin Bao, two new giant pandas. We here at Word-Wednesday headquarters use such events to discover new words — in this case, those beginning with PAN. Many relate to the prefix, pan-, meaning all-inclusive, especially in relation to the whole of a continent, racial group, religion, or  others relate to bread. The complete list is impressive in terms of lengthy, but here are just a few that may expand one's working vocabulary:

• panachures: /pan-ə-SHÜ-(ə)rz/ n., mottling.
• panada: /pə-NÄ-də/ n., a paste of flour or bread crumbs and water or stock used as a base for sauce or a binder for forcemeat or stuffing.
• pantarchy: /PAN-tär-kē/ n., government (as of the world) by all the people.
• panage: /pa-NAJ/ n., the act of pasturing swine in a wood or forest (as in medieval England); the legal right or privilege of such pasturing; the charge or payment made for this privilege.
• panagia: /pän-ə-YĒ-ä/ n., a ceremony observed in monasteries of the Eastern Church at the first morning meal in honor of the Virgin Mary in which a loaf on a plate is elevated before being shared among participants.
• panama: /PA-nə-mä/ n., a lightweight hat of natural-colored straw hand-plaited of narrow strips from the young leaves of the jipijapa.
• panary: /pan-ə-rē/ adj., of or related to bread or bread-making.
• pancetta: /pan-CHE-tə/ n., unsmoked bacon used especially in Italian cuisine.
• pancheon: /PAN-chən/ n., a large flaring shallow earthen vessel formerly commonly used in rural England.
• panchreston: /pan-KRES-tən/ n., a broadly inclusive and often oversimplified thesis that is intended to cover all possible variations within an area of concern.
• pancratium: /pan-KRĀ-shē-əm/ n., an ancient Greek athletic contest involving both boxing and wrestling.
• pand: /pand/ n., a narrow drapery hung on a bedstead.
• pandect: /PAN-dekt/ n. a complete code of the laws of a country or system of law; a treatise covering an entire subject.
• pandy: /PAN-dē/ v., to punish (a schoolboy) with a blow on the palm of the hand especially with a ferule.
• pandowdy: /pan-DAU-dē/ n., a deep-dish spiced apple dessert sweetened with sugar, molasses, or maple syrup and covered with a rich crust.
• paneity: /pəNĒ-ə-tē/ n., the quality or state of being bread.
• panetière: /pan-ə-TYE-(ə)r/ n., an ornate French-provincial bread box.
• panettone: /pä-nə-TŌ-nē/ n., a usually yeast-leavened bread containing raisins and candied fruit.
• panforte: /pän-FORT-ā/ n., a holiday bread that is hard in texture and is made with honey and nuts.
• panga: /PÄN-gə/ n., any of various small boats often used for fishing; machete.
• pangram: /PAN-grəm/ n., a short sentence containing all 26 letters of the English alphabet.
• panicle: /PA-ni-kəl/ n., a pyramidal loosely branched flower cluster.
• pank: /paŋk/ v., to breathe hard; to pant.
• panman: /PAN-mən/ n., one to tends pans.
• panmerism: /PAN-mə-riz-əm/ n., a theory in biology: protoplasm is made up of panmeristic units whose adaptive responses are the ultimate cause of growth and evolutionary change.
• panmixia: /pan-MIK-sē-ə/ n., random mating within a breeding population.
• pannikin: /PA-ni-kən/ n., a small pan or cup.
• panocha: /pə-NŌ-chə/ n., fudge made usually of brown sugar, butter, cream or milk, and nuts.
• panplane: /PAN-plān/ n. a plain resulting from lateral erosion of neighboring streams so extensive that their floodplains coalesce.
• pantagamy: /pan-TAG-ə-mē/ n., marriage practiced in some communistic societies in which every man is regarded as the husband of every woman and vice versa.
• pantine: /PAN-tə̇n/ n., a jointed pasteboard doll representing a well-known living person and carried about for amusement (as by members of the French court) in the 18th century.
• pantisocracy: /pan-tə-SÄ-krə-sē/ n., a utopian community in which all rule equally.
• pantler: /PANT-lə(r)/ n., a servant or officer in charge of the bread and the pantry in a great family.
• panto: /PAN-tō/ n., pantomime.
• pantodon: /PANT-ə-dän/ n., a genus (the type of the family Pantodontidae) of freshwater isospondylous fishes of West Africa consisting of the butterfly fish (Pantodon buchholzi). You probably thought it was going to be a kind of dinosaur.
• pantofle: /pan-TŌ-fəl/ n., slipper.
• pantograph: /PAN-tə-graf/ n., an instrument for copying something (such as a map) on a predetermined scale consisting of four light rigid bars jointed in parallelogram form; also, any of various extensible devices of similar construction (as for use as brackets or gates).
• pantonality: /pan-tō-NAL-ə-tē/ n., giving equal importance to each of the 12 semitones of the octave.
• pantophagous: /pan-TÄ-fə-gəs/ adj., eating or requiring a variety of foods.
• pantoum: /pan-TÜM/ n., a series of quatrains rhyming abab in which the second rhyme of a quatrain recurs as the first in the succeeding quatrain, each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme (as bcbc, cdcd), and the initial rhyme of the series recurs as the second rhyme of the closing quatrain (xaxa).
• pantses: /PANT-sez/ v., to yank down the pants of (someone) as a prank or joke.
• panth: /pän(t)th/ n., a spiritual path or way; a religious faith; a sect.

From A Year with Rilke, April 2 Entry
To Make Sense of Things, from Letter to Marianne von Goldschmidt Rothschild, December 5, 1914

My room and the vastness around it,
awake in the oncoming night,
are one. I am a string
stretched taut
across resonating distances.

Boris Pasternak Writing
by Leonid Pasternak

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.







*Wouldiwas Shookspeared.