Word-Wednesday for May 28, 2025

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for May 28, 2025, the fifteenth Wednesday of the year, the tenth Wednesday of spring, the fourth Wednesday of May, and the one-hundred forty-eighth day of the year, with two-hundred seventeen days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for May 28, 2025
Wild Roses
The first of the Rosa blanda have appeared here in the Wannaskan forests. These gorgeous, delicate, short-lived flowers appear at the tips of new lateral branches of older woody stems. The flowers blossom two to three inches across in pink to deep rose colors with five broad, rounded, wavy-edged petals per blossom. Numerous yellow stamens surround the shorter styles in the center. The sepals are narrow and lance-like, about an inch long, and rounded at the base. Unlike the thorn-embedded woody stems, the flower stalks are smooth.

May 28 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


May 28 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for May 28, 2025
Sunrise: 5:28am; Sunset: 9:15pm; 1 minutes, 53 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 6:08am; Moonset: 11:56pm, waxing crescent, 5% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for May 28, 2025
                Average            Record              Today
High             67                     89                     76
Low              45                     30                     52

A Black Kite
by W.S. Merwin

These long cool days at the end of spring
begin with a soundless blaze at sunrise
above the distant rim of the valley
all day clouds gather and clear again
as I remember other cold springtimes here
through the coming and going of years
the losses the changes the long love come to at last
with the river down there flowing through it all
under the clear moment that never changed
in all that time not asking for anything
still the wren sings and the oriole remembers
and every evening now a black kite
glides low overhead coming from the upland
alone not climbing the thermals not hunting
not calling not busy about anything
wings and tail scarcely moving as he
slips out above the open valley
filled with the long gold light before sunset
sailing into it only to be there

May 28 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Beef Burger Day
• National Senior Health and Fitness Day
• National Hamburger Day
• National Brisket Day
• National Flip Flop Day
• Menstrual Hygiene Day
• National Feed a Bear Another Bag of Sunflower Seeds Day

May 28 Word Pun

May 28 Word Riddle
What’s the shortest distance between two people?*


May 28 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
HEAD-MONEY, n., A capitation tax, or poll-tax.

    In ancient times there lived a king
    Whose tax-collectors could not wring
    From all his subjects gold enough
    To make the royal way less rough.
    For pleasure's highway, like the dames
    Whose premises adjoin it, claims
    Perpetual repairing. So
    The tax-collectors in a row
    Appeared before the throne to pray
    Their master to devise some way
    To swell the revenue. "So great,"
    Said they, "are the demands of state
    A tithe of all that we collect
    Will scarcely meet them. Pray reflect:
    How, if one-tenth we must resign,
    Can we exist on t'other nine?"
    The monarch asked them in reply:
    "Has it occurred to you to try
    The advantage of economy?"
    "It has," the spokesman said: "we sold
    All of our gay garrotes of gold;
    With plated-ware we now compress
    The necks of those whom we assess.
    Plain iron forceps we employ
    To mitigate the miser's joy
    Who hoards, with greed that never tires,
    That which your Majesty requires."
    Deep lines of thought were seen to plow
    Their way across the royal brow.
    "Your state is desperate, no question;
    Pray favor me with a suggestion."
    "O King of Men," the spokesman said,
    "If you'll impose upon each head
    A tax, the augmented revenue
    We'll cheerfully divide with you."
    As flashes of the sun illume
    The parted storm-cloud's sullen gloom,
    The king smiled grimly. "I decree
    That it be so—and, not to be
    In generosity outdone,
    Declare you, each and every one,
    Exempted from the operation
    Of this new law of capitation.
    But lest the people censure me
    Because they're bound and you are free,
    'Twere well some clever scheme were laid
    By you this poll-tax to evade.
    I'll leave you now while you confer
    With my most trusted minister."
    The monarch from the throne-room walked
    And straightway in among them stalked
    A silent man, with brow concealed,
    Bare-armed—his gleaming axe revealed!
                                    —G.J.


May 28 Etymology Word of the Week
celebrity
/sə-LEB-rə-dē/ n., a famous person; the state of being well known, from late 14th century, "solemn rite or ceremony," from Old French celebrité "celebration" or directly from Latin celibritatem (nominative celebritas) "multitude, fame," from celeber "frequented, populous" (see celebrate). The meaning "condition of being famous" is from circa 1600; that of "a famous person" is from 1849.

When the old gods withdraw, the empty thrones cry out for a successor, and with good management, or even without management, almost any perishable bag of bones may be hoisted into the vacant seat.
E.R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational

May 28 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 585 BC Solar eclipse, as predicted by Greek philosopher Thales.
• 1431 Joan of Arc is accused of relapsing into heresy by donning male clothing again.
• 1608 Claudio Monteverdi's now mostly lost opera Arianna premieres.
• 1731 All Hebrew books in Papal State are confiscated.
• 1742 First indoor swimming pool opens in Goodman's Fields, London.
• 1830 US President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, a key law leading to the forced removal of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes out of Georgia and surrounding states, setting the stage for the Cherokee Trail of Tears .
• 1858 Dion Boucicault's play Foul Play premieres.
• 1892 Sierra Club formed by John Muir and others in San Francisco.
• 1900 Total solar eclipse occurs.
• 1923 US Attorney General says it is legal for women to wear trousers anywhere.
• 1936 Alan Turing submits "On Computable Numbers" for publication, in which he set out the theoretical basis for modern computers.
• 1938 Paul Hindemith's opera Mathis der Maler premieres.
• 1952 The women of Greece are given the right to vote..
• 1966 Dmitri Shostakovich's 11th String Quartet premieres.
• 1987 60th US National Spelling Bee: Stephanie Petit wins spelling staphylococci.
• 1992 65th National Spelling Bee: Amanda Goad wins spelling lyceum.
• 1999 In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.

May 28 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1140 Xin Qiji, Chinese poet.
• 1589 Robert Arnauld d'Andilly, French writer.
• 1692 Geminiano Giacomelli, Italian composer.
• 1765 Jean Baptiste Cartier, French composer.
• 1777 Joseph-Henri-Ignace Mees, Flemish composer.
• 1778 Friedrich Westenholz, German composer.
• 1779 Thomas Moore, Irish poet.
• 1780 Franz Joseph Fröhlich, German composer.
• 1782 Wouter Johannes van Troostwijk, Dutch painter.
• 1789 Bernhard Severin Ingemann, Danish author.
• 1798 Josef Dessauer, Austrian composer.
• 1810 Alexandre Calame, Swiss landscape painter.
• 1837 George Ashlin, Irish architect.
• 1839 Luigi Capuana, Sicilian author.
• 1840 Hans Makart, Austrian painter.
• 1841 Giovanni Sgambati, Italian pianist and composer.
• 1844 Léon Vasseur, French composer.
• 1853 Carl Larsson, Swedish painter.
• 1868 Claude Anet [Jean Schopfer], French writer.
• 1884 Theo van Reijn, Dutch sculptor.
• 1889 José Padilla, Spanish composer.
• 1889 František Mořic Nágl, Czech painter.
• 1903 Gaston Duribreux, Flemish writer.
• 1904 Shalva Mikhailovich Mshvelidze, Russian composer.
• 1908 Ian Fleming, English author.
• 1912 Patrick White, Australian novelist and playwright.
• 1916 Walker Percy, American writer and novelist.
• 1921 Heinz G. Konsalik, German author.
• 1923 Gyorgy Ligeti, Hungarian classical composer.
• 1927 Bernhard Lewkovitch, Danish organist and composer.
• 1928 Josef Hrejsemnou, Czech architect.
• 1931 Peter Talbot Westergaard, American composer.
• 1931 Stephen Birmingham, American author.
• 1934 Rob du Bois, Dutch composer.
• 1940 Maeve Binchy [Snell], Irish novelist.
• 1941 Guntram Vesper, East German writer.
• 1943 Dennis Riley, American composer.
• 1944 Adriaan T "Ad" Zuiderent, Dutch poet.
• 1946 K. Satchidanandan, Indian poet.
• 1959 Bernardine Evaristo, English writer.

Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge
Write a story or pram from the following words: 10

• bladderwrack: /BLAD-ər-rak/ n., a common brown shoreline seaweed that has tough flat fronds containing air bladders that give buoy.
• collectary: / kuh-LECK-tuh-ree/ n., a book containing a collection of prayers known as collects (see collect n. 1) or other liturgical texts.
• faffy: /FAFF-ee/ adj., of air, wind, etc.: blowy, gusty; (of a thing) moving with a breath or gust of wind, air.
• jargogle: /JAHR-gaw-gel/ v., to confuse or mix things up.
• freshet: /FRESH-ət/ n., the flood of a river from heavy rain or melted snow.
• micklewise: /MIK-əl-wyz/ adj., having much wisdom.
• qibla: /KIB-lə/ n., the direction of the Kaaba (the sacred building at Mecca), to which Muslims turn at prayer.
• spivery: /SPY-vuh-ree/ n., the practice of a spiv : obtaining one's living without effort at the expense of others.
• theorbo: /thē-ÔR-bō/ n., a large lute with the neck extended to carry several long bass strings, used for accompaniment - often by sheep - in 17th- and early-18th-century music.
• unked: /UNG-kuhd/ adj., of a place or route: lonely, desolate; bleak; eerie, unsettling.

May 28, 2025 Word-Wednesday Feature
laughter
/LAF-tər/ n., the action or sound of laughing, from late 14th century, from Old English hleahtor "laughter; jubilation; derision," from Proto-Germanic hlahtraz (source also of Old Norse hlatr, Danish latter, Old High German lahtar, German Gelächter). Isn't it interesting that the word the English language has chosen for this universal human behavior is Northern European? We here at Word-Wednesday headquarters would always prefer to laugh than to rire, but that's just who we are. Laughter is a full-bodied heart-mind experience that comes from the diaphragm, not from the face.

The words of the world's best writers and thinkers, characterize laughter as medicine, art, social glue, intimacy, honesty, a weapon, an escape, aesthetic, joy, a life-force, and a human necessity, to name but a few. Here are just a few of our favorites:

LAUGHTER, n. An interior convulsion, producing a distortion of the features and accompanied by inarticulate noises. It is infectious and, though intermittent, incurable. Liability to attacks of laughter is one of the characteristics distinguishing man from the animals—these being not only inaccessible to the provocation of his example, but impregnable to the microbes having original jurisdiction in bestowal of the disease. Whether laughter could be imparted to animals by inoculation from the human patient is a question that has not been answered by experimentation. Dr. Meir Witchell holds that the infectious character of laughter is due to the instantaneous fermentation of sputa diffused in a spray. From this peculiarity he names the disorder Convulsio spargens.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Laughter is carbonated holiness.

Anne Lamott

Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.

Karl Barth

Laughter is God’s hand on a troubled world.

Proverb

Laughter is an instant vacation.

Milton Berle

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.

Victor Borge

Laughter is the jam on the toast of life. It adds flavor, keeps it from being too dry, and makes it easier to swallow.

Diane Johnson

Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward.

Carol Channing

Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain.

Charlie Chaplin

Laughter has something in it in common with the ancient winds of faith and inspiration; it unfreezes pride and unwinds secrecy; it makes men forget themselves in the presence of something greater than themselves; something…that they cannot resist.

G. K. Chesterton

Laughter is a force for democracy.

John Cleese

Laughter is the best medicine. But it’s more than that. It’s an entire regime of antibiotics and steroids. Laughter brings the swelling down on our national psyche, and then applies an antibiotic cream.

Stephen Colbert

Laughter is, after speech, the chief thing that holds society together.

Max Eastman

Laughter is the sun which drives winter from the human face.

Victor Hugo

Laughter is the mind sneezing.

Wyndham Lewis

Laughter is man’s most distinctive emotional expression. Man shares the capacity for love and hate, anger and fear, loyalty and grief, with other living creatures. But humor, which has an intellectual as well as an emotional element, belongs to man.

Margaret Mead

Humor is a prelude to faith and
Laughter is the beginning of prayer.

Reinhold Niebuhr

Pyrotechnically considered, it is the fire-works of the soul.

Josh Billings

In the language of screen comedians, four of the main grades of laugh are the titter, the yowl, the belly laugh, and the boffo.

James Agee

The only honest art form is laughter, comedy. You can’t fake it.

Lenny Bruce

Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects.

Arnold H. Glasow

So many tangles in life are ultimately hopeless that we have no appropriate sword other than laughter.

Gordon W. Allport,

Without laughter life on our planet would be intolerable. So important is laughter to us that humanity highly rewards members of one of the most unusual professions on earth, those who make a living by inducing laughter in others.

Steve Allen

I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep.

Norman Cousins

Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter,
Sermons and soda water the day after.

Lord Byron

Love cannot exorcise the gifts of hate.
Hate cannot exorcize what has no weight,
But laughter we can never over-rate.

May Sarton

We should remind ourselves that laughing together is as close as you can get to another person without touching, and sometimes it represents a closer tie than touching ever could.

Regina Barreca

It has been wisely said that we cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh.

Agnes Repplier

I'm beginning to feel that the real endangered species on planet earth are not the whales and the elephants but those of us who can laugh at the world and ourselves.

Rita Mae Brown

There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Laughter and tears are meant to turn the wheels of the same machinery of sensibility; one is wind-power, and the other water-power; that is all.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Many times what cannot be refuted by arguments can be parried by laughter.

Desiderius Erasmus

The sound of laughter is like the vaulted dome of a temple of happiness.

Milan Kundera

There exists a kind of laughter which is worthy to be ranked with the higher lyric emotions and is infinitely different from the twitchings of a mean merrymaker.

Nikolai Gogol

The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion.

Richard P. Feynman

Earth laughs in flowers.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.

W. H. Auden

He laughs best who laughs last.

Proverb

He who laughs, lasts!

Mary Pettibone Poole

From A Year with Rilke, May 28 Entry
When Things Close In, from Book of Hours III, 1

It feels as though I make my own way
through massive rock
like a vein of ore
alone, encased.

I am so deep inside it
I can't see the path or any distance:
everything is close
and everything closing in on me
has turned to stone.

Since I still don't know enough about pain,
this terrible darkness makes me small,
If it's you, though—

press down hard on me, break in
that I may know the weight of your hand
and you, the fullness of my cry.

Bacchus Consoling Ariadne
by Aimé-Jules Dalou

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.







*laughter.