Word-Wednesday for November 19, 2025

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for November 19, 2025, the twenty-third Wednesday of the year, the ninth Wednesday of fall, the third Wednesday of November, and the three-hundred twenty-third day of the year, with forty-two days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for November 19, 2025
A Regular
Some residents just stay in Wannaska, so we'll talk about one of those this week. The red-breasted nuthatch, Sitta canadensis — Omakakakiigoozhiis, in Anishinaabe — is a small songbird native year-round in Wannaska. The adult has blue-grey upperparts with cinnamon underparts, a white throat and face with a black stripe through the eyes, a straight grey bill and a black crown. Like all nuthatches, the red-breasted nuthatch is assigned to the genus Sitta, a name derived from sittē (σίττη), the Ancient Greek word for the Eurasian nuthatch. The specific epithet canadensis is Neo-Latin for "belonging to Canada". "Nuthatch" is a linguistic corruption of "nuthack", referring to the bird's habit of wedging nuts into cracks in tree bark and hacking at them until they break open. "Red-breasted" is a reference to the rusty color of the male's underparts. The red-breasted nuthatch's call is high-pitched, nasal and weak. Transcribed as yenk or ink, they have been likened to a toy tin horn or a child's noisemaker. Its song is a slowly repeated series of clear, nasal, rising notes, transcribed as eeen eeen eeen, sometimes mistaken for Monique calling Sven in for Scrabble™.

November 19 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


November 19 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for November 19, 2025
Sunrise: 7:39am; Sunset: 4:39pm; 2 minutes, 31 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 7:22am; Moonset: 3:48pm, new moon, 0% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for November 19, 2025
                Average            Record              Today
High             29                     55                     41
Low              15                    -31                      31

November for Beginners
by Rita Dove

Snow would be the easy
way out—that softening
sky like a sigh of relief
at finally being allowed
to yield. No dice.
We stack twigs for burning
in glistening patches
but the rain won’t give.

So we wait, breeding
mood, making music
of decline. We sit down
in the smell of the past
and rise in a light
that is already leaving.
We ache in secret,
memorizing

a gloomy line
or two of German.
When spring comes
we promise to act
the fool. Pour,
rain! Sail, wind,
with your cargo of zithers!

November 19 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• GIS Day
• National Play Monopoly Day
• National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day
• National Education Support Professionals Day
• World Toilet Day
• International Men’s Day
• Women’s Entrepreneurship Day

November 19 Word Pun

Sven applied for a job hanging mirrors.

It’s something that he can see himself doing.

November 19 Word Riddle
What did a disappointed Tweety Bird say when he discovered he had thawed a bunny for dinner?*

A Chairman Joe contribution

November 19 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
FAMOUS, adj., Conspicuously miserable.

    Done to a turn on the iron, behold
    Him who to be famous aspired.
    Content? Well, his grill has a plating of gold,
    And his twistings are greatly admired.
                    —Hassan Brubuddy


November 19 Etymology Word of the Week
essay
/E-sā/ n., an attempt or effort; a short piece of writing on a particular subject, from 1590s, "trial, attempt, endeavor," also "short, discursive literary composition" (first attested in writings of Francis Bacon, probably in imitation of Montaigne), from French essai "trial, attempt, essay" (in Old French from 12th century), from Late Latin exagium "a weighing, a weight," from Latin exigere "drive out; require, exact; examine, try, test," from ex "out" (see ex-) + agere "to set in motion, drive" (from Proto-Indo-European root ag- "to drive, draw out or forth, move") apparently meaning here "to weigh."


November 19 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1849 Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 4, The Tragic, premieres.
• 1850 Alfred Tennysball becomes British Poet Laureate, succeeding William Wordsworth.
• 1861 American poet and abolitionist Julia Ward Howe commits lyrics of Battle Hymn of the Republic to paper.
• 1863 US President Abraham Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg address.
• 1881 A meteorite lands near the village of Großliebenthal, southwest of Odessa, Ukraine.
• 1910 Ferenc Molnàr's play Tester premieres.
• 1923 Hungarian composer Béla Bartòk's orchestral work Dance Suite premieres.
• 1959 First episode of Jay Ward's cartoon series Rocky and His Friends, featuring Rocket J. ("Rocky") Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose airs.
• 1966 Mad Dog Vachon beats Dick The Bruiser in Omaha, to become NWA champ.
• 2021 Longest partial lunar eclipse since 1440, lasting 3 hours, 28 minutes, and 23 seconds.

November 19 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1607 Erasmus Quellinus II, Flemish painter and etcher.
• 1617 Eustache Le Sueur, French painter.
• 1709 Pierre Leclair, French composer and violinist.
• 1711 Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian scholar and poet.
• 1753 Stanislas Champein, French composer.
• 1770 Bertel Thorvaldsen, Danish sculptor.
• 1796 Johann Wilhelm Mangold, German composer.
• 1846 Emile Wauters, Belgian painter.
• 1849 James Mason, Irish writer.
• 1859 Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer.
• 1870 Vicente Lleó, Spanish composer.
• 1874 Karl Adrian Wohlfart, Swedish composer.
• 1879 Karel van den Oever, Flemish author and poet.
• 1886 Fernand Crommelynck, Belgian playwright.
• 1987 Kathleen Bridle, Irish painter.
• 1899 Allen Tate, American poet.
• 1900 Anna Seghers [Netty Reiling], German author,
• 1904 Jaap Nanninga, Dutch abstract painter.
• 1905 Tommy Dorsey, American trombonist.
• 1906 Henri Temianka, Scottish-born Polish composer.
• 1906 Jacques Leguerney, French composer.
• 1907 Jack Schaefer, American author.
• 1907 Luc Tourneir [Christian J. H. Engles] Netherland-Curaçaon poet.
• 1908 Mikhail Chulaki, Soviet composer.
• 1921 Géza Anda, Hungarian-Swiss concert pianist.
• 1923 Helena Zmatlíková, Czech illustrator and artist.
• 1926 Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright.
• 1936 Emin Aristakesian, Armenian composer.
• 1937 José Molina [Quijada], Spanish-born American flamenco dancer.
• 1940 Alberto Villalpando, Bolivian composer.
• 1942 Sharon Olds, American poet.
• 1951 Ben Katchor, American cartoonist and illustrator.
• 1952 Petra Janů, Czech singer. 
• 1970 Justin Chancellor, English bassist.
• 1970 Ger FitzGerald, Irish musician.
• 1973 Ryukishi07 [real name unknown), Japanese mystery writer.

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

• croesco: /KROY-saw/ interj., WELSH, used as an expression of welcome or as a response to an expression of thanks.
• dep: /dep/ n., CANADIAN, especially in Quebec, a small local shop selling goods such as groceries, newspapers, cigarettes, beer, and wine; a convenience store, a depanneur.
• gunzel: /GUN-zuhl/ n., a tram or train enthusiast.
• hoppípolla: /HOP-peepoh-lah/ v., ICELANDIC, to jump in puddles.
• irrupt: /iˈRəPT/ v., to enter forcibly or suddenly.
• nithing: /NIGH-thing/n., a coward; a poltroon.
• oleilu: /oh-LAY-loo/ v., FINNISH, to relax, unwind, just be, simply exist.
• perchist: /PURR-chuhst/ n., an acrobat who performs from a perch-pole or high perch.
• rune: /roon/ v., to compose or perform poetry or songs; to lament.
• sillabub: /SIL-ə-bəb/ n., a whipped cream dessert, typically flavored with white wine or sherry.

November 19 2025 Word-Wednesday Feature
illness    
/IL-nəs/ n., a disease or period of sickness affecting the body or mind, from ill, circa 1200, "morally evil; offensive, objectionable" (other 13th century senses were "malevolent, hurtful, unfortunate, difficult"), from Old Norse illr "evil, bad; hard, difficult; mean, stingy," a word of unknown origin. Not considered to be related to evil. From mid-14th century as "marked by evil intentions; harmful, pernicious." Sense of "sick, unhealthy, diseased, unwell" is first recorded mid-15th century, probably from a use similar to that in the Old Norse idiom "it is bad to me." Slang inverted sense of "very good, cool" is 1980s.

One of the most dreaded, yet powerful experiences in human life, the season is upon us as we shut ourselves indoors. Whether illness befalls us directly — or a loved one — the onset feels sudden and unexpected. Just like that, whether the illness be mild or severe, the course of our lives feels dramatically altered, as often as not, by isolating us. Yet probing insights into this time of our lives can help brace us for the inevitable, hopefully helping us through the worst — both physically and emotionally. Here are some of their words.

The earliest sensation at the onset of illness, often preceding the recognition of identifiable symptoms, is apprehension. Something has gone wrong, and a glimpse of mortality shifts somewhere deep in the mind. It is the most ancient of our fears.

Lewis Thomas

Sickness comes on horseback and departs on foot.

Proverb

We are not sensible of the most perfect health as we are of the least sickness.

Michel de Montaigne

Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.

Felix Frankfurter

Those who have never been ill are incapable of real sympathy for a great many misfortunes.

André Gide

In a sense sickness is a place, more instructive than a long trip to Europe, and it’s always a place where there’s no company, where nobody can follow.

Flannery O'Connor

He did not like illness, he distrusted it, as he distrusted the road without signposts.

Eudora Welty

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promises only; pain we obey.

Marcel Proust

I dislike helplessness in other people and in myself, and this is by far my greatest fear of illness.

John Steinbeck

Olga discovered that there are only two kinds of illness: those that are fatal and those that heal themselves in their proper time.

Isabel Allende, The Infinite Plan

Can there be worse sickness, than to know
That we are never well, nor can be so?

John Donne

Sickness is felt, but health not at all.

Thomas Fuller

A long illness seems to be placed between life and death, in order to make death a comfort both to those who die and to those who remain.

Jean de La Bruyère

A man’s illness is his private territory and, no matter how much he loves you and how close you are, you stay an outsider. You are healthy.

Lauren Bacall

Serious illness doesn’t bother me for long because I am too inhospitable a host.

Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient

Every sick man is a hero, if not to the world or even to the family, at last to himself.

Finley Peter Dunne

The worst illness today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but the sense of being unwanted, of not being loved, of being abandoned by all.

Mother Teresa

A critical illness is like a great permission, an authorization or absolving. It’s all right for a threatened man to be romantic, even crazy, if he feels like it. All your life you think you have to hold back your craziness, but when you’re sick you can let it go in all its garish colors.

Anatole Broyard

Those of us with illnesses are the holders of the silent fears of those with good health.

Elisabeth Tova Bailey, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

Illness is the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter who you are, rich or poor, young or old, fat or thin, sick is sick.

Fran Drescher

In the last states of a final illness, we need only the absence of pain and the presence of family.

Helen Hayes

To array a man’s will against his sickness is the supreme art of medicine.

Henry Ward Beecher

The doctor may also learn more about the illness from the way the patient tells the story than from the story itself.

James B. Herrick

If you treat a sick child like an adult and a sick adult like a child, everything usually works out pretty well.

Ruth Carlisle

Intellectual curiosity about one’s own illness is certainly born of a desire for mastery. If I couldn’t cure myself, perhaps I could at least begin to understand myself.

Siri Hustvedt

There is, let us confess it (and illness is the great confessional), a childish outspokenness in illness; things are said, truths blurted out, which the cautious respectability of health conceals.

Virginia Woolf

To admit that disability and illness are hard doesn’t mean that they are wholly negative experiences or meaningless.

Anne Finger

The seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information.

Marilyn Ferguson

We forget ourselves and our destinies in health, and the chief use of temporary sickness is to remind us of these concerns.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the midst of your illness you will promise a goat, but when you have recovered, a chicken will seem sufficient.

Proverb

Recovery from illness often seems like beginning life all over again.

Cornelia Meigs

People who praise illness as bringing out the best in people ought to have their heads examined.

Rae Foley

I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes the illness worth while.

George Bernard Shaw

From A Year with Rilke, November 19 Entry
Spectators, from Eighth Duino Elegy

And we: always and everywhere spectators,
turned not toward the Open
but to the stuff of our lives.
It downs us. We set it in order.
It falls apart. We order it again
and fall apart ourselves.

Who has turned us around like this?
Whatever we do, we are in the posture
of one who is about to depart.
Like a person lingering
for a moment on the last hill
where he can see his whole valley—
that is how we live, forever
taking our leave.

Two Poplars on a Hill
by Vincent van Gogh

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.






*I tawt I tawed a puddy tat.