Word-Wednesday for June 17, 2026

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for June 17, 2026, the twenty-fourth Wednesday of the year, the thirteenth Wednesday of spring, the third Wednesday of June, and the one-hundred sixty-eighth day of the year, with one-hundred ninety-seven days remaining.


Wannaska Phenology Update for June 17, 2026
Wild Roses
Rosa blanda — oginiiminagaawanzh — in Anishinaabe, also known as smooth rose, meadow/wild rose, or prairie rose, is a species native to Wannaska. A colony-forming shrub growing up to three feet high, wild rose can be found in prairies and meadows and forests, oh my! Among roses, oginiiminagaawanzh is the closest we come to a "thornless" rose. The flowers are perfect, by definition: /PəR-fək(t)/ adj., BOTANY, (of a flower) having both stamens and carpels present and functional, i.e., bisexual. Blooming in early summer, the flowers are borne singly or in corymbs  [KÄR-im(b)/ n., a flower cluster whose lower stalks are proportionally longer so that the flowers form a flat or slightly convex head] from lateral buds. The central flower opens first, containing no bract [/brak(t)/ n., a modified leaf or scale, typically small, with a flower or flower cluster in its axil] and a pedicel [PED-ə-sel/ n., a small stalk bearing an individual flower in an inflorescence].

June 17 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


June 17 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for June 17, 2026
Sunrise: 5:20am; Sunset: 9:30pm; 18 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 8:00am; Moonset: 11:59pm, waxing crescent, 5% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for June 17, 2026
                Average            Record              Today
High             74                     97                     66
Low              53                    29                     45

A Red, Red Rose
by Robert Burn

O my Luve's like a red, red rose 
That's newly sprung in June; 
O my Luve's like the melodie 
That's sweetly play'd in tune. 

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, 
So deep in luve am I: 
And I will luve thee still, my dear, 
Till a' the seas gang dry: 

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, 
And the rocks melt wi' the sun: 
I will luve thee still, my dear, 
While the sands o' life shall run. 

And fare thee well, my only Luve 
And fare thee well, a while! 
And I will come again, my Luve, 
Tho' it were ten thousand mile.

June 17 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Eat Your Vegetables Day
• National Root Beer Day
• National Mascot Day
• National Apple Strudel Day
• National Cherry Tart Day
• World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

June 17 Word Pun
Sven sez, “If you’re bad at haggling, you’ll end up paying the price.”


June 17 Word Riddle
How much did the pirate pay to get his ears pierced?*


June 17 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
GARTER, n.
1. An elastic band intended to keep a woman from coming out of her stockings and desolating the country.
2. An order of merit established by Edward III of England, and conferred upon persons who have distinguished themselves in the royal favor. Other kinds of public service are otherwise rewarded.

   "'Tis Britain's boast that knighthood of the Garter
   Was ne'er conferred upon a cad or carter;
   Well, any thrifty and ambitious flunkey
   Can drive a bargain—few can drive a donkey."
   So the proud cynic. Some ensuing dicker
   Gave him that pretty bauble for his kicker


June 17 Etymology Word of the Week
rose
/rōz/ n., a prickly bush or shrub that typically bears red, pink, yellow, or white fragrant flowers, native to north temperate regions; a stylized representation of the flower in heraldry or decoration, typically with five petals (especially as a national emblem of England), from a fragrant shrub noted for its beauty and its thorns, cultivated from remote antiquity, Old English rose, from Latin rosa (source of Italian and Spanish rosa, French rose; also source of Dutch roos, German Rose, Swedish ros, Serbo-Croatian ruža, Polish róża, Russian roza, Lithuanian rožė, Hungarian rózsa, Irish ros, Welsh rhosyn, etc.), probably via Italian and Greek dialects from Greek rhodon "rose" (Aeolic brodon).

Greek rhodon probably is ultimately from or related to the Iranian root vrda-. Beekes writes that "The word is certainly borrowed from the East, probably like Arm[enian] vard 'rose' from OIran urda." Aramaic warda is from Old Persian; the modern Persian cognate, via the usual sound changes, is gul, source of Turkish gül "rose."

The form of the English word was influenced by the French. Used as a color name for a light crimson by 1520s (earlier rose-color, late 14th century; rose-red, early 13th century). As "person of great beauty or virtue," early 15th century. A rose-bowl (by 1887) is one designed to hold cut roses.

The Wars of the Roses (by 1823; in 1807 as Wars of the Two Roses) was the English civil wars of 15th century, the white rose was the badge of the House of York, the red of its rival Lancaster.

As an adjective, "of a rich red color characteristic of the rose," by 1816. Earlier adjectives were rose-red (circa 1300); rose-colored (1520s).

Roses often are figurative of favorable circumstances, hence bed of roses, attested from 1590s in the figurative sense. (In 15th century, to be (or dwell) in flowers meant "be prosperous, flourish.") To come up roses "turn out perfectly" is attested by 1959; the image, though not the wording, is by 1855. To come out smelling like a rose is from 1968.

Rose of Sharon (Song of Solomon ii.1) is attested from 1610s, named for the fertile strip of coastal Palestine, but the flower has not been identified. The name has been used in U.S. since 1847 of the Syrian hibiscus.


June 17 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1631 Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends more than twenty years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal .
• 1769 Design of Madonnina statue chosen, symbol of the city of Milan that stands atop spire of the Cathedral, designed by sculptor Giuseppe Perego.
• 1885 Statue of Liberty arrives in NYC aboard French ship, Isere.
• 1919 Barney Google cartoon strip, by Billy De Beck, premieres.
• 1958 Things Fall Apart by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe.

June 17 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1571 Thomas Mun, English writer.
• 1610 Birgitte Thott, Danish writer.
• 1691 Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Italian painter and architect.
• 1725 Joseph Anton Bauer, Czech harpsichordist and composer.
• 1750 Michel Woldemar, French violinist and composer.
• 1802 Adriaan van der Hoop Jr, Dutch poet.
• 1808 Everhardus Johannes Potgieter, Dutch writer.
• 1808 Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian poet.
• 1810 Ferdinand Freiligrath, German poet.
• 1818 Charles Gounod, French composer.
• 1855 Fritz Steinbach, German composer.
• 1859 Walter Osborne, Irish landscape and portrait painter.
• 1861 Sidney Jones, British composer.
• 1863 Růžena Jesenská, Czech writer.
• 1867 Henry Lawson, Australian writer and poet.
• 1871 James Weldon Johnson, American poet.
• 1871 Nicolae Iorga, Romanian writer.
• 1880 Carl Van Vechten, American writer.
• 1882 Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer.
• 1883 Alexandre Eugène Cellier, French organist and composer.
• 1888 Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer, Dutch composer.
• 1895 Slavko Osterc, Slovenian composer.
• 1898 M. C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist and lithograph carver.
• 1900 Hermann Reuter, German composer.
• 1903 Mikhail Svetlov, Russian poet and writer.
• 1907 Charles Eames, American designer and architect.
• 1908 John Verrall, American composer.
• 1910 H. Owen Reed, American composer.
• 1911 Viktor Nekrasov, Ukrainian journalist and novelist.
• 1912 Don Gillis, American composer.
• 1912 Wessel Couzijn, Dutch sculptor and cartoonist.
• 1914 John Hersey, American author.
• 1916 Einar Englund, Finnish composer.
• 1919 Galina Ustvolskaya, Russian composer.
• 1922 Kelsey Jones, Canadian composer.
• 1924 Gotthold Gloger, German writer and painter.
• 1926 Manuel Enríquez, Mexican composer.
• 1927 Martin Böttcher, German conductor.
• 1930 Romuald Twardowski, Polish pianist, and composer.
• 1932 Dolores White, American composer, pianist.
• 1935 Antony Maitland, British children's book illustrator.
• 1938 Thomas Lawlor, Irish opera singer.
• 1939 Hanna Johansen (née Meyer), Swiss writer.
• 1943 Christopher Brown, English composer.
• 1946 Peter Rosei, Austrian writer.
• 1957 Erik Andriesse, Dutch painter.
• 1957 Uģis Prauliņš, Latvian composer.
• 1970 Will Forte, American writer.

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

• aeipathy: /ey-IP-ah-thee/ n., an enduring and consuming passion; a deeply rooted and unyielding obsession.
• birze: /burrz/ v., to apply pressure to; to push, press, squeeze.
• dopant: /DŌP- (ə)nt/ n., an impurity added usually in minute amounts to a pure substance to alter its properties (such as conductivity).
• eutrapelia: /yoo-truh-PEE-lee-uh/ n., the virtue of wit, playfulness, and moderation in jesting and recreation.
• miziweyaa: /mi-zi-WAY-uh/ ANISHINAABE, v. it is whole.
• nook-shotten: /NUUK-shah-tuhn/ adj., having many corners, angles, or projections; having an irregular form.
• sericeous: /suh-RISH-uhss/ adj., silky; covered with silky down.
• temerarious: /tem-uh-RAIR-ee-us/ adj., unreasonably adventurous; rashly or presumptuously daring; headstrong; audacious; reckless; heedless.
• vaticinate: /və-TIS-ə-nāt/ v., foretell the future.
• ween: /ween/ v., to think or suppose; be of the opinion.

June 17, 2026 Word-Wednesday Feature
The Rose Metaphor
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, says Juliet Capulet in William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, such that the essence of a person, object, or concept remains exactly the same, regardless of the words used to define it. Unless, of course, you're the Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, after her gardeners accidentally plant white roses, when she wanted red. Now the poor guys rush to paint them fast, to avoid having their heads snipped off. This incident has become a great analogy for any time somebody attempts to hide the truth or cut corners.

Herman Melville takes this metaphor of deception even further in Moby Dick, where whenever the good ship Pequod encounters another vessel, the crew record such unusual circumstances with great significance. The stinkiest whaling ship they ever come across is named The Rosebud, full of rotten fish carcasses. 

In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë's heroine, Helen Huntingdon, virtually proposes marriage to Gilbert Markham, the man she loves. This early feminist character plucks a half blown winter rose and offers it to him, declaring that since it has withstood hardships of its own which no summer flower could possibly bear, this rose represents herself. He'd be a blockhead not to twig. Helen shows that a woman can make a bold and decisive move in a tasteful and thoughtful manner.

In The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the titular character has left behind a dear friend on his tiny planet, who he adores, though she annoys him chronically. In this story, she's a beautiful rose, who is believed to represent the real life woman loved by the author — a metaphor with which all spouses can identify — accepting the thorns with the love and beauty.

Myths and fairy tales carry their own metaphors. All's well that ends well in Beauty and the Beast, by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, but the tale begins when a loving merchant plucks a beautiful rose to bring home to his youngest daughter, Beauty, because it's the only treat she requested from his travels. Alas, he chooses the wrong person's garden from which to snip. That rose tears a family apart. Poor Belle is estranged from her father and forced to live as a prisoner of the beast in whose garden it grew.

Ending with a pram, figure out William Blake's metaphor:

My Pretty Rose Tree

A flower was offered to me,
  Such a flower as May never bore;
But I said "I've a pretty rose tree,"
  And I passed the sweet flower o'er.

Then I went to my pretty rose tree,
  To tend her by day and by night;
But my rose turned away with jealousy,
  And her thorns were my only delight. 

From A Year with Rilke June 17 Entry
You, Orpheus, from Sonnets to Orpheus I, 26

But you, divine poet, to the end a singer:
falling prey to the pack of Maenads,
you wove their shrieking into wider harmonies,
and brought from that destruction a song to build with.

No one to call when they raged and wrestled,
but the jagged stones they hurled
turned gentle when reaching you,
as if able to hear you.

Hounded by hatred, you were torn to pieces
while your music still rang amidst rocks and lions,
trees and birds. There you are singing still.

O dear lost god, you endless path!
Only because you were broken and scattered
have we become the ears of nature, and her voice.

Orpheus 
by Auguste Rodin

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.






*A buccaneer.