Word-Wednesday for August 12, 2026

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for August 12, 2026, the thirty-second Wednesday of the year, the eighth Wednesday of summer, the second Wednesday of August, and the two-hundred twenty-fourth day of the year, with one-hundred forty-one days remaining. Brought to you by Bead Gypsy Studio & Scandinavian Shoppe, featuring CRAZY DAYS IN AUGUST, with Ekelund Linens, Bonnie’s Bags, and Select Stained Glass; 101 Main Avenue North, Roseau.


Wannaska Phenology Update for August 12, 2026
Chanterelles
Cantharellus cibarius — waazhashkwedo in Anishinaabe — has successfully used its puhpowee [/puh-POH-wee/ n., the force which causes mushrooms to push up from the earth overnight] to shine its sunny, peppery cap in Wannaskaland. Chanterelles are found in Eurasia, North America and Africa, typically growing in forested areas. In January 2024, the California golden chanterelle became the official mushroom of that state.

Though records of chanterelles being eaten date back to the 16th century, they first gained widespread recognition as a culinary delicacy with the spreading influence of French cuisine in the eighteenth century, when they began appearing in palace kitchens. Do you like bacon? Do you know someone who can safely identify chanterelles? Here's a recipe for you.

August 12 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


August 12 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Closed until further notice.


Earth/Moon Almanac for August 12, 2026
Sunrise: 6:12am; Sunset: 8:46pm; 3 minutes, 9 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 5:52am; Moonset: 8:50pm, New Moon, 0% illuminated. Today look for a partial solar eclipse at 12:05pm, and if you happen to be in the thin swath of total eclipse from Greenland to Portugal, watch for any meteors from the peaking Perseid.

Temperature Almanac for August 12, 2026
                Average            Record              Today
High             78                     95                     78
Low              55                     30                     54

August
by Elise Partridge

Late August night,
I'm dozing in bed —

crickets sturdily cheeping —
elm nodding its head —

suddenly, flare!
glaring swath —

star, plummeting —
singed path.


If only some giant
had tossed that huge ball

through galaxy air —
if it hadn't fallen

and snuffed itself out
blazing along its arc,

but lay safe, nestled
in a glove in the dark

(a fireproof mitt:
thick clouds, congealed) —

the fielder pivoting
at the edge of the field. . . .

August 12 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Middle Child Day
• National Vinyl Record Day
• National Julienne Fries Day
• International Youth Day
• World Elephant Day
• Feast Day of Muiredach of Killala

August 12 Word Pun
Sven’s started telling everyone about the benefits of eating dried grapes. It’s all about raisin awareness.


August 12 Word Riddle
Where do marines get their vegetables?*

a Chairman Joe original

August 12 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
QUOTATION, n., The act of repeating erroneously the words of another. The words erroneously repeated.

    Intent on making his quotation truer,
    He sought the page infallible of Brewer,
    Then made a solemn vow that he would be
    Condemned eternally. Ah, me, ah, me!
                                        —Stumpo Gaker


August 12 Etymology Word of the Week
mediocre
/mēd-ē-Ō-kər/ adj., of only moderate quality; not very good, from 1580s, "of moderate degree or quality, neither good nor bad," from French médiocre (16th century), from Latin mediocris "of middling height or state, moderate, ordinary," figuratively "mediocre, mean, inferior," literally "halfway up a mountain." This is from medius "middle" (from Proto-Indo-European root medhyo- "middle") + ocris "jagged mountain" (cognate with Greek okris "peak, point," Welsh ochr "corner, border," Latin acer "sharp;" from Proto-Indo-European root ak- "be sharp, rise (out) to a point, pierce"). As a noun, "mediocre thing or person," by 1834. Middle English had mediokerli (adv.) "mediocrely" (early fifteenth century).


August 12 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 3 Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter on August 12, 3 BC, a popular theory for the biblical Star of Bethlehem.
• 1813 Robert Southey is appointed British Poet Laureate by King George III.
• 1865 British surgeon Joseph Lister performs the first antiseptic surgery using carbolic spray on instruments and bandages.
• 1915 Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham is published.

August 12 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1626 Giovanni Legrenzi, Venetian Baroque organist and composer.
• 1644 Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Czech violinist and composer.
• 1647 Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer.
• 1696 Maurice Greene, English composer.
• 1751 Johann Baptist Lasser, German composer.
• 1753 Thomas Bewick, English wood-engraver and illustrator.
• 1774 Robert Southey, English writer.
• 1806 Elizabeth Oakes Smith, American poet.
• 1825 Frederick Ouseley, British organist, composer.
• 1838 Joseph Barnby, British conductor, composer.
• 1848 Macellus Emants, Dutch writer and poet.
• 1849 Abbott Handerson Thayer, American painter.
• 1853 Jean Louis Nicodé, Prussian pianist and composer.
• 1854 Alfred Gilbert, English sculptor.
• 1859 Katharine Lee Bates, American author.
• 1866 Jacinto Benavente y Martínez, Spanish playwright.
• 1875 (Héctor) Ettore Panizza, Argentinian composer.
• 1875 Mezio Agostini, Italian composer.
• 1876 Mary Roberts Rinehart, American mystery writer.
• 1880 Marguerite "John" Radclyffe-Hall, English poet and author.
• 1881 Václav Vačkář, Czech composer.
• 1884 Frank Swinnerton, English novelist.
• 1885 Alexander Albrecht, Slovak composer.
• 1889 Zerna Sharp, American writer.
• 1897 Manuel Blancafort, Spanish-Catalan pianist and composer.
• 1897 Ramón González Barrón, Spanish composer.
• 1900 Ignacio Prieto [Arrizubieta], Spanish composer.
• 1904 Tamás Lossonczy, Hungarian painter.
• 1907 Miguel Torga [Adolfo Correia da Rocha], Portuguese writer.
• 1910 Heinrich Sutermeister, Swiss opera composer.
• 1914 Ruth Lowe, Canadian pianist and composer.
• 1915 Michael Kidd, American choreographer and dancer.
• 1917 Ebba Haslund, Norwegian writer.
• 1919 Doris E. Smith, Irish writer.
• 1925 Norris McWhirter, English author.
• 1926 Wallace Markfield, American writer.
• 1927 Patrick Swift, Irish painter.
• 1929 Joji Yuasa, Japanese contemporary classical composer.
• 1931 Jiří Stránský, Czech poet.
• 1932 Sergei Slonimsky, Russian composer.
• 1933 Frederic Lindsay, Scottish author.
• 1935 Karl Mickel, German writer.
• 1936 Gérard Masson, French composer.
• 1936 Hans Haacke, German artist.
• 1937 Walter Dean Myers, African-American author.
• 1940 Alexander Yossifov, Bulgarian conductor and composer.
• 1941 Réjean Ducharme, Québécois novelist and playwright.
• 1953 Peter Ostroushko, American fiddler, mandolin player, and composer.
• 1955 Ann M. Martin, American author.
• 1967 Tom Holkenborg, Dutch composer.

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

• aesthesis: /ees-THEE-siss/ n., sense perception, feeling, or sensory experience; an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation; the opposite of the word, anesthesia.
• bagus: /bah-GOOSS/ adj., of high quality; excellent, splendid. Also as int., expressing approval or assent.
• cloche: /klōSH/ n., a dome-shaped bread baker that helps the bread retain moisture while getting a nice crust during baking.
• futur: /fyoo-TYOOR/ n., a man to whom someone is engaged to be married; a fiancé.
• laze: /lāz/ v., spend time in a relaxed, lazy manner; n., a spell of lazing around.
• midinette: /mi-di-NET/ n., a seamstress or assistant in a Parisian fashion house.
• mumper: /MUM-puhr/ n., a beggar or a begging impostor, especially someone who tricks people or pretends to be sick to get money.
• nemeton: /neh-MEH-tun/ n., a sacred space or open-air sanctuary from ancient Celtic religion, most often taking the form of a consecrated woodland grove or natural clearing rather than a built temple.
• slunge: /slunj/ v., to move or walk in a slouching, languid, or lethargic manner; to skulk, loiter, or move about furtively.
• vicus: /VEE-kus/ n., a village, a rural district, or a city neighborhood.

August 12, 2026 Word-Wednesday Feature
prosopopoeia
/prä-sə-pə-PĒ-ə/ n., a figure of speech in which an abstract thing is personified, from 1560s, from Latin prosopopoeia, from Greek, προσωποποιία, prosōpopoiia, "the putting of speeches into the mouths of others," from prosōpon "person; face; dramatic character," etymologically "that which is toward the eyes," from pros "to" (see pros-) + ōps "eye, face" (from Proto-Indo-European root okw- "to see") + poiein "to make, form, do" (see poet). Generally, a rhetorical figure in which an imaginary or absent person, or abstraction or inanimate character, is made to speak or act. Sometimes Englished as prosopopy (1570s).

Rooted in classical rhetoric, this technique involves giving human characteristics to abstract ideas or inanimate objects, thus breathing life into them and allowing them to express thoughts, feelings, or narratives. Aristotle discussed the effectiveness of this device in making arguments more relatable and persuasive in his Art of Rhetoric. Wannaskan Almanac contributors and other gifted writers use prosopopoeia to: (a) enhance emotional appeal; (b) create vivid imagery; (c) facilitate connection to ideas or objects.

Some familiar examples from literature include:

• The allegorical figures of Sin and Death in Paradise Lost, by John Milton.
• Shakespeare giving a voice to time and midnight, when he writes of the "iron tongue of midnight" telling lovers to go to bed in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The word prosopopoeia is rooted in the etymology of the word, poet, and the award-winning poet, Jorie Graham (relationship to teapoetry unknown) — like Jackpinesavage — uses prosopopoeia to give voice to our troubled planet.

The World
by Jorie Graham

didn’t change much
at first. At
first it
didn’t change

much, at first I
didn’t—I don’t—
change much.
At first we

didn’t & they
didn’t & the atmosphere
stayed the same
or enough to seem

the same. The same.
I say the word
out loud to my-
self. Who changed I

think. What started out & then
disappeared without
actually dis-
appearing. It’s so quiet

in here. It’s so
quiet now. The now
used to be a noisy
place & now

it is so
still. Where is everyone
I think. What is it
that is dis-

possessed. Can it ever be re-

possessed. Never?
Now and again your soul
wakes up in
spurts asking

what is—or is there—a just

struggle. Then you,
then I, cry out
where are you
everyone. We were in one world

& then was it u or
us or them or no one in
particular—in
particular my heart

leaps at that—oh
in particular—but no one
answers & no one
came along in the end.

And that was when
the end began.
I only just realized
it. Only just heard

no one survived—or is it they
still hide, above
the cries, no
child, no one

replies, no one not
blind, confined,
lined up, wired up, piled
up, made to

comply, des-
pised, compromised, the soul perpetually dis-
guised, the words even
the right words

cannot be un-

furled from breath from
mind oh
memory no cannot be
dug up dug up from

this buried world.

From A Year with Rilke, August 12 Entry
You Said “Live”, from The Book of Hours, I, 9

You said live out loud, and die you said lightly,
and over and over again you said be.

But before the first death came murder.
A fracture broke across the rings you'd ripened.
A screaming shattered the voices

that had just come together to speak you,
to make of you a bridge
over the chasm of everything.

And what they have stammered ever since
are fragments
of your ancient name.

Bridge Over the Marne at Creteil
by Paul Cézanne

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.






*At Camp Legume.