Word-Wednesday for November 4, 2026

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for November 4, 2026, the forty-fourth Wednesday of the year, the seventh Wednesday of fall, the first Wednesday of November, and the three-hundred eighth day of the year, with fifty-seven days remaining. Brought to you by Bead Gypsy Studio handcrafted jewelry, announcing the DIVA DAYS Trunk Show of Metal Art Jewelry, Saturday, November 7th, 9:00am-4:00pm, with treats, samplings, and multiple in-store specials; 101 Main Avenue North, Roseau; (218) 242-6975.


Wannaska Phenology Update for November 4, 2026
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Regulus satrapa — ozaawaawiiwikwaaneshii in Anishinaabe — is the world’s smallest perching bird, weighing in at 0.1763699536 ounce, or the equivalent of two pennies. Kinglets are named Regulus, meaning “little king,” because of their bright yellow, orange, and red crowns. Wannaska is on the southernmost edge of its breeding range, so many Canadian golden-crowned kinglets are now migrating to Wannaska for the winter.

Despite its unbelievably small size, the bird somehow manages to survive Wannaskan winters — on insects. The kinglet actually eats three times its body weight in insects each day — even in winter. Ozaawaawiiwikwaaneshii feed on tiny geometrid (inch-worm) caterpillars of the species Hypagyrtis unipunctata that typically live on conifer trees. The caterpillars freeze in the winter and are still able to revive in the spring — a fascinating adaptation as long as the inchworms manage to escape the predation of the golden-crowned kinglet.

Like another Ozaawaa, the ozaawaawiiwikwaaneshii are busy bees! During the day in winter, kinglets need to keep a high body temperature and high rate of metabolism to combat the cold. At Wannaska's lowest winter temperatures, kinglets maintain a body temperature near 111ºF (five degrees higher than that of most birds and twelve degrees higher than that of a healthy Wannaska human). The kinglet's inch-thick layer of feathers provides impressive insulation. About eighty per cent of a kinglet’s feather mass is committed to insulation, with the remainder to flight.

November 4 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


November 4 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Closed until further notice; looking for new owner.


Earth/Moon Almanac for November 4, 2026
Sunrise: 7:15am; Sunset: 4:49pm; 3 minutes, 16 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 2:01am; Moonset: 2:56pm, waning crescent, 21% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for November 4, 2026
                Average            Record              Today
High             39                     73                     48
Low              23                     -6                     33

The Cocoon
by Robert Frost

As far as I can see this autumn haze
That spreading in the evening air both ways,
Makes the new moon look anything but new,
And pours the elm-tree meadow full of blue,
Is all the smoke from one poor house alone
With but one chimney it can call its own;
So close it will not light an early light,
Keeping its life so close and out of sight
No one for hours has set a foot outdoors
So much as to take care of evening chores.
The inmates may be lonely women-folk.
I want to tell them that with all this smoke
They prudently are spinning their cocoon
And anchoring it to an earth and moon
From which no winter gale can hope to blow it,—
Spinning their own cocoon did they but know it.

November 4 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Chicken Lady Day
• National Candy Day
• King Tut Day

November 4 Word Pun
It was a terrible summer, but Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.


November 4 Word Riddle
I’m an English word with three consecutive double letters. What word am I?*


November 4 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
KING'S EVIL, n. A malady that was formerly cured by the touch of the sovereign, but has now to be treated by the physicians. Thus "the most pious Edward" of England used to lay his royal hand upon his ailing subjects and make them whole—

    a crowd of wretched souls
    That stay his cure: their malady convinces
    The great essay of art; but at his touch,
    Such sanctity hath Heaven given his hand,
    They presently amend,

as the "Doctor" in Macbeth hath it. This useful property of the royal hand could, it appears, be transmitted along with other crown properties; for according to "Malcolm,"

    'tis spoken,
    To the succeeding royalty he leaves
    The healing benediction.

But the gift somewhere dropped out of the line of succession: the later sovereigns of England have not been tactual healers, and the disease once honored with the name "king's evil" now bears the humbler one of "scrofula," from scrofa, a sow. The date and author of the following epigram are known only to the author of this dictionary, but it is old enough to show that the jest about Scotland's national disorder is not a thing of yesterday.

    Ye Kynge his evill in me laye,
    Wh. he of Scottlande charmed awaye.
    He layde his hand on mine and sayd:
    "Be gone!" Ye ill no longer stayd.
    But O ye wofull plyght in wh.
    I'm now y-pight: I have ye itche!

The superstition that maladies can be cured by royal taction is dead, but like many a departed conviction it has left a monument of custom to keep its memory green. The practice of forming in line and shaking the President's hand had no other origin, and when that great dignitary bestows his healing salutation on

    strangely visited people,
    All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,
    The mere despair of surgery,

he and his patients are handing along an extinguished torch which once was kindled at the altar-fire of a faith long held by all classes of men. It is a beautiful and edifying "survival"—one which brings the sainted past close home in our "business and bosoms."


November 4 Etymology Word of the Week
election
/i-LEK-shən/ n., an act or process of electing or the fact of being elected; the right, power, or privilege of making a choice; predestination to eternal life, from circa 1300, eleccioun, "act of choosing" someone to occupy a position, elevation to office" (whether by one person or a body of electors); also "the holding of a vote by a body of electors by established procedure; the time and place of such a vote," from Anglo-French eleccioun, Old French elecion "choice, election, selection" (12th century), from Latin electionem (nominative electio) "a choice, selection," noun of action from past-participle stem of eligere "pick out, select," from ex "out" + -ligere, combining form of legere "to choose," from Proto-Indo-European root leg- "to collect, gather." In Middle English also "act of choosing" generally, "choice, free choice" (circa 1400). The theological sense of "God's choice of someone" for eternal life is from late the 14th century. Meaning "act of choosing, choice" is from circa 1400.


November 4 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1771 Carlo Goldoni's prose comedy Le Bourru Bienfaisant premieres.
• 1783 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony 36 premieres.
• 1876 Johannes Brahms' First Symphony in C premieres.
• 1886 Edward MacDowell's orchestra suite Ophelia premieres.
• 1890 Alexander Borodin's opera Prince Igor debuts.
• 1929 John L. Balderston's play Berkeley Square premieres.
• 1931 Jean Genet's play Judith premieres.
• 1948 American-born British poet T. S. Eliot wins Nobel Prize for literature.

November 4 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1575 Guido Reni, Italian Baroque painter.
• 1590 Gerard van Honthorst, Dutch painter.
• 1640 Carlo Mannelli, Italian composer.
• 1656 Leonard Sailer, German composer and organist.
• 1674 Anton Englert, German composer and organist.
• 1708 Robert Praelisauer, German composer.
• 1779 Jan Willem Pieneman, Dutch historical painter.
• 1797 Aleksander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, Russian author.
• 1800 Eduard Brendler, Swedish composer.
• 1802 Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Irish writer.
• 1812 Aleardo [Gaetano] Aleardi, Italian poet.
• 1820 Charles J. Dunphie, Irish writer.
• 1823 Karel Komzák I, Bohemian composer.
• 1841 Carl Tausig, Polish pianist, student and protégé of Liszt, and composer.
• 1846 Gaston Serpette, French composer.
• 1859 Stanisław Niewiadomski, Polish composer.
• 1862 Eden Phillpotts, English novelist, poet and playwright.
• 1863 William Faulkes, British organist, transcriber and composer.
• 1873 Kyōka Izumi, Japanese author, poet, and playwright.
• 1874 Charles Despiau, French sculptor.
• 1876 James Earle Fraser, American sculptor.
• 1877 Sophia St John Whitty, Irish wordcarver.
• 1881 Gena Branscombe, Canadian pianist and composer.
• 1887 Knut Algot Håkanson, Swedish composer.
• 1889 Alton Adams, American composer.
• 1890 Klabund [Alfred Henschke], German writer.
• 1891 Miroslav Krejčí, Czech composer.
• 1897 Oscar Lorenzo Fernández, Brazilian composer.
• 1900 Luigi Lucioni, Italian-American landscape painter.
• 1903 Ion Vasilescu, Romanian composer.
• 1904 Walter Bauer, German Canadian writer.
• 1905 Dragutin Tadijanović, Croatian poet.
• 1905 Martin Raschke, German author.
• 1906 Arnold Cooke, British composer.
• 1906 Siegfried Borris, German composer.
• 1911 Osamu Shimizu, Japanese composer.
• 1912 Botong Francisco, Filipino painter.
• 1912 Vadim Salmanov, Russian composer.
• 1921 Antonio Ruiz Soler, Spanish flamenco dancer and choreographer.
• 1922 Poul Rovsing Olsen, Danish composer.
• 1925 Kjerstin Dellert, Swedish opera singer.
• 1927 Vittorio Fellegara, Italian composer.
• 1928 Hannah Weiner, American experimental poet.
• 1929 Shakuntala Devi, Indian writer.
• 1932 Tommy Makem, Irish folk singer.
• 1934 Judith Herzberg, Dutch poet and author.
• 1935 Elgar Howarth, British composer.
• 1936 Charles Kenneth "C K" Williams, American poet.
• 1939 Gail E. Haley, American author and illustrator.
• 1943 Marlene Jobert, French novelist.
• 1944 Toni Stern, American poet.
• 1946 Robert Mapplethorpe, American photographer.
• 1949 Garo Aida, Japanese photographer and author.
• 1950 Charles Frazier, American novelist.
• 1955 Alhaj Moulana Ghousavi Shah, Indian author, poet.
• 1960 Marc Awodey, American artist and writer.
• 1961 Daron Hagen, American composer.
• 1963 Wang Shu, Chinese architect.
• 1970 Malena Ernman, Swedish opera singer.
• 1972 Yiyun Li, Chinese writer.

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

• ataraxia: /a-tə-RAK-sē-ə/ n., a state of serene calmness, peace of mind, and freedom from emotional disturbance, anxiety, or fear.
• bachgen: /BAHK-gen/ n., WELSH, a boy. Also as a term of endearment or affectionate form of address.
• daedalian: /di-DAY-lee-un/ adj., ingeniously, craftily, or intricately designed, or difficult to understand because of extreme complexity
• komorebi: /koh-moh-REH-bee/ n., JAPANESE, sunlight leaking through trees.
• mucid: /MYOO-suhd/ adj., mouldy, musty; festering, stagnant; slimy.
• obmutescent: /ahb-myoo-TESS-uhnt/ adj., speechless, silent; refraining from speech or utterance.
• pensative: /PEN-suh-tiv/ adj., thoughtful, pensive, anxious.
• skink: /skiNGk/ n., any member of Scincidae, a large family of small, agile lizards found worldwide.
• thwarterous: /THWAR-tur-us/ adj., knobbly, gnarled, knotted, or crooked; twisted and irregular in form, especially through age. 
• tintinnabulation: /tin-tin-ab-yuh-LAY-shuhn/ n., the ringing or tinkling of bells, especially a series of light, resonant sounds that create a delicate musical effect.

November 4, 2026 Word-Wednesday Feature
insult
/IN-sult/ n., a rude, disrespectful, or offensive remark, gesture, or action meant to hurt someone's feelings, belittle them, or show contempt, from circa 1600, "an attack"; 1670s as "an act of insulting, contemptuous treatment," from French insult (14th century) or directly from Late Latin insultus "insult, scoffing," noun use of past participle of insilire, literally "to leap at or upon". The older noun was insultation (1510s). To add insult to injury translates Latin injuriae contumeliam addere.

Living and learning in a world of LLMs leaves the human insult-imagination more lacking with each passing day. To enliven our imaginations, Word-Wednesday looks to Máistrí na Maslaí — this week Shakespeare, next week James Joyce.

Like Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare loved using the dash in his creative works. Combine one word from each of the three columns of Shakespearean words below, prefaced with "Thou”. 

Column 1            Column 2                Column 3
artless                 base-court               apple-john
bawdy                 bat-fowling              baggage
beslubbering      beef-witted             barnacle
bootless              beetle-headed         bladder
churlish              boil-brained            boar-pig
cockered            clapper-clawed       bugbear
clouted               clay-brained            bum-bailey
craven                common-kissing      canker-blossom
currish               crook-pated             clack-dish
dankish              dismal-dreaming     clotpole
dissembling       dizzy-eyed               coxcomb
droning              doghearted              codpiece
errant                 dread-bolted           death-token
fawning             earth-vexing            dewberry
fobbing              elf-skinned              flap-dragon
froward              fat-kidneyed           flax-wench
frothy                 fen-sucked              flirt-gill
gleeking             flap-mouthed         foot-licker
goatish               fly-bitten                fustilarian
gorbellied          folly-fallen              giglet
impertinent       fool-born                gudgeon
infectious          full-gorged             haggard
jarring                guts-griping           harpy
loggerheaded    half-faced               hedge-pig
lumpish             hasty-witted           horn-beast
mammering       hedge-born            hugger-mugger
mangled            hell-hated               joithead
mewling            idle-headed            lewdster
Mikinaakian     mephitisian             Svenhead
paunchy            ill-breeding            lout
pribbling           ill-nurtured            maggot-pie
puking              knotty-pated           malt-worm
puny                 milk-livered             mammet
qualling            motley-minded        measle
rank                  onion-eyed              minnow
reeky                plume-plucked        miscreant
roguish             pottle-deep             moldwarp
ruttish              pox-marked            mumble-news
saucy                reeling-ripe            nut-hook
spleeny            rough-hewn            pigeon-egg
spongy             rude-growing         pignut
surly                rump-fed                 puttock
tottering          shard-borne           pumpion
unmuzzled      sheep-biting           ratsbane
vain                 spur-galled              scut
venomed         swag-bellied           skainsmate
villainous        tardy-gaited            strumpet
warped            tickle-brained         varlot
wayward         toad-spotted           vassal
weedy             unchin-snouted      whey-face
yeasty             weather-bitten        wagtail


From A Year with Rilke, November 4 Entry
Offering What We Are, from Uncollected Prams

Oh, the places we would pour ourselves over,
pushing into the meager surfaces
all the impulses of our heart, our desire, our need.
To whom in the end do we offer ourselves?

To the stranger, who misunderstands us,
to the other, whom we never found,
to the servant, who could not free us,
to the winds of spring, which we could not hold,
and to silence, so easy to lose.

Red Vineyards at Arles
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.







*bookkeeper.