Tag Archives: dictionary.com

February 3, 2017

Cloudland – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

cloudland.png

Hello Word Fans! You’re going to love today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day. It is “Cloudland”. It literally means “the sky” or a region of unreality, imagination, etc.; dreamland.

“Hmmm. Okay Kat. I guess it is an oKAY word, but worthy of love? I think you might be stretching it a bit.” (I’m smiling as I play this imaginary conversation in my head.)

Well, you don’t think I would leave you with such a bland, blah, blah, blah definition without giving you some juicy rest of the story info to write home about, now…do you? That would just be mean. And besides, I guarantee you will learn to love this word! (not to mention it is February the month of LOVE! :))

Being a Gemini, an air sign, and a bit of a word nerd, I am often accused of living in Cloudland; not specifically of course, but in oh so many words. Ah but, I digress. I do that a lot, hence the Cloudland references. I do think I would love living there. In Cloudland, that is, because it is actually a real place in the upper Western corner of Georgia. You probably didn’t know that, unless of course you are a nature-loving, canyon-hiking, waterfall-scaping, spelunking, yurt enthusiast. Then you might know all about Cloudland Canyon. Here’s a LINK if you’d like to visit Cloudland one day. 🙂

Oh, but there is more! Cloudland entered the English language in the early 1800’s but it has a distant Greek cousin based on the word, Nephelokokkȳgía, which means CloudCuckooLand. Its origin is traced to Aristophanes’ 414BC comedic play, The Birds, referring to the realm which separates the gods from mankind. It’s an interesting political allegory that includes such things as building walls, religion, power struggles, the creation of self-serving laws, and ultimately, the fact that a perfect world does not exist. In fact, it is said that anyone who is naïve enough to believe in such a place is a “Cloudcuckoolander”!

In the 20th and 21st Century cloudcuckooland has been used quite liberally by various politicians and big thinkers to include: Margaret Thatcher, Newt Gingrich, Paul Krugman, Imran Khan, a Pakistani sportsman turned politician, Henry Wallace, US Secretary of Agriculture in the 1930’s, and Yuri N. Maltsev, an Austrian economist and economic historian. Read more about it HERE.

So there you have it. I must admit I wouldn’t mind being a cloudlander myself, sans the “cuckoo” part. I’ve always fancied the idea of flying like the birds. I could use a bird’s eye view these days. The view from the ground lately rather cuckoo!

Dreams of Cloudland

In my wildest dreams
I sprout magnificent wings
and take to cloudland.

~kat – 3 February 2017

Have a happy weekend. 🙂

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

September 30, 2016

Testudinal – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

testudinal

It is a rainy Friday here on the US East coast. It’s a great day for staying inside with a cup of tea and reading the dictionary. HAHA! I kid!

I will likely never use today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day after I wrangle it into a haiku for you. It’s not one of those words that roll off the tongue. And to be honest, I don’t spend a lot of time discussing tortoises or things that pertain to or resemble them. Testudinal entered the English language in the 1800’s. It gets its origin from the Latin word, testūdō for “tortoise”. There’s not alot of info online about the word. No witty anecdotes or fascinating history to share. It’s just a word that I didn’t know before today and now that I do will likely forget tomorrow.

That being said, I do love the little critters. We inherited a Russian tortoise from a family member several years ago. We call him Flash. You can laugh…we meant it to be funny because of course tortoises are not considered the fastest of creatures. Though I will tell you, if he has a mind to, Flash can move quite quickly!

Now you may know that I have a few dogs…and a few cats…and a tropical bird…and now you know I have a tortoise too. Yes, I live in a zoo. It’s a character flaw actually. I am a sucker for critters with no place to go and I can’t say no.  And I can’t resist snuggling with all my adoptees…even Flash.

Don’t let anyone tell you that a cold reptile does not have the capacity to be warm and fuzzy. I am here to tell you that Flash is one of the best snugglers I know. He goes for the crook in my neck and blows in my ear before falling asleep.

Here are a few photos of me and Flash…followed by my haiku inspired by the Tale of the Tortoise and the Hare.

Have a great weekend!

A tortoise will win
at a testudinal pace
never count him out.

kat ~ 30 September 2016

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Haiku, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

September 9, 2016

Lucida – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

lucida

Happy Friday! It is, of course time to have a look at Dictionary.com to see what the Word of the Day is. “Lucida”.  It comes from the Latin phrase, “stella lucida” meaning “bright star”. It can also be traced to the Latin verb “Lucere” which means “to shine” and comes from the word “Lux” meaning “light”. The English started using the word in the 1700’s.

Of course after learning this new word, I was curious to know which star is the brightest. Here is a bit of information for you to store in your brain vault of random facts. It might help you win a trivia game one day!

The brightest star in the sky is Sirius, also known as the “Dog Star” or, more officially, Alpha Canis Majoris, for its position in the constellation Canis Major. Sirius is a binary star dominated by a luminous main sequence star, Sirius A, with an apparent magnitude of -1.46. Sirius A’s apparent brightness can be attributed both to its inherent luminosity, 20 times that of the Sun, and its proximity. At just 8.7 light years away, Sirius is the seventh closest star to Earth.

In 1844, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel suggested that the star’s slightly wavy path through the sky, compared to that of background stars, indicated a fainter companion. Alvan Clark confirmed the companion’s existence in 1862. Now known to be a white dwarf, Sirius B is easily spotted in a large telescope, but contributes little to the system’s total apparent brightness.

(From Sky and Telescope’s Essential Guide to Astrology)

 

And here is my haiku…nothing fancy…just a jingle to help me remember

Sirius, you dog!
Aren’t you quite the lucida
outshining our sun!

kat ~ 9 September 2016

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

August 26, 2016

Truepenny – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

Today’s Dictionary.com word of the day is Truepenny. Most dictionaries agree almost word for word on its meaning. It is defined as an honest, trustworthy person; the Encarta Dictionary adds the word “loyal” in its description, as well as an added definition: the name given to a coin of genuine value. 

It originated during the mid 1500’s and one source I read stated that even though most of us would not consider a penny to be a coin of value, we have kept the term around all these centuries because it is found in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. From the site WorldwideWords:

“…this word is best remembered because it features in Hamlet, in the scene in which his father’s ghost tells Hamlet of his murder and asks him to avenge it. When Marcellus and Horatio enter, the ghost cries from the cellar below for them to swear that they will never divulge what Hamlet is about to tell them. Hamlet shouts to his father, “Art thou there, truepenny?”.

Calling someone a Truepenny is definitely a compliment. It’s a term of endearment and trust. Here is my haiku then…a penny for your thoughts!

worth every penny
or at least two pennies worth
a truepenny’s words.

kat ~ 26 Auguest 2016

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Essays, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

August 12, 2016

Blandishment – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

blandishment

Happy Friday! Today’s word of the day is Blandishment. Originating in the 1500’s, blandishment is a noun taken from the word blandish- which means “flattering speech,” + -ment.  In addition, a sense of “attraction, allurement” (often blandishments) is from 1590s.

The Oxford Dictionary defines blandishment as: (usually blandishments) A flattering or pleasing statement or action used to persuade someone gently to do something:the blandishments of the travel brochure.

If I hadn’t read the actual definition, I doubt I would come up with it. The idea ofsomething blandish does not seem superfluous or flattering. But then the word flattery doesn’t exactly blow my socks off with extravagance. Bland and flat. At the very most they allude to something that is just so-so.  What odd ways we use basic words to make something that is “all that and then some!”

I came up with several Haiku. Take your pick. Once I got started, I found I could go on and on. It’s not that I’m full of it…blandishments that is! Well, maybe just a little! 🙂  For your sake I stopped at 5!

I do hope you have a spectacular weekend wherever you happen to be. Until next Friday then… 🙂

Blandishment #1:
Sly politicians
employ two-faced blandishments
tickling our ears.

Blandishment #2:
His goal was to score,
lavish blandishments his ploy…
she saw right through it!

Blandishment #3:
Every man knows
to rely on blandishments
when asked, “Am I fat?”

Blandishment #4:
It is a known fact
blandishments will get one far…
as will flattery!

Blandishment #5:
Save your blandishments
your words mean nothing to me
you need to show me!

kat ~ 12 August 2016

 

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku