Tag Archives: word of the day

July 22, 2016

Woolgathering – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

woolgathering

Have you been woolgathering lately? Today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day entered the English vocabulary in the 1500’s, literally meaning the gathering of the tufts of wool shed by sheep and caught on bushes. It is also associated with indulgence in idle fancies and in daydreaming and absentmindedness.

B.A. Phythian explains the connection between the word’s literal and figurative applications in A Concise Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1993): It was an activity for poor people hoping to gather enough fragments to weave together, entailing a certain amount of haphazard rambling among hedgerows and fields by women and children. This rather random wandering has been a metaphor for dreaminess since the 16^th century.

For additional understanding, here is Merriam-Webster’s definition:

Woolgathering once literally referred to the act of gathering loose tufts of wool that had gotten caught on bushes and fences as sheep passed by. Woolgatherers must have seemed to wander aimlessly, gaining little for their efforts, for in the mid-16th century “woolgathering” began to appear in figurative phrases such as “my wits (or my mind) went a-woolgathering” – in other words, “my mind went wandering aimlessly.” From there, it wasn’t long before the word woolgathering came to suggest the act of indulging in purposeless mind-wandering.

I don’t know that I have ever heard this word used, but most of us are not exposed to the literal activity of woolgathering in this day and age. Perhaps a better metaphor for 21^st century woolgathering could be TwitterTrolling. Hmmm…I like it. “Her twittertrolling caused her to miss the boarding call for her flight.”

Woolgathering and twittertrolling, are considered indulgences in this modern era where time is money and we are constantly working to do more with less to satisfy some shareholder’s bottom line. If you do engage in occasional woolgathering it is a good idea to do so with one ear open and your wits intact so you don’t miss something important.

Here is my Haiku then…playing a bit with the sheep reference. Have a great Friday!

Those who are naive
minds adrift, woolgathering
are easily fleeced.

kat ~ 22 July 2016

9 Comments | tags: Haiku, Poetry, woolgathering, word of the day, word of the day haiku challenge | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

July 15, 2016

Animadversion- Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

It is Friday and time to explore a new word of the day from Dictionary.com. This week’s word is animadversion. Animadversion can be traced to the Latin animadvertere “to heed, censure”with the root animus meaning “mind,spirit, courage, passion, wrath.” It entered the English language in the mid-1500s.

I found a new source fine dictionary.com that provides a summary of definitions as well as the etymology and examples of a word in literature. Here are some additional definitions of the word:

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1. Animadversion – Judicial cognizance of an offense; chastisement; punishment.
2. Animadversion – Monition; warning.
3. Animadversion – Remarks by way of criticism and usually of censure; adverse criticism; reproof; blame.”He dismissed their commissioners with severe and sharp animadversions .”
4. Animadversion – The act or power of perceiving or taking notice; direct or simple perception.
“The soul is the sole percipient which hath animadversion and sense, properly so called.”

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
1. n animadversion – The act or faculty of observing or noticing; observation; perception.
2. n animadversion – The act of criticizing; criticism; censure; reproof.
3. n animadversion – Synonyms Remark, comment, reprobation, reprehension.

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary
1. n Animadversion – criticism, censure, or reproof

Once again, I can see an application for this word in our current political climate. With the first of two national conventions upon us, it is hard to avoid!

Animadversions that are applied unjustly and repetitively with no basis in truth have the power to change our impression and understanding of reality.

It’s a vile practice making it almost impossible to know the truth. I do have hope though, that eventually the truth will rise to the surface and we will all wake up from the pervasive deception that plagues us. The Truth sets us free!

Animadversion – A Haiku

I fear we’re all mad!
Spouting animadversions
Truthfulness be damned!

kat – 15 July 2016

7 Comments | tags: animadversion, Haiku, reality, truth, word of the day | posted in Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

July 8, 2016

Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

selenotropism

Today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day is Selenotropism. It’s a whopper of a word comprised of six syllables. This presents quite a challenge when tasked with writing a Haiku! I decided to use the adjective form giving me another syllable to work with and I also opted to take further creativity liberty in the application of the word. Selenotropism is a Biology term that refers to plant growth and movement in response to moonlight. The word entered English in the 1880’s and comes from the Greek “se”ēnē” for “moon” and trópos which means “turn”.

A bit about the biological term…

Most of us know that plants will lean toward light. If you place a plant in a window, you will find that you need to turn it every so often to keep it from leaning to one side. This phenomenon is called “heliotropism” (helio referring to the sun). A biologist by the name of M. Musset, intrigued by the heliotropic movement of plants decided to conduct experiments on the influence of the reflected light of the moon. He chose three nights in February of 1883 to test his theory, exposing young plants to direct moonlight from 9 pm to 3 am. Almost immediately the buds of the plants bent the stalks in the direction of the moonlight and remained in a leaning position until the moon disappeared from view. He coined the term selenotropism, a nocturnal counterpart to the established heliotropism to name his discovery.

Source: Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, Ser. II–Vol. III, 1883)

So now that you have a new bit of random information to log away in your brain, I am going to take this word on another twist. I propose that our dreams are inspired by the cool light of the moon. At least when I saw the Greek influence of the word, that is where my mind went…a “turning toward the Moon” and the way that moon glow influences our subconscious thoughts as we sleep. I suppose I’m taking full advantage of artistic liberty and freedom here, but then I am also prone to coloring outside of the lines too. Blame it on the moon!

To Dream Selentropic

Adrift in sleepy
selenotropic currents
dreams flood the gray void.

kat ~ 8 July 2016

9 Comments | tags: Challenge, dreams, Haiku, selenotropism, word of the day, word of the day haiku challenge | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

July 1, 2016

Churrasco – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

Churrasco is today’s dictionary.com word of the day. I find that these daily words often seemed contrived to coincide with current events. It’s probably no coincidence then, that many of us will be barbecuing this weekend. Hence today’s word. Wikipedia gives an expanded definition:

Churrasco (Spanish: [tʃuˈrasko], Portuguese: [ʃuˈʁasku]) is a Spanish and Portuguese term referring to beef or grilled meat more generally, differing across Latin America and Europe, but a prominent feature in the cuisine of Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Nicaragua, Peru and other Latin American countries. The related term churrascaria (or churrasqueria) is mostly understood to be a steakhouse.

A churrascaria is a restaurant serving grilled meat, many offering as much as one can eat: the waiters move around the restaurant with the skewers, slicing meat onto the client’s plate.[1] This serving style is called espeto corrido or rodízio, and is quite popular in Brazil.

This weekend, here in the US, we will be celebrating Independence Day. Like most holidays many of us will spend our time oblivious to the true reason for the occasion. For some the day will simply be a much needed respite from work. For others it will be an occasion for gatherings where spirited beverages flow freely and everyone gathers around red hot pits sizzling with churrasco (aka: roast meat), stuffing and drinking themselves into sleepy stupors. Many of us will ooh and ah at colorful firework displays in a tradition reminiscent of our country’s first Independence Day celebration where “In 1777, thirteen gunshots were fired in salute, once at morning and once again as evening fell, on July 4 in Bristol, Rhode Island. Philadelphia celebrated the first anniversary in a manner a modern American would find quite familiar: an official dinner for the Continental Congress, toasts, 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews, and fireworks. Ships were decked with red, white, and blue bunting.” (From Wikipedia)

On this Independence Day, may we pause from our celebrations long enough to remember the price many paid for our freedom. 😊

Back to my challenge. Here then is my haiku about roast beast…

Holidays are spent
Feasting ’round churrasco pits
Oft’ forgetting why.

kat ~ 1 July 2016

5 Comments | tags: Challenge, churrasco, Haiku, independence day, word of the day | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku

June 24, 2016

Endsville ~ Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

Is it Friday already? Actually I had hoped it was Friday days ago! It’s been a long week! But here we are with the calendar finally matching the day. And of course it is time again to peek at dictionary.com for today’s word of the day. Endsville. At first glance it sounds like no place I would like to be.

The entomology and definition of this word in cyberspace is quite scarce, which might make one think that it is a made up word…but then, aren’t all words made up by someone somewhere?

Here’s dictionary.com’s definition:

1. (sometimes lowercase) Slang. most wonderful or exciting: a rock band that was regarded as Endsville in the late fifties.

2. (sometimes lowercase) Slang. (of a location, circumstance, etc.) most isolated or undesirable.

Origin of Endsville

Endsville is an extension of the slang expression the end, meaning “the ultimate; the utmost of good or bad.” It entered English in the 1950s.

At any rate, my google search did reveal that endsville is the name of a rock band from the 1950’s, a movie, a poem, a sculpture, the title of a series of stories and a fictional place, as well as being an adjective. If I were going to make a word up, I think I might like it to mean a variety of things. How versatile this silly slang word is! Which of course calls for a silly haiku!