Tag Archives: word of the day

Turpitude – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku


Happy Friday! Today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day is Turpitude. It finds its roots in the Latin term turpis meaning “base, vile”, entering English in the late 1400’s. Today, it is often paired with the word, “moral”. (See below)Happy Friday! Today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day is Turpitude. It finds its roots in the Latin term turpis meaning “base, vile”, entering English in the late 1400’s. Today, it is often paired with the word, “moral”. (See below)

From Wikipedia:

Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the United States and some other countries that refers to “conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals. This term appears in U.S. immigration lawbeginning in the 19th century.

The concept of “moral turpitude” might escape precise definition, but it has been described as an “act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellowmen, or to society in general, contrary to the accepted and customary rule of right and duty between man and man.”

Perpetrators of turpitude can be found, of course, filling our prisons, but I can think of a few other places where they might hang out! Here is my haiku then. Have a great weekend! 

Some fill our prisons,
Those guilty of turpitude,
Some are elected!

kat ~ 6 May 2016



Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku


Happy Friday! What a lovely, lyrical word we have today…”Woodnote!” When I first saw the word this morning, I imagined that it must have had its origin in the mind of some 17th Century poet who penned it on parchment giving it life!

Dictionary.com simply mentioned that it came into use around 1632. And of course that was my cue to dig a little deeper. No other dictionary expounded further on the issue but I was determined to find the poet who first wrote it … I was certain it was a poet…a poet knows these things…😉

How do I love the Internet…oh let me count the ways…not the least of which, it brings the world to one’s computer screen! After a bit of search engine tweaking, I found my bard!!! Oh yes, my hunch was correct. And what was even more spectacular? The man who coined the word woodnote in 1631 (later published in 1645) used it to describe THE quintessential Bard, Shakespeare. Mystery solved!

Who is the poet? He is John Milton who, in “L’Allegro,” refers to Shakespeare as “Fancy’s child” who warbles “his native woodnotes wild.” You can read the entire poem HERE.

From the Encyclopedia Britannica…

L’Allegro, early lyric poem by John Milton, written in 1631 and published in his Poems (1645). It was written in rhymed octosyllabics. A contrasting companion piece to his “Il Penseroso,” “L’Allegro” invokes the goddess Mirth, with whom the poet wants to live, first in pastoral simplicity and then amid the “busy hum of men” in cities full of vitality.

And so, my challenge today is to pen a simple haiku using woodnote as my prompt. I do so hoping to channel a wee bit of Milton who gave us this wonderful word. Oh, if only. But knowing its origin makes my task so much sweeter!

heartsong

Of lilting woodnotes…
birdsong, wind-tossed forest whispers…
these make my heart sing!

kat ~ 29 April 2016


Biota – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

biota

Happy Friday and welcome to another exciting installment of Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku! Haha! Today’s word from Dictionary.com is Biota. Originating in the early 1900’s it is based on the Greek word biotē, meaning “life”. Biota is a term used in the field of ecology. Wikipedia defines it as such:

biota is the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biotas of the Earth make up the biosphere.

Here’s my haiku! Have a great weekend!

It is sad but true
some don’t give one iota
for earth’s biota.

kat ~ 22 April 2016

and a P.S. as I was just reminded…Happy Earth Day! 🙂

 


Wafflestompers – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

wafflestomper

Happy Friday!

Well…here’s a word for you…WAFFLESTOMPERS! Today’s dictionary.com word of the day hails to us from 1970’s Americana.

This late middle-aging flower child of the 70’s must admit, I have never heard this word before. It could be that I spent most of the 70’s barefooted; tripping through fields of daisy’s chasing butterflies…or it may be my insane fear of heights! Either way, it is no wonder I never had a need for a pair of wafflestompers!

But given that it is today’s word of the day…and a very high-in-syllable word at that…I shall do my best, despite my obvious inexperience, to render the wafflestomper its proper homage in a contrived haiku. Three lines, syllables 5-7-5…anything but profound with a touch of thesaurus mischief!  Have a great weekend folks!

Wafflestomping

Intrepid trekkers
don high-top wafflestompers
To reach a climax.

kat ~ 15 April 2016


Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku – Raconteuse

Happy Friday! Time for another look at dictionary.com’s word of the day. Today we have a French word, raconteuse, the feminine version of raconteur. It’s another one of those lovely older words,that entered the English language in the mid nineteenth century. Both words are rooted in the French word, raconter, which means “to tell”.

I imagine some nineteenth century raconteuse, if she were a time traveler, might have a blog here in the 21st. In times of old, only a handful of people might be delighted and entertained by her stories. Today she could have a global audience!

Here’s the Haiku…

Raconteuse Haiku

Centuries ago
A raconteuse used parchment
Now she’d have a blog.

kat ~ 8 April 2016