Michael Gates's Blog, page 34
March 11, 2015
Photo of the Week (by me)
Face it! Click the pic for a closer view. You have nothing better to do (or you wouldn't be here).
March 10, 2015
Brain Dump
It very well may be time to stop, because you need to get started. This means to begin exactly where the rest of the exercise might advise waiting. "We" will overcome this quirk of nature in the middle of a mystery, which posits that a monster is any unreal human on the horizon, an entity not visible when the perspective is inside out. We see such a quasi-religious "scene" whenever we observe stupid [human] activity being immersed, for example, in the emanations of a musical group, whose aficionados elevate lamentations to the status of immortality. Nothing really happens through a process of this kind, but the traces remain with us forever. Of course, now, with liberty and justice incomprehensible, intolerable consequences are commonplace. The resulting "fire" is perceived as a top-of-the-world negative orgasm. The theoretical foundations of the universe are then called into question, simply because we cannot understand them. If such symptoms appear to cause inherent trauma, continue to wait, however, but not for eternity.
March 8, 2015
Random Sequence: indite
"There happened to be no one in the office but the [telegraph] operator, who was a stranger to her, and gathering courage from her success thus far, Maggie sat down at a table and tried to compose her thoughts sufficiently to indite a message."
--Marion Harland, "Nobody to Blame", Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, April 1864
(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)
indite (verb) = to write or dictate. It's pronounced exactly like "indict". I'm guessing these are related words. You do have to indite to indict.
--Marion Harland, "Nobody to Blame", Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, April 1864
(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)
indite (verb) = to write or dictate. It's pronounced exactly like "indict". I'm guessing these are related words. You do have to indite to indict.
March 3, 2015
List Mania: Obsolete Names
Here are women's names you rarely hear anymore (except perhaps on Downton Abbey):
Mildred (my grandfather's sister's name)
Marian
Edith
Violet
Mabel
Cora
Phyllis
Connie (my late aunt's name)
Gertrude (as a child, I had a neighbor by this name)
Elaida (my grandmother had a friend by this name)
Ethel
Daisy (as a kid, I knew an old lady by this name)
Edna
Vera
Harriet
Gwendolen
Mavis
Kitty (as a kid, I had a sometime teacher by this name)
Lucy (a childhood friend had a babysitter by this name)
Mildred (my grandfather's sister's name)
Marian
Edith
Violet
Mabel
Cora
Phyllis
Connie (my late aunt's name)
Gertrude (as a child, I had a neighbor by this name)
Elaida (my grandmother had a friend by this name)
Ethel
Daisy (as a kid, I knew an old lady by this name)
Edna
Vera
Harriet
Gwendolen
Mavis
Kitty (as a kid, I had a sometime teacher by this name)
Lucy (a childhood friend had a babysitter by this name)
March 2, 2015
Word of the Day: ninnyhammer
What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's...
ninnyhammer [NIN-ee-ham-er] (noun) [TWITO, page 96]
A fool, simpleton or silly person
"You silly, awkward, illbred, country sow...have you no more manners than to rail at Hocus, that has saved that clodpated numskull'd ninnyhammer of yours from ruin, and all his family?"
--John Arbuthnot, "The History of John Bull" (1712)
Sometimes I think I'd have to be a ninnyhammer to collect all of these obscure words. I've been doing it for years, without a clear idea of what I would do with them. Then one day I realized I could collect them in a book, achieving fame and fortune. The rest is history.
ninnyhammer [NIN-ee-ham-er] (noun) [TWITO, page 96]
A fool, simpleton or silly person
"You silly, awkward, illbred, country sow...have you no more manners than to rail at Hocus, that has saved that clodpated numskull'd ninnyhammer of yours from ruin, and all his family?"
--John Arbuthnot, "The History of John Bull" (1712)
Sometimes I think I'd have to be a ninnyhammer to collect all of these obscure words. I've been doing it for years, without a clear idea of what I would do with them. Then one day I realized I could collect them in a book, achieving fame and fortune. The rest is history.
February 25, 2015
Much Ado about NOTHING: Book Blurbs
Book blurbs! I deal with them all day at my job. Luckily some of them amuse me.
"The narrated version of the pertinent sections of the United States Department of Transportation's regulations for Urine Specimen Collectors as set forth in 49 CFR Part 40 (May 4, 2012) to be used in conjunction with the US DOT's 'Urine Specimen Collection Guidelines' for training and refresher course purposes." Only the pertinent sections, mind you.
~~~
"It's a depressing thought, but one day you will die. All living things die. This essay deals with the topic of death. It covers a number of famous poisoners and the poisons they dispatched to their victims. In addition to the mechanisms of drug action, the subject of apoptosis (programmed cell death) is also discussed. This essay is therefore a resource which can aid students and the layperson interested in drug/toxin action. There is also some humor."
~~~
"Wade Crowson, a brutish and brooding playboy and veteran vivisectionist for the Parts Department, runs into more than he bargained for in new partner, Lucid Montgomery, a quirky beauty with a bizarre secret and a string of psychiatric diagnoses she tries hard to keep hidden. Loving Luce will stamp a demonic target on her back and thrust Wade into a frenzied whirlwind of hilarious misunderstandings and, quite possibly, a stripping gig for empty-nesters. Can they withstand the savagery of an exorcism (with or without the split pea soup) and come out alive and...in love?" (Title: "Parts & Wreck: Entangled Covet")
"The narrated version of the pertinent sections of the United States Department of Transportation's regulations for Urine Specimen Collectors as set forth in 49 CFR Part 40 (May 4, 2012) to be used in conjunction with the US DOT's 'Urine Specimen Collection Guidelines' for training and refresher course purposes." Only the pertinent sections, mind you.
~~~
"It's a depressing thought, but one day you will die. All living things die. This essay deals with the topic of death. It covers a number of famous poisoners and the poisons they dispatched to their victims. In addition to the mechanisms of drug action, the subject of apoptosis (programmed cell death) is also discussed. This essay is therefore a resource which can aid students and the layperson interested in drug/toxin action. There is also some humor."
~~~
"Wade Crowson, a brutish and brooding playboy and veteran vivisectionist for the Parts Department, runs into more than he bargained for in new partner, Lucid Montgomery, a quirky beauty with a bizarre secret and a string of psychiatric diagnoses she tries hard to keep hidden. Loving Luce will stamp a demonic target on her back and thrust Wade into a frenzied whirlwind of hilarious misunderstandings and, quite possibly, a stripping gig for empty-nesters. Can they withstand the savagery of an exorcism (with or without the split pea soup) and come out alive and...in love?" (Title: "Parts & Wreck: Entangled Covet")
February 24, 2015
Photo of the Week (by me of a piece by Norm)
Sometimes I feel this way. Click the pic for a closer view. Because you do too.
February 22, 2015
Link Mania: Are you a dysaniac?
Holy Moses, Oh Jeez! Parsing the Erotic Vocabulary of 'Fifty Shades of Grey'
Good lord....
~~~
21 Fancy Medical Terms for Mundane Problems
Including "obdormition" (TWITO, page 99). It's not as bad as it sounds.
~~~
11 Words You Might Not Realize Come from "Love"
Including "venom". Yup, venom.
~~~
19 Outstanding Words You Should Be Working Into Conversation
If you're a dysaniac, it may be because you fear karoshi.
~~~
10 Uncommon Phobias You May Have
Sesquipedalophobia is not my problem.
Good lord....
~~~
21 Fancy Medical Terms for Mundane Problems
Including "obdormition" (TWITO, page 99). It's not as bad as it sounds.
~~~
11 Words You Might Not Realize Come from "Love"
Including "venom". Yup, venom.
~~~
19 Outstanding Words You Should Be Working Into Conversation
If you're a dysaniac, it may be because you fear karoshi.
~~~
10 Uncommon Phobias You May Have
Sesquipedalophobia is not my problem.
February 18, 2015
Random Sequence: limner
"Truth is the perfection of beauty. It is beauty itself. Who can paint it? Or who can throw its true proportions and colors on the canvas? No human limner can do it justice."
--F. S Cassady, "The Consistency of Truth", Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, March 1864
(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)
limner = a person who paints or draws; someone who depicts with words; an illuminator of medieval manuscripts
I'm not just a writer then. I'm a limner!
--F. S Cassady, "The Consistency of Truth", Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, March 1864
(I found a bound copy of several issues of Godey's in my basement and have been flipping through the dusty pages.)
limner = a person who paints or draws; someone who depicts with words; an illuminator of medieval manuscripts
I'm not just a writer then. I'm a limner!
February 16, 2015
Word of the Day: frigorific
What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's...
frigorific [frig-uh-RIF-ik](adjective)[TWITO, page 57]
Causing cold, chilling
"The reading public did not approve of it—the thermometer of popular opinion was down at 32, under its frigorific influence, so that we were abundantly justified in stuffing no more of Mr. Twitch's sonnets down the regurgitating throats of the literary multitude."
--Anonymous, "Treason", in Blackwood's Magazine (1821)
Hmm. Say "What a frigorific day", and people may think you're ecstatic about something.
frigorific [frig-uh-RIF-ik](adjective)[TWITO, page 57]
Causing cold, chilling
"The reading public did not approve of it—the thermometer of popular opinion was down at 32, under its frigorific influence, so that we were abundantly justified in stuffing no more of Mr. Twitch's sonnets down the regurgitating throats of the literary multitude."
--Anonymous, "Treason", in Blackwood's Magazine (1821)
Hmm. Say "What a frigorific day", and people may think you're ecstatic about something.
