Michael Gates's Blog, page 54
March 2, 2014
Word of the Day: pooka
What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's...
pooka [POO-kuh] (noun)
A mischievous spirit or trickster (derived from Irish folklore)
"The moment he came in sight the Pooka changed himself into a squirrel and ran up the oak tree; Angus changed himself into a turnip and lay at the Dagda's feet...."
--Ella Young, Celtic Wonder-Tales (1910)
So it's a "pooka" who's always hiding the remote control? Hmm. There are a lot of mischievous squirrels around here. Not too many mysterious turnips, though.
~~~
TWITO, page 114!
pooka [POO-kuh] (noun)
A mischievous spirit or trickster (derived from Irish folklore)
"The moment he came in sight the Pooka changed himself into a squirrel and ran up the oak tree; Angus changed himself into a turnip and lay at the Dagda's feet...."
--Ella Young, Celtic Wonder-Tales (1910)
So it's a "pooka" who's always hiding the remote control? Hmm. There are a lot of mischievous squirrels around here. Not too many mysterious turnips, though.
~~~
TWITO, page 114!
February 27, 2014
Link Mania
I'm "dead nuts on" some of these, like "off his kadoova": 11 Delightful 19th-Century Australian Slang Terms
Let's hope your "just deserts" are just dessert: 12 Old Words that Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms
Woodness, mayhap? 19 Words From Medieval Times That We Should Definitely Bring Back
Let's hope your "just deserts" are just dessert: 12 Old Words that Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms
Woodness, mayhap? 19 Words From Medieval Times That We Should Definitely Bring Back
February 26, 2014
Brain Dump
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog eat dog days of summer or winter of our discontent over new signs of a stroke of luck of the Irish potato famine or feast of fools rush in where angels can dance on the head of a pin cushion the blow your horn of plenty of time after time to go for it takes a village idiot proof of purchase power to the people right on the good ship lollypop stick to your guns in the wrong hands across the water, hands across the sky writing a book worm your way into the air travel guide to grammar and style of speaking nonsense.
February 25, 2014
Random Sequence
Scenario 3 (excerpt 7)
....and for a moment, the protagonist imagines his esophagus is a rubber tube, as he glances at the garden hose curving around the side of the patio, even as he chokes a bit on the ceviche while blathering wittily. His dabbling in sarcastic repartee is designed to unmask her vituperative, but hidden, attitudes. She gesticulates like a graceful dowager as she describes the absent host's hospitalization after his slapdash encounter with the antique replica. "Hallelujah!" cries an unnamed, obese guest, as he belly-flops into the pool -- a joyous leviathan. The protagonist becomes bored with her anecdote and finds himself staring at the empty birdcage inside the house through the open window -- and at a mysterious object on the table beyond it. A checkbook? A blood-stained checkbook? More guests arrive: a paraprofessional and a seminarian. Cheery suburban greetings all around. Then, quite suddenly, a black cumulonimbus obscures the sun....
....and for a moment, the protagonist imagines his esophagus is a rubber tube, as he glances at the garden hose curving around the side of the patio, even as he chokes a bit on the ceviche while blathering wittily. His dabbling in sarcastic repartee is designed to unmask her vituperative, but hidden, attitudes. She gesticulates like a graceful dowager as she describes the absent host's hospitalization after his slapdash encounter with the antique replica. "Hallelujah!" cries an unnamed, obese guest, as he belly-flops into the pool -- a joyous leviathan. The protagonist becomes bored with her anecdote and finds himself staring at the empty birdcage inside the house through the open window -- and at a mysterious object on the table beyond it. A checkbook? A blood-stained checkbook? More guests arrive: a paraprofessional and a seminarian. Cheery suburban greetings all around. Then, quite suddenly, a black cumulonimbus obscures the sun....
February 24, 2014
Word of the Day: haptic
What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's...
haptic [HAP-tik](adjective)
1. relating to or based on the sense of touch
2. characterized by or favoring the sense of touch
"You will please keep your hands to yourself," Clara murmured to the haptic Mr. Weems.
~~~
TWITO, page 65!
haptic [HAP-tik](adjective)
1. relating to or based on the sense of touch
2. characterized by or favoring the sense of touch
"You will please keep your hands to yourself," Clara murmured to the haptic Mr. Weems.
~~~
TWITO, page 65!
February 23, 2014
February 20, 2014
Link Mania
Go ahead, huck it and twizzle, but don't flutz, or you'll be doing a Wagner face at the kiss-and-cry: Sochi Slang
Does your "book club" meet at a pub? The Secret Vocabulary of New York's Finest Drinking Establishments
I can't wait to see the first turdus migratorius of spring!
Does your "book club" meet at a pub? The Secret Vocabulary of New York's Finest Drinking Establishments
I can't wait to see the first turdus migratorius of spring!
February 19, 2014
Random Sequence
One of the workers behind the counter, a disheveled young woman, perhaps in her late teens or early twenties, has become accustomed to seeing us there. And since we always order the same thing...she can ring up our order without my having to say a word.... "Right" is all I have to say. There's one odd thing about this relationship, though. I sometimes see this woman walking down the main street of our Jersey City neighborhood, out of uniform.
She will not make eye contact or acknowledge me in any way.
It's as if we are perfect strangers outside of the rigidly assigned roles of restaurant customer and cashier.
--from "Perfect Strangers" (by me), originally published in Hudson Current
She will not make eye contact or acknowledge me in any way.
It's as if we are perfect strangers outside of the rigidly assigned roles of restaurant customer and cashier.
--from "Perfect Strangers" (by me), originally published in Hudson Current
February 18, 2014
Word of the Day: onolatry
What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's...
onolatry [oh-NOL-uh-tree](noun)
Worship of asses (donkeys!)
"Nietzsche has depicted the leaders of the nineteenth century as engaged in a veritable onolatry."
--Irving Babbitt, Rousseau and Romanticism (1919)
My parents live in the country, in upstate New York, and from their backyard, you can see two donkeys behind a fence in a neighbor's yard. ("Nice ass!" we've been known to say.) Sometimes we feed them cookies when we visit. They seem to prefer ginger snaps.
~~~
TWITO, page 102!
onolatry [oh-NOL-uh-tree](noun)
Worship of asses (donkeys!)
"Nietzsche has depicted the leaders of the nineteenth century as engaged in a veritable onolatry."
--Irving Babbitt, Rousseau and Romanticism (1919)
My parents live in the country, in upstate New York, and from their backyard, you can see two donkeys behind a fence in a neighbor's yard. ("Nice ass!" we've been known to say.) Sometimes we feed them cookies when we visit. They seem to prefer ginger snaps.
~~~
TWITO, page 102!
February 17, 2014
The T&T List
Club Juventus
Chad Kellogg
Senator Kefauver
Cnidarians
Romundina
Timber Kings
Alain de Botton
Mulberry Bags
Kim Yu-na
Ivanpah
Keurig Vue V700
