I lamented a few months back the loss of one of my favorite daily websites, “The Writer’s Almanac”. Well the good news is that it’s back! Not on MPR, mind you, but back nonetheless. The same comforting music and narrative voice and the same format: notable birthdays or events in history and then a poem. And now I get an email every day instead of having to remember on my own.
About the only difference I can tell is that many more of the daily poems are public domain than not, which says to me that he has a much smaller budget for this than MPR did. This is not a problem for me.
Today the poem was by John Milton, to commemorate his birthday. One of the fun facts was a list of some of the more than 600 words that Milton coined: dreary, flowery, jubilant, satanic, saintly, terrific, ethereal, sublime, impassive, unprincipled, dismissive, feverish, fragrance, adventurer, anarchy. I can’t imagine a world where there words don’t exist and it makes me wonder how often I need a word that doesn’t exist yet.
For example, I need a word for the feeling that comes on me when YA isn’t home at the agreed upon time, worry and irritation at the same time. Worritation?
What new word do YOU need?
We got daughter a down comforter recently. She told us she had “foofed” it in the dryer after she took it out of its box. I think that is a combination of “fluffed” and “poofed”.
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tell her the magic foofing in the dryer is best done by throwing a pair of tennis shoes in there with the to be foofed item
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No, not tennis shoes, tennis balls.
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And I’m wondering. Is there a word for the chocolate that drips off of the spoon while you’re melting it and then hardens on the counter? What are those hardened bits called?
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Yummy
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Snacks
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Feloniustrump.
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Husband thought that would be a great cuss word.
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Trump already is the swearword
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Trump already is the swearword
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You can say that again.
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Snort!
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Husband wants all the Baboons to know that he has a volume of Milton’s complete poetry and selected prose by the bedside.
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goes over big on the rez
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Rather than inventing words I prefer to purloin new words I enjoy in the speech of others. For example, a British mechanic who fixes cars on a television show often pauses to check his work to assure himself that “everything is tickety-boo.”
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OK, I just added it to my favorites, so I’ll go there whenever time permits. Glad to know it’s still up and running.
Still thinking of a non-word…
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the word for your situation vs is helicopter parent. not home atvagreed time.
i would suggest ya simply stop agreeing to a time
it will be up to her to get it right after she sets outbox her own and if you havnt gotten your ethics plugged into her yet, it’s too late
watch and enjoy
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Except that you’re forgetting the dog. The agreed-upon time is based on when I need to be able to go to bed without being startled awake by a barking dog when she gets home later. So she can either be home at the agreed-upon time or she can take dog with her after hours which she does. occasionally. This is contractual.
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My mom used to freak out when she thought I might be in danger. The classic example, described in my book about my parents, was when I was hunting snakes near a flooded river with a neighbor kid, Nick Nolte. Mom lost control and sent the cops to either bring me home or retrieve my drowned corpse. The emotions she felt when I got home were a potent blend of blessed relief and pissed off. I don’t know what word would express that.
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Is that Nick Nolte the actor, Steve? He appears to be about the right age, and was born in Nebraska (Nebraska/Iowa, pretty close and he went to elementary school in Iowa), I don’t recall you mentioning him before on the trail, but, occasional as I am, I could have missed it.
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Pissedrelief.
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How about a word for worrying about something awful that happened years ago that you just learned about, that is affecting a friend’s daughter. Sort of worrying in the past tense… backwardying?
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I don’t know about that, Barbara. Worrying is such an unproductive thing even when it’s applied to the future, but worrying about something that has already happened seems extravagantly wasteful. Is there nothing more productive you can do in this circumstance?
Maybe worrying isn’t the right word? Perhaps concern is more accurate?
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I think you’re right, PJ, concern covers it, as the effects are ongoing.
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Concern gives you more options. Now you just need to figure out what you can do that will be helpful. Don’t underestimate the power of even small gestures that communicate that you care and want to help.
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I would like someone to invent a word for what happens when you are in a public restroom and can’t quite figure out what is automatic and what isn’t. So you’re looking for handles and not seeing them and waving at things and not getting results.
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Yes – this.
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I’m envisioning you now standing in a public restroom, waving your arms about like the robot in Lost in Space.
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Danger, Will Robinson…danger, danger!
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