Category Archives: Words

2024, animals, books, Mysteries, Words

Chewing on Words

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I’m still working at my Italian every day… some days more than others. Having done some Spanish and French in my youth, I love seeing some of the resemblances. Every now and then though, I get thrown for a loop. Yesterday Duolingo served up “in bocca al lupo” for “good luck”. In bocca al lupo means literally “in the mouth of the wolf”. I have actually heard the phrase “buona fortuna” in the past so finding a reference to a wolf sent me straight to the internet. Apparently In the mouth of the wolf is when something needs to be warded off… like when they say “break a leg” in the theatre. “Buona fortuna” is your basic good luck.

Thinking about this reminded me that a few months ago Duolingo let me know that “bookworm” is “topo di biblioteca” which translates to “mouse of the library”. Fascinating. In looking into that one (yes, I do check up on Duolingo occasionally), here are some others I found:

• English/Serbian/Russian/Thai – bookworm
• Italian/Romanian – library mouse
• Arabic – book moth
• Chinese – book fool
• Greek – book eater
• Danish – reading horse
• French – ink drinker

Of course the reading horse is the most intriguing (PJ, is this correct?) but I think it’s interesting that there are so many varieties. Just a side benefit to learning a new language!

If you were asked to come up with a better phrase for “bookwork”, what would you choose?

2024, Kids, Media, Words

My Word!

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I subscribe to my hometown paper The Rock County Star Herald, and was tickled to see the recent news that English students at the Luverne High School recently were named State Champions in the Minnesota Fall 2023 Vocabulary Bowl.

This competition was new to me. It is done on-line. Every two months, students are given access to 15,000 vocabulary words from various subjects, and study the words and take tests through definition, context, spelling, etc., also learning the words in specific pieces of literature they read in their English classes. After a certain number of correct answers, they are considered to have mastered the words. 100 Junior and Senior students at Luverne mastered 11,000 words from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30. They are on their way to another championship for Feb.1 through March 31.

I would have loved such a challenge. I was in every musical competition and speech tournament there was, but this would have been extremely fun! I would love to know if this expands their working vocabulary and if they use the words they are learning in their everyday conversations!

What extracurricular activities were you involved in during high school? What new or interesting words have you heard lately? Got any favorite words?

2024, Media, Uncategorized, Words, work

Mottos And Slogans

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I have two coworkers who plan to retire about the same time I do next year. We have worked together for 25 years, and have experienced the highs and lows and ridiculous moments that one experiences in a government agency.

Over the years we developed a motto to keep us going in our continued State employment until the time we reached the ages to get our pensions- “Just Soak Em!” Why, we ask each other, do we keep doing this? Because we’re going to soak em! We are going to extract every penny we are due from the State for all the hard work we did at wages much lower than in the private sector.

I suppose I will need a new motto for a new life that doesn’t involve my work. I will have to think hard on that. Luverne, the town we plan to move to after I retire, has the motto Luverne, Love the Life to encourage people and businesses to move there. Better, I suppose than “If you ain’t Dutch you ain’t much“, another popular motto from back home.

What is your personal motto right now? Think of new mottos or slogans for yourself, your family, state, or your community.

2024, Family, Uncategorized, Words

Nicknames

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Somehow and rather mysteriously over the past couple of ayears at my work I ceased to be called Renee and now I am referred to as Dr. B It is not something I particularly like, and in some ways I find it sort of dehumanizing, but it is what it is and I just respond when I am addressed. It isn’t the worst sort of nickname to have I guess.

Growing up in Luverne there were several guys my dad knew who had nicknames. Clarence Thone, the junkman, was called Abie, which was meant to be a slight since junkmen in literature and popular culture were often Jewish. One of the local mail carriers was called Ippy Olson. Ippy wasn’t his real name. I never knew what his real name was. I asked my mom whey he was called that and she just said “Oh, he is a real Ippy”. I never figured that one out. Then there was Skinny Kiebach. He was pretty thin. Soft Water Frakes was called that to distinguish him from his cousin, Marion. He owned a water softening business. Marion was a building contractor.

Husband has the nicknames of Kiffey or Dazzle. A good friend of mine is know to the world as Toots, when her real name is Denelle. I don’t know why we just can’t leave people with the names they were given to start out with.

Did you ever have a nickname? What are some of the best nicknames you have heard?

2024, Family, History, Media, Uncategorized, Words

Cheater

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I love crossword puzzles. I subscribe to the New York Times online, and get their crossword puzzles all week as well as the one in the New Yorker each edition.

I hope none of you think of me as a cheater, but I feel it entirely within my rights to look up crossword clues on line. Given the number of sites I see for just this purpose, there must be many like me. I view these puzzles as research projects, not as measures of my intellectual acumen. It is so satisfying when they are completed and correct!

Today would be my mother’s 100th birthday. She didn’t mind bending the rules at all! She got secretly married at 19 against the 1942 rules of Mankato State that students couldn’t be married. Ha! She showed them!

What are your favorite puzzles to solve? When do you bend the rules?

2023, Gatherings, holidays, Kids, Uncategorized, Words

Reading Aloud

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Thank the Lord! We are done with all our Christmas church performances for the year! Being a church musician can really be exhausting in December. Yesterday we played bells for two morning services and then sang, played bells, and read various things in a Lessons and Carols service in the afternoon. We had a great time, but are so relieved it is over.

I love reading lessons and scripture verses in church. I know how to pronounce some of the more difficult names, and I understand what I am reading so I think I can communicate the meaning of what is being read to the listeners. The words from the King’s College Bidding prayer are almost poetical and I was so happy to read them. Last night, several Grade 5 and 6 students read some of the Lessons, too, and they did a really good job.

I have always secretly wanted to narrate things like the public narrations of Joyce’s Ulysses that you can hear on public radio. I know that reading in public is torture for some. I love having wonderful words crafted by someone else to let others know about. 

How do you feel about reading in public? What would you like to narrate and read to others?

2023, Theatre, Travel, Uncategorized, Words

Wicked in Swedish

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Last year our church choir director and her husband sponsored a foreign exchange student from Sweden. She was a lovely girl named Hedwig who fit in very well with the host family and the community. The family has stayed in contact with the girl and her family in Sweden.

Hedwig’s mother is a costumer for a Swedish opera company. Recently, the opera company put on a production of Wicked translated into Swedish. Our director heard a brief recording of the production, and said it was very odd to hear Defying Gravity sung in Swedish. I guess Stephen Schwartz, the composer, even came over make necessary changes in the production.

I can’t imagine how a person could translate lyrics from one language to another if the lyrics had to rhyme. I don’t know if I like hearing productions in their original languages with subtitles. I don’t know if I like translations from the original language. Such a dilemma.

What English theatre or opera production would you like to see translated into a different language? What non-English production would you like to see translated into English? Where would you have wanted to be a foreign exchange student?

2023, Uncategorized, Words

What A Difference A Word Makes

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The regulatory board I am a member of is governed by two legal documents, the North Dakota Administrative Code and the North Dakota Century Code. The difference between the two is that only the Legislature can amend the Century Code, and we as a board can amend the Administrative Code after we jump through a bunch of hoops.

Our board needs to make some changes to the Administrative Code because of some things that occurred during the last legislative session , and I am sure glad we have an attorney to help us with the language. Saying that the board “shall” do something, as opposed to the board “may” do something makes a difference in how we can apply rules and regulations to individuals and circumstances. We want “may” more than we want “shall”.

I was really surprised to hear our lawyer tell us that the reason he didn’t capitalize abbreviations for entities such as APA (the American Psychological Association) in the language for our administrative rules changes is that the Legislature doesn’t allow capital letters for entities’ abbreviations in laws. I found that so odd. He had no good explanation for it.

Once the Legislative Rules Committee (note the capitals) approves our Administrative Code changes, we have to pay to have an announcement in all the newspapers in North Dakota that changes to our Administrative Code are being proposed, and that there will be a hearing for public comment on the changes. That means that Husband and I will sit in some room in our town either at my work, the public library, or some other room I can rent for an hour for no one to show up and make comments. After that, it becomes law.

Have you ever protested proposed legislation? When has a word made a difference for you? What kind of a lawyer would you have wanted to be?

2023, Kids, Nature, Poems, Words

Shadows

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My kitchen windows look out over my neighbors’ driveway, so I often get a front row view of the comings and goings.  Yesterday I saw the youngest (she’s almost 5) dancing with her shadow while waiting for the car to get loaded for the day.  She was completely entranced, lifting first one arm and then the other, then pointing one toe to the side followed by the opposite toe.  She shimmied and wiggled and eventually began to sing.  It was charming.

It reminded me of a favorite childhood poem, My Shadow, by Robert Louis Stevenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets to little that there’s none of hi at all.

He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nurse as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleep-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

I still have this poem in The Illustrated Treasure of Children’s Literature.  There are several poems in this collection that I remember and treasure.  I didn’t have a huge number of books when I was little but this was one of them and I had my mother read to me from it quite a bit.

Do you have any favorite childhood poems?

2023, Food, Media, Nature, Words

Peppered!

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One of my friends, Julie, is a freelance writer. She writes about a wide gamut of topics and she appears on the Eating Well site quite a bit.

Last week she penned a piece about why there aren’t ever green peppers in the multi-pepper packs you find in grocery stores. It’s a great bit (well, I think all her columns are great) and it included some fun facts about green peppers. This is quoted with her permission:

Fun Fact One: Peppers botanically are considered to be fruit, because their seeds are stored inside, but they’re culinarily considered a vegetable, like cucumbers.

Fun Fact Two: You can tell which peppers are male and female just by looking at the outside. “Males have three lobes, and females have four, sometimes five,” Schueller says. “The females produce more seeds, and that tends to make them less sweet. So if you like sweeter peppers, look for fewer lobes.”

Fun Fact Three: The peppers we call chile peppers all have spiciness, measured in Scoville units from mild to very spicy. But bell peppers don’t have any heat, and they ended up being named “bell” because a) they aren’t chile peppers and b) they’re shaped like a bell.

I had no clue that there were female and male peppers – not sure it will make me happy the next time I’m dicing up peppers for some dish.

If you’re making stuffed peppers, what do you like to put in them?