Solstice ~

"Literally 'sun standing still,' when the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon.  At the winter solstice, December 22, the sun is directly overhead at noon along the Tropic of Capricorn and the day is shortest in the northern hemisphere.  This has traditionally been a time of celebrations involving light, greenery, fire, and the return of the sun.  Such midwinter festivities have left their mark on the ways Christmas has been observed."

~ Spirit of Christmas Past

Tomorrow:  CANDLES, GREENERY, and PAGANISM.

Illustration from Tasha Tutor [Dear friend, Sharon, thank you for your most welcome call today.  Tasha has nothing over you!]

Word Watching ~ Why we say it!

Canary.  How did the inmate of a jail come to be called a 'canary'?

A person placed in jail was called a 'jail bird' because the bars of the jail were similar to the bars of a bird's cage.  He was called a 'canary' because at one time English convicts sent to Australia arrived there dressed in yellow.

Calamity Jane.  What is the origin of the name 'Calamity Jane'?

The original Calamity Jane, Mrs. Martha Burke, was a famous western character who said she got her name because she carried two guns and any man who trifled with her invited calamity.

Church Mouse.  How did a 'church mouse' come to be the symbol of poverty--as in the expression, 'poor as a church mouse'?

There is no cupboard or larder in a church to produce crumbs for a mouse to feed upon.

~ Why Do We Say It? The Stories behind the Words, Expressions and Cliches We Use, CASTLE BOOKS, 1985.

English journalist, critic, poet, and lexicographer, SAMUEL JOHNSON*

"Andrew Millar, the bookseller who published Johnson's Dictionary, had great difficulty in extracting the copy for this work from the author.  At last a messenger was dispatched to Millar with the final page.  Upon the messenger's return Johnson asked, 'Well, what did he say?'
'Sir,' replied the messenger, 'he said, 'Thank God I have done with him'
'I am glad,' said Johnson, 'that he thanks God for anything.' "

"Dr. Johnson was taken to task by a lady who asked why he had defined 'pastern' as 'the knee of a horse' in his dictionary.  She expected an elaborate defense.  He replied, 'Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance.' "

[Johnson's dictionary took eleven years to complete.]

~ THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, General Editor.

* (1709 - 1784)

"It is only after long practice and much interest in the work that one can set down plain truth, without over-embellishment or wandering from the point....When this is done even the truth itself sounds a little better than true, which is the basis of what is called literature."

~ Stephen Leacock (1869 - 1944) Canadian teacher, humourist, writer.

Word Watching ~

The Origin of the word loophole:

"In the late Middle Ages, a loop was a narrow window, in a castle or other fortification, through which an archer could direct his missiles, but so narrow as to be a baffling target for an opposing bowman.  The masonry of the window widened inwardly to permit a wider range for the defending archer.  Possibly to avoid confusion between loop, and "window," and loop, "a fold," the first became identified as loophole."

~ 2107 CURIOUS WORD ORIGINS, SAYINGS & EXPRESSIONS, Charles Earle.  Galahad Books, 1993.

Whatnot ~ watnot "Is that what it is called?"

1. (usu. preceded by and) other similar items (a drawer full of paper, pens and whatnot) 
2. an unspecified or trivial thing.
3. a stand with shelves used for keeping or displaying small objects

~ Canadian Oxford Dictionary

With generations, come word changes.  The whatnot is one of those words.  The American Oxford Thesaurus perhaps has the only relevant word:  what-d'you-call-it, or whatchamacalitit ~! (a contraption; gadget; gimmick; thing or instrument.)

Armed with a typo-correction kit, Jeff and his friend Benjamin set out to locate and correct signs with typos.  Their initial kit contained:  elixir of correction, a thick black marker, a black Sharpie, white and colored chalk and vinyl stick-on letters.
There was no worry about the goal of finding a typo per day ~ of greater concern was the possibility of resistance from shopkeepers and restaurateurs.  Jeff mused, "I could even be arrested if I rankled the wrong folk...I would need to confront strangers about spelling, punctuation, and grammar.  These people would not necessarily share my zeal for such things, particularly in regard to their own errors."

~ Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson, THE GREAT TYPO HUNT - TWO FRIENDS CHANGING THE WORLD ONE CORRECTION AT AT TIME.  Crown Publishers, 2010.

Tomorrow:  What could possibly go wrong? Vandalism at the Grand Canyon?
[Photo:  files lbw]

Groundhog Day?

Some of us are waiting anxiously to see whether Wiarton Willie sees his shadow today.  If he comes out of his burrow this morning in sunlight we "know" that spring is just around the corner.  If he doesn't see his shadow, well, six more weeks of winter...(or is it the other way around?)

The reference book, 2107 CURIOUS WORD ORIGINS, SAYINGS & EXPRESSIONS tells us that we should properly call this largest member of the squirrel family a marmot, or even a woodchuck, for "there is definitely nothing hoggish about him. (Or her, as the case may be.)"  The word woodchuck may come from the Dutch aardvark, earth pig or hog, an animal of South Africa "which has similar burrowing propensities."
Earth pig, woodchuck or Marmot, we will be watching.  Actually, "Marmot Day" doesn't seem unreasonable; has a rather lyrical sound!

~ Charles Earle, Galahad Books, 1993.

Update:  Wiarton Willie DID NOT see his shadow today.  He is predicting six more weeks of winter?

*Giddy!!! "/'gidi / adj. (giddier, giddiest) 1. having a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall, stagger, or spin around:  dizzy.  2. a. overexcited as a result of success, pleasurable emotion, etc.; mentally intoxicated. b.
~ Oxford Canadian Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 1998.

This morning for the first time in weeks, unexpectedly, the photos feature on Blogspot works.

* Photos of riverbank Cayuga.  Building of the new bridge commenced this winter.  With any luck we will be able to bring photos of this historic event.  The Neat L'l Bookshop is located on Hwy. 3 in the block approaching the bridge.

Word Watching ~  "Hope"

"[Few] on the partisan landscape can discuss the word 'hope' in a political context and be regarded as the least bit sincere.  Obama is such a man, and he proves it by employing a fresh and buoyant vocabulary to scrub away some of the toxins from contemporary political debate.  Those polling categories that presume to define the vast chasm between us do not, Obama reminds us, add up to the sum of our concerns or hint at where our hearts otherwise intersect."

~ John Balzar, Los Angeles Times, Review The Audacity of Hope, 2006.

Word Watching ~

The origin of words or phrases is always fascinating.  The label "peeping tom" comes from a seventeenth-century embellishment of the story of Lady Godiva's naked horseback ride in the year 1057.

Almost certainly an apocryphal tale, the story has it that Lady Godiva had pleaded with her husband, Leofric, English nobleman and Earl, to lower the taxes on the people of Coventry.  He agreed only if she would ride naked through the town's market place.

The seventeen-year-old Godiva called her husband's bluff.  However, she had previously made a pact with the townspeople that they would remain indoors behind closed shutters if they wanted their taxes lowered.  Everyone complied except a tailor by the name of Tom.  "This prurient citizen peeped through his curtains, drawing upon himself instant calamity by an unspecified agent; he was struck blind or in some versions dead."

Tailor Tom left a legacy to the English language, the phrase, "peeping Tom."

~ Source: The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman General Editor, 1985.

Word Watching ~

Lavender Field

"Tussie Mussie" or Nosegay n. a small bunch of flowers, a posy.*  ("Tussie Mussie" isn't in my Canadian Oxford Dictionary.) The traditional nosegay was so called because it was carried close to the nose to disguise foul smells from the city drains and crowded places.  A drop or two on a tissue can have the same effect.

It has been suggested that herbs were used to sweeten the straw in baby Jesus' manger.

It is during the Canadian winter that some of us begin dreaming of our herb garden.  Nothing compares with live herbs within sight of the kitchen window ~ unless it is indoors in the kitchen.  (Not the fresh kind in see-through cartons purchased in the organic section, I mean pots on the windowsill. lbw)

Whatever the form, a few common herbs ~ rosemary (my favorite), lavender another ~ in the kitchen close to the nose can brighten a day.

~ *The Canadian Oxford Dictionary.

~ Using Herbs In The Home, Anthony Gardiner, 1996. Promotional Reprint Co., Ltd., London England for Chapters in Canada.  Apologies to the lavender-field photographer, photo saved long ago, origin unknown.

Word Watching ~

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master ~ that's all." Lewis Carrol (1832 - 1898) Through the Looking-Glass VI.  British author, mathematician.


"Few faults of style excite the malignity of a more numerous class of readers than the use of hard words...But words are hard only to those who do not understand them, and the critic ought always to inquire whether he is incommoded by the fault of the writer or by his own."

~ Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784) The Idler No. 70.  British author, lexicographer.


"The word is half his that speaks and half his that hears it." ~ Montaigne, Essays III.xiii.

"I understand a fury in your words,
But not the words."  ~ Shakespeare, Othello IV.ii

~ DICTIONARY of QUOTATIONS, Bergen Evans, Bonanza Books.

Cock-and-Bull Story.  Where did a fanciful tale get the name "cock-and-bull story"?  The expression is a derisive allusion to the fables of Aesop and others in which cocks moralize and bulls debate.

(Learn something everyday in the bookshop!)

Our Trail in Need of Clean-up

This time of year it is difficult to get a picture without garbage.  (Missed the plastic in this one.)

~ Why Do We Say It?  The Stories Behind the Words, Expressions and Cliches We Use, Castle Books, 1985.

Word Watching ~

Mojo ~ something that one has a lot of ~ sometimes.   Other days, not so much.

Every day a word is delivered to my e-mail via a website "Sesquiotica."  Today's word is "mojo."

Canadian author, James Harbeck, describes his fun effort as "word tasting notes and other lively things on language."


http://www.sesquiotic.wordpress.com/

Tranquillity ~ calmness, serenity

"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity."
~ Wm. Wordsworth (1770 - 1850) English poet.

"Sorrow is tranquillity remembered in emotion."
~ Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967) American critic, humorist.

"There ought to be moments of tranquillity in great works, as in life after the experience of passions, but not moments of disgust."
~ Voltaire (1694 - 1778) French writer, philosopher.

Source: Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Oxford University Press, 2001.

Word Watching ~

Fascinator / n. As we recall, we first heard the word when a Scottish friend returned to Canada from a wedding in Scotland. Describing how essential it was to own a "fascinator" and the skirmish to purchase one, she was obviously traumatized over the thought that attendance without one would have been a travesty. At the time, we had no idea what this essential was. What could so insult a bride and groom? Since that of course, the British Royal Wedding news has made "fascinator" a household word. It is a type of hat! It appears to us to be a whimsical, feathery, perhaps lacey item ~ flamboyant in nature ~ worn on an angle on the side of the head.
The Canadian Oxford Dictionary The foremost authority on current Canadian English lists but does not define the word "fascinator" ~ only "fascinate"/ v. capture the interest of; attract irresistibly. deprive of the power of escape or resistance; transfix.

Webster's New World Dictionary appears to get it right. Fascinator/ n. a woman's scarf made of lace, net, yarn, etc., worn around the head and neck.

Word Watching ~

NAMBY-PAMBY ~ Generally, we think of a namby-pamby person as being weak, lacking drive but have you thought about the origin of this phrase? It is interesting ~ In the Dictionary of Quotations by Bergen Evans, find this quotation: "Let the verse the subject fit, Little subject, little wit. Namby-Pamby is your guide." ~ Henry Carey (1729) ~ Henry Carey who invented Namby-Pamby was a minor poet. Ambrose Phillips, Henry Carey and Alexander Pope all wrote pastorals. The public preferred the insipid verses of Philips whom Carey dubbed Namby-Pamby. The nickname struck the popular fancy and stays in our speech long after Carey and Philips have been forgotten. Dictionary of Quotations, Bergen Evans, Bonanza Books, Crown Publishers, Inc. U.S. (Editor's note: One long rambling paragraph above is the result of blogspot's sometimes-annoying little quirks.)

Word Watching ~

"Where are the clerisy? They are people who like to read books... the clerisy are those who read for pleasure, but not for idleness; who read for pastime but not to kill time; who love books, but do not live by books."

~ Robertson Davies, Toronto man-of-letters, from A Voice from the Attic (1960) Colombo's Concise Canadian Quotations, Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton, 1976.

Clerisy n. a distinct class of learned or literary persons.[apparently after German Klerisei, formed as Cleric]
The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 1998

Word Watching

Philology n. 1. The branch of language that deals with the structure, historical development and relationships of a language or languages. 2. the branch of knowledge that deals with the linguistic, historical, interpretative and critical aspects of literature. philologist, philological, philologically, philologize.

[French philologie from Latin philologia love of learning from Greek]

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press Canada, 1998