2023_#31: Weird Word Wednesday – Hootenanny

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This week’s weird word is hootenanny. The definition of this word, according to Merriam-Webster, is a gadget or “a gathering at which folk singers entertain often with the audience joining in.” Share your weird words here. If you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

Photo by Fey Marin on Unsplash 

My coworker was texting her sister yesterday, and she tried to text, “Ha, ha.” Somehow, her phone auto-corrected to “Hootenanny.” How in the world it went from “ha, ha” to “hootenanny” is anyone’s guess. Now, I imagine a hootenanny could be a “ha, ha” sort of event, though I’ve never actually attended one. Therefore, I’m not actually able to say with any certainty.

Personally, I thought a hootenanny was a rowdy ruckus, as in, “What’s all that hootenanny going on in there?” I’m actually glad I chose this word for today’s weird word. Otherwise, I might spend the rest of my life not knowing the true definition of the word. And consequently, mis-using it.

I like Wikipedia’s take on this word the best: “…an Appalachian colloquialism that was used in the early twentieth century U.S. as a placeholder name to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown. In this usage it was synonymous with thingamajig or whatchamacallit.” I can see myself using this word as a place holder. “Hey, see that hootenanny over there? Can you fetch that for me?”

So if you hear me using the word hootenanny, at least you know I’m using it correctly!

2023_BlogPrompt #30 – Hyperbole

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Somedays, I tend to use a bit of hyperbole. Today was one of those days. Do you ever use hyperbole in your speech or interactions with others? As always, if you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

It’s been a long week. What I mean is, it’s been a crazy long week here on the ground in New England. In a meeting this morning, I told someone I thought I might go home and sleep for three weeks. He said he felt that was a very long time to sleep, but I’m not sure that’s hyperbole. I am exhausted and if today weren’t Friday, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t make it to Friday.

This week, we became fully entrenched in the double-digits of February, a phenomenon I learned about years ago when I worked in a boarding school. These are dreaded days, especially for those of us in education. Winter is getting old, and spring is still far away. While there’s a bit more daylight, it’s still dark when I get up and dark when I leave work. Cabin fever isn’t as bad as usual this year, especially since we’ve had a couple of spring-ish days.

But students are antsy. They can almost see Spring Break, but not quite. They are still bogged down in the work that comes with midterm time, and they are anxious and emotional. In between meeting with my regular students, I run from one commitment to the next, from this meeting to that like my hair’s on fire. And it was cloudy and rainy all day, at least until this evening when it decided to snow instead. All these things combined have led to exhaustion. Seasonal exhaustion, if there is such a thing, sort of like seasonal allergies.

When I finally get to bed tonight, perhaps I’ll sleep for three weeks, or perhaps I’ll only sleep until tomorrow. Either way, the double-digits of February have me tightly in their grasp. And I can’t wait until they let go.

2023_#29: Weird Word Wednesday – Doozy

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This week’s weird word is doozy. The definition of this word, according to Merriam-Webster, is “an extraordinary one of its kind.” Not what I had intended to write today, but there you go. Got a good weird word? If you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

My cat

It’s been quite a week, friends. Today was my second—oops! third—day of nearly back-to-back meetings. Imagine my surprise when I was able to leave my office just a tad before 6:00. The sky still held a bit of pink on the horizon as I drove up the highway. I was looking forward to an evening of writing, completing a couple of tasks that needed to be done, and getting to bed early.

But the universe had other plans.

When I arrived home, I fed the cats, but I was missing one—the most food-motivated of my clowder. I set out on a search of the house, afraid of what I might find. I found her in the litter box, apparently stricken with some bladder issue or another. A call to our go-to emergency vet revealed they were at capacity and wouldn’t be able to see her until maybe 11:00. Yes, that’s PM. However, they suggested that the new veterinary urgent care (much closer than all the other emergency vets around) might be able to see her, I called.

They make appointments!!

So now, I’m home writing my Weird Word Wednesday post on a day that was definitely a doozy of a day! And I’ve still got to go back to the vet to pick up the cat….

2023_BlogPrompt #28 – Discarded objects

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If you’ve ever spent much time examining trash on the side of the road, perhaps you have wondered about the objects that are discarded. We’ve all seen the shoes in the middle of the road, the coffee cups, the cassette tapes—all most likely placed on the top of the car and forgotten. But some things, they are a little harder to explain. Have you ever found an object on the side of the road and wondered about it? As always, if you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

Photo by Jasmin Egger on Unsplash 

I have spent a fair amount of time navigating the side of the road. I was a runner for many years, and I learned the literal ups and downs of the sides of the road in four or five different states.

But even after all these years and thousands of miles logged, there is something I have yet to figure out. The strangest things end up on the side of the road, and I am deeply curious as tohow they end up there.

Last Friday, for example, it was crazy cold outside. I was out for my morning walk, and I was on a stretch of road where there are no houses. On the side of the road, I passed a clear plastic egg carton—the food-warehouse super-size container that holds 18 eggs. It was just sitting on the side of the road, as if it fell out of someone’s car. Through the plastic, it was obvious that many of the eggs were broken, and the inside of the container was smeared with frozen yellow yolk.

So I ask you this. How do you lose a carton of eggs on the side of the road with no houses in sight? Are you driving along and have an argument with your passenger and start tossing the just-purchased groceries out the window? Because you would have to actually have a carton of eggs in your car to lose one out the window, and that’s only likely to be the case when you are on the way home from the store. Are you out walking and just happen to be carrying a dozen-and-a-half eggs with you when you slip on the ice and fall? HOW do you lose eggs on the side of the road?? I have a deep curiosity and need to know.

Then again, one day long ago, on this same stretch of road, there was a pair of discarded dress pants. I made up a story about those pants. But the eggs… I’m just baffled.

2023_#27: Weird Word Wednesday – Burstiness

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This week’s Weird Word is burstiness. I came across this word through an interaction with technology, and I decided it should be a new word for me. Burstiness (not in a technology context) means, “the degree to which something occurs in abrupt bursts.” Yes, this is definitely a new and lovely word to add to my vocabulary! If you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

Burstiness is a term I came across in a technological context. According to Collins dictionary, burstiness means “the transmission of data in short, uneven bursts.” Technology. And I was disappointed because this word immediately spoke to me. The sound of the word rolling off the tongue is upbeat and happy. I can see myself finding reasons to use this word.

For example, I think about the way children play… or do anything, really. They play hard for a bit, then sit. But before long, they are back up, playing. If that isn’t bustiness, I don’t know what is. There are days when I, too, do things with burstiness. Especially on the days I clean the house. A burst of cleaning, and then I get distracted and move on to something else. Oops, but wait… I was cleaning, so I focus on another burst of cleaning. Now that I think about it, that might not be burstiness. That might be more like distraction.

2023_BlogPrompt #26 – Reading

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Reading. One of my favorite activities, and one that has followed me through my life. Perhaps one day I’ll write about my life through the various books I’ve read because it’s a fun and fascinating journey. What is your experience with reading? As always, if you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

I’m leafing through the pages of an old, outdated textbook, not paying attention to what I’m doing. Words on the page. Page after page. So many words. How many of these words actually matter? How many of these words build meaning and insight? Perception and critical thinking?

When I was a child, my parents read to me nearly every day. Those early moments with books instilled in me a love of reading before I could even read, back before we could get information from anything but books and magazines and newspapers and journals. And an hour a day of television news—30 minutes of local news followed by 30 minutes of national news. If you wanted substance, you had to read—books, encyclopedias, newspapers—often on microfiche. You had to read.

And so I did. I spent hours at the local library, first in the spacious children’s room and then in the little pass-through room that housed the teen books, before they were classified “YA.” It was a small room—an in-between space for those who were no longer children but not quite adults. Then we moved on to the general book stacks which filled a large back area. My younger days were loaded with books.

There are some books I remember vividly—scenes and characters. Things that happened and the way I felt when I was reading. Some were silly, like Pippi Longstocking. Others were deep and sorrowful—Across Five Aprils comes to mind. There were some books that were just okay and some I barely remember.

Then there were the magazines, the articles, the newspapers, the long days spent deep in research for paper after paper as I learned how to distinguish fact from fiction. I learned to parse words, sentences, and paragraphs. I analyzed text for the important elements so I could use these to create impact in my own writing. I learned to take the ideas of others and weave them together with my own to build and support an argument so I could discuss topics more deeply with others.

As I leaf through this old textbook, and I stare at the words, I don’t really have to wonder how many of the words matter. How many of them build meaning and help develop critical thinking. I already know the answer.

The answer is all of them. All the words I’ve ever read—they matter. They taught me how to distinguish the good texts from the bad. They taught me to move beyond the fluff to the depths of the text. They taught me to dig deep, to find meaning, and to persevere.

But the most important thing words taught me? How to make magic. When you pick up a book, study all the black squiggles on the white page, and produce a mind full of colorful images and vivid stories, fascinating characters and music and laughter and a full range of emotions, you realize reading is truly a magical experience.  

2023_BlogPrompt #25 – Adjustment

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The word of the day is adjustment. We all have things in our lives or ourselves that need to be adjusted. Or maybe we have had to adjust to something we didn’t anticipate. What adjustments are you making or have you had to make? As always, if you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash

I’m working on an attitude adjustment.

Seriously, sometimes we begin to realize things have gone sideways—in fact, they might have been going that way for a while. It is then that we realize we must focus on re-direction, a process that always starts from within. It has to.

Now, I know I’m not so far off track that major adjustments are needed. No, as I evaluate the issue, I see that some gears have become misaligned. I may be moving sideways, but I am doing so in a forward direction. Therefore, I’m not moving forward as quickly and smoothly as I might be.

So I’ve gathered some tools and rolled up my sleeves. I’ve stepped into the “machine room”—where the workings of my brain can be examined—and I’m digging in. If you’ve ever seen those movies or scenes of movies that take place inside the clock face of a clock tower, this is what I’m faced with. Mechanical pieces that are large and cumbersome. Massive gears constantly (albeit slowly) moving. But in here, I have a chance to walk around and inspect the parts to find those that might need adjustment.

Here, I see some rust has built up on some of the cogs, and I carefully scrape it off, adding a bit of oil for good measure. I make an adjustment to two pieces that don’t seem to be seated quite right, and I straighten out some parts that have bowed and bent a bit from the stressors of everyday life. Then I go through and clean and polish everything, so it looks nearly as good as new. Finishing touches are often the detail that brings clarity and confidence to the process. Not only did I do the work, but the work looks good because of all that I’ve put into it—the sweat, the frustration, the love, and the tears.

One thing I’ve learned, if nothing else, is that the good and the bad, the easy and the hard, the happy and the sad… they are all inextricably intertwined in all tasks that are worth completing. Re-adjustments are not always fun, but sometimes they are necessary.

And the learning that comes through the examination and evaluation process? That will be the key to a more efficient adjustment the next time!

2023_BlogPrompt #24 – Today

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The word of the day is today. What will you/did you do today? What will you dream? What will you see? What crazy adventures will you experience? As always, if you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

Today’s sunset

Today, I dreamed that I was superman, lifted up and flying high on the winds of change. The things I once knew passed below me as I sped through the sky on the way to new adventures. My cape flapped loudly behind me, shaking off all the things that hold me back. Flight frees me to be authentic, real, and determined in my dealings with the world.

Today, I planted a garden, digging deep through the icy snow and tapping the ground, frozen solid from the bitterness of winter. The seeds were resistant, clinging to the warmth of my fingers, and who can blame them? What they don’t know is that spring will bring growth and possibilities they cannot currently imagine.

Today, I lit a spark of kindness in hopes it would spread like wildfire. A moment of thought and a simple act can change a life. And as it spreads, it can create a movement, a shift in the cosmos. Perhaps my spark will bring happiness to one or two or more people who are surfing the wave of good intentions.

Today, I spent a few extra minutes with someone who needed a friend to listen, to hear, to care. Words spoken from a place of anxiety landed in a meadow of soft grass and wildflowers. A place where worries go to be eased and hopefully forgotten.  

Today, I created a moment of magic. Or maybe more. There was the thought that surprised even myself. Then a conversation full of brainstorming and idea generation and moving forward. There was a moment of peace and a walk in the park.

Today, there were many small, ordinary moments. Moments that could almost seem like magic. Moments that made today a good day.

2023_BlogPrompt #23 – I Wonder…

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I was out for a walk recently, and my mind started to wander, as it so often does. It wandered, yet again, into I wonder…. So today we are playing the I wonder game. What crazy things do you wonder about? As always, if you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

Photo by Geran de Klerk on Unsplash 

There are a lot of things I wonder about, and my wonderings tend to lead me down a rabbit hole in which I sometimes get stuck.

Think about this for a moment. You are living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early colonial days. For reference, these are the days of a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel—17th century or thereabouts. It is frigid January when daylight lasts a hot minute before night falls dark and impenetrable. You were visiting with a friend, and now you have to get home before supper. The path leads through the woods. In the dark. Pitch dark.

You bundle up as best you can and begin your trek. The dim yellow light of the windows of your friend’s house grow increasingly small and distant until they are specks and then no more. You have a lantern, so at least that’s good. (Though I’m not sure if you’ve ever paid attention to how much light an old-fashioned whale blubber lantern or tallow candle throws out? Not much, I’m sure).

Anyway, the only way home is through the woods since the early settlement is basically only woods with a few scattered clearings for houses here and there. So through the woods you go, traversing the thickening and darkening forest with the feeble little flame as your only source of light.

Off in the distance, you hear the chilling scream of a fisher cat or a fox, but you only hear the scream and have no knowledge what could possibly make such a horrible, haunting noise. Someone, you think, was just eaten alive! Your body tightens in fear as a chill passes over your skin, and you break into a run, trying hard to keep your lantern steady as you go. By the time you get home, you are simultaneously shivering from both fear and cold and sweating, ready to pass out from the exertion of the run and from breathing too hard for too long in the frigid night air.

I wonder what the early settlers thought was in the woods making such horrific and terrifying noises. They had no way of looking it up. Obviously, there was no internet, but there was not even a local library at the time. Someone would literally have to see a fisher cat scream in order to know what it was. But again… it would be dark with only feeble light sources. How long did it take them to figure this out?

I wonder.

2023_#22: Weird Word Wednesday – Gauche

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This week’s Weird Word Wednesday is gauche. This word is somewhat common and not all that weird, but I find the etymology is interesting. While it’s a word I have used in French, I don’t remember ever using it in English. But maybe I have an idea for how I might use it…. Is there a weird word that you find… well, awkward? If you choose to take up the challenge, please add a pingback to this prompt.

Photo by Sven Brandsma on Unsplash 

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, gauche means “lacking social experience or grace.” Other meanings are crude or awkward.  Gauche, in French, means “left,” but it can also mean awkward or clumsy.

The etymology of gauche includes “ties to old suspicions and negative associations relating to the left side and use of the left hand” (Merriam-Webster.com). Back in the day, left-handed people had to be careful or they could be tried as witches. Then again, many activities could pinpoint one as a witch. But it’s funny that we built a right-handed world and then labeled the left-handers “awkward.” And it’s also funny how words come to have meaning, and the meaning sticks. Forever.

Studying the word gauche and learning its origins doesn’t make me more likely to use it. In fact, I am less likely to use it now. You know the way the kids these days will respond to a situation with one word, “Awk-ward!” drawn out in a way to make the situation even more awkward? Maybe “gauche” would be an equally effective response in such a situation.

But upon further thought, the word’s monosyllabic briefness makes it a gauche alternative.