Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 30, 2008

The word of the day for January 30, 2008 is "discontinuous" — adjective — 1 a (1): not continuous [a discontinuous series of events]. (2): not continued : discrete [discontinuous features of terrain]. b: lacking sequence or coherence. 2: having one or more mathematical discontinuities — used of a variable or a function.

We watched a trio of rather quiet movies this weekend. Sometimes it's nice to see something besides America's Funniest Videos.

1. The Grass Harp with Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Nell Carter. Also, Jack Lemmon, Mary Steenburgen, Joe Don Baker, Charles Durning, Roddy McDowell. "After his mother's death, Collin Fenwick goes to live with his father's cousins, the wealthy, avaricious, and controlling Verena Talbo, and her compliant, earthy sister Dolly." Set in the early 1930s, this is a charming movie with plenty of acting talent, but not the sort of movie that attracts Oscar nominations

2. The Good Witch with Chris Potter as Jake Russell, Catherine Bell as Cassandra Nightingale. "A mysterious woman comes in to town and inhabits the local haunted mansion, making everyone wonder if she's a witch or 'The Grey Lady'." This one was memorable only in that it was really pushing tolerance for Wiccans.

3. Mansfield Park with Billie Piper as Fanny Price, Blake Ritson as Edmund Bertram (yes, he played Collin Diggory in HP: Goblet of Fire. "At age 10, Fanny Price is sent by her destitute mother to live with her aunt and uncle, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram." This version downplayed Henry Crawford quite a bit. Still Miss Austen's famous wit showed through.

Other than the low-key stories and that all three movies had children who had lost one or both parents as part of the plot, there was no connection. Still they made for a quiet weekend.

Our quote for the day is from Susan Sontag (b. 1933), U.S. author. “Theatre and Film,” (1966):

     If an irreducible distinction between theatre and cinema does exist, it may be
     this: Theatre is confined to a logical orcontinuous use of space. Cinema ... has
     access to an alogical or discontinuous use of space.

—

Partial cast lists and synopses are from The Internet Movie Database.

Tags: discontinuous

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 27, 2008

The word of the day for January 27, 2008 is "cleanliness" — adjective — 1 : careful to keep cleanclean : fastidious. 2 : habitually kept clean.

I took Bubbles with me to the car wash after church. I had thought to wash the car on the way home, but the stalls were all full. I would have thought it was people wanting clean cars for the church parking lot, but most of them were in extremely casual dress. I went home and changed to a sweat suit, got Bubbles settled in his little seat, and off we went.

These photos were taken last week in Lloyd's car. Bubbles sits so quietly while we're driving. He didn't even seem to mind going to the veterinarian for his shots. He's six months old now and has all his permanent teeth. He may even get the hang of potty training soon. He woke me up around 4:30 this morning to let me know he had to go out. So far today, he's not gone once in the house. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Our quote for today is from John Wesley (1703–1791) Sermon xciii. On Dress:

Certainly this is a duty, not a sin. “Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness.”

;^) Jan

Tags: cleanliness

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 25, 2008

The word of the day for January 25, 2008 is "harmonious" — adjective — 1 : musically concordant. 2 : having the parts agreeably related : congruous [blended into a harmonious whole]. 3 : marked by accord in sentiment or action.

Since the discussion of themes for the photo contests this week, I thought I might as well enter a black and white photo in the J-Land competition. I wanted to find a photo that would translate well to b&w. This one leapt out of the pile.

                     — Harmonious Contrast —

This photo was taken during our October 2005 vacation on Seacliff Beach, California, USA.

Our quote for the day is from Rebecca West (1892–1983), British author. The Strange Necessity, ch. 6 (1928), of Jane Austen (1775-1817), the great British novelist whose work has sometimes been criticized as limited:

     To believe her limited in range because she was harmonious in method is
     as sensible as to imagine that when the Atlantic Ocean is as smooth as a
     mill-pond it shrinks to the size of a mill-pond.

;^) Jan

Tags: harmonious

aoljaolPictureAdd, aoljaolPictureAdd_4

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 24, 2008

The word of the day for January 24, 2008 is "misapprehend" — transitive verb — : to apprehend wrongly : misunderstand.

Once Cybil was trying to explain why a conversation went wrong. "You misunderheard me," she said. Such a succinct way to put it. As I remember I was multi-tasking at the time: a good way to lose track of a train of thought.

Sybil (no relation) commented that she thought my photo submission was to have been in black and white. Think of what a waste of gorgeous color that would have been. Fortunately, I entered the sunset in AOL Community Photo Challenge for amateurs; this week's theme is "Home Town". The J-Land contest for this week is to be in black and white, so I may have to find something suitable for that before the deadline.

Our quotes for the day are from Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)

     It is by universal misunderstanding that all agree. For if, by ill luck, people
     understood each other, they would never agree.

and also from John Lennon (1940 - 1980), Strawberry Fields:

     Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.

;^) Jan

Tags: misapprehend

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 23, 2008

The word of the day for January 23, 2008 is "entry" — noun — 1: the right or privilege of entering : ENTRÉE. 2: the act of entering : ENTRANCE. 3: a place of entrance: as a: VESTIBULE PASSAGE. b: DOOR GATE. 4 a: the act of making or entering a record b: something entered: as (1): a record or notation of an occurrence, transaction, or proceeding. (2): a descriptive record (as in a card catalog or an index). (3): HEADWORD. (4): a headword with its definition or identification. (5): VOCABULARY ENTRY 5: a person, thing, or group entered into something (as a contest or market) [the latest entries in the computer market] [judge the entries in the writing contest].

                             — WINTER SUNSET —

AOL Community Photo Challenge gives us a chance to show off our photos in a weekly contest. I found this site in Jeannette's Jottings. I thought I might like to enter this sunset taken across the Arkansas River in Wichita, KS, USA on Dec. 28, 2005. We had fed the Canadian geese that winter over and were on our way home.

Our quote for the day is from Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. Invitation to a Beheading, foreword (1959):

     If someday I make a dictionary of definitions wanting single words to head
     them, a cherished entry will be “To abridge, expand, or otherwise alter or
     cause to be altered for the sake of belated improvement, one’s own writings
     in translation.”

;^) Jan

Tags: entry

aoljaolPictureAdd, aoljaolPictureAdd_1

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 21, 2008

The word of the day for January 21, 2008 is "deforestation" — noun — : the action or process of clearing of forests. also: the state of having been cleared of forests.

It was difficult to make the decision to cut down the elm tree in the back. Living in Kansas, it seems a sin to cut down a tree. So many of the trees here were planted during the 1930s to help put a stop to the Dust Bowl drought. Plus the shade has been great for the air conditioner bills. The tree in back was a volunteer (in the bed between the porch and the walk.) When Lloyd pulled it up, he said, "You've had such bad luck with the dead sticks you planted in the back, you might as well put this one in." Nearly 25 years later, the dadgum thing was 25 foot high, nearly three feet in diameter and encroaching on both the sewer line and the house foundation. Also, I think it had Dutch elm disease.

On Friday when Bubbles and I went out for our walk, we found the tree surgeons taking out some brush and trees on a neighbor's property. The boss came over and gave us a reasonable estimate. Plus he said they could get it done Saturday. "Have at it," I cried. They came at 8:30 next morning. It took about five hours, what with not dropping any limbs over the cables and wires around the house, trimming the maple in the front (included) and cutting the smaller bits to size for Claudia's fireplace. I may have them back in come August to trim the blue spruce before the utility company decides to do it for me.

The quote for the day is from Glen Raphael:

      Most people believe that if you go in and try to micromanage a forest, it is
     possible to destroy the very thing that makes it a unique and special place.
     That's just as true of the Net.

;^) Jan

Tags: deforestation

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 19, 2008

The word of the day for January 19, 2008 is "wastrel" — noun — 1 : vagabond: waif. 2 : one who expends resources foolishly and self-indulgently : profligate,

Rae suggested today's word. We get a cartoon strip in our newspaper called The Born Loser. One of the recurring characters is a neer-do-well named Wastrel P. Gravesite. He is the sort of character that gives "chutzpah" a bad name.

I think it is a good thing for many of us that we haven't won the big lottery prize. So many of us have no idea what we would do with more money than what we have. Come to think, few of us know what we should be doing with the money we have. Our ideas of thrift and waste sometimes seems odd to others. For instance, I have spent over $400 on a formal dress for my daughter, not considering it a waste, but I will scrimp on the cost of underwear for myself every time. The theory behind this is that my daughter's high school graduation and wedding were once-in-a-lifetime events where everyone was looking at her, but nobody — barring my husband — will ever see my underwear.

Our quote for the day is from Karl Kraus (1874–1936), Austrian satirist. Sprüche und Widersprüche, ch. 4 (1909), trans. in Half-Truths and One-And-A Half-Truths, “Lord, Forgive Them ...,” ed. Harry Zohn (1976):

     Experiences are savings which a miser puts aside. Wisdom is an inheritance
     which a wastrel cannot exhaust.

;^) Jan

Tags: wastrel

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 18, 2008

The word of the day for January 18, 2008 is "inundate" — transitive verb — 1 : to cover with a flood : overflow. 2 : overwhelm [was inundated with phone calls].

Although Sybil didn't ask for this word, I think it apropos for her situation. She commented the other day that the bridge over the bye brook is in danger of going underwater. At least her new Kangoo has axles high enough to keep her out of the drink.

When I was young I belonged to the Camp Fire Girls (an American version of the Girl Guides or Girl Scouts). Our summer camp was Hantesa on the Iowa River. The road to the camp wound through Ledges State Park, fording a small tributary to the Iowa River several times. The camp staff had standing instructions that, if it began to rain while out hiking, they were to head for high ground immediately. Wet girls are more easily dealt with than drowned ones. After a particularly rainy year, culminating in a flood, the campers were no longer allowed to sing/perform "Ah Oonie Coonie Cha," which is a Cameroon rain chant.

The quote for today is from Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. “Goethe; or, the Writer,” Representative Men (1850):

     In the learned journal, in the influential newspaper, I discern no form; only
     some irresponsible shadow; oftener some monied corporation, or some
     dangler, who hopes, in the mask and robes of his paragraph, to pass for
     somebody. But through every clause and part of speech of the right book
     I meet the eyes of the most determined men; his force and terror inundate
     every word: the commas and dashes are alive; so that the writing is athletic
     and nimble,—can go far and live long.

;^) Jan

Tags: inundate

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 17, 2008

The word of the day for January 17, 2008 is "erysipelas" — noun — : an acute febrile disease associated with intense edematous local inflammation of the skin and subcutaneous tissues caused by a hemolytic streptococcus.

In this case the word came after the write-up. Today is St. Anthony the Abbot's saint day. (I get this from his write-up in PATRON SAINTS INDEX) Apparently he was known for miraculously healing skin diseases like erysipelas. As pork fat was often applied as a remedy for skin diseases, St. Anthony's representations often showed him accompanied by a pig. I had wondered about the origin of the phrase "tantony pig" and here it is.

Apparently St. Anthony was a popular fellow because his patronage extends to amputees; animals; basket makers; basket weavers; brushmakers; Burgio, Sicily; butchers; Canas, Brazil; cemetery workers; domestic animals; eczema; epilepsy; epileptics; ergotism; erysipelas; gravediggers; graveyards; hermits; hogs; Hospitallers; monks; Mook, Nederlands; pigs; relief from pestilence; Saint Anthony's fire; skin diseases; skin rashes; swine; and swineherds. Pretty busy fellow. Mind he is not the St. Anthony for finding lost objects. That is St. Anthony of Padua, who was much later on the time line, has his day in June and has an equally busy patronage.

Our quote for the day is from Ann E. Bray:

     Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is
     the atmosphere in which all good affections grow - the wholesome warmth
     necessary to make the heart-blood circulate healthily and freely; unhappiness
     - the chilling pressure which produces here an inflammation, there an
     excrescence and worst, of all, "the mind's green and yellow sickness" - ill temper.

;^) Jan

Tags: erysipelas

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 16, 2008

The word of the day is "famine" — noun — 1: an extreme scarcity of food. 2 archaic : starvation. 3 archaic : a ravenous appetite. 4: a great shortage.

Lloyd and Bubbles have been having a wonderful time of it now that I am back at work. They play with Bubbles' toys until Lloyd gets tired. The dog then lays down with him and they watch television with their eyes closed until I come home at lunch. I have found that, left to his own devices, Lloyd will not eat lunch until he is so hungry he can't stand it anymore and will then eat a half-gallon of ice cream and not take his meds. So it's just as well that I go home at lunchtime.

The dog has decided that if he goes outside and comes back, I will fill his dish with goodies. He has taken to haunting the back door until I let him out, and then insists he wants back in, upon which he races to his food dish, looking all pitiful when he finds it still empty. Maybe I need to feed him fewer times during the day.

The quote for the day is from Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961), U.S. poet. “Dead Priestess Speaks, A....”:

     I knew the poor,
     I knew the hideous death they die,
     when famine lays its bleak hand on the door;
     I knew the rich,
     sated with merriment,
     who yet are sad.

;^) Jan

Tags: famine

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 14, 2008

The word of the day for January 14, 2008 is "hygienic" — adjective — 1 a: of or relating to hygiene. b: having or showing good hygiene [hygienic conditions]. 2 a: antiseptic 3c :free from what is held to be contaminating. [sweetly hygienic production…comic in an entirely innocuous way — J. W. Aldridge]. b: antiseptic 4a coldly impersonal b: of, relating to, or being warfare conducted with cold precision from a safe distance with few or no casualties on one's side [a hygienic view of national realities and moral imperatives — I. L. Horowitz].

The dispenser in my favorite restroom stall at work was out of the translucent papers that my friend Christie inelegantly refers to as "ass gaskets." It is well known that a piece of tissue paper between the comode seat and one's derriere is proof against all forms of disease. I used the adjacent stall, although I have been known to "borrow" paper when not in a hurry. In the movie, Sibling Rivalry, Kirstie Alley—finding any other paper products available—uses a wad of toilet seat covers to blow her nose and wipe away tears. The writer(s) must have had occasion to come up with this solution on a personal basis.

In the days before running water and central heat, people died of so many diseases that we don't even see. I'm not certain I would be comfortable going back in time for this very reason. Of course, the opposite side of the coin is that people who are too fastidious end up with the antibiotic resistant "flesh eating" staph infections. Y'can't win.

The quote for today is from Logan Pearsall Smith (1865 - 1946):

     The denunciation of the young is a necessary part of the hygiene of older
      people, and greatly assists the circulation of the blood.

;^) Jan

Tags: hygienic

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 12, 2008

The word of the day for January 12, 2008 is "busy" — adjective — 1 a: engaged in action : occupied. b: being in use [found the telephone busy]. 2: full of activity : bustling [a busy seaport]. 3: foolishly or intrusively active : meddling. 4: full of distracting detail [a busy design].

Quite an eventful day here. I did laundry, took the Christmas lights off the spruce tree and the porch, walked the dog, bought Girl Scout cookies, put together a doggy booster seat, fed my husband and played with the computer. I also sorted through some clutter in my computer room (this must be women's work because it is never done.) It is a good thing that tomorrow is a day of rest.

After church I may talk Lloyd into driving us to the park so we can see how well the dog seat does. Bubbles thinks it is a very nice thing to have, but we haven't tried it out yet. There will be pictures.

The quote for today is from John Donne (1572–1631), British poet. The Sun Rising (l. 1–3). . .:

      Busy old fool, unruly sun,
      Why dost thou thus
      Through windows, and through curtains call on us?

;^) Jan

Tags: busy

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 11, 2008

The word of the day for January 11, 2008 is "natal" — adjective 1: native. 2: of, relating to, or present at birth; especially : associated with one's birth <a natal star>.

As today is my birthday, I brought cake in to work to share with my co-workers. Twice since I turned ten years old, I have been surprized: once by my mother on my sixteenth and once by my sister on my 20th. Other than that, if I wanted a cake I've had to bake or buy myself. Not that that's such a bad thing; I've never been compelled to celebrate unless I felt like it.

Age is an odd thing anyway. The year I turned 37, I thought I was 38. That persisted until the year I turned 40. I was 48 for two years. I think there must be something about that 9 on the end that makes people think you are trying to cling to the past.

Our quote for the day is from Brigitte Bardot, (b. 1933), French screen actor, on her 40th birthday:

     "So many women of 50 and 60 say they are 40 that I look damn good."

;^) Jan

Tags: natal

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 8, 2008

The word of the day for January 8, 2008 is "melody" — noun — 1 : a sweet or agreeable succession or arrangement of sounds : tunefulness. 2 : a rhythmic succession of single tones organized as an aesthetic whole.

I tried to call Jacob on his birthday to sing "Happy Birthday" to him. His mom answered; he was off with friends—celebrating, I assume. I'm batting two for two in the past couple of weeks: Caitlin was "too busy" to come to the phone on her birthday. Kirstie's birthday is next week, we'll see if I can catch her at home.

The melody for the song, "Happy Birthday", was written by sisters Mildred J. and Patty Smith Hill in 1893 as "Good Morning to All." The birthday lyrics were added later and was used for the first singing telegram in 1933. In 1934 a third sister, Jessica Hill, managed to get the song copyrighted in her sisters' names. The copyright is not owned, and never was, by the Beatles, Paul McCartney, Apple Corps or Michael Jackson. At this time the tune is now owned by AOL Time Warner and is bringing in a couple million dollars annually in royalties. (This, according to Snopes.com)

Our quote for the day is from Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898), French symbolist poet. La Revue Blanche (Paris, Sept. 1895). Variations on a Subject, “Verse Crisis,” Complete Works (1945):
     Every soul is a melody which needs renewing.

;^) Jan

Tags: melody

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 6, 2008

The word of the day for January 6, 2008 is “journey” — noun — 1: an act or instance of traveling from one place to another : trip. 2: chiefly dialect : a day's travel. 3: something suggesting travel or passage from one place to another <the journey from youth to maturity> <a journey through time>.

 

Happy Epiphany! We are at my step-daughter’s home in Omaha, NE, this morning. Yesterday we drove through fog most of the way—very tiring as one must drive much more slowly than normal because of reduced visibility. Since we couldn’t see the landmarks it seemed even longer. However, we started out earlier than usual so we arrived in Omaha only a little later than usual in spite of the fog and walking Bubbles at “every rest stop and tree” (to quote my mother.)

 

Everyone here isfine. We exchanged Christmas gifts. Claudia showed off the “new” bathroom—a new tub surround and basin with sturdy handrails for safety. She also reported on her trip to Arkansas to see her mother and siblings for Christmas. She had a lovely time and saw several nieces and nephews whom she hadn’t seen for some time.

 

The quote for the day is a Chinese proverb:

 

On a journey of a hundred miles, ninety is but half way.

 

;^)  Jan the Gryphon

Tags: journey

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 4, 2008

The word of the day for January 4, 2008 is “educated” — adjective 1: having an education; especially : having an education beyond the average <educated speakers>. 2 a: giving evidence of training or practice : skilled <educated hands>. b: befitting one that is educated <educated taste> c: based on some knowledge of fact <an educated guess>.

 

The puppy is now in fine fettle. He is inquisitive. I had to fix the striker plates on the bedroom doors so that he could not push his way into places he should not be. I wouldn’t mind if he didn’t pull things off of the beds, disarranging my “piling” system.

 

Also, we are going to have to have a long discussion about toilet training. (Imagine me the great explainer—when Cybil was learning to deal with shoes, I harangued her for fifteen minutes on right versus left. I then asked, “What’s the first thing you are going to do when you put on your shoes?”She looked at me, all pitiful and said, “Look for you, Mommy.”) So Bubbles is going to have to put up with a lot of “Outside?” in the next little bit. I’ve learned a few things since writing L and R on Cyb’s shoes.

 

Our quote for the day is from Allan Bloom (20th century), U.S. educator. The Closing of the American Mind, preface (1987):

 

The liberally educated person is one who is able to resist the easy and preferred answers, not because he is obstinate but because he knows others worthy of consideration.

 

;^) Jan

Tags: educated

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 2, 2008

The word of the day for January 2, 2008 is “exhaust” — transitive verb 1 a: to consume entirely : use up <exhausted our funds in a week>. b: to tire extremely or completely <exhausted by overwork> c: to deprive of a valuable quality or constituent <exhaust a photographic developer> <exhaust a soil of fertility>. 2 a: to draw off or let out completely. b: to empty by drawing off the contents; specifically : to create a vacuum in. 3 a: to consider or discuss (a subject) thoroughly or completely. b: to try out the whole number of <exhausted all the possibilities>. intransitive verb discharge, empty <the engine exhausts through the muffler>.

Today was my first day back at work after the holidays. Since Lloyd decided that he doesn’t want to sit at the Burger King to wait for me to join him at lunch, I elected to come home to see that he ate. The puppy, who has been feeling better since yesterday evening, exhausted him, but they both had their lunch, and I went back to work.

I stopped at the grocery for a few items and picked up some take-out chicken for supper. It was a good thing, because Bubbles needed a walk. Lloyd had dozed off by the time we came back. We’ll see how the two of them do tomorrow.

The quote for the day is from Sir Herbert Read (1893–1968), British critic, poet. To Hell with Culture, ch. 13, Schocken (1963):

     An entertainment is something which distracts us or diverts us from the routine
    of daily life. It makes us for the time being forget our cares and worries; it interrupts
    our conscious thoughts and habits, rests our nerves and minds, though it may
     incidentally exhaust our bodies. Art, on the other hand, though it may divert us from
     the normal routine of our existence, causes us in some way or other to become
     conscious of that existence.

;^)  Jan the Gryphon

P.S. I hear that this is showing up multiple times in some venues. I was having formatting problems, for which I also apologise. --J

Tags: exhaust

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 1, 2008

The word of the day for January 1, 2008 is “veterinarian” — noun/ a person qualified and authorized to practice the science and art of prevention, cure, or alleviation of disease and injury in animals and especially domestic animals.

 

We had to run the puppy to the emergency veterinary clinic today. He was acting listless and was sick all over the “pee-pads” in the hallway this morning. The vet did a test for Canine Parvo Virus—fortunately it came back negative. Even so, we get to dose Bubbles for a couple of days. It’s a good thing he’s such a sweet dog because Lloyd is too soft-hearted to do medical things for children or pets.

 

Bubbles is now sleeping on Lloyd’s foot while he watches TV with his eyes closed. I would take a picture if it wouldn’t wake them up. They’re so cute. Oh, Lloyd just woke up and put Bubbles on the bed. As soon as they're asleep again .... potential blackmail—heh, heh, heh.

 

 

 

The quote for the day is from Sylvia Beckman (b. c. 1931), U.S. ophthalmologist. As quoted in The Fifties, ch. 8, by Brett Harvey (1993):

 

One fellow I was dating in medical school ... was a veterinarian and he wanted to get married. I said, but you’re going to be moving to Minneapolis, and he said, oh, you can quit and I’ll take care of you. I said, “Go.”

 

;^)  Jan the Gryphon

Tags: veterinarian, humor, word of the day, quote of the day