WORDS GALORE

I love to mess around with words.  I was disappointed today when Amazon Silk refused to let me visit my next Great Courses lesson by Professor Anne Curzan.  I needed my word fix besides Wordle.

But, I do have other things of interest to me.

YouTube Movie

I found a 1942 movie with Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, and also a baby-faced Robert Stack.  The movie is a classic.  It's called "To Be or Not to Be." I immediately began to watch it.

I had two problems with my viewing.  Because the sound was too loud I gave my usual Alexa order:  "Play Lower."

Guess what? Alexa interrupted the movie and showed me all the recorded movies with "lower" in their titles.  I never imagined there were so many.

Next, the doorbell rang and I told Alexa to "pause." She apparently took that to mean exit You Tube.

I'll try again tomorrow.

MENSA Words

The latest Mensa magazine has an interesting article by famous wordsmith Richard Lederer.

He asks: "Can you create one word out of the letters in new door?"

The answer is "Yes."

(There is a question making the Facebook rounds: "What word starts with "W" and ends with "T"?

Once again, the answer is "Yes."

This reminds me of the Bud Abbott and Lou Costello routine that opens with "Who's on first."

"Yes."

Mr. Lederer shows a poem that contains nine anagrams of the same eight letters.

Arty Idol

Watch Ana Gram and you will see

Her act inspires idolatry.

Please do not come o tardily,

And dilatory please don't be.

Adroitly Ana Gram will start

To alter daily rot. She's smart.

A dirty lot, an oily dart

She'll change into the doily art.

 See if you can solve this anagram puzzle by Richard.  If you can, you are definitely Mensa material.

On my top a twisted thorn,

On my right a broken seat.

Below me sits a shattered shout,

And on my left a well-sifted stew.

Interesting guy (true)

I really like some of the things that Will Hurd says about the political situation.  I just hope that his former Congressional colleagues listen to him.

Will served three terms as a Texas Representative. He was a Republican who felt that six years in Office was enough for any elected official.

When he turned 22, he became an undercover employee for the CIA.  He was sent wherever "trouble spots" occurred.  I like to think that he was the "Hurd shot 'round the world!"

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 MORE WORDS

Professor Anne talked about word pronunciation today.  It reminded me of a limerick that I like:

There lived in the village of Beaulieu 

A couple who'd gone there but neaulieu.

Their child was named Vaughan,

As soon as 'twas baughan,

But alas, he proved treaulieu unreaulieu.

How about another?

There was a young man of Devizes,

Whose ears were two different sizes.

The one that was small,

Was no use at all, 

But the other won several prizes.

Words that bother me

Some words just rub me the wrong way:

snarf = to eat quickly or greedily.

nom = a noise made while snarfing  (nom-nom-nom) Like in Gene Shepherd's "A Christmas Story?" 

snog - touch the lips or press the lips against someone's mouth or other body part.

woke = alert to injustice in society, especially racism.  ( I agree with the concept but think that some other word would sound better.)

New Words

meatspace = the physical world, as opposed to cyberspace or a virtual environment.

steampunk = a science fiction design style inspired by Victorian-era industrialism.

incels = men who believe they have been excluded from relationships with women because of their appearance or personalities.

n-tuple = an ordered set with n elements.

chillax = chilling out and relaxing.

What's in a Name?

Today the Social Security Administration (SSA) posted the most popular baby names in 2021, based on their records.  (This is one of the statistical things that the programmers in my Branch would produce, especially Lloyd Hess.)

Here are the first five male and female names:

Boys

1. Liam

2. Noah

3. Oliver

4. Elijah

 5. James

Girls

1. Olivia

2. Emma

3. Charlotte

4. Amelia

5. Ava

Here are the fastest rising names based on pop culture:

Boys

1. Amiri

2. Eliam

3. Colter

4. Ozzy

5. Loyal

Girls

1. Raya

2. Wrenley

3. Angelique

4. Vida

5.  Emberlynn

If you want to see more or where your name places, sign up for the  SSA blog. (https://blog.ssa.gov)

"Social Security Matters.)

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 DICTIONARIES

My Word lecturer covered dictionaries yesterday.  She spent time on the famous Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and on Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language.

The OED contains over 600,000 words and 3 million quotations to backup those words.  I believe that the printed version runs to 20 thick volumes (my son has a "micro" copy that comes with a magnifying glass.)

But, guess what?  If you have a local library card, you can access the complete work online for free.

If you are interested, there is an eye-opening book written by Simon Winchester "The Professor and the Madman,"  I have it on my Kindle.

There are many dictionaries, including one I wrote:

"The Concordance of X."

Several years ago I watched a "jokester" on a TV interview show.  He bragged about how he had had a lot of fun "playing with people's minds."

He said that he was looking for some written material to use.  He was willing to pay $500 for each document that interested him.  I took the bait.

I thought that he could build a routine with something that nobody would normally have a use for.  I thought that I could create such a thing.

Sitting down with all my five different dictionaries before me, I created "THE FAMOUS CONCORDANCE OF X." Here's an example:

xanthippe  noun  shrewish wife of socrates.

xe  symbol  xenon

xenophobia  noun  fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners

x   etc etc

There are not many X words in English.  I found 200.  I sent a copy of my marvelous creation to Mr. Jokester.  He wrote back something like this: 

"I enjoyed your submission but am now too busy to take on new work."

Other Dictionaries

Baltimore's own H. L. Mencken wrote a quasi-dictionary labeled "The American Language."

I devoured this book when I first came to Baltimore. The story-telling is very entertaining... and eye-opening. It reflects long hours of study.  I have most of it on my Kindle and refer to it whenever I want some brain stimulation.

The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce. (1899)

Example:  

LOVE - "A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influence under which he incurred the disorder. 

This disease, like caries and many other ailments is prevalent only among civilized races living under artificial conditions; barbarous nations breathing pure air and eating simple food enjoy immunity from its ravages. It is sometimes fatal, but more frequently to the physician than the patient."

You might have read Bierce's monumental short story "An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge," If you haven't, you must.

The Dictionary of Wordplay by Dave Morice.

The New Oxford American Dictionary Example:  An intense feeling of deep affection. etc etc

Oxford Dictionary of English  Example: 

LOVE - A strong feeling of affection. etc etc

Alphabet Soup by Roy Blount Jr. Example:

LOVE - The Old Frisian version was luve, which may make us think of Woody Allen's character in "Annie Hall," trying to convey to the Diane Keating character how much he loves her by saying, "I looove you.  I lerve you..."

Mirriam-Webster Desk Dictionary Example:

LOVE - noun Strong affection, etc.

When I was in Grammar School, students were given desk dictionaries.  They had lots of explanatory pictures that I would copy.  That probably caused me to love dictionaries.

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 MORE WORDS!    

Before I start to talk about words, let me tell you a story about my first trip to Paris.  I stayed awake last night thinking about it.

It was in the 1950's and I had swapped my cigarette ration for a place in a group trip to Paris. 

I think we traveled on the Orient Express, stopping at a train terminal replete with signs in French that I couldn't relate to, but which my future bride's family supposedly spoke. I guess that Canadian French had morphed into something different through its proximity to English.

A massive omnibus carried us to our hotel. The group contained only males and so, along the way, the bus stopped so we could all use a "pissoir" that stood in the middle of the sidewalk.

Our hotel was in an old but elegant building.  

Across the street was the headquarters of the French Communist Party.  From their windows they spotted the only person in our group wearing a uniform (Didi Davis was a farm boy who loved looking like a soldier, even in "The City Of Light!")

After spotting Didi, windows across the way opened and things began to fly.  Ducking quickly inside, we survived,  No Gendarmes ever appeared.

Now, what does an American do when he visits Paris?  Well, he makes a pilgrimage to "The American Bar."

That was where I met the European correspondent for the New York Herald, Art Buchwald, a very well-known humorist. He told me about the book stalls on the left-bank of the Seine, where I bought a copy of James Joyce's Ulysses, banned in the U, S.

As a twenty-year-old man, missing my American girlfriend, I purchased some provocative French pin-up pictures.  When I got back to my barracks, I shared the pictures and we all posted them under the covers of our foot-lockers,

In a surprise open foot-locker inspection by a newly commissioned second lieutenant, the neophyte became intrigued with the pin-ups on my locker and after some moments of quiet contemplation, he exclaimed loudly: "Who is the sex fiend who lives here!"  No answer was forthcoming, so he slinked off.

Our Paris group visited all the tourist stops in Paris.

  The one we liked best was the "Eifel Tower."

C'est fini.  Let's talk about Words tomorrow.

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 ACH!  SOLCH EINE WELT!

Sometimes reading the daily news makes you want to cry.  But, of course, there is nothing us common folks can do to change the world, so we continue on with our daily activity as though we will live forever in our peaceful little communities. Meanwhile ...

An Easter Story

My son, Chris is an excellent cartoonist.  He began cartooning at an early age and developed his skill while making very creative drawings.

One night just before Easter my family was making colorful Easter eggs. We had a big basket of hard-boiled eggs awaiting their transformation into works of art.  Chris was 7 years old.

Chris concentrated on one egg, on which he drew a beautiful rendition of a tough-guy tug-boat captain.  He named the egg "Captain Andy."

I was so proud of his creation that I asked him if I could take it to work to show my co-workers what  a wonderful artist my son was.

As everyone crowded around my desk, I proudly took Captain Andy out of my lunch bag and held it up so everyone could see.

I guess I must have held the good Captain too tightly, because he suddenly disintegrated and spewed his innards all over the important documents waiting for my signature!

Yes, Captain Andy was not as "hard-boiled" as we had thought! 

Words, Words, Words

Although I am still visiting two Linguistic courses given by Dr. John McWhorter, I opened another Great Courses lecture series given by Dr. Anne Curzan, Linguistics Professor at Michigan State.

The subject is Words, and so far, for just two lectures I feel that I have learned a lot.

Anne mentioned two English words that I can't remember seeing before:

googlegangers = these are the people who show up on your computer screen when you "google" your name. (It's related to the German doppelgaenger, a copy of yourself.)

That reminds me:  One other "googled" Joe Vaughan comes up with a business man in Virginia.  This has caused a strange mix-up by a pen factory.

At one time, I ordered some pens with "Joe Vaughan Fan Club" shown on them.  At the same time, the other Joe Vaughan ordered pens with his name and business shown on his.

The result:  I received a gross of pens showing "Joe Vaughan" followed by the name of the other Joe's business in big letters, and showing my address.  Guess what his pens showed!  

That was 15 years ago and we both still get free pen samples in the mail made out the same way. The pen company never was able to handle customers with the same name.

Multi-slacking = the act of having multiple windows up on your screen so it looks like you're working when you're actually goofing around on the web.

For homework, Anne asked Seinfeld lovers to decide to put either "yada, yada" or "yada, yada, yada" into a dictionary and how would the result be defined?  

(Wow! Of vital importance.)  Not related to the Hebrew "yadah."

She also asked that we try to figure out the word "Irregardless."  One dictionary says just: regardless, 

but another dictionary says: "The main difference between irregardless and regardless is that 'irregardless' is used only in formal settings, while 'regardless' is used in informal and formal contexts."

HUH?!

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 AMAZING! (MAYBE NOT!)

(Skip the next item if you are bored with me relating my strange and silly dreams.)

Social Security Dream

My late wife and I loved working at the Social Security Administration (SSA) in Woodlawn, Maryland. We both knew that our work was helping citizens to live a long healthful life.  So that is the background for last night's dream:

My wife and I built a home connected to SSA via a long bridge.  The house was filled with books like that in "The Bridge" movie.

As we were entering the new house, we were accosted by our friends and coworkers all yelling "Hey, Joe Vaughan" and as we opened the front door, we saw that we had visitors.  All of the members of "The Joe Vaughan Fan Club." (Yes, there is such a group.)

The members had brought along their spouses, girl- and boy-friends, children, grandparents, great grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles.  Spread out before this multitude was a giant repast of the largest steamed crabs ever known in the civilized world. (A promised benefit for those fans.)

This large group of people scared me, and I became tongue-tied, (moi?) but Elaine helped me out by delivering Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, to great applause.

I woke up laughing.  

It's funny, but I addressed everyone I worked with by name, even some folks whose names I thought I had forgotten.

The brain is like a super-computer.  A giant repository of every human or non-human experience you have ever had.  At least, that is what I believe.

(repository = a place where things are or may be stored.)

Language Course Information

Professor McWhorter tells of a time when these words were pronounced like laughter: 

slaughter

daughter

He also mentions a word that the Queen doesn't like:

gavelkind = A system of inheritance in which a deceased person's land is divided equally among all male heirs. 

Male Scent

This afternoon I went to a podiatrist to get declawed.  I had taken a shower and thought that I smelled like "Irish Spring."  

However it was suggested that I spritz after-shave on my jowls to make sure.  I wouldn't want to "gross out" the good doctor.   It worked out well,  The doctor remarked that I "smelled good."

Unfortunately, that smell is lingering and it reminds me of the sickish sweet-smelling stuff that high-school girls used to bathe in before school. Yuk!

Well, this blog entry is a good example of what to say when you don't have anything interesting to say.

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A "MENSCH!"

1n 1964, I purchased at book at a Gettysburg antique shop.  It was one volume of the speeches by Abraham Lincoln before he became President of the United States.

I was impressed by the wealth of knowledge that he displayed and his empathy.  I've been a "Lincoln Cuckoo" ever since.

(mensch = a person of integrity and honor.

I just watched "Lincoln," a Stephen Spielberg film.  It is based somewhat on "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

It was a good lesson in how Congress interacts with a President and how a President's vast powers can control some Congressional activity.

The film goes deeply into how the 13th Amendment to the Constitution got passed.  

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

At one point, Lincoln cites Euclid's first law:  "Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other."   "That's the thing." says Lincoln, "It works.. equality!"

I don't like to get political in my blog entries, but I have to mention what a Wisconsin Representative said recently:  "I know that -- is a Democrat because she plays video games, dyes her hair,  and has a nose ring,"

This guy probably thinks he belongs to the "Party of Lincoln" - no way!

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