Yesterday, I got to use word “fortnight” in a sentence. At the local coffee shop, there is a latte of the week. Sometimes I order it. Yesterday, I noticed that the latte of this week was the latte of last week. So I pointed out that this in fact was not the latte of the week, it was the latte of the fortnight.
Year: 2005
Curses and Editors
ObservationsRegarding my comments from 11/19/2004 (i.e. whether or not to spell out d— and H— when referencing their improper usages): While reading Washington Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker I noticed that Irving (or perhaps his editors) wrote “d—-d” when the Devil used the word as a “flippant curse” but did not dash it out when the Devil used it as an actual curse. Just interesting, no more, no less.
Ahi Tuna – Grilled
AdventuresI stopped at my local grocer for some meat to grill yesterday. On an impulse, I snagged some ahi tuna. I sprayed a light coating of olive oil on each side of the steak, lightly seasoned it with salt and pepper, and grilled it to rare perfection. Topped with homemade salsa, tuna never tasted better.
In unrelated news, I think I’ll stop on the way home today and hit a bucket of balls.
Progress Means Progress
ObservationsThings that make you go “hmmmm”. In a recent column Michael Novak described some positive environmental changes that have taken place during the last century. He pointed out that we generally hear that our environment is being increasingly soiled by industry and progress, then laid out some interesting facts pointed out that industry and progress can help us care for Creation, clean it up, make it better. Well, I agree and it’s worth a read.
Aught and Execrated
Observationsnew words to bring back: aught and execrated. Check ’em out
Also noticed (yet another Peter Pan reference): Is it humourous when Captain Hook utters the generic “Curses!”? It’s seemingly polite profanity. It covers all swearing bases. It the meta-curse.
Coyote Sighted
Adventures, OpusesSaw a coyote today on the way to work. Definitely could have fetched him with Old Betsy.
This calls for an quotation of Mark Twain:
“Along about an hour after breakfast we saw the first prairie-dog villages, the first antelope, and the first wolf. If I remember rightly, this latter was the regular cayote (pronounced ky-o-te) of the farther deserts. And if it was, he was not a pretty creature or respectable either, for I got well acquainted with his race afterward, and can speak with confidence. The cayote is a long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton, with a gray wolf-skin stretched over it, a tolerably bushy tail that forever sags down with a despairing expression of forsakenness and misery, a furtive and evil eye, and a long, sharp face, with slightly lifted lip and exposed teeth. He has a general slinking expression all over. The cayote is a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry.
He is always poor, out of luck and friendless. The meanest creatures despise him, and even the fleas would desert him for a velocipede. He is so spiritless and cowardly that even while his exposed teeth are pretending a threat, the rest of his face is apologizing for it.”
Words Misused and Abused
ObservationsIt’s dictionary time again!
infamous adj.
1. Having an exceedingly bad reputation; notorious.
2. Causing or deserving infamy; heinous: an infamous deed.
– Given the definition of infamous, why would you say “…come sample our infamous barbecued ribs…”?
decadent adj.
1. Being in a state of decline or decay.
2. Marked by or providing unrestrained gratification; self-indulgent.
– Given the definition of decadent, why would you say “…come taste our decadent desserts…”?
Compressed Air Engine
FamilyNew words in “Bring it Back”.
B had his birthday party yesterday. He got from his grandma and grandpa a toy airplane with a piston engine that is powered by compressed air (“Air Hogs” brand). So we went outside and flew the plane. It is amazing how much power the tiny engine produces and surprising that nobody marketed this idea years ago. Of course the men wanted to know how the engine works and it’s a good thing it was made of clear plastic so you could observe the mechanics of the thing. The box says that the plane will fly up to 100′. However, it appears that they meant to say the plane flies up to 100′ after flying straight up 30′, looping the loop thrice, then slowing down enough to travel the 100′ in a straight line. It was an exciting time because one had no control over the toy. It landed upwind, downwind, in the road, on the roof of the house, and into the side of the house.
Focus
Adventuresfocus
Blackguard
Adventures, ObservationsHere’s the word of the day from dictionary.com:
blackguard BLAG-uhrd,
noun:
1. A rude or unscrupulous person; a scoundrel.
2. A person who uses foul or abusive language
adjective:
Scurrilous; abusive; low; worthless; vicious; as, “blackguard language.”
transitive verb:
To revile or abuse in scurrilous language.
Pronounced BLAG-uhrd not black guard, it’s yet another word that sounds like what it means. I have longed to use this word since I heard Michael Darling use it in the Disney version of Peter Pan but haven’t gotten any show to date. I suppose you want to be careful whom you label a blackguard.
Use it in a sentence: “Wednesday night, we won our first game in the city basketball tournament. One of the opposing forwards blackguarded L, but L brushed it off and owned him.”