A Word Aptly Spoken (again)

I have been up to my elbows in words all week (of course, that's my normal life, considering what my 'day job' is), but as promised, here is this week's treasure trove from Wordsmith and ArcaMax:

Intro to the Wordsmith list for the week: "On June 16, James Joyce aficionados the world over celebrate Bloomsday. The day is named after advertising salesman Leopold Bloom, protagonist of Joyce's novel Ulysses. The entirety of this book recounts an ordinary day, June 16, 1904, as various characters go about their ways in Dublin, Ireland. If those 700+ pages are too much, here's an illustrated and irreverent summary of the book: http://home.bway.net/hunger/ulysses.html. To mark Bloomsday this week we'll examine five words borrowed from the Irish language."

shebeen \shuh-BEEN\ (noun) - An unlicensed drinking establishment. [From Irish sibin, diminutive of seibe (mug/mugful). The word is popular in the south of Africa and in Scotland and Ireland.]

dornick \DOR-nik\ (noun) - 1 : A piece of rock small enough to throw. [From Irish dornog (small stone, literally fistful).] 2 : Stout linen. [After Doornik, the name of a Flemish town where the cloth was first manufactured.]

hubbub \HUB-ub\ (noun) - Excited fuss or tumult of a crowd. [Perhaps from Irish ubub (an interjection of contempt).]

cosher \KOSH-uhr\ (verb tr.) - To pamper. [From Irish cosair (feast).]

smithereens \smith-uh-REENZ\ (noun) - Tiny fragments. [Probably from Irish smidirin, diminutive of smiodar (fragment).]

Lovely. And as if that weren’t enough of a treat, here are this week’s gems from ArcaMax:

inveigh \in-VAY\ (intransitive verb) - To rail (against some person or thing); to protest strongly or attack with harsh and bitter language -- usually with "against." [Inveigh is from Latin invehi, "to attack with words," passive form of invehere, "to carry or bring into or against," from in-, "in, into" + vehere, "to carry."]

defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\ (transitive verb) - To throw out of a window. [Defenestrate is derived from Latin de-, "out of" + fenestra, "window." The noun form is defenestration. Note: In medical terms (courtesy of Dorland’s Medical Dictionary), fenestration (without the ‘de’ prefix) is the presence of perforations or windows, or the surgical creation of a new opening in the labyrinth of the ear for the restoration for hearing in cases otosclerosis. Always wanted to know that, didn’t you?]

crapulous \KRAP-yuh-lus\ (adjective) - 1 : Suffering the effects of, or derived from, or suggestive of gross intemperance, especially in drinking; as, a crapulous stomach. 2 : Marked by gross intemperance, especially in drinking; as, a crapulous old reprobate. [Crapulous is from Late Latin crapulosus, from Latin crapula, from Greek kraipale, drunkenness and its consequences, nausea, sickness, and headache. Hmmm … s’pose that’s why people say they feel like ‘crap’ after they’ve had too much to drink?]

avoirdupois \av-uhr-duh-POIZ; AV-uhr-duh-poiz\ (noun) - 1 : Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains (453.59 grams). 2 : Weight; heaviness; as, a person of much avoirdupois. [Avoirdupois is from Middle English avoir de pois, "goods sold by weight," from Old French aveir de peis, literally "goods of weight," from aveir, "property, goods" (from aveir, "to have," from Latin habere, "to have, to hold, to possess property") + de, "from" (from the Latin) + peis, "weight," from Latin pensum, "weight." (from whence we get the word ‘pensive’)]

contradistinction \kon-truh-dis-TINK-shuhn\ (noun) - Distinction by contrast; as, "sculpture in contradistinction to painting." [Contradistinction is contra-, from Latin contra, "against" + distinction, from Latin distinctio, from distinguere, "to distinguish."

The Boy is on a trip to Europe with a school group, which happens, by interesting circumstance, to consist of most of the gang he hangs out with, including Milady and six of their friends. My son, his girlfriend and their cronies descend on Rome and Paris. It boggles the mind - poor Europe won't quite know what hit it.

The WGH, the girls and I watched The Bucket List last night. This was not at all what I expected from all the previews I saw on TV when it first came out, and I think they must have been a bit misleading, because the movie was just really wonderful, very touching and heartbreaking and funny (I mean, sure, it looked funny, but you didn't see the heart of the movie from the previews). Even the WGH, who has completely different tastes from me when it comes to movies, said (and I quote), "That's a great movie." If you haven't seen it, rent it. And keep a box of tissues handy.

Book of the Day: The ladies' book club from our church is coming to my house (my house! she squeaked) on Tuesday evening to discuss Refined by Fire, a first-hand account of the tragic events of 9/11 as told by Army LTC (ret) Brian Birdwell and his wife. Lt. Col. Birdwell was walking along the corrider of the E-ring at the Pentagon when it was hit by American Flight 77. He suffered life-threatening burns over 60% of his body and survived to tell his story. The book was published in 2004 but is, of course, still available, and it's a wonderful story of faith and healing.

When I finish reading it, I have to clean my house. Sigh.

Read a book - it's good for you!

=) JB

"In all ranks of life the human heart yearns for the beautiful; and the beautiful things that God makes are his gift to all alike."
-- Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) US writer