Poem #2 for 2025 is due today. We were to write a Nonet or a Cinquain. I had never heard of a Nonet. It is, as it sounds, a nine-line prescribed poem. I went for the simpler Cinquain.
Morning,
Fancy-dressed in
Garnet, topaz, amber,
Sprinkles joy like bright confetti.
Sunrise!
I would like to be able to see my father and mother face to face this morning to thank them for the multitude of loving things those two young people did to provide a good life for me, a child they had when they were themselves barely more than children. Alas, Daddy moved beyond our Earthly reach in 1986 at age 67 1/2; and Mother made that journey in 2021 at age 98 1/2. My six aging siblings and I are in the process of liquidating and distributing the last of their belongings and settling the last of their business.
I woke up 11 mornings ago. I woke up. While I had slept, two small blood clots had broken loose in my bloodstream. Had they traveled a different path, I might not have awakened that morning. Or I might have awakened a paraplegic or a physical shell without mental capacity. As it was, I woke up blind in my right eye. One small clot had passed through the central retinal artery and lingered long enough to deprive my right retina of oxygen. It was without oxygen long enough to leave that retina unable to interpret light. The other clot apparently just kissed a spot in the front of my brain and left a tiny footprint there.
In the ten days since this life adjustment, I have been repeatedly aware of how a great a gift my parents gave me by raising me in a Christian home. A Christian home in the truest sense of those words. Mother sang hymns as she worked around the house. She made sure we knew how important it was to live in accordance with God's desires for our lives; we were constantly reminded in words as well as actions that God has desires for our lives because He loves us so much. Daddy made a point of spending time alone with each of his children, and that time was often spent in the car as he traveled between different responsibilities of his own or delivered us to one of our activities. In the car on the way to whatever, we had meaningful conversations and even often sang and discussed hymns or Bible passages. He always seemed very interested in hearing my thoughts on whatever the topic was. He was seldom in lecturer mode. Without fail, when we arrived at our destination (meeting, visit, class, whatever) he would thank God audibly (or ask me to do so) for our safe travel and for our relationship with Him and each other. I took all that very much for granted. It was just our lives.
And of course, as a Christian family in the forties, fifties and sixties, our lives centered around church. That entailed four church contacts every Sunday - Sunday School, morning worship, evening children/youth activities, even worship service. During the week, a Wednesday night meeting was a minimum of other church contact. Each of these instilled important words/concepts in my mind and memory. Bible verses heard, explained, discussed, memorized. Hymn and song lyrics sung, repeated, memorized, pondered.
All that background work, done by two young parents through the years, has risen up and proclaimed its value in my life during the last eleven days. Since this huge change in my lifestyle, since I can no longer read or write or paint for any length of time, I have been very grateful for all the "words of life" planted firmly in my head by young parents who loved God enough to parent beyond their human capabilities.
My entire childhood experience is of parents ages 18-35! That is an amazing realization for me!
I mentioned in a previous post my interest in the word "vocation." It is now commonly used just to identify an activity pursued as a livelihood. Frequent synonyms include job, business, career, craft, line, occupation, profession, trade, and work. Even slang words such as racket might be substituted for vocation.
In actuality the root "voc" (from the Latin vocare) means "to call". Some other English words that use the root include: voice, vocal, vocalize, revoke (call back), evocative (having the capacity to call out), convocation (a place where voices come together), and many others. The word vocation, then, actually means "a calling" or an activity that one does in response to an inner urge. The implication is that the inner nature calls a person to fulfill him/herself by pursuing this activity. Most Christians understand this to mean the call of God for a person to best use his/her talents and skill to accomplish something that only he/she can accomplish.
A vocation is then an activity that is done, either professionally or voluntarily, not just for monetary benefit. The motivation behind the work is more altruistic. A vocation fulfills a need for the worker, some spiritual or psychological need. A vocation implies that the worker is specifically gifted in the field of his/her vocation.
The idea of vocation is central to the Christian belief that God has created each person with gifts and talents oriented toward specific purposes and a way of life. Particularly in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, this idea of vocation is especially associated with a divine call to service to the Church and humanity through particular vocational life commitments such as marriage to a particular person, consecration as a religious, ordination to priestly ministry in the Church and even a holy life as a single person. In the broader sense, Christian vocation includes the use of ones gifts in their profession, family life, church and civic commitments for the sake of the greater common good.
The idea of a vocation or "calling" has been pivotal within Protestantism. Martin Luther taught that each individual was expected to fulfill his God-appointed task in everyday life. Although the Lutheran concept of the calling emphasized vocation, there was no particular emphasis on labor beyond what was required for one's daily bread. Calvinism transformed the idea of the calling by emphasizing relentless, disciplined labor. In the Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536), Calvin defined the role of "The Christian in his vocation." He noted that God has proscribed appointed duties to men and styled such spheres of life vocations or callings. Calvinists distinguished two callings: a general calling to serve God and a particular calling to engage in some employment by which one's usefulness is determined.
The Puritan minister Cotton Mather, in A Christian at his Calling (1701), described the obligations of the personal calling as, "some special business, and some settled business, wherein a Christian should for the most part spend the most of his time; so he may glorify God by doing good for himself." Mather admonished that it wasn't lawful ordinarily to live without some calling, "for men will fall into "horrible snares and infinite sins." This idea has endured throughout the history of Protestantism. Three centuries after John Calvin's death, Thomas Carlyle (1843) would proclaim, "The latest Gospel in this world is, 'know thy work and do it.'"
The legacy of this religious ethic continues to exert its influence in an increasingly secular world. Modern occupations which are seen as vocations often include those where a combination of skill and community help are implied, such as medical, care-giving, and veterinary occupations. Occupations where rewards are seen more in spiritual or other non-financial terms, such as religious occupations, are also seen as vocations. Borderline occupations, where community service and more personal reward are more evenly balanced, such as politics, may often be regarded as vocations.
Many forms of humanitarian campaigning, such as work for organisations such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace can also be considered vocations, although the term tends to imply that the activity is a full-time job rather than a part-time activity or hobby, which would be called an avocation.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
The root of the word "advocate" is the Latin word "vocare," which means "to call." The word "advocate" comes into being through the addition of "ad" to "vocare," changing its meaning from "to call" to "to summon to one's aid." Advocacy has the same root as vocation—meaning a calling away from ordinary life, a summons from God to undertake service to others. And advocacy shares its root term—"vocare"—with the word "voice." The roots of the word "advocate" break open its true meaning: Advocates give voice to the people they are called to serve, a calling that has at its center a deep and awesome responsibility, as well as, at its best, a touch of the divine.
...to be continued....
Since the big blizzard of 1993 near Atlanta, Georgia, we Southerners have had our usual ½ inch snow once every couple of years and our obligatory ice storm with similar frequency. North Georgia is not a snowy clime.
We had occasion, shortly after that highly-newsworthy blizzard, to have dinner with several couples of our acquaintance, and the conversation turned to events surrounding the big snow. In the course of the discussion, someone mentioned seeing many snowmen constructed in the median of a very busy section of Interstate 75. The discussion around the table did not then turn to the issue of traffic shutdown engendered by the huge snowstorm. No, indeed. One of our table companions was an outspoken and rather over-sensitive feminist who could not let the conversation leave without challenging the wording.
“SnowFRIENDS,” she corrected the speaker. Then she launched into a rather long-winded dissertation about the implied gender-exclusiveness of the term. One had the impression that the speaker, by calling the snow sculpture a “snowman”, had denigrated females in general and implied that only males were worthy to be designated as the esteemed creature commonly referred to by that term. Certainly, her lecture suggested, females were qualified to become snowcreatures (and presumably receive equal pay for doing so.) In fact, her attitude implied, a female snowcreature would doubtless already be president of Snowland but for the obvious bias against her in our society. At the very least it was insensitive for one to imply that snow creations must be male in gender. Society as a whole must avoid gender-defining references – make use of alternate personal pronouns indiscriminately, use general terms for persons regardless of the awkwardness of the wording – carefully delineate choice with either/or statements, etc.
Eventually the conversation moved on to other topics and we continued to have a pleasant dinner party. However, in the intervening 16 years, our family has had a lot of fun arising from that enlightening dinner conversation. Although our opportunities have been severely limited due to our residence in the Sunny South, every mention of playing in the snow has resulted in numerous other possible designations for the product thereof. We have constructed (or more likely just pointed out in a Northern friend’s photos) a “snow- creature, snow-bird, snow-dog, snow-queen, snow-midget (common in the land of ½ inch snows), snow-alien, snow-giant, snow-family, snow-siblings, or snow-?.” Often we would snigger behind our hands and point out a poorly-constructed snow creation and comment, “With snow-friends like that who needs snow-enemies?” or “Look, it can’t be a snow-friend because Emerson said that ‘the only way to have a snowfriend is to BE a snowfriend’ and I don’t want to get that cold!” Someone else would pipe up, “Hayes said that ‘snowfriends are the sunshine of life’ and that snow sculpture can’t be sunshine, she/he’d melt him/herself!”
But a funny thing happened in the intervening 16 years since the dinner party and our next big snow – which occurred just this week. “Snow-friend” has become the most logical and comfortable way to refer to our snow creations. In the Christmas 2010 one-day snowfall, our grandchildren constructed Bob, their snow-friend. They gave him their constant attention. His needs were foremost in their minds. They held him together with their own hands when he seemed ready to fall apart. They made endless trips in and out of the house to find just the right parts to complete his features and ensemble. They filched broccoli florets for buttons and presented them to him without expectation of repayment. One gladly and joyfully took the ponytail holder from her hair and contributed it to Bob to make his smile. They would stand away and look at him, consumed with discovering what it was he needed to be complete, yet they asked him for nothing in return. One removed her own scarf and contributed it to keep Bob’s neck warm while another added his own warm hat for Bob’s bald head. When they were satisfied that they had met all his needs, they proudly called the entire family into the yard to meet their friend. Bob was a “snowman.” He was also a “snowfriend.”
I just finished reading a high-vocabulary novel (see previous post for a review). The vocabulary was interesting for the logophile.
Here are some examples of seldom-encountered words that I noticed:
nugatory ("...the nugatory movement of the windscreen wipers...")
excoriated ("...flesh was excoriated from hitting the rocks as he fell..."
supervened ("...the tragedy that had supervened in his life..."
putatively ("...putatively the partner..."
casuistry ("...was typical police casuistry..."
friable (".. was too friable to support his weight..."
fecundity ("...the silence lacked fecundity...")
inapposition ("...the level of inapposition..."
excrescent ("...like the excrescent evidence of...")
inchoate ("...the inchoate curve of ...")
vitric ("...in matters vitric...")
prefatory ("...prefatory remarks...")
sophistry ("...believing was sophistry at this point...")
How many of these could you define?
(Click on the logo above for an explanation of this feature of Daddy's Roses)Now, on to the new IF:
If you could suddenly possess an extraordinary talent in one of the arts, what would you like for it to be?
What extraordinary talent will you possess?
My brother, Terrell, presents "a poem to start the week" on his blog each Monday. This Monday, filled with hope born of listening to weather forecasts, he presented the poem, "Snow Day" by Billy Collins. The language of the poem captured my attention. It included such phrases as "the dog will porpoise through the drifts." As Terrell questioned, where else will you find the verb porpoise?
In his introduction to the poem, Terrell himself used some interesting wording. Reading his words, I could see the disappointment that students and teachers experience when a forecast snow does not materialize - "....anticipated snow turns to drizzle and teachers and students must trudge to school through knee deep disappointment."
With these clever wordings fresh in my mind, I searched out my notes on recent reading, and I present these
from A Superior Death by Nevada Barr:
From Lawrence Sanders's The Fourth Deadly Sin:
From Lisa Scottoline's Daddy's Girl:
From Harlan Coben's Just One Look:
"the Great English Vowel Shift, [which] took place in the early 1400s. Before the shift, a word like loud would have been pronounced 'lood'; name as 'nahm'; leaf as 'layf'; mice as mees'. ...The renewed interest in classical languages and cultures, which formed part of the ethos of the Renaissance, had introduced a new perspective into spelling: etymology. Etymology is the study of the history of words, and there was a widespread view that words should show their history in the way they were spelled.... that it would help people if they could 'see' the original Latin in a Latin-derived English word.
So someone added a b to the word typically spelled det, dett, or dette in Middle English, because the source in Latin was debitum, and it became debt, and caught on. Similarly, an o was added to peple, because it came from populum: we find both poeple and people, before the latter became the norm. An s was added to ile and iland, because of Latin insula, so we now have island. There are many more such cases."
I find it interesting that the biggest spelling challenges in our language -- the "inconsistencies"-- the silent letters -- the irregularities --are there because someone studying etymology, at some time in the far past, thought they were helping future English users see the connections between related words.
Visit Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect for instructions.
The challenge this week is the Lune:
The lune is a haiku variation invented and named by poet Robert Kelly. The lune,
so called because of how the right edge is bowed like a crescent moon, is a
thirteen syllable form arranged in three lines of 5 / 3/ 5 respectively.(Adapted
from The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms.)
In celebration of the beginning of the month, I give you Merriam-Webster Dictionary's The Word of the Day for August 01, 2007: august • \aw-GUST\ • adjective: marked by majestic dignity or grandeur
Example Sentence:
Mr. Lee's bearing was always august and stately, and he drew respectful glances wherever he went.
Did you know?
"August" comes from the Latin word "augustus," meaning "consecrated" or "venerable," which in turn is related to the Latin "augur," meaning "consecrated by augury" or "auspicious." In 8 B.C. the Roman Senate honored Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor, by changing the name of their month "Sextilis" to "Augustus." Middle English speakers inherited the name of the month of August, but it wasn't until the mid-1600s that "august" came to be used generically in English, more or less as "augustus" was in Latin, to refer to someone with imperial qualities.
As a lover of language, I have always enjoyed reading or hearing other people's thoughts expressed in precise or figurative words. This fascination with words and exactness of expression leads to great enjoyment of poetry. When I was in school (at all levels) we were required to read, sometimes to memorize, and frequently to study many different kinds of poetry. Although it was not always fun, the study led to an appreciation of poetry. I have recently reread poetry that I remember from academia. I find it interesting that I read them with some sense of nostalgia as well as with the original understandings and appreciations. I hope teachers are still instilling this love of poetry in children today.
This poem of Sara Teasdale's is one that has some beautiful language and expresses a genuine truth.
Let me start this post with a disclaimer: I am not in any way endorsing, praising or recommending this book. I just have a few comments I'd like to make about it.
I just finished reading The Trials of Tiffany Trott by Isabel Wolff. It is unlike any other book I have ever read. Isabel Wolff had been recommended to me as an author whose works the recommender had enjoyed; so when I saw this book on my last trip to the paperback used book store, I decided to buy it and try it on for size. This 400-page book is one of those that I completed in spite of the fact that the plot held little or no interest for me. What kept me reading was the clever use of words and the unusual vocabulary choices.
Here are some of the wonderfully unusual adjective choices Ms Wolff made, with definitions in parentheses, in case you need them:
Oxymorons are of interest to people like me who enjoy any unusual word usages. An oxymoron is generally defined as a term or expression that is composed of two usually contradictory words. There are some which are used unintentionally. For example:
1. That is a pretty ugly dog!
2. We'd like some time to be alone together.
3. Try to act natural!
4. Those sure are tight slacks.
5. We had a small crowd at the meeting last night.
6. We're terribly pleased that you're here.
7. Let's just use the plastic glasses.
8. The blood test proved him to be legally drunk.
9. That girl is a real phony!
10.Her solo was perfectly awful.
11. Let's use the paper tablecloth today.
12. Get me the mild hot sauce.
13. He was clearly confused.
14. I ate the whole piece of pie.
15. She went about her unusual routine quietly.
Some have been designed to catch attention, to express an opinion, or to convey humor. (For this reason, writers often use oxymorons as book titles.) For example:
16. Silent Scream
17. Microsoft works
18. Sweet sorrow
19. Foolish genius
20. French bravery
21. Military intelligence
22. Business ethics
23. Definite maybe
24. Rap music
25. Sounds of silence
26. New York culture
27. Living Dead
28. Icy hot
29. Small fortune
30. Organized chaos
I had several inquiries about the exact source of each of the quotes in today's Thursday Thirteen, so I got out my notes and edited the list to include the source with each quotation. If it matters to you, scroll down and see them.
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1…. "What happens to people when they become bitter, and why do we not turn to each other and help? We all walk a common path from cradle to grave, just stumble over different stones in it, trip in different holes, and drown in different puddles." ....Anne Perry in A Christmas Guest |
bone at If You Read Only One Blog This Year has posted the three random words for this week's 3WW. They are:
What have I gained if I shop all day and everyone at the party
is oblivious to my flashy new jewelry?
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1. Dormitory == Dirty Room 2. Desperation == A Rope Ends It 3. The Morse Code == Here Come Dots 4. Slot Machines == Cash Lost in 'em 5. Animosity == Is No Amity 6. Snooze Alarms == Alas! No More Z's 7. Alec Guinness == Genuine Class 8. Semolina == Is No Meal 9. The Public Art Galleries == Large Picture Halls 10. I Bet A Decimal Point == I'm a Dot in Place 11. The Earthquakes == That Queer Shake 12. Eleven plus two == Twelve plus one 13. Contradiction == Accord not in it Credit for these two amazing bonus items goes to: http://www.ahajokes.com/ BONUS #1 - [From Hamlet by Shakespeare] To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. == In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten. BONUS #2 - "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." == A thin man ran; makes a large stride; left planet, pins flag on moon! On to Mars! |
