Word of the day: quagmire.
As in, "Our hike went well until we fell into the quagmire and had to hog-tie the gators."
Or, "Gee! This pile of grading sure has me in a quagmire. How many days left til spring break again?-- er, summer vacation?"
The last definition of quagmire is "anything soft or flabby." Seriously?? As in, a dimpled thigh could be called a quagmire?
That seems a bit harsh, eh? Regardless: it's a fantastic word.
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I saw a description of my Myers-Briggs type this weekend. The subtitle describing ENFJ is: "Smooth-talking persuader."
Hey little kid, want some candy?
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I had a great weekend. Besides soaking in the looooooong-awaited spring sunshine (spring!! it's SPRING!!!) I finally got around to spending my Anthropologie gift-cards from Christmas and my birthday. HOORAY. Shopping lately has been an interesting experience. I've stopped buying things based on whether or not I like them and more so on whether or not they seem inherently MINE. In Ashland, for example, I tried on a vintage pink twirly dress with yellow ribbon trim, and I knew it belonged to me. Whether or not I bought it (although I DID buy it)-- that dress simply belonged to me. Later I showed the dress to two of my students and they gasped in happy surprise. "We saw that, and we all said it looked like you!"
See? My dress.
At Anthropologie, one drapy shrug inspired me to twirl in the dressing room. If it inspires me to twirl: it's a Greta. Another intricate lace top sang a little Greta-tune. Yep: that's a Me.
I tried on a terrific green blazer, but it inspired no twirling, had entirely conventional buttons, and was undeniably practical. That one did not make it to the register.
It was not mine, see?
I've started applying this philosophy to people as well, which I'm sure is wholly off-base. In conversation with someone, I might think to myself, "What a nice person. What an intelligent, well-rounded person. But this isn't a Greta-type-of-person."
Most people aren't. Kindred spirits are rare for all of us, of course. Most of my friends are not Greta-people, but they are still dearly Greta-beloved.
Still, it's awfully fun to FIND a Greta-person. In those cases, even upon a first acquaintance, friendship seems inevitable. Because, clearly, we BELONG in the same habitat. We KNOW the same little tunes. We are the same rare species! Hallelujah.
I met some fun new people this weekend. Don't think any of them are Greta-people, but golly, are they fun people. When talking to new-friend-Andrew yesterday evening, we decided getting together that night wasn't going to work out after all. "But we'll see each other soon I'm sure," he said. "That's what new friends do, right?"
I like people so much.
And I love blooming crocuses and daffodils and cherry trees so much!!!
Showing posts with label words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label words. Show all posts
Jun 23, 2010
Jubilant
This was the word that popped into my head as I walked back home from Greenlake today, beach towel in hand: jubilant.
I feel jubilant right now.
AND I LOVE SUMMER VACATION.
I love sleeping in. I love reading for fun. I love getting to wear whatever I want and not having to worry if it looks too young or if it might look somehow too alluring to a teenage boy. I love staying up until 1AM on a Tuesday night and not needing to worry about the consequences of doing so. I love getting together with friends on a weekday. I love weather that's warm enough to accommodate a 10PM dock sit. I even love being single again-- didn't think THAT sentiment would arrive for a while, but lo and behold-- I love getting to, once again, be a young, flirty 20-something.
Jubilant, of course, comes from the word "jubilee." I've always enjoyed the word "jubilee." I remember, when I lived down in Malibu doing college ministry at Pepperdine, I started working my way through the "One Year Bible." On my birthday, I decided to treat myself to beach-Bible-read, so I drove down to the beach, skipped along Zuma, found an vacant adirondack chair, dug my feet in the warm sand, and happily started reading out loud to myself, doing lots of different voices. The Old Testament entry that happened to correspond with my birthday discussed the Year of the Jubilee-- the year in which all slaves become free, all land is returned to its original owner, the land is given a year of "rest," and people basically celebrate freedom and provision. Every time I read the word "jubilee" I crowed it: "jubileeeee!" I cracked myself up, reading the Old Testament to myself there on the beach. "Jubilee" is just the happiest sounding word.
In fact, if I ever marry someone who harbors any hippy leanings whatsoever, I think I'm going to try to convince him that we should name our first daughter, "Jubilee Grace."
I just love the concept, you know? That idea of declaring FREEDOM for all-- "Jubilee" is like a decisive, celebratory, universally agreed-upon reset button.
And you know what friends? I have so long been in need of freedom. And I don't mean freedom from people, or freedom from some sort of authority figure-- I mean I've needed freedom from myself, and the shackles I've clad around my soul in the name of fear, and insecurity, and pessimism. For so long, I've submitted to those demon voices-- in the midst of towering waves of troubling life circumstances, I've clung to fear as though it were a life preserver, instead of climbing into the waiting ship called Trust. I've needed freedom.
And-- I'm starting to get FREE!
It's a wide open field, it's a long white beach, it's wildflowers tossed in the breeze, it's the confidence that things will be all right, no matter what-- it's forgiveness, it's that reset button, it's allowing myself to be imperfect, and allowing others to be imperfect because they feel pain too-- it's compassion instead of anger, it's empathy instead of judgment, it's bare feet, it's a crinkled nose, it's letting go, it's a buoyant lifting off and lifting up and looking towards heaven.
It's a summer for the soul.
I feel jubilant today.
Wheeeee!
I feel jubilant right now.
AND I LOVE SUMMER VACATION.
I love sleeping in. I love reading for fun. I love getting to wear whatever I want and not having to worry if it looks too young or if it might look somehow too alluring to a teenage boy. I love staying up until 1AM on a Tuesday night and not needing to worry about the consequences of doing so. I love getting together with friends on a weekday. I love weather that's warm enough to accommodate a 10PM dock sit. I even love being single again-- didn't think THAT sentiment would arrive for a while, but lo and behold-- I love getting to, once again, be a young, flirty 20-something.
Jubilant, of course, comes from the word "jubilee." I've always enjoyed the word "jubilee." I remember, when I lived down in Malibu doing college ministry at Pepperdine, I started working my way through the "One Year Bible." On my birthday, I decided to treat myself to beach-Bible-read, so I drove down to the beach, skipped along Zuma, found an vacant adirondack chair, dug my feet in the warm sand, and happily started reading out loud to myself, doing lots of different voices. The Old Testament entry that happened to correspond with my birthday discussed the Year of the Jubilee-- the year in which all slaves become free, all land is returned to its original owner, the land is given a year of "rest," and people basically celebrate freedom and provision. Every time I read the word "jubilee" I crowed it: "jubileeeee!" I cracked myself up, reading the Old Testament to myself there on the beach. "Jubilee" is just the happiest sounding word.
In fact, if I ever marry someone who harbors any hippy leanings whatsoever, I think I'm going to try to convince him that we should name our first daughter, "Jubilee Grace."
I just love the concept, you know? That idea of declaring FREEDOM for all-- "Jubilee" is like a decisive, celebratory, universally agreed-upon reset button.
And you know what friends? I have so long been in need of freedom. And I don't mean freedom from people, or freedom from some sort of authority figure-- I mean I've needed freedom from myself, and the shackles I've clad around my soul in the name of fear, and insecurity, and pessimism. For so long, I've submitted to those demon voices-- in the midst of towering waves of troubling life circumstances, I've clung to fear as though it were a life preserver, instead of climbing into the waiting ship called Trust. I've needed freedom.
And-- I'm starting to get FREE!
It's a wide open field, it's a long white beach, it's wildflowers tossed in the breeze, it's the confidence that things will be all right, no matter what-- it's forgiveness, it's that reset button, it's allowing myself to be imperfect, and allowing others to be imperfect because they feel pain too-- it's compassion instead of anger, it's empathy instead of judgment, it's bare feet, it's a crinkled nose, it's letting go, it's a buoyant lifting off and lifting up and looking towards heaven.
It's a summer for the soul.
I feel jubilant today.
Wheeeee!
Aug 22, 2009
Nerd
It is 10:46AM. I am in my pajamas, in bed, with an empty mug of coffee beside me, and a rip-roaring case of coffee breath. My project this weekend is to write my yearly syllabi which entails:
1.) 10th Grade English
2.) 12th grade English
3.) 12th AP English
Do you know what this means? This means for the last two hours, I have been giving myself a slam-bang-quick-'n-dirty education of all the literary terms I'm supposed to already know about.
HAHA!
That was an example of situational irony, my friends.
In the process, I am learning some new words. I just learned the most WONDERFUL new word, and it's put me a delicious mood. The word is:
mellifluous
Isn't that beautiful?? It means:
1 : having a smooth rich flow: a mellifluous voice
2 : filled with something (as honey) that sweetens
Say it. It FEELS like honey. Mellifluous was used in part to describe the literary term "euphony," which is basically the opposite of cacophony, which is ANOTHER great word. Cacophony is pots and pans banging together. Euphony is, "the pleasant, mellifluous presentation of sounds in a literary work." Ah! Like chocolate in the springtime! Like doves in the larder!
(I have never been in a larder.)
I love words. I lovelovelove words. I remember coming across "ameliorate" for the first time in Jane Eyre and thinking, "What is that word?? What is this fantastic word?!" It means, in fact, to improve, or, to make better.
Another word that must be mentioned is travesty. People misuse this all the time-- they interchange it with "tragedy," but that is NOT WHAT IT MEANS. "Travesty" means a gross misinterpretation. Sarah Palin's understanding of the Health Care reform bill is a travesty, for instance. But Hamlet's death is not a travesty; that is a TRAGEDY. Romeo and Juliet could be considered both though. They misunderstood the state of things, and whoops, there goes the poison.
People sometimes ask me to describe my sense of humor. I hem and haw and say things like, "I think 'The Office' is hilarious..." or, "I love witty humor," but what makes me laugh the MOST is silly word play things. Like, this blog of Annie's, I found HILARIOUS. I once "got back" at a friend for misspelling my name in an email with a return email that had EVERY WORD MISSPELLED. Eye thot eye wuz da funnyest gurl inn da wurld. Stil, eye reed dat emale an dye laffing.
I don't think my friend found me quite as amusing as I did.
I love reading puns, but think they are sort of lame when spoken. It's just harder to be witty when you make a spoken pun-- the speaker always has to pause, and open their eyes wide, and let their mouth hang open in a grin until everyone "gets it," and then it's usually a process of congratulating the speaker for being so "clever" (even though the pun was probably kind of cheesy to begin with), and then you as the hearer make a secret rolling of the eyes, usually because it probably took you a second to catch on, and the second of confusion makes you feel slow, which makes you want to secretly roll your eyes, which makes you dislike spoken puns entirely.
We are talking about YOU here, this is not necessarily what happens to ME.
When a pun is in written form, then you, the reader, can squint at it for a moment, GET it, and then congratulate yourself on being astute and witty and clever. And then you can congratulate the writer for being astute and witty and clever, and you don't have to deal with any open mouthed grin because the writer did it very stealthily and covertly with a swish of his pen, or more accurately, with a swipe at his keyboard, and so everyone feels clever and witty which is lovely. The only person who doesn't feel clever and witty is the person who didn't get it at all, who continues to read the story happily, oblivious, slightly befuddled, but probably more interested in what's for dinner anyway.
My favorite joke involves a whale noise, because! When you expect the whale to actually SAY something! It just groans and makes whale noises!!! Hahaha!
Yesterday I made up a word. I was talking about something being inexplicable, "and yet it turned out to be entirely... plicable."
And then I LAUGHED and LAUGHED, because, plicable is not a word?!?!! "Plicable" is the END of a word! But plicable was understood!! Which was HILARIOUS!!
Well. Anyway.
I'll be done.
(This is why I'm an English teacher.)
(Even if I DO have to look up literary terms on the internet.)
1.) 10th Grade English
2.) 12th grade English
3.) 12th AP English
Do you know what this means? This means for the last two hours, I have been giving myself a slam-bang-quick-'n-dirty education of all the literary terms I'm supposed to already know about.
HAHA!
That was an example of situational irony, my friends.
In the process, I am learning some new words. I just learned the most WONDERFUL new word, and it's put me a delicious mood. The word is:
mellifluous
Isn't that beautiful?? It means:
1 : having a smooth rich flow: a mellifluous voice
2 : filled with something (as honey) that sweetens
Say it. It FEELS like honey. Mellifluous was used in part to describe the literary term "euphony," which is basically the opposite of cacophony, which is ANOTHER great word. Cacophony is pots and pans banging together. Euphony is, "the pleasant, mellifluous presentation of sounds in a literary work." Ah! Like chocolate in the springtime! Like doves in the larder!
(I have never been in a larder.)
I love words. I lovelovelove words. I remember coming across "ameliorate" for the first time in Jane Eyre and thinking, "What is that word?? What is this fantastic word?!" It means, in fact, to improve, or, to make better.
Another word that must be mentioned is travesty. People misuse this all the time-- they interchange it with "tragedy," but that is NOT WHAT IT MEANS. "Travesty" means a gross misinterpretation. Sarah Palin's understanding of the Health Care reform bill is a travesty, for instance. But Hamlet's death is not a travesty; that is a TRAGEDY. Romeo and Juliet could be considered both though. They misunderstood the state of things, and whoops, there goes the poison.
People sometimes ask me to describe my sense of humor. I hem and haw and say things like, "I think 'The Office' is hilarious..." or, "I love witty humor," but what makes me laugh the MOST is silly word play things. Like, this blog of Annie's, I found HILARIOUS. I once "got back" at a friend for misspelling my name in an email with a return email that had EVERY WORD MISSPELLED. Eye thot eye wuz da funnyest gurl inn da wurld. Stil, eye reed dat emale an dye laffing.
I don't think my friend found me quite as amusing as I did.
I love reading puns, but think they are sort of lame when spoken. It's just harder to be witty when you make a spoken pun-- the speaker always has to pause, and open their eyes wide, and let their mouth hang open in a grin until everyone "gets it," and then it's usually a process of congratulating the speaker for being so "clever" (even though the pun was probably kind of cheesy to begin with), and then you as the hearer make a secret rolling of the eyes, usually because it probably took you a second to catch on, and the second of confusion makes you feel slow, which makes you want to secretly roll your eyes, which makes you dislike spoken puns entirely.
We are talking about YOU here, this is not necessarily what happens to ME.
When a pun is in written form, then you, the reader, can squint at it for a moment, GET it, and then congratulate yourself on being astute and witty and clever. And then you can congratulate the writer for being astute and witty and clever, and you don't have to deal with any open mouthed grin because the writer did it very stealthily and covertly with a swish of his pen, or more accurately, with a swipe at his keyboard, and so everyone feels clever and witty which is lovely. The only person who doesn't feel clever and witty is the person who didn't get it at all, who continues to read the story happily, oblivious, slightly befuddled, but probably more interested in what's for dinner anyway.
My favorite joke involves a whale noise, because! When you expect the whale to actually SAY something! It just groans and makes whale noises!!! Hahaha!
Yesterday I made up a word. I was talking about something being inexplicable, "and yet it turned out to be entirely... plicable."
And then I LAUGHED and LAUGHED, because, plicable is not a word?!?!! "Plicable" is the END of a word! But plicable was understood!! Which was HILARIOUS!!
Well. Anyway.
I'll be done.
(This is why I'm an English teacher.)
(Even if I DO have to look up literary terms on the internet.)
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