Tag Archives: word tasting notes

pumpkin

Posted on September 25, 2019 | 2 comments

It’s orange, except when it isn’t. And it’s big, except when it isn’t. But when it’s big, it can be very big, and it can keep getting bigger and bigger, sometimes until it’s too big and it just breaks right open. Hazards of competitive growing! Continue reading →

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scholy

Posted on September 23, 2019 | Leave a comment

This word is marginal at best.

“This word,” Samuel Johnson wrote in an explanatory note, “is, I fancy, peculiar to the learned Hooker.” And which learned Hooker would that be, which erudite textworker? We get some idea with the quote Johnson appends for further amplification: Continue reading →

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hammock

Posted on September 21, 2019 | 1 comment

Hammock. From a Cherokee word meaning ‘to dump abruptly on the ground.’

No, no, I’m kidding. It’s from English ham plus mock and first meant ‘to make fun of a pig.’ Continue reading →

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street

Posted on September 13, 2019 | 1 comment

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chenocoprolite

Posted on September 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

As the Beach Boys sang (more or less), “It’s my little goose poop… you don’t know what I got!” And whatever you may think of filthy lucre (or anyway dirty dollars), thanks to their radio activity, that song surely filled their pockets with a lot of silver. Some of which may have started out as a little goose poop… or at least looked like it. Continue reading →

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alley

Posted on September 5, 2019 | 2 comments

Let’s go, let’s go down now, let’s go down the alley
It’s long and it’s tight like an aisle in a galley
It’s close and it’s shady and wet like a valley
Allez-y, love, rally: we’re going to go dally Continue reading →

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gloaming

Posted on September 1, 2019 | 3 comments

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ocularity

Posted on August 27, 2019 | Leave a comment

The eyes have it.

But do more eyes have more? How many eyes are enough to make what is seen undeniable? With one eye your initial perception is flat. With two eyes you gain depth. But do more than two eyes give more depth? Is it not enough to see both sides of a thing – do you need to know what’s above and below? In front and behind? Continue reading →

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perambulation, ramble

Posted on August 25, 2019 | 2 comments

My beautiful wife and I went for a little walk yesterday.

Heh. Continue reading →

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catkin

Posted on August 22, 2019 | Leave a comment

In botany’s catechism, catercorner from the cactus is the catkin. It may seem a petty distinction – you want to pet the one and distinctly not the other – but they are as thoroughly unalike as anyone would like. Continue reading →

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