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Post by gams on Dec 9, 2005 9:22:06 GMT -5
I love coming in here to satisfy my odd addiction to things pertaining to words, and get my linguistic fix. Gives me additional opportunity to slaughter the English language; twisting the things I read in here to fit my own meaning.
Which reminds me of a quote I recently read by Jane Austen. Jane is perhaps one of the best known female writers, but yet she had to pay to have her novels published while she was alive, and only after her death did they become popular. She was opinionated and often harsh, but her sarcastic dry wit is bitingly, (note the adverb usuage there), funny.
and so...
"Where did you pick up this unmeaning gibberish? You have been studying novels, I suspect."
No, not novels - just the stuff Marysgurl posts in here...but of course I can't resist turning it into gibberish.
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 9, 2005 9:34:41 GMT -5
pfft! Glad I can in some small way temper your robust & insatiable appetite for what turns you on...so to speak. I've been known to have that way with certain women....finding just what it is that "sparks" their interest.... You may actually be the only one who reads this "gibberish"....but I keep posting because I, too, have that "need to feed"--some kind of euphoric mystique that seems to grow with each fix. Cool, *ain't it? *page 16 in the MW....
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Post by gams on Dec 10, 2005 9:53:17 GMT -5
Why the “pfft”, Marysgurl? I hope you didn’t think that I was describing the stuff in here as gibberish – stuff other than the stuff I throw in here, I mean. No, no, no; the gibberish in question is my own, often described as Phalonese, or in the adjectiveous sense: Phalonesque.
This Phalonesque gibberish is often achieved by creating words using suffixes and prefixes without care as to if the addition makes a word that is actually in existence: by using it, it becomes - that is my creed. Adding suffixes make especially nice descriptive terms: Gibberishly, gibberishness, gibberishously, gibberesque – I especially like “esque”; it’s one of my favorites and sounds better than “ish”.
Prefixes ares fun because you get to use a dash to make up your words, (dashes are considered punctuation and punctuation must be used in excessive abundance). Anti-gibberish, super-gibberish; or the more intense forms: hyper-gibberish and ultra-gibberish. I used to know a really cool word the meaning of which fancifully described this practice, but I’ve forgotten it - so many words so little memory.
Sound fishy? Subscribing to this bassic school of gibberfish often leads to carpal pun-ishment.
Everyone has their own sense of style: Marysgurlish figure to be subtle. Or is that supple. I’m sure ILB knows.
All this, of course, needs deciphering, which leads to the true sense of the word “gibberish”: Encrypted information.
Here's the scoop:
"There are a couple of possible theories of origin for the term "gibberish". One says that the basis is in the old word "gibber" which is allied to "jabber".
However, "gibberish" was in use before the word "gibber", therefore making this a dubious theory. A better explanation says the word comes from Geber, the name of an Arabian alchemist in the 11th century. He invented a strange terminology so that his works could not be understood by others; more importantly, he could not be accused of heresy, which was punishable by death. "Gibberish" in its modern sense was certainly used by 1811.
Despite the intelligent purpose behind the creation of the term, "gibberish" today is used as a derogatory term to suggest something has no merit (i.e. "that's a lot of gibberish") rather than the (supposedly) more accurate use, which would be akin to "that sounds like a lot of encrypted information," which nobody says. Common usage dictates that gibberish means unintelligent, meaningless, uninformed, or worse, when in fact, the opposite is true."
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 10, 2005 15:27:01 GMT -5
Why the “pfft”, Marysgurl? I hope you didn’t think that I was describing the stuff in here as gibberish – stuff other than the stuff I throw in here, I mean. No, no, no; the gibberish in question is my own, often described as Phalonese, or in the adjectiveous sense: Phalonesque. Heaven's no, girl...that wasn't a bad "pfft"....just a "pfft" with a smile....I didn't think anyone but Mary ever read what I post here & most of the time I think she does just to humor me. What a beautiful, euphonious melody that rings as it rolls off the tongue. I prefer it to the former...Phalonese. Not so much the "Marysgurlish"...we must come up with something which promotes a bit more atavistic grandeur...without the grandiloquence, of course. On that note...I must take a break from this rant to review the remainder of this post. Missed my nap today & the thoughts that remain seem to be flowing into one big gibberistic, melodramatic melee....
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 12, 2005 6:00:45 GMT -5
Topic: Gustave Flaubert on writing and reading
Today we mark the 1821 birth anniversary of writer Gustave Flaubert, the master of French realism whose masterpiece was Madame Bovary. Flaubert is sometimes considered a writer's writer. He wrote steadily, but because he agonized over choosing the right word (le mot juste), it took him years to complete each work. But did he regret his chosen path? Hardly. "Writing is a dog's life," confided Gustave, "but the only life worth living." Its pleasures are internal. "The art of writing," he said, "is the art of discovering what you believe."
And what did Flaubert believe about the writer's place? "The author in his book," according to Flaubert, "must be like God in his universe, everywhere present and nowhere visible."
Now that we know that writer's view of writing, let's read what he has to say about reading. Gustave Flaubert's advice was this: "Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live."
Flaubert spoke to what it is that makes living wonderful too. He believed, "The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments."
When I use to write all the time, I had this distracting obsession also....when referring to the thesaurus or lexicon, I would find myself hours later with one paragraph down on paper but 20 or 30 pages of new words added to my mental library....lol.
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Post by gams on Dec 12, 2005 8:14:26 GMT -5
You used to write, Marysgurl? Oh, oh, oh - please, oh, please, can you share? I'd love to read.
I've never written anything except for the stories on the other board, but I do that same thing a lot...labouring over each word, using the dictionary, (never a thesaurus though; I don't have one.), to find just what I consider the perfect word to describe the image I want to come across. Words: so many mean the same thing with just little variances in tone and tempo, and part of the fun for me is choosing one that sounds just right.
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 13, 2005 8:54:02 GMT -5
No, no gammers.....I haven't really shared that part of me with anyone for many, many, many years...another life....tucked neatly away somewhere between the pages of time.
glogg • \GLUG\ • noun : a hot spiced wine and liquor punch served in Scandinavian countries as a Christmas drink
Example sentence: "[The] Gallery will host a Christmas Cheer Weekend. . . . Johnson's latest barn print will be available, framed or unframed, as well as Swedish cookies and glogg." ([Dubuque] Telegraph Herald, December 9, 2004)
Did you know? Glogg is a holiday favorite in many Scandinavian cultures, where it is commonly served on St. Lucia's Day (December 13) and all around Christmas time. Not surprisingly, the word "glogg" itself (sometimes written as "glögg") is of Scandinavian origin; it comes from Swedish and derives from the verb "glödga," meaning "to burn" or "to mull." But although "glogg" may look like it should rhyme with that other notable holiday beverage—"eggnog"—the two aren't quite a perfect match. The "o" in "glogg" is pronounced like either the "u" in "nut," the "oo" in "foot," or the more foreign-sounding "œ" in "bœuf," the French word for "beef." "Nog," on the other hand, is generally pronounced with the "o" as in "mop"—and thus it rhymes with "grog."
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 13, 2005 8:55:36 GMT -5
Topic: St. Lucia's Day and blue light
Today we mark Luciadagen, or Saint Lucia's Day in Sweden. According to tradition, on this morning, the daughter of the house dons a white gown with red sash and crown of greens, and leads her similarly dressed, candle-carrying siblings on a morning procession. They serve their parents a pot of coffee and lussekatter—Lucia cats, raisin buns—and the monthlong holiday season begins. The continuing festivities include the crowning, in Stockholm, of a Lucia by the year's newly anointed Nobel Prize winner in literature. Lucia translates as "light." Today's holiday reminds celebrants that light will return after the long darkness of falling winter. We're celebrating today's symbolic light with a look at a light looked on somewhat less kindly: blue light.
On the night of December 12, 1813, during the height of the War of 1812, blue lights flashed on either end of the mouth of the harbor at New London, Connecticut. What were those lights? According to American Commodore Stephen Decatur, traitorous Americans opposed to the war were using blue lights to signal the British that the American navy was attempting to run the British blockade.
Regardless of the truth of that allegation, the term blue light became a disparaging term for members of the American Federalist party.
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 17, 2005 20:42:34 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for December 17 is: seasonal affective disorder • \SEE-zun-ul-a-FEK-tiv-dis-OR-der\ • noun : depression that tends to recur as the days grow shorter during the fall and winter Example sentence: Call it seasonal affective disorder, Call it the winter blues — But whatever you call it, Don't let it get the better of you. Did you know? "Seasonal affective disorder" hasn't been recognized as a medical condition for very long, and the term has only become part of the general English vocabulary during the past two decades or so (its earliest documented appearance in print dates from 1983). "Seasonal affective disorder" (abbreviated SAD) is also sometimes called "Winter Depression," and some researchers describe it as a "hibernation reaction" in which sensitive individuals react to the decreasing amounts of light and the colder temperatures of fall and winter. The term "seasonal affective disorder" is sometimes used casually of the mild blahs that so many of us experience when the days grow short, but true SAD actually goes beyond the poetic "winter blues"—it is a diagnosable form of depression that can be quite debilitating. This is what mylittleone gets....the only thing that really helps...... (altho I'de like to think that I play a small part in some tiny way.....)
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Post by quettalee on Dec 17, 2005 21:04:25 GMT -5
awww my baby.... u r my sun, my moon and my stars. u r my entire world and everything in it!! u r everything i will ever need.
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 17, 2005 21:04:33 GMT -5
*this is me trying "in some tiny way"
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Post by quettalee on Dec 17, 2005 21:07:03 GMT -5
how precious is that!!!
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 17, 2005 21:20:17 GMT -5
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 26, 2005 10:48:05 GMT -5
Kwanzaa • \KWAHN-zuh\ • noun : an African-American cultural festival held from December 26 to January 1
Example sentence: A joyous family spirit pervaded the Allen family's Kwanzaa celebration as three generations came together for a delightful meal and a beautiful candle-lighting ceremony.
Did you know? In 1966, Maulana Karenga, a Black-studies professor at California State University at Long Beach, created a new holiday patterned after traditional African harvest festivals. He called it "Kwanzaa," a name he took from a Swahili term that means "first fruits." The holiday, which takes place from December 26th to January 1st, was originally intended as a nonreligious celebration of family and social values. Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 26, 2005 10:49:28 GMT -5
Topic: Mao or Miller?
Today is National Whiners' Day. Our lament centers on being unable to decide whether to mark the birth of Henry Miller or the birth of Mao Tse-Tung. The American writer was born on this date in 1891. The Chinese Communist leader was born two years later, in 1893. But being the turn-those-lemons-into-lemonade sort, we'll celebrate both by inviting listeners to identify whether it was Mao or Miller who claimed the following sentiments. Assertion number one: "Complacency is the enemy of study." That belief was expounded by Mao, the revolutionary who exhorted the masses to read his little red book.
Now study this thought: "Chaos is the score upon which reality is written." Sounds revolutionary, doesn't it? But honors for that statement belong to Miller.
How about this forward-sounding inquiry: "What does it matter how one comes by the truth so long as one pounces upon it and lives by it?" Again, those words come from Henry Miller, not "let a thousand flowers bloom" Mao.
Finally, can we thank the long-lived Communist leader or the freethinking bohemian for this life lesson: "In this age, which believes there is a shortcut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest."
Too easy, right? Henry Miller.
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Post by gams on Dec 28, 2005 1:46:29 GMT -5
MG, guess what I got for Christmas? A friend gave me a book titled, "2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings & Expressions". Some weird, interesting stuff in there. Fun.
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 29, 2005 4:19:54 GMT -5
Perhaps you'll be sharing a few here....?
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Post by gams on Dec 30, 2005 8:54:16 GMT -5
Just in case a there is bit too much celebrating this weekend bringing in the New Year, don't forget one hang-over cure is supposedly 'the hair of the dog that bit you'.
"This stems from the ancient medical maxium, 'like cures like' - Similia similibus curantur. Thus, even in the Iliad we find the Greek belief that a wound caused by the spear of Achilles could be healed by an ointment containing rust from that same spear. And to this day there are those who sincerely believe that the best cure from the bite of a dog is some of the hair from that dog applied to the wound. In England, they say, the hair should be burned before it is applied. But, generally speaking, when drinking, 'a hair of the dog that bit you' means another little drink. If the conviviality of last night's sessions has resulted in a morning's hang-over, the 'hair' is supposed to be a pick-me-up; a little whiskey to clear the head. This was the meaning amoung gentlemen four hundred years ago, as recorded in John Heywood's Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue, (1546): 'I pray the leat me and my felow haue / A heare of the dog that bote us last night.'"
Cheers for the New Year - in moderation....and if not, be sure to save a little in the bottle for the following morning.
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Post by marysgurl on Dec 30, 2005 9:34:22 GMT -5
I love this stuff!! Thanks for sharing.
Not sure if there will be much celebrating this weekend....my mom is really struggling again. She called me at work last night to basically say "goodbye"...kept talking about insurance policies & "instructions" for things I really didn't want to be talking about, especially at work. After crying for a solid hour after we got off the phone, all I could do was come home...& cry the rest of the night. Maybe a good strong drink is just what I need to quell the throbbing in my head that seems to get louder with each heartbeat.
Sorry, I didn't mean to be such a downer....TMI, I know.
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Post by gams on Dec 31, 2005 1:37:42 GMT -5
I'm so sorry to read about your Mom, Marysgurl.
Too much information? Not at all. That's one of the reasons this place is here, is it not? To share with friends the good and the bad. I am a firm believer in the power of the vent; to let it all out, and no - it doesn't change the situation any, but a good cry, or just writing feelings out sometimes eases the mind, if not but just a bit.
Keeping your Mom, you and your family in my thoughts.
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