Things That Make Me Smile: Words
Words, words, words; words are some of my favourite things.
Words inform:
Words delight:
Words elicit laughter:
Words tell us what you believe in:
Words reassure:
Words instruct:
This post is for Weekly Geeks: 2011 – 9 which is titled, “That word we never use.“
This week’s challenge has four parts:
1 – I would like to make you all parents and send you over to Save The Word.org to look at all the words that are either not being used enough or are due for a cull probably within the next couple of years. Adopt a word.
As you can see in the photo above, the word I adopted was gelicide which is a noun. It means a frost and is used in the following sentence so that you all can get a sense of what gelicide means.
Those poor garden gnomes – they’ll die from gelicide if we don’t bring them inside.
I encourage you all to rush over and adopt a word – it was a fun and rewarding experience.
.
2 – What is your pet peeve word? – The word that makes you grind your teeth with either it’s over use or being used out of context.
I have no pet peeve word per say but grit my teeth every time some one misuses the plural, that is, they write sister’s when they mean sisters.
.
3 – What is a word you adore, or a word that you feel is not used enough. Irrespective of meaning or even era it’s a word that you just love.
The word I adore I have not been able to find in any dictionary. That word is sundelightful – I fell in love with it the minute I read it in a book. I wish I could link to the book but it’s been decades since I discovered the word and forgot the referenced book.
.
4 – Lastly what is your opinion on word culling or the rise in “text speak” that’s happening now.
I’m in favour of words so I have no problem with new and evolving languages. I wish I was better at learning languages as I love to pepper my speech with foreign words but will only do so if I can explain the foreign word or phrase that I am using.
Words, words, words: I love words. When I went back to school in my thirties (shh – I’m old, aged, ancient, decrepit, experienced, mature, geriatric, antique) I discovered the multi-volume print edition of the OED. I could spend hours sitting and exploring all the words stored within. This is something I covet; I want to own the print version of the OED. Does anyone have a spare $1, 595.00 + (today’s price) that they do not need and could give to me?
Dressing Denny
In my city there is an abundance of life-like statues. They sit upon horses, they feed chickens, they buy newspapers and they stand beside or run alongside the river bank. I almost expect them to call out a greeting as I hurry pass and I don’t think I’m the only one around with such a fanciful imagination.
There stands, close to where I work, the statue of Denny Carr. He was a local radio DJ for the radio station I’ve listened to since I was a teenager. My brother listened to a rock station out of Moose Jaw and the ongoing argument, in the car, was always over what station we would listen to. I was a little bit country and he was a little bit rock n’ roll. The final agreement was that who ever was driving got to choose the station. So I grew up exposed to many genres of music and still cultivate eclectic musical tastes.
Denny would jog along the Mewassin Trail every day and this is why his commemorative statue was placed there. You wonder why I choose to talk about this statue today, don’t you?
He’s very life-like, isn’t he? Kathy, over at Lake Superior Spirit, is hosting a gratitude challenge right now and this has made me consider the things around me that make me smile. This statue makes me smile. It brings forth old memories and happy times but that is not the only reason seeing it makes me smile.
We are a university town. Thus, a good portion of our population consists of young, transient students. Bored, young students looking to entertain and amuse themselves; playing pranks on each other and the community at large.
I walk along the riverbank on a regular basis and never know when Mr. Carr will have changed his clothes.
Some one is playing dress-up. Some one is missing playing with paper dolls. Why suspect university students? Well, the sweat shirt above is in the university colours, green and white. Plus, the statue is at the bottom of the University Bridge and therefore is only a few blocks from the university itself. Also, who else would have the time, infinite patience and ironic sense of humour to pull this off on a semi-regular basis?
Can you imagine how complicated dressing a statue would be?
I’ve gotten up close and can tell you that none of the clothing I have pictures of is torn in the dressing process. The clothes are all large in size, of course. I’d like to try dressing Denny one day but I am not sneaky enough.
It would be a bit like dressing a reluctant toddler or a corpse. The button-down work shirt would be the easiest to put on; get the arms through the sleeves and after that it’s all smooth sailing.
It’s a little bit like Halloween; rearrange the shirt, add a hat and you have a totally new costume. I wonder if Denny ever worked construction. I’m betting yes as most men here in Saskatchewan tried construction work at least once, way back in my youth, in the dark ages.
Denny was a jogger. The plague, beside this statue, proclaims:
Denny Carr was the morning voice of radio in
Saskatchewan for nearly forty years.He volunteered his time on a daily basis to
help improve the lives of others.On any given day in any season, you could see
Denny jogging past this very spot.This statue is a tribute to the special friend
Who touched us all.What have you done for someone today?
Can’t you just feel/see the perspiration soaking into the muscle shirt above?
The organization that Denny is best remembered for founding, here in my city, is Secret Santa.
So, I leave you with a final fitting clothing change.
What made you smile today?
Things That Make Me Smile: Roadtrip Edition
I have just spent the weekend on the road; eight hours there on Thursday, two days of fun, and eight hours back yesterday. It was expensive but fun.
I went on the roadtrip with my eldest sister. We travel well together; neither of us thinks all the travel has to be spent in the car. Yesterday, for example, we stopped about every two hours for ten minutes and I was home by 5pm and she was home by 8pm. Good thing we’re not traveling today – there are storm warnings out. 
The travel went well. Driving conditions were perfect. There wasn’t too much traffic. The view most of the way was like the picture above; a lot of flat expansiveness of prairie broken by the occasional small town. The main trip was done on highway between Saskatoon and Calgary; two vastly different cities.
Thank the stars for cruise control. When I was driving, we both drove about the same amount of time but I don’t drive in Calgary, the cruise was set around 110 (that’s kilometers per hour not miles). Yesterday, we meandered a bit more taking the wrong highway for awhile; wrong because there was construction delays. Thankfully, we were able to turn off fairly soon and go back the way we came which we knew had no construction delays.
Our final destination was Canmore. This is where our Dad is. Dad had hip surgery recently so the main point of the trip was to check-in with him and our step-mom. The best part of the trip was seeing siblings (unfortunately not all of them) and spending time with my sisters.
Above is a view of the Three Sisters Mountain Range. They are a Canmore landmark and have personal resonance for me. My family is split by two; mom and dad had four kids and my dad and stepmom had five kids. There are 3 girls, 3 boys, followed by 3 more girls. I have five sisters, there are three sisters in each family and thus, in my mind, the mountains represent us all. My sisters are special to me and I don’t get to see them as often as I like. Ideally, I’d like us all to be in the same city or at least the same province.
But then, we might get tired of each other. Maybe there would be less perfect days. I know if it happened all the time I’d never be able to keep up with some of my sister’s shopping. Heaven knows I’m not as into exercise or hiking or beauty as some of them. But we are sisters and Friday afternoon in Banff with two of them was perfect. Familiar in spirit and location. Home.
It was a perfect weekend. The days were tiring and long and too much time was spent in the car. However, there were so many perfect moments. Heading home, early Sunday morning, just as we drove away from the hotel there was an amazing pink, orange sunrise nestled between two mountains. We debated about stopping to get a picture but both eldest sister and I felt the picture would look best taken from higher up. So, we didn’t stop. We drove on enjoying the sunrise. I don’t see a lot of sunrises; I tend to not be out at that time of day.
What I give you above is a picture of a city sunset instead.
This is love – roadtrips and sisters and family and sunrises. These things make me smile.
