A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

mimsy (MIM-zee)  adjective  Prim; feeble; affected.  Coined by Lewis Carroll in 1855 in a poem he published in his periodical Mischmasch.  An extended version of this poem appeared as Jabberwocky in his novel Through the Looking-Glass in 1871.  A blend of miserable + flimsy.

scare quote  (SKAIR kwoht)  noun  The quotation marks used to indicate that the quoted word or phrase is incorrect, nonstandard, or ironic.  Coined by the philosopher G.E.M. Anscombe in 1956.  The equivalent term in spoken communication is air quotes.

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From:  Carol Bauer  Subject:  mimsy  I am the happy owner of a two-volume paperback set of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.  I found it at a bouquiniste along the Seine.  It is in English and again in French on the facing page.  The French translation is a marvel of good translating comparable to the Wilbur Moliere translations in quality.  For those who know French, the translation of the nonsense vocabulary of Jabberwocky is remarkable.  I have often thought that these two works by Lewis Carroll should only be read by adults who can fully appreciate the messages and plays on words so cleverly included.  Just the same the appeal to children in undeniable.  The first movie I ever saw was Alice in Wonderland in 1932 or 1933 when I was about six years old.  I was enchanted.  I have been a film buff ever since.

From:  Marlene Mitchel  Subject:  scare quote  Always enjoy Wordsmith and often learn a new word, but today was really eye-opening.  Actually “eye-opening” because I tumbled out of bed on this cold rainy day seeking the warmth of your column and learned about scare quotes, a term I had never heard even though I was an English teacher for many years.  My students would have loved this term and the others that are related, which I discovered with a bit of research:  shudder quotes and sneer quotes.

Why Do We Quote?  The Culture and History of Quotation   In the days following the death of Osama bin Laden, a quote attributed to Martin Luther King pinged about social networking websites and into email inboxes:  "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.  Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.  Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."  While the second, third and fourth sentences were spoken by King in 1957, the first 23 words are the appended thoughts of a US schoolteacher.  In a cyberspatial game of Chinese whispers, the distinguishing marks of punctuation become detached as quickly as you can say "retweet".  In a short time, the Twitter-friendly opening line ensured that the hybrid phrase was truncated to its first sentence, King's name still affixed.  A number of journalists have since traced the alchemy and transmission of an unknown teacher's thoughts to a misdescribed memetic sensation.  Yet the pathologies failed to investigate questions that seem far more fundamental.  Why did so many feel impelled to disseminate it?  In what way did the attachment of a famous name make it more meaningful?  Ruth Finnegan's study makes a remarkable attempt at answering these types of question.  Quotation, with its bedfellows imitation and allusion, is at least as old as written civilisation.  It has enlightening things to say about the Western tradition of compiling books of quotations.  Quotation is often used to connect us with the supposed wisdom of the ancients, but humanity has always searched in the past for phrases to help understand the present.  Just as books of quotations remain popular today, Erasmus' Adages has been called the first best-seller of the printed age.  The Distichs of Cato were compiled in the 3rd or 4th century AD, and Plato has Socrates quote Homer more than 100 times.   https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/why-do-we-quote-the-culture-and-history-of-quotation/417257.article

Cultivated independently by the indigenous peoples of  North and South America, pumpkins—or more accurately, pumpkin seeds—have been found at archaeological sites in the American southwest dating back six thousand years, as well as at sites throughout Mexico, Central and South America, and the eastern United States.  Evidently, seeds were the only part consumed by these ancient cultures because the flesh of most wild pumpkins was too bitter to eat.  Once cultivation altered the pumpkin enough to make it palatable, Native Americans devoured every part of the plant—seeds, flesh, flowers, and leaves.  Pumpkins and squashes of all sorts could be baked or roasted whole in the fire, cut up and boiled, or added to soup.  Removing the seeds, cutting the pumpkin into strips, and drying them—making a sort of jerky—effectively preserved them.  Pumpkins are part of a large family of closely related squashes that grow in profusion throughout the Western Hemisphere. The English word “pumpkin” is a modern version of “pompion,” the term broadly applied to many sorts of similar-looking pumpkins and squash. The word’s origins are Greek:  pepon means large melon.  Poem dating from the 1630s (You may substitute  "pompions" for pumpkins.): 

Stead of pottage and puddings and custards and pies 
Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies, 
We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon, 
If it were not for pumpkins we should be undoon.

http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/autumn09/pumpkins.cfm

STEWED POMPION (PUMPKIN) also called "Ancient New England Standing Dish"  Find recipe at http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/stewed-pompion-pumpkin-189584

For the first time since its founding in 1901, the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) will present a special exhibition of Late Roman artwork, focusing on the period from the second century B.C. to the seventh century.  The majority of the approximately 30 masterpieces--glittering gold and silver, spectacular oversize carved garnets and rubies and dazzling rings and necklaces--have never before been displayed in a museum.  Glorious Splendor:  Treasures of Early Christian Art will be on view exclusively at TMA from Nov. 18, 2017, through Feb. 18, 2018.  In A.D. 330, the Emperor Constantine consecrated Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire.  Seven years later, Constantine died, and on his deathbed he was baptized.  In part, for this reason, Constantine the Great frequently has been identified as a transitional figure ushering Rome from a pagan empire into a Christian one.  The exhibition is divided into sections focusing on Continuities in Manufacture; Continuities in Iconography; Continuity in Object Types; Social Continuities: Displaying Wealth; Gems and Jewelry:  Historical Context; and Illuminating Faith.  Admission is free.

http://www.toledo.com/news/2017/10/26/eye-on-art/glorious-splendor-treasures-of-early-christian-art-opens-nov.-18/  The exhibit is located in Gallery 18. 

Very little is known about the behavioral ecology of white-cheeked gibbons.  Most information comes from the very small Chinese population and details about the Laotian and Vietnamese populations are based on anecdotal field observations.  A gibbon family is territorial and defends its territory with regular morning songs performed by the breeding male and female.  Groups have, on average, four individuals and usually include an adult male and female, one infant and one juvenile, although the group may also include one adolescent and one subadult).  There is a high degree of social and behavioral equality between adult males and females and codominance is exhibited.  Gibbons defend their territories both vocally and physically.  The primary means by which adult males and females defend their territory is by ritualized morning duets.  The morning duet occurs at dawn and is a long, loud, energetically expensive song in which the female and male sing individual notes in specific patterns. The duet lasts between 10 and 13 minutes but is longer during the rainy season and shorter during the dry season.  The song is initiated by either sex but is always ended by the adult male.  Females begin singing long notes of increasing frequency with note durations and intervals between notes continuously decreasing and reaching a climax of short barks that eventually trail off.  Males sing three different notes that include boom notes, staccato notes, and high frequency modulated notes.  During his part of the duet, a male continuously cycles through these three notes and his song is accompanied by locomotory displays including violent brachiation, branch shaking, or prancing.  Females are usually involved in call displays, both morning duets and other calls during border disputes, while adult, subadult, and adolescent males of a gibbon group physically defend their territory from intruders or full takeovers.  Link to vocalizations at http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/white-cheeked_gibbon/behav

There are American, Hungarian, French, Portuguese, African, and Scandinavian variations of the story of Stone Soup—a parable that teaches how each of us can contribute a little to the whole, which then becomes something much greater than the sum of its parts.  So many different cultures telling a similar story of neighborliness and gathering around a pot of soup is a lesson in and of itself.  Find recipe for sausage and bean soup at https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/sausage-and-bean-soup?utm_campaign=TST_WNK_20171101&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sfmc_Newsletter&utm_content=Weeknight%20Kitchen:%20Sausage%20and%20Bean%20Soup

Word of the year from dictionary publisher Collins

2017 - Fake news:  noun meaning false, often sensational information disseminated under the guise of news reporting 

2016 - Brexit:  noun meaning "the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union".

2015 - Binge-watch:  verb meaning "to watch a large number of television programmes (especially all the shows from one series) in succession".

2014 - Photobomb:  verb meaning "spoiling a photograph by stepping in front of them as the photograph is taken, often doing something silly such as making a funny face".

2013 - Geek:  countable noun meaning "someone who is skilled with computers, and who seems more interested in them than in people".  http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41838386

The full moon on November 4, 2017, the Beaver Moon, will be bigger and brighter than usual.  November's moon is also known as the Frost Moon or Hunter's Moon.  According to the Farmer's Almanac, the Beaver moon gets its name because it came at the time of year when the early colonists and the Algonquin tribes set their beaver traps before the swamps froze.  This would ensure they had a good supply of warm winter furs.  Pam Wright  https://weather.com/science/space/news/2017-11-02-november-beaver-full-moon

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1793  November 3, 2017  On this date in 2014, One World Trade Center officially opened.  On this date in 2016, the Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series to earn their first title in 108 years--ending the then longest title drought in US sports history.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_3