A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

cat’s pajamas (or pyjamas)  (CATS puh-JAH-muhz)  noun    Something or someone truly excellent.  From cat + pajamas, from Hindi/Urdu pajama or payjama (loose-fitting trousers), from Persian pay (leg) + jama (garment).  Earliest documented use:  1923.  In the 1920s, in the US it was fashionable to coin terms on the pattern of x’s y (where x is an animal) to describe something cool or awesome.  Some synonyms of today’s term are bee’s knees, dog’s bollocks, cat’s meow, and cat’s whiskers.
Zeno’s paradox  (ZEE-noz PAR-uh-doks)  noun  1.  Any of various paradoxes proposed by Zeno, dealing with change and motion.  2. The appearance of getting closer and closer to a goal, but never reaching there.  After the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea (c. 490-430 BCE) who proposed a number of paradoxes as defense of the doctrine of his teacher Parmenides.  The best-known among Zeno’s paradoxes is that of a race between Achilles and a tortoise.  Achilles runs faster, but the tortoise has a headstart.  By the time Achilles reaches the tortoise’s starting position, the tortoise has moved forward.  By the time he reaches the tortoise’s new position, the tortoise has moved farther, even though the gap is now smaller.

Plato’s cave   (PLAY-tohz kayv)  noun  An illusory place or experience.  After the allegory of Plato’s cave in which people imprisoned there see shadows and assume that to be their reality.  Earliest documented use:  1683.



hubbub  noun  1550s, whobub "confused noise," of uncertain origin; according to Oxford English Dictionary generally believed to be of Irish origin, perhaps from Gaelic ub!, expression of aversion or contempt, or Old Irish battle cry abu, from buide "victory."  https://www.etymonline.com/word/hubbub



A hobo nickel is carved as opposed to engraved.  Little by little metal is shaved away or mounded to create a miniature bas relief sculpture.  Historically these coins were made by hoboes, itinerant workers, who often traveled by hopping freight trains.  The hobo's tools were primitive and consisted of awls, nails, pocket knives, a small hammer, screwdrivers, and even found pieces of metal which were manipulated into makeshift tools.  A metal "punch" was also hammered into the coin to create a divot for an eye, an expanded nostril, or texture for hair.  The Buffalo nickel is the trademark host coin for the hobo nickel.  An early date high grade coin may help date or identify an artist but collectors are most interested in the carving quality.  Desirable attributes include:  deep carving, unusual subjects, altered facial features, raised or pushed metal (often a hat brim), and well smoothed fields.  While the date is not that important, it is preferable to have the date and/or "LIBERTY" retained in the design.  The Buffalo nickel was available and circulating during the great depression.  The large Indian head, with its fairly high relief, gave the craftsmen a lot of area to work with.  The coin was a low enough denomination and not precious metal so it was affordable.  There are a few period examples done on Indian cents and wheat cents but they are seldom encountered.  The most frequent theme is a man in a derby hat but there were also clowns, rabbis, soldiers, Indians, women, and more.  Occasionally hoboes carved the reverse and on rare occurrences made two-sided carvings.  Original reverse carved themes include a turtle, donkey, box car, and miniature men.  Reverse carvings are far less common than the obverse portraits. 

 http://www.hobonickels.org/what_is.html  Thank you, Muse reader! 



Hunting for the Real Pasta all’Amatriciana by Stephen S. Hall  Friends in Rome had warned me:  no one should eat pasta all’amatriciana nonstop for a week. The sauce—a glutton’s glorious punishment of pork, pecorino and tomatoes—produces one of the most satisfying dishes on the Roman table.  But what’s the best way to make it?  I planned to eat my way all the way to the source waters, in the mountain village of Amatrice, about two hours north of Rome, to find out.  My amatriciana journey began, in a sense, several years earlier.  On the evening of Aug. 23, 2016, I prepared bucatini all’amatriciana, for my son, Sandro, and myself.  Ever since, I have been preparing the dish at home according to the recipe in Marcella Hazan’s “The Classic Italian Cook Book” (page 105, I don’t even need to look it up), because that version—with onions, butter and pancetta—most closely approximated what I ate in Rome.  I had to travel all the way to Amatrice to find out I’ve been doing it wrong for 40 years.  [The “official” recipe from the town of Amatrice for spaghetti all’amatriciana.]  [For an alternative take on the amatriciana controversy, with a recipe.] Read extensive article and see pictures at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/travel/pasta-alla-amatriciana-amatrice.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Travel



A charley horse is a muscle cramp which usually occurs in the thigh or calf muscle of the leg.  Note that the word charley in the idiom charley horse is not capitalized, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.  The plural form is charley horses.  The term first arose in the 1880s, from the American sport of baseball.  One story states that the term was first used to describe a lame horse named Charley that pulled the roller at the White Sox ballpark in Chicago.  A second origin theory gives the credit to a baseball pitcher of the 1880s named Charley Radbourne, also known as Old Hoss, who suffered a muscle cramp during a baseball game.  Neither story is provable, and the origin of the term charley horse is lost in the mists of time.  Relief from a charley horse is usually found through stretching, massage or application of heat.  https://grammarist.com/idiom/charley-horse/



horns of a dilemma  We have the lovely imagery and symbolism of our ancestors to thank for this phrase.  From an earlier post (http://community.livejournal.com/word_ancestry/tag/dilemma) we know that dilemma was Greek compound noun meaning 'two prepositions or premises.'  At the early stages of its use, a dilemma was something that forced a person to make a decision between two difficult choices.  During the Middle Ages, philosophers still used the word lemma when describing one of the difficult choices to be made in such a situation (which they called a double lemma.)  Eventually a lemma was also called a horn for seemingly two symbolic reasons:  one, horns often come in pairs and two, their sharp ends are very dangerous if you get caught on them.  Hence, if you faced a predicament in which you had only two very unhappy options, you risked being caught on the horns of a dilemma.  A similar expression used around this time was argumentum cornutum 'a horned argument.'  https://word-ancestry.livejournal.com/59748.html



The second new moon in a given month is the black moon, getting its name from how difficult it is to see in the night sky.  On July 31, 2019, Pittsburgh  experienced a second new moon of the month.  The first one occurred on July 2nd.  They occur roughly every 29 months and when and where they occur differ because of time zone differences.  Ray Petelin  https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/07/31/black-moon-tonight-in-pittsburgh/



A THOUGHT FOR TODAY  I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. - James Baldwin, writer (2 Aug 1924-1987)



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2132   August 2, 2019