Monday, November 25, 2019


Since 2010, Earth Day Network has planted tens of millions of trees with the Canopy Project, working worldwide to strengthen communities through tree-planting.  https://www.earthday.org/campaigns/reforestation/

A phrase is two or more words that do not contain the subject-verb pair necessary to form a clause.  Phrases can be very short or quite long.  Find examples:  noun phraseverb phraseprepositional phraseinfinitive phraseparticiple phrasegerund phrase, and absolute phrase at https://www.chompchomp.com/terms/phrase.htm  ©1997-2019 by Robin L. Simmons

50 Fictional Librarians, Ranked by Emily Temple  Here at Literary Hub, we love librarians.  I mean, really everything about them—their knowledge, their kindness, their demon-slaying abilities.  If you love them too, then you probably feel a little jolt of extra excitement whenever they show up in pop culture.  No surprise here:  No 1. is Rupert Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Home library:  Sunnydale High library  Special talents:  Watching (obviously), traditionally English understatements, getting knocked out, taking his glasses off and rubbing the bridge of his nose, acting in loco parentis, acoustic guitar, not being a hero.  Best luddite quote:  “Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is.  A certain flower, or a-a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten.  Books smell musty and-and-and rich.  The knowledge gained from a computer is a . . . it, uh, it has no-no texture, no-no context.  It’s-it’s there and then it’s gone.  If it’s to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible.  It should be, um, smelly.”  See all 50 plus interesting comments at https://lithub.com/50-fictional-librarians-ranked/?single=true  Thank you, Muse reader!

The word “gumption” first appeared in English dialects in the early 18th century, imported from Scots, where it meant “common sense” or “shrewdness.”  The roots of “gumption” are uncertain, but it may well be connected to the Middle English “gome,” (in Scots, “gaum”) meaning “attention or notice,” perhaps based on the Old Norse “gaumr.”  In English, “gumption” thrived with the meaning you knew as a lad, “common sense” or “smarts” (“Tis small presumption To say they’re but unlearned clerks, And want the gumption,” 1719).  By the early 19th century, however, “gumption” had acquired the added sense of “drive, initiative” (“If they … show pluck and gumption they … get promoted,” 1889).  The addition of “initiative” to the meaning “common sense” wasn’t much of a leap, as the two personal characteristics often travel together.  “Gumption” gradually lost the meaning of “street smarts” in the course of the 19th century (although that usage is still heard in certain parts of England), and now is used to mean simply “initiative” or “ambition.”  Interestingly, however, another relative of that Middle English root “gome” (meaning “smarts” or “understanding”) is alive and well, albeit in a negative sense.  To be “gormless” is to be clueless, empty-headed and hopelessly dense.  http://www.word-detective.com/2008/04/gumption/

*  How the Vietnam War changed political poetry:  Daniel H. Weiss on Michael O'Donnell, Deer Hunter, and the arts that disillusioned soldiers turned to. | Lit Hub 
*  Read from National Book Award lifetime honoree Edmund White's novel-in-progress. | Lit Hub 
*  “For anyone somewhat interested in cocktails it’s pretty worthless.” In the mixed drinks world, few books are as detested as Tequila Mockingbird, a book of recipes (written by an actor) that relies on literary puns.  | Inside Hook
*  Ian Williams is the winner of this year’s $100,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his debut novel Reproduction.  | CBC News  Lit Hub Daily  November 20, 2019  Copyright © 2019 Literary Hub

Enquire and inquire are often just different spellings of the same word.  Where the two are used for the same purposes, inquire is the more common form.  This extends to derivative words (inquiryinquirer, etc.), and it is the case throughout the English speaking-world.  There is one qualification to this.  Some Britons make the distinction that enquire and its derivatives apply to informal queries, and inquire and its derivatives to formal investigations.  https://grammarist.com/spelling/enquire-inquire/

Asking questions was a way to avoid answering them.  *  I love you feds.  You make doing your jobs sound like the twelve labors of Hercules.  *  A face is a map of the heart.  *  Iron River, Charlie Hood novel #3 by T. Jefferson Parker 

Grandma’s Irish Soda Bread by Sally  Irish Soda Bread is a quick bread that does not require any yeast.  Instead, all of its leavening comes from baking soda and buttermilk.  This Irish soda bread recipe is my grandmother’s and has been cherished in my family for years.  It’s dense, yet soft and has the most incredible crusty exterior.  Prep Time:  10 minutes   Cook Time:  45 minutes

How to Make Perfect Scones by Sally  Prep Time:  30 minutes  Cook Time:  25 minutes   Yield:  8 large or 16 small scones  https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/scones-recipe/#tasty-recipes-70506  See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scone

Patrick Stewart’s solo version of A Christmas Carol, seen on Broadway in 2001, will return to New York for two nights only, December 11 and 13, 2019 at Theater 511.  The Olivier winner plays Scrooge, Fezziwig, Tiny Tim, the Three Ghosts, and every other Dickensian character in the production, which he created and also performed in New York in 1991, 1992, and 1994.  Proceeds from the two evenings will benefit City Harvest, New York City’s largest food rescue organization, and Ars Nova, whose mission is to discover, develop, and launch the next generation of music, comedy, and theatre artists.  “It’s been a dream of mine to return to A Christmas Carol on the New York stage,” said Stewart.  “Bringing this story’s message of greed, contempt, tenderness, compassion, and revelation to life seems more urgent today than over 30 years ago when I first attempted the adaptation; and I’m excited to get the chance to revisit these spirited—yes, some of them actual spirits—characters, whom I’ve long cherished.  That these performances will benefit two important organizations in the process makes this all the more thrilling.”  Benefit tickets are $500 and are available through OvationTix.  Andrew Gans

WORD OF THE DAY  vinous  adjective  Pertaining to or having the characteristics of winequotations ▼  Involving the use of wine.  quotations ▼ Synonym: vinaceous (containing wine)
Having the colour of red winevinaceous quotations ▼
Tending to drink wine excessively quotations ▼
Affected by the drinking of wine.  quotations ▼

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2187  November 25, 2019 

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