“Grabbing at straws” (or “grasping,” today the more common form) comes from the very old proverb noted by Samuel Richardson in his novel Clarissa (1748):  “A drowning man will catch at a straw, the proverb well says.”  The “straw” in this case refers to the sort of thin reeds that grow by the side of a river, which a drowning man being swept away by a fast current might desperately grasp in a futile attempt to save himself.   Thus “grasp at straws” has, since at least the 18th century, meant “to make a desperate and almost certainly futile effort to save oneself”.  The original, and still the most literal, meaning of “straw” is the stems and stalks of grains, such as wheat, rye, oats, etc., left over after the grain has been threshed and the bits useful as food have been removed.  Hay is essentially dried grass used as food for livestock.  Straw has also loomed large in English idioms and proverbs.  “Man of straw” or “straw man” (what we would call a “scarecrow”) has, since the 16th century, meant a dishonest person of no substance, an imaginary foe, or, most often today, an invented and bogus argument.  It was just one more straw (“the last straw”) that broke the proverbial camel’s back, and “a straw in the wind” has long been a metaphor for something that indicates a change in public attitudes, which gave us “straw poll” and “straw vote” as terms for quick, unofficial surveys of opinion.  http://www.word-detective.com/2010/03/grasping-at-straws/   

Imply and infer are opposites, like a throw and a catch.  To imply is to hint at something, but to infer is to make an educated guess.  The speaker does the implying, and the listener does the inferring.  https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/chooseyourwords/imply-infer/  Mnemonics to help remember differences in the words:  The e in infer goes with the term educated guess—and the e can stand for ear or listener.  Thank you, Muse reader!   

THREE HEARTS SALAD  Combine shredded hearts of romaine with bite-sized hearts of palm and artichoke hearts.  Add salad dressing if desired.   

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, and as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives and destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms.  Maupassant was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless dénouements.  Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences.  He wrote 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse.  His first published story, "Boule de Suif" ("The Dumpling", 1880), is often considered his masterpiece.  Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant was born on 5 August 1850 at the late 16th-century Château de Miromesnil, near Dieppe in the Seine-Inférieure (now Seine-Maritime) department in France.  He was the first son of Laure Le Poittevin and Gustave de Maupassant, both from prosperous bourgeois families.  His mother urged his father when they married in 1846 to obtain the right to use the particule or form "de Maupassant" instead of "Maupassant" as his family name, in order to indicate noble birth.  Gustave discovered a certain Jean-Baptiste Maupassant, conseiller-secrétaire to the King, who was ennobled in 1752.  He then obtained from the Tribunal Civil of Rouen by decree dated 9 July 1846 the right to style himself "de Maupassant" instead of "Maupassant" and this was his surname at the birth of his son Guy in 1850.  Maupassant wrote under several pseudonyms such as Joseph Prunier, Guy de Valmont, and Maufrigneuse (which he used from 1881 to 1885).  Leo Tolstoy used Maupassant as the subject for one of his essays on art:  The Works of Guy de Maupassant.  His stories are second only to Shakespeare in their inspiration of movie adaptations with films ranging from Stagecoach, Oyuki the Virgin and Masculine Feminine.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_de_Maupassant   

Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck. - Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist   

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg  From:  Victor A Poleshuck  Subject:  End in -al or not?  Today’s email made me think that there are words which may have an -al added with no change in meaning (but maybe they’re fancier that way?).  I’m an obstetrician/gynecologist. A prominent journal in my field is Obstetrical and Gynecological Survey which could very well do without the double -al.  

The suffixes “-ic” and “-ical” both form adjectives meaning “of, resembling, characterized by, or relating to,” and they are notoriously difficult to distinguish.  In many cases, words can be spelled with either ending with no change in meaning, with one version simply more common than the other; in other instances, the “-ic” and “-ical” versions will have similar but slightly different meanings, making each one more suited in particular contexts.  See extensive list of examples at https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Commonly-Confused-Suffixes-ic-vs-ical.htm

Theaters reopen at 100 percent capacity September 14, 2021 for marquee Broadway shows like “Hamilton,” “Wicked,” “The Lion King,” and “Chicago.”  In the coming weeks, several other productions will come back, including “Six” on Oct. 3, “Come From Away” on Sept. 21 and “Moulin Rouge” on Sept. 24.  “Jagged Little Pill” is slated to return on Oct. 21 and “The Phantom of the Opera” on Oct. 22.  “At least 30 shows are reopening between now and the end of the year,” said Anne del Castillo, commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.  Julia Marsh and Sam Raskin  See pictures at https://nypost.com/2021/09/14/broadway-reopens-with-big-shows-like-hamilton-and-wicked/   

Create your National Book Festival experience with the Library of Congress in 2021 by engaging in author conversations online, watching the broadcast special on PBS, listening to NPR podcasts, tuning in to Washington Post Live author interviews and attending a ticketed event at the Library.  Join us for an expanded Festival, Sept. 17-26, a 10-day event with the theme, “Open a Book, Open the World.”  For news and latest updates, subscribe to the National Book Festival blog.  https://www.loc.gov/events/2021-national-book-festival/   

September 15 is the International Day of Democracy, which is recognized by the United Nations to promote and uphold the principles of democracy.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2422  September 15, 2021