Mark Twain died on this day in 1910.
Twain made writing look easy, but here is what he said in regard to the craft of writing:
"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter -- it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."
Today's ghost word:
Twainkling, adj.: Characteristic of a word that gives off its own light.
Showing posts with label ghost words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ghost words. Show all posts
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Gored by bull
Ghost word:
Algorism, n.: A statement, easily disproved, claiming credit for something.
Today is Al Gore's 62nd birthday. At one time or another, to some degree or another, the Nobel Prize-winner has said that he was instrumental in the creation of the Internet, and in coining the terms "nanotechnology" and "the Information Superhighway."
Wait around long enough, and Gore will claim he discovered global warming.
Anagram of the day:
Albert Arnold Gore = blander rot galore
This is also the 62nd birthday, by the way, of Rhea Perlman, who played Carla on Cheers. She coined a word of her own: Birdzilla, the oversized turkey that Norm stuck in her oven on Thanksgiving Day.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Bless this lessness
Samuel Beckett was born on this day in 1906. The Irish playwright (Waiting for Godot) wrote a short work of prose fiction called Sans, which he later translated into an English version called Lessness, a word he apparently coined.
Beckett said that the 24 sentences of both stories were put in a container, drawn out and strung together in that random order.
We all remember Les Nessman, the flighty news director on WKRP in Cincinnati. Perhaps the show’s creators had Beckett in mind when they invented the name. Maybe not. Regardless, our ghost word for the day is:
Lessnessman, improper noun (accent on first syllable). One who is more random or nondescript than another.
Beckett said that the 24 sentences of both stories were put in a container, drawn out and strung together in that random order.
We all remember Les Nessman, the flighty news director on WKRP in Cincinnati. Perhaps the show’s creators had Beckett in mind when they invented the name. Maybe not. Regardless, our ghost word for the day is:
Lessnessman, improper noun (accent on first syllable). One who is more random or nondescript than another.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Sydow-analysis
This is the 84th birthday of Max von Sydow, the Swedish actor who was a stalwart in Ingmar Bergman movies. He played the knight who had the chess game with Death in The Seventh Seal.
Von Sydow's character was usually anguished and brooding. His long face and serious mien were effective in casting a pall over the proceedings.
Today's ghost words: sydow, n. A gaunt, angular shadow.
A coincidence worth noting: Von Sydow played in the movie Truth and Treason opposite Haley Joel Osment, who has the same birthday (he is 23 today).
Monday, April 9, 2012
Don't be born again
According to records, the philosopher Buddha was born right around this time in 563 B. C.
Buddha taught, roughly speaking, that all life is suffering and that we must strive for release from the endless recurrence of suffering life through a renunciation -- an annihilation -- of self.
The flaw, or paradox, of this philosophy has always seemed to me that we must first be able to develop a self, capable enough of enlightened self-awareness, in order to renounce it.
In any event, Buddha and his adherents called this self-lessness, or egolessness, anatta. Ever since Buddha's time, of course, and before it, societies have conspired to facilitate the process of eroding and destroying the individual self.
Which leads me to today's ghost word: anattamization.
Anattamization is the systematic eradication of the self, carried out by the state in collaboration with the culture.
Buddha taught, roughly speaking, that all life is suffering and that we must strive for release from the endless recurrence of suffering life through a renunciation -- an annihilation -- of self.
The flaw, or paradox, of this philosophy has always seemed to me that we must first be able to develop a self, capable enough of enlightened self-awareness, in order to renounce it.
In any event, Buddha and his adherents called this self-lessness, or egolessness, anatta. Ever since Buddha's time, of course, and before it, societies have conspired to facilitate the process of eroding and destroying the individual self.
Which leads me to today's ghost word: anattamization.
Anattamization is the systematic eradication of the self, carried out by the state in collaboration with the culture.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Get out your Hankies, and weep
On this day in 1975, Henry ("Hank") Aaron hit his 715th career home run, overtaking Babe Ruth as the all-time leader.
Since then, Barry Bonds, the Sullen of Swat, has supplanted Aaron at the top, though not, apparently, in the hearts and minds of baseball fans.
Today's ghost word: Hankaaroning, n. (From hankering) A yearning for a more innocent era, real or imagined, in sports.
Since then, Barry Bonds, the Sullen of Swat, has supplanted Aaron at the top, though not, apparently, in the hearts and minds of baseball fans.
Today's ghost word: Hankaaroning, n. (From hankering) A yearning for a more innocent era, real or imagined, in sports.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
A story played out
Today's ghost phrase:
Ad favreum: adj., Referring specifically to a sports news story -- often brett-takingly trivial to begin with -- reported to the point of absurdity.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
A story played out
Today's ghost phrase:
Ad favreum: adj., Referring specifically to a sports news story -- often brett-takingly trivial to begin with -- reported to the point of absurdity.
Ad favreum: adj., Referring specifically to a sports news story -- often brett-takingly trivial to begin with -- reported to the point of absurdity.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
He didn't hit a homerun as far as everyone is concerned
Today is the birth date of Abner Doubleday (born 1819), the purported inventor of baseball.
Abner Doubleday is an anagram of bored and blue, ay?
Today's ghost word: abnermal, adj. Exceedingly boring, tedious, slow and overblown.
Abner Doubleday is an anagram of bored and blue, ay?
Today's ghost word: abnermal, adj. Exceedingly boring, tedious, slow and overblown.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Not for all the tea in China can anyone prove...
Philosopher Bertrand Russell was born on this day in 1872.
Russell coined an analogy about a Celestial Teapot. It was in answer to those who said that the burden of proof lies upon the sceptic to disprove unfalsifiable claims of religions.
Russell wrote:
"If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes.
"But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense.
"If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time."
Today's ghost word: crackteapot, n. One who believes steadfastly in the existence of something despite evidence that is flimsy as a teabag.
For more about Russell, visit Today in Cynic's Almanac
Russell coined an analogy about a Celestial Teapot. It was in answer to those who said that the burden of proof lies upon the sceptic to disprove unfalsifiable claims of religions.
Russell wrote:
"If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes.
"But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense.
"If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time."
Today's ghost word: crackteapot, n. One who believes steadfastly in the existence of something despite evidence that is flimsy as a teabag.
For more about Russell, visit Today in Cynic's Almanac
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Gored by bull
Ghost word:
Algorism, n.: A statement, easily disproved, claiming credit for something.
Today is Al Gore's 62nd birthday. At one time or another, to some degree or another, the Nobel Prize-winner has said that he was instrumental in the creation of the Internet, and in coining the terms "nanotechnology" and "the Information Superhighway."
Wait around long enough, and Gore will claim he discovered global warming.
Anagram of the day:
Albert Arnold Gore = blander rot galore
This is also the 62nd birthday, by the way, of Rhea Perlman, who played Carla on Cheers. She coined a word of her own: Birdzilla, the oversized turkey that Norm stuck in her oven on Thanksgiving Day.
Algorism, n.: A statement, easily disproved, claiming credit for something.
Today is Al Gore's 62nd birthday. At one time or another, to some degree or another, the Nobel Prize-winner has said that he was instrumental in the creation of the Internet, and in coining the terms "nanotechnology" and "the Information Superhighway."
Wait around long enough, and Gore will claim he discovered global warming.
Anagram of the day:
Albert Arnold Gore = blander rot galore
This is also the 62nd birthday, by the way, of Rhea Perlman, who played Carla on Cheers. She coined a word of her own: Birdzilla, the oversized turkey that Norm stuck in her oven on Thanksgiving Day.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Tipperware
Ghost word (one that appears in the language for a time, but may just as quickly disappear):
Tipperware, n.: The means, methods, or technology of labeling items, in order to apprise consumers of the content within.
Originally applied to record albums, the systemology has since been extended to other categories of items, such as alcoholic spirits, tobacco and food.
On this day in 1990, record companies agreed to carry warning labels on the albums they produced. That innovation came about largely through the efforts of Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore, wife of the future Nobel Prize winner.
As a teenager and college student back in the heyday of vinyl, I would certainly have appreciated warning labels on record albums. Buying one was often a hit-or-miss proposition, and a label along the lines of "Warning: There's only one decent song on this entire album -- the one you heard on the radio," or "Warning: There are some dirty words on this album but the music is so loud you can't understand them" would have been helpful.
I don't know why Tipper Gore didn't go after books, which can be just as seditious and corrupting as music.
Someone could have done an inestimable service to adolescents everywhere by labeling books. I remember spending a couple of feverish hours paging through my mom's copy of Lolita, searching for the titillating stuff. A label like "Warning: Kids should not expect to find any tawdry sex or filthy language in this book, as it is literature" would have saved me, and many others like me, I'm sure, a lot of disappointment.
And what about labels like this: "Warning: This book may induce headaches or extreme drowsiness in underage persons; read at your own risk." They might even have made our teachers think twice about administering too-heavy doses of the classics.
Tipperware, n.: The means, methods, or technology of labeling items, in order to apprise consumers of the content within.
Originally applied to record albums, the systemology has since been extended to other categories of items, such as alcoholic spirits, tobacco and food.
On this day in 1990, record companies agreed to carry warning labels on the albums they produced. That innovation came about largely through the efforts of Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore, wife of the future Nobel Prize winner.
As a teenager and college student back in the heyday of vinyl, I would certainly have appreciated warning labels on record albums. Buying one was often a hit-or-miss proposition, and a label along the lines of "Warning: There's only one decent song on this entire album -- the one you heard on the radio," or "Warning: There are some dirty words on this album but the music is so loud you can't understand them" would have been helpful.
I don't know why Tipper Gore didn't go after books, which can be just as seditious and corrupting as music.
Someone could have done an inestimable service to adolescents everywhere by labeling books. I remember spending a couple of feverish hours paging through my mom's copy of Lolita, searching for the titillating stuff. A label like "Warning: Kids should not expect to find any tawdry sex or filthy language in this book, as it is literature" would have saved me, and many others like me, I'm sure, a lot of disappointment.
And what about labels like this: "Warning: This book may induce headaches or extreme drowsiness in underage persons; read at your own risk." They might even have made our teachers think twice about administering too-heavy doses of the classics.
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