DAY 59 The snow is going going, and the sun is out as at should be in Victoria

yes let us pretend that it is February 29th, and not the 28th!!

BISSEXTILE YEAR

noun, a leap year in the Julian or Gregorian calendar

According to folklore tradition, some are allowed to propose marriage to a man on February 29 of a bissextile year!

When Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 45 b.c., he stipulated that an extra day be added to February every four years. But the Romans didn't add the extra day at the end of the month; they inserted it after the 24th day of the month. the Romans reckoned days near the end of a month by counting backward from the first of the following month. Since February 24th is six days before March 1 (the Roman method of counting days included both the beginning day and the ending day), it was known as the sextus, or "sixth day." Caesar's extra day became a second sextus or bissextus. English speakers adopted bissextile to refer to that extra day, even though its placement in the modern calendar makes that term a misnomer.

one of my favourite cars, and was lucky enough to have been taken for 3 laps at race speed around Pacific Raceway in, with a very handsome gentleman!

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 58 and it is supposed to be spring in Victoria, NOT big can't see in front of your SNOW!

CLEMENT

adjective, inclined to be merciful, lenient, mild

A clement pacific ocean breeze wafted refreshingly through the beach hut.

Defendants in court cases probably don't spend much time worrying about inclement weather. They're too busy hoping to met a clement judge so they will be granted clemency. They should hope they don't meet an inclement judge! "Clement," inclement," and "clemency" all derive from the Latin clemens, which means "mild" or "calm." All three terms can refer to an individual's degree of mercy or to the relative pleasantness of the weather.

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 57 A blustery day in Victoria, and no snow!

PECULATION

noun, embezzlement

Most states passed taxes to protect investors from nefarious sales practices and other percolation in the offer and sale of securities.

"Peculation" has some peculiar relatives. It derives from Latin percolates ("misappropriation of property"), which belongs to a family of Latin words having to do with property and possession. The most basic members of the family, pecu ("cattle") and peaches ("livestock"), reflect the fact that animals were a fundamental form of wealth in ancient societies. Other members of the family include pecunia ("money"), which gave English "pecuniary" ("monetary"), and peculiaris ("of private property" or "special"), which led to our peculiar."

 

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 56 Victoria here I am! Wait to you see the pictures of today's lunch gang tomorrow!!

INHERE

verb, to be inherent, to be a fixed element or attribute

The law states that there are some fundamental rights that inhere to human beings.

You're probably familiar with "inherent," the adjective meaning "part of the constitution or natural character of something," but were you aware of its less common relative "inhere"? This verb looks like it could be a back-formation on "inherent" (a back formation is a word created by removing a prefix or suffice from an existing word), but "inhere" is actually the older word. It first appeared in print in the 15th century, while "inherent" didn't show up until the late 16th century. Both are derived from the Latin verb inhaerere ("to inhere"), which was itself formed by combining in-with haerere, a verb meaning "to adhere."

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 55 On the water to another adventure!

MALADROIT

adjective, lacking skill, cleverness, or resourcefulness in handling situations: inept

To understand the origin of "maladroit," you need to put together some Middle French and Old French building blocks. The first is the word mal, meaning "bad," and the second is the phrase a droit, meaning "properly." You can parse the phrase even further into the components a, meaning "to" or "at," and droit, meaning "right, direct, or straight." Middle French speakers put those pieces together as maladroit to describe the clumsy amount them, and English speakers borrowed the word intact back in the 17th century. Its opposite, of course, is "adroit," which we adopted from the French in the same century.

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 54 Sunny Sunny Sunny, and please stay that way!

DUENDE

noun, the power to attract through personal magnetism and charm

The magician was not only a talented illusionist; he also had the duende that kept the audience rapt throughout the entire show.

The word "duende" refers to a spirit i Spanish, Portuguese, and Filipino folklore and literally means "ghost" or "goblin" in Spanish. It is believed to derive from the phrase dueno de case, which means "owner of a house." The term is traditionally used in flamenco music or other art forms to refer to the mystical or powerful force given off by a performer to draw the audience in. The Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca wrote in his essay "Teoria y juego del duende" ("Theory and Play of the Duende") that duende "is a power and not a behaviour ... a struggle and not a concept." Nowadays, the term appears in a broader range of contexts to refer to one's unspoken charm or allure.

campout is a coming!!

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 53 Blue skies are here, and off to Victoria on Friday!

PARONOMASIA

noun, a play on words: pun

In a dimly lit cafe, two men drink themselves into a state of paronomasia--giddy verbal play!

Puns (essentially, humorous uses of words to suggest more than one interpretation) have their share of critics as well as fans. English philosopher-poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, for example, called puns "the lowest form of wit." Film critic John Serba more recently called paronomasia an easy, lazy route to comedy." "Paronomasia," which derives from a Greek verb meaning "to call with the slight change of name," can simply be a synonym of "pun." But it can also be used, somewhat playfully, to suggest an uncontrollable urge to make puns (as is it were a dread disease, rather than harmless word play). For example, longtime New York Times Magazine language columnist William Safire once declared that "an epidemic of paronomasia has raced around the world."

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 52 Time to wash your Race Car and get ready for racing season!

LAVE

verb, wash, bathe, to flow along or against, pour

I can wash four cars  in a row without blinking, laved with enough soap and water to raise my knowledge that racing season is just around the corner. 

"Lave" is a simple, monosyllabic word that magically makes the mundane act of washing poetic. Shakespeare used it in The Taming of the Shrew, when Gremio assured the father of his beloved Bianca that she would have "basins and ewers to lave her dainty hands." And in Charles Dicken's The Old Curiosity Shop, Nell "laved her hands and face, and cooled her feet before setting forth to walk again." The poetry of "lave" is also heard when describing the pouring of water" "He...laved a few cool drops upon his brow" (John Lockhart, Reginald Dalton). As with all poetic terms, "lave" can be applied figuratively, too, as in our example sentence in which corn is "washed" in butter. Before washing our hands of "Lave," we'll tell you its etymology: It, as well as "lavatory," comes from Latin leaver, meaning "to wash."

Race Car Bathtub!

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 51 are you ready for the Word of the Day!

NIMIETY

noun, excess, redundancy

"Despite the dimity of blue lighting and an issue over microphone levels, this was a wonderfully gentle evening of poignant country and folk poetry."

Nimiety, there's no scarcity of English words used for too much of a good thing--words like "overkill," "plethora," "superfluity," "surfeit," "surplus," and "preponderance." In fact, you might just feel that "nimiety" itself is a bit superfluous. It's true that we've never used the word excessively, though it has bee part our language for nearly 450 years. (We borrowed it from the Late Latin nimietas, a noun taken, in turn, from the Latin adjective nimbus, meaning "excessive.") But though "nimiety" is far from overused, it does turn up occasionally and can be considered a valid addition to any English speaker's vocabulary.

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 50 Let there be peace in the world

REGNANT

adjective, exercising rule: reigning, having the chief power: dominant, of common or widespread occurrence

Washington ought to cast its eyes toward Europe, where mail delivery is one of the few areas where privatization is regnant.

Regnant, the etymology of "regnant" is fairly straightforward: English speakers borrowed the word sometime around 1600 from Latin. "Regnant" is derived from the Latin verb reengage, meaning to "to reign." Regnare, in turn, traces back to the noun regnum, meaning "reign," which derives from rex, the Latin word for "kind." Other descendants of regnum include "interregnum" ("a period between two successive reigns or regimes"), "regnal" ("of or relating to a kind or his reign"), and even "reign" itself.

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 49 and 2 special people where born today Shelley May and Rod Emory!

HIEROPHANT

noun, a priest in ancient Greece; specifically: the chief priest of the Eleusinian mysteries, a person who explains: commentator, advocate.

The witty, insightful reviews he writes for his blog have established his reputation as a hierophant of the local music scene.

"Hierophant," "hieroglyphics," and "hierarch" have a common root: heiros, a Greek word meaning "sacred." "Hieroglyphics" joins heiros with a derivative of glyphic, the Greek verb for "carve." "Hierarch," a word that can refer to a religious leader in a position of authority, joins heiros with a derivative of archein, meaning "to rule." "Hierophant" itself joins the root with a derivative of phainein, which means "to show." The original hierophants were priest of the ancient Greek city of Eleusis who performed sacred its. in the 17th century, when the word was first documented in English, it referred to these priests. By the 19th century, English speakers were using the term in a broad sense. A "hierophant" can now be a spokesperson, a commentator, an interpreter, or a leading advocate. 

hugs always

karen charlie, and enzo

DAY 48 - 7 years ago today, my niece/goddaugher Sarah survived the Tall Ship Concordia sinking

SHINPLASTER

noun, a piece of privately issued paper currency, especially, none poorly secured and depreciated, a piece of paper money of low denomination.

"Davenport's the sort so tight he squeaks when he walks. I'll wager he gave Captain Jack no more'n a shinplaster or two."

In the past, "shinplaster" referred to a small, square-patch of paper that was used as a plaster in treating sore legs. In 19th-century American, the term "shinplaster" was applied to another paper Band-Aid fix: the privately issued poorly secured notes substituted for the coins withdrawn from current circulation. The lexical currency of "shinplaster" spiked when it began being used for the paper money in denominations of less than a dollar--aka "fractional currency"--issed by the U.S. government after the depression of 1837 and during the Civil War. In 1870, the United States' neighbour to the north, Canada, issued its own shinplaster, a 25-cent note, which fell into disuse in the early 20th century. 

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 47 Watch the TROLL movie, what fun, I did with 3 little ones, and ice cream!!

TRUCULENT

adjective, feeling or displaying ferocity, deadly, destructive, scathingly harsh, aggressively self-assertive

Dork's truculent demeanour made him unpleasant to work with, particularly as deadlines approached.

"Truculent" derives from truculent, a form of the Latin adjective trux, meaning "savage." It has been used in English since the 16th century to describe people or things that are cruel and ferocious, such as tyrannical leaders or wars, and has also come to mean "deadly or destructive" (as in "a truculent disease").

In current use, however it has lost much of its etymological fierceness. It now frequently serves to describe speech or writing that is notably harsh (as in "truculent criticism") or a person who is notably self-assertive and surly (such as "a truculent schoolboy"). Some usage commentators have criticized these extended uses because they do not match the savagery of the word's original sense, but they are all established and perfectly standard.

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 46, yes I am still posting, had the little ones today, oh what fun!

VAPORWARE

noun, a computer-related product that has been widely advertised but has not and may never become available

Many gaming Kickstarters have been released....but a few have been cancelled and the money keep, others have dragged on in vaporware status.

The practice of marketing products before they are available for sale is common to many industries, but especially the computer industry, where technological advancement is rapid and competition cutthroat. Unforeseen glitches occasionally result in the marketing of products that ultimately never see the light of day. Since the 1980s, such phantom computer products have been referred to by the word "vaporware," which is modelled after familiar computer terms such as "software" and "hardware." The word plays on the humorous notion of "vapors" being equated with rumours surrounding the development of a product hat appears to be on its way but that never actually materializes.

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 45 Happy Valentine's Day to EVERYONE

BABBLATIVE

adjective, garrulous, talkative

Conversation was virtually nonexistent with Karen's babblative father sharing stories, nonstop, from the nomadic chapter of this life. 

Karen now knows where she gets it from !

"Babblative" is a chatty member of the "active" family, a collection of several hundred English words ending with the Latinate suffix-ative (which means "relating to" or "tending to"). " Babblative" appeared in the 1500s, but it wasn't the first discursive member of its clan. "Talkative" has been around since the 1400s. Other verbal family member are more recent, but their heritage is distinguished. "Writative" (meaning "given or addicted to writing") was apparently first used by Alexander Pope in a 1736 letter to Jonathan Swift. (He wrote, "Increase of years makes men more talkative but less writative.") Younger still, "scribblative" (meaning "given to verbose and hastily written writing") was probably coined in 1829 by Robert Southey when he wrote of "professors of the arts babblative and scribblative."

my special place, and special couple, Happy Valentine's Day

hugs always

karen charlie, and enzo

DAY 44 reach out and see who is at the end of your rope to help you, you may be surprised!

JOG TROT

noun, a horse's slow measured trot, a routine habit or course of action

"After an opening comparative chapter, Crawford's book bifurcates into a conventional jog trot through the sights and lore of each city."

The jog trot is a kind of careful, deliberate trot that is sometimes required at hose shows. "Jog" is thought to have come from an alteration of "show," a verb meaning "to shake" or "to jolt" and used primarily in dialect. "Trot" has been part of English since the 14th century. the phrase "jog trot," which first appeared in print in 1796, developed a figurative sense as well; it can refer to a steady and usually monotonous routine, similar to the slow, regular pace of a horse at a jog trot. There is a suggestion with the generalized sense that the action is uniform and unhurried, and perhaps every a little dull.

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 43 A lovely sunny day, get out and enjoy it!

APODICTIC

adjective, expressing or of the nature of necessary truth or absolute certainty.

"Apomictic certainty," the professor asserted, "can only be achieved in logic."

There's something remarkable about a word that, when periodically dusted off, proves to have retained its freshness over 350 years--and that's the case with "apodictic." It's a handy word that can describe a conclusive concept, a conclusive person, or even that conclusive person's conclusive remarks. A well-known close relative of "apodictic" is "paradigm" ("an outstandingly clear or typical example"); both words are built on the Greek deiknynai, meaning "to show." More distant relatives (from the Latin dicere, a relative of deiknynai that means "to say") include "diction," "dictate," "edict," and "predict."

hugs always 

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 42 the birds are singing, the train whistle, and spring is now in the air!

WOWSER

noun, chiefly Australian, an obtrusively puritanical person!

Wondering whether or not it's OK to enjoy the odd drink while pregnant? The answer is NO NO NO. Sorry to be a wowser.

"Wowser" is a word with an interesting background, thought its ultimate origin is unknown. The word first appeared in print in 1899, in the Australian journal Truth, and was instantly popular down under. It spread to New Zealand, where it remains in use, and then eventually arrived England, possibly brought by the Australian troops who served there during World War 1. The American writer and editor H.L. Mencken like "wowser" and attempted to introduce it to the United States. He used the word frequently in the American Mercury, the literary magazine he edited. Despite Mencken's efforts, the term never truly caught on in American English thought it is used occasionally.

I remember Wowser from the sweathogs, and sha na na!

hugs always 

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 41 The wind is up, the snow is going, and the birds are singing!

OBVIATE

verb, to anticipate and prevent (as a situation) or make unnecessary (as an action).

Adam check every ledger entry twice to obviate any problems when it comes time for an audit.

"Obviate" derives from Late Latin obviare (meaning to meet or withstand") and Latin obviam, which means "in the way," and is also an ancestor of our adjective "obvious." "Obviate" has a number of synonyms in English, including "prevent," "preclude," and "avert"; all of these words can mean to hinder or stop something. When you prevent or preclude something, you put up an insurmountable obstacle. In addition, "preclude" often implies that a degree of chance was involved in stopping an event. "Obviate" generally suggests the use of intelligence or forethought to ward off trouble. "Avert" always implies that a bad situation has been anticipated and prevented or deflected by the application of immediate and effective means.

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo

DAY 40 snow freezing rain icky weather please please go away

SUMPTUOUS

adjective, extremly costly, rich, luxurious, or magnificent

I hadn't managed to eat so much as a unpitted olive at the Fahnestock's. I'd pictured sumptuous crab cake that I could have instead of a dinner!

The word "sumptuous" can be used to describe both lush surroundings and rich desserts, and it has an equally rich history. The word, which appeared in English in the 15th century, derives via Middle English from the Latin noun sumptuous, meaning "expense." Sumptus related to the Latin verb sumere, which means "take" or "spend" and from which we get a treasure trove of useful verbs: "consume" ("to use up or spend"), "subsume" ("to include or place in something larger"), "resume" ("to take up again"). and "assume" ("to take upon oneself"). Another summer descendant is our adjective "sumptuary," which means "relating to one's extravagant expenditures."

my sumptuous friend!

hugs always

karen charlie and enzo