Reading the Merriam Webster Dictionary Backwards
September 15, 2014 Monday
blog address: Readingthedictionarybackwards.blogspot.com
email: ishmaelish36@blogspot.com
You can find my other blog of pediatric anecdotes, poetry, artwork and literature at ishmaelish36.blogspot.com
Wow: a word with increasing and decreasing pitch.
I love this definition. Simple, elegant.
I saw a cartoon in The New Yorker years ago that showed a Grandfather sitting in his living room, his young Grandson sitting on the floor looking up to him. The Grandfather said, "Yes, in 1947 I was the first one to ever use the word "wow."
Wednesday: (see Woden, below) named after the Germanic god, Woden or Odin
Woden: [Old English, also Old Norse; Woden Odin]
Oden, the chief god of Germanic mythology.
This is the origin of the word "Wednesday"…a mystery solved. To paraphrase Thoreau in Walden, 'I don't measure my days by heathen gods,' a thought I have always liked. I don't think he was being mean spirited (not Thoreau) but, rather, he was pointing out that he wanted to enjoy each day, without labeling it.
Frigga was Odin's wife. She is the Norse goddess of marital love and the home.
The word frigorific [Latin frigo cold] means cold, as in refrigerator.
I guess a marriage can be loving, warm and Frigga-rific…or cold and frigorific.
I saw a cartoon in The New Yorker years ago that showed a Grandfather sitting in his living room, his young Grandson sitting on the floor looking up to him. The Grandfather said, "Yes, in 1947 I was the first one to ever use the word "wow."
Wednesday: (see Woden, below) named after the Germanic god, Woden or Odin
Woden: [Old English, also Old Norse; Woden Odin]
Oden, the chief god of Germanic mythology.
This is the origin of the word "Wednesday"…a mystery solved. To paraphrase Thoreau in Walden, 'I don't measure my days by heathen gods,' a thought I have always liked. I don't think he was being mean spirited (not Thoreau) but, rather, he was pointing out that he wanted to enjoy each day, without labeling it.
Frigga was Odin's wife. She is the Norse goddess of marital love and the home.
The word frigorific [Latin frigo cold] means cold, as in refrigerator.
I guess a marriage can be loving, warm and Frigga-rific…or cold and frigorific.
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