Reading the Merriam Webster Dictionary Backwards
September 8, 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
Yahweh: []Hebrew, Yahweh] the Hebrew God.
Yahwism: the worship of Yahweh.
Yahwistic: adjective, relating to Yahwism
As a Catholic, the reference to Yahweh had mystified me, so to speak. And yet, it is just a sound…whose syllables are right? God…Allah…Yahweh…Om… In any case, the sound of the term Yahwism introduces a little comic relief.
Continuing with this Jewish or Yiddish theme, the next word's spelling was a mystery to me:
yarmulke [Yiddish, jarmutka skullcap] a skullcap worn by Orthodox Jews in the synagogue and at home.
I thought it was spelled like it sounded to my non-Jewish ears: ya-ma-ka, almost a Japanese word. Coming from St. Louis, trained at a Jesuit school, I thought the entire world was Catholic. When I went to Princeton, as a Freshman I excitedly told a Jewish friend of mine that I had just read this incredible book by this author called "Chaim Potok." I pronounced it as it is spelled …'chame.' He let out a tremendous, loud guffaw and literally almost fell on the floor laughing at my pronunciation.
year: the time it takes for the sun to return to the same, arbitrary fixed position in the sky.
How out of touch I often am with the seasons and nature. I haven't really noticed the position of the sun in mid-winter as opposed to mid-summer. How often have I looked up at the sky and noticed? I recall recently, when someone asked about which way was North, searching on their iPhone for an answer, I mentioned that if we just looked at the evening sun, we might get an idea of which way West was. A scientific breakthrough.
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