A.Word.A.Day -- AWADmail Issue 1205

A.Word.A.Day

Home

AWADmail Issue 1205

A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language

Sponsor’s Message: “I had a love-hate relationship with the Army. We both loved it before I joined. And we both hated it when I was in.” Johnny Mustard, Yuk, Retired is a highly-fictionalized account of our hero’s ignominious and thankfully brief time as a West Point cadet. Buy Now.

From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Interesting stories from the Net

Anti-Immigrant Language Is Rising -- Even on the Left
Mother Jones
Permalink

The Two-Language Tango Is a Fascinating Part of Quebec’s Culture
Montreal Gazette
Permalink

From: Ellen Price Ruby (ellenpruby aol.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--vicissitude

I don’t care if the words you choose to explain are in daily usage or completely in the clouds somewhere. I enjoy your writing, your references and especially A Thought for Today.

Thank you again -- the vicissitudes of my life often veer towards the down side but your column always makes things a lot more meaningful and happy.

Ellen Price Ruby, Sag Harbor, New York

Email of the Week -- Brought to you buy Johnny Mustard, Yuk, Retired. The Corps Has!

From: Sheldon S. Burnston (brbart1213 aol.com)
Subject: vicissitude

As a 7th grade Social Studies teacher in an inner-city middle school in Brooklyn, NY, I taught the phrase “such are the vicissitudes of life” every year during the first week of school. Some time thereafter, a group of students would come in giggling, and explain that one of them had done some minor thing wrong. When they were told by another teacher that they would be punished for it, they had replied with the phrase, earning an “Oh, you’re in Mr. B’s class, aren’t you?” Seventh graders are SUCH fun to work with!

Sheldon S. Burnston, Haworth, New Jersey

From: Jonathan Rickert (therickerts hotmail.com)
Subject: Vicissitude

Over 56 years ago, my wife and I married in a rural church in her native Sweden. The officiating priest performed the service in English, so that, as my father-in-law jokingly said, I would know what I was getting into (an American, I did not know any Swedish at that point).

The priest’s English was near perfect, the sole exception being his pronunciation of the word vicissitudes, which he gave as vicissitudies. To this day whenever I see or hear the word vicissitudes, I recall the happy occasion of our marriage ceremony and wish that I spoke any foreign language as (almost) flawlessly as did the Swedish priest.

Jonathan Rickert, Bainbridge Island, Washington

From: Dave Shelles (writesdave gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--vicissitude

During his 1989 tour, Dizzy Gillespie saved his signature tune, A Night in Tunisia, (7 min.) for the end of the gig. He introduced it thus in his distinctive gravelly drawl:

“And now we would like to play a tune that has been closely associated with me for many, many decades. Mainly because I wrote it. It has withstood the vicissitudes of the contingent world, and moved in an odyssey into the realm of the (pause for effect) metaphysical.”

The intellectual intro went over particularly well on college campuses (I saw him in a college auditorium and a murmur of approval went up from the smarties in the crowd).

Dave Shelles, Acworth, Georgia

From: Barbara Sale (sale.barbar gmail.com)
Subject: trenchant

Years ago, I was waiting for my argument in the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, VA, idly listening to one of the other arguments scheduled that day. A young lawyer (whom I will not shame by naming) responded to an observation by one of the judges. I think he must have meant to say that it was a “trenchant” comment the court had made; instead he complimented the judge on his “turgid” observation.

Barbara Sale, Baltimore, Maryland

From: Stuart Klipper (sklipper bitstream.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pillory

On this day in 1703, Daniel Defoe was placed in the pillory.

Wikipedia:

According to legend, the publication of his poem Hymn to the Pillory caused his audience at the pillory to throw flowers instead of the customary harmful and noxious objects and to drink to his health. The truth of this story is questioned by most scholars, although John Robert Moore later said that “no man in England but Defoe ever stood in the pillory and later rose to eminence among his fellow men”.

Stuart Klipper, Minneapolis, Minnesota

From: Peter Bell (bellpw gmail.com)
Subject: pillory

My late father used to smoke a Dutch brand of pipe tobacco called Troost (comfort or consolation in Dutch), whose tin bore a painting of a fat, wealthy man altruistically offering his pipe up to a pilloried man in the village square.

Peter Bell, Penn Yan, New York

From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com)
Subject: vicissitude and pillory

Inspired by the usage example for vicissitude, citing the mischievous minion Max from Maurice Sendak’s 1963 Where the Wild Things Are, here I took the liberty to dive into some fun wordplay. Max, in dreamland, wearing his big-bad-wolf getup, befuddles one of Sendak’s hulking monsters with his flourish of “tude” words, reveling in his king-of-the-isle status.

The long-running animated series South Park has recently returned from a two-year hiatus for its 27th season, having secured a $300 million per year deal over the next five years with Skydance Media/Paramount+, parent company of CBS. South Park’s creators and head honchos Trey Parker and Matt Stone have prided themselves in being equal-opportunity-offenders, over the years having satirically skewered politicians, corporations, celebrities and religions of all stripes.

Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California

Anagrams


This week: Vicissitude Trenchant Untrammeled Pillory Temerity	=	My trial Acute Wild Put in the stocks Nerve, merely isn’t timid here
		-Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz)


This week’s theme: Misc words Vicissitude Trenchant Untrammeled Pillory Temerity	=	Momentum twist Incisive method Kept clear Ridicule try (with martyr) Heedlessness	=	Midst uncertainties Keen Hm... limitless worth (tempt!) Deride Use screwy mythic valor
		-Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com)		-Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com)

Make your own anagrams and animations.

Limericks

vicissitude

Don’t make plans that are very long range.
Your life, as you know, can be strange.
One day you might win,
But then you’re done in
Through a vicissitudinous change.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

He had a rough life, sad to say;
Vicissitudes oft came his way.
Despite all his pain,
He’d never complain.
Not once did he utter “Oy vey!”
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

A con artist’s greatest vicissitude
Is inadequate verisimilitude.
Donald’s obvious lies
Better hustlers despise:
“This is such an embarrassing interlude.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

trenchant

We once had a leader, you know,
Renowned for his witty bons mots.
He had quite a penchant
For comments most trenchant --
Oh, where did such cleverness go?
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

Mae West liked a man who was strong:
“No weaklings for me. It’s just wrong.”
She said, “I’ve a penchant
For men that are trenchant.
To others, I must bid so long!”
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

Honest Abe had a flair for the trenchant,
For brevity showing a penchant.
His Gettysburg speech
Was an absolute peach,
Back when presidents had to be sentient.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

untrammeled

With the help of Trump’s sycophant team,
Untrammeled his power does seem.
Perhaps you still feel
That this isn’t for real.
This nightmare is not just a dream.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

Oh, why did those judges decide
That Donald deserved a free ride?
He’s untrammeled by laws
That give most of us pause --
Immunity he’s been supplied.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

The ex-president’s crimes were untrammeled,
So grand juries galore were empaneled.
But he’d handpicked the judges;
They bore right-wing grudges.
And millions to lawyers he channeled.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

pillory

Using words as his futile artillery
Trump attempts to malign and to pillory
All the people he hates,
Mostly those from blue states.
For example, his former friend Hillary.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

From his lips many insults will spill,
For it gives Trump supporters a thrill.
His taunts and his smears
Are greeted with cheers,
And he’ll pillory Hillary still.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

When you pillory fam’ly, you must
Feel your whole world’s just up and gone bust!
Is there somehow that, say,
You get back on your way
And regain all the relatives’ trust?
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

In the stocks stood the gossip, Miss Hillary.
She was there for the people to pillory.
They taunted, they jeered,
And then more folks appeared,
To throw some ripe fruit as artillery.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

Said the moonshiner, “Touch mah distillery,
And tuh hell you’ll go, Special Delivery.
The folks in this town
On the govamint frown;
Now git lost, ‘fore you’re locked in a pillory.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

temerity

I sometimes with reckless temerity
Reveal my beliefs with sincerity.
I still maintain that
The Earth’s really flat,
And I’m mocked with uncalled-for severity.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

Most senators note with sincerity:
To stand up to Trump takes temerity.
And it’s now become clear
That they all live in fear;
He would kill their career with celerity.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

She had it! What I’ve always lacked
The temerity always to act
In a crisis, you know,
First to say, “Hey, let’s go!”
(And that’s why our colleague’s been sacked!)
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

“They want health care and food? What temerity!”
Howled Repubs; “Let them practice austerity!
Our Big Beautiful Bill
Will our great dream fulfill;
The poor suffer to bring us prosperity!”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Puns

“Piano students vill learn ze most difficult techniques vicissitude,” said Chopin.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“We could dig a trenchant-ry to defeat the Germans that way,” suggested the WWI general.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Boston’s Green Line is a f-untrammeled man Steve and his little granddaughter Lulu love to ride around on.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“By pushing on that pillory might bring down the whole temple,” worried the Philistine.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

I call my medicine cabinet my pillory.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“Anything he was too stupid temerity he got by lying, cheating, stealing, name-calling and bullying,” said the history books of the Trump era.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

What a child doesn’t receive he can seldom later give. -P.D. James (Phyllis Dorothy James), novelist (3 Aug 1920-2014)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise