Morning musings

     A friend of mine calls himself a motor-mouth. I recently realized I have become the equivalent, except it is with with my fingers on the keyboard, rather than the mode of oral delivery, particularly in emails.

     The problem is I don't know what to call myself...a prolific polysylableist, A digital derelict? A digital dramatist? An effusive editorialist? Over-edifier? Excessive epistileist? I can't find just the right parallel phrase to "motormouth."

    Any suggestions would be appreciated!!

    Another niggling question is, "What do writers fear?" If  you are a writer and you know it, what is there to be afraid of?  You love words and ideas and imaginative communication. You have a computer in front of you and lots of ideas...but you sit down and are met with a blank wall, akin to stage fright.

    So, what is there then to fear? Ridicule? Fear of getting a great start, then suddenly nothing more will come? Fear of readers? Fear you have wasted your time?  The wrath of your writing coach? (Naa...I can handle that... I welcome it even!) That maybe you are just no good?  None of the above?All of the above? Don't know....

    The answer is probably right in front of me... stop ruminating and just do it!

     Well, who needs to pay for Lumosity to stimulate the brain? I can ask myself my own questions!
Still, any input would be appreciated.:)

Wearin' of the Green

We’re coming up on St. Patrick’s Day in about a month. I know it’s early, but I don’t have anything else to write about at the moment. Besides, anyone who reads it will have plenty of time to get ready for the day of celebration and be dressed in the traditional green at the neighborhood Irish pub on March 17, the death date of St. Patrick (c. AD 385–461).

If you are Irish or just Irish at heart, do you know where all the celebration comes from?

This special day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.

It began as a religious feast day for this patron saint of Ireland, but has become an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, some interesting special foods and the wearing of the color green.

It is believed that the celebrated saint was born in the fourth century into a family of wealth and that his father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian Church.

He was kidnapped at the age of 16 and taken as a slave by Irish raiders. He is said to have “found God” while working as a shepherd and was told by God to flee to the coast where a ship would be waiting to take him away. He went on to become a priest, returning to Ireland and converting thousands to Christianity.

Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early seventeenth century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion,(especially the Church of Ireland and the Eastern Orthodox and Lutheran Church.

Our culture thinks of St. Patrick’s Day not only as the commemoration of the date of his death, but also as a celebration of the heritage of Irish culture, as evidenced in the many traditional activities such as pub crawling, green beer, wearing of green, parties and even the playing of bagpipes.

Other folks go to church services or have Irish family gatherings.

Following are some Irish words and phrases:

Wearin' o’ the green

Where did that tradition of wearing green come from anyway? Sources say that the St. Patrick’s Day custom of things green, whether it be shamrocks or green clothing (the wearing o’ the green), has passed down through the centuries from 1726, because St. Patrick is said to have used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish

Blarney – Talk that is not true but that is nice and somewhat funny and that may be used to trick someone.

Not the full shilling – Not fully sane.

Bucketing down – Raining.

Irish Blessing –May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and the road downhill all the way to your door

Irish Toast – May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent.

Those are just representative examples of hundreds of fun and interesting Irish tidbits and history that can be found on the Internet by searching for Irish phrases and blessings. So, have some fun, learn something new about the lively Irish culture and be ready to jump into the conversations at the next Irish gathering.

Snow fun

 

Some say the accumulation of the falling flakes is no fun, but the kids in the neighboring areas Sunday thought it was "snow fun!" They were out creating snowpeople as well as a lot of noise. Personally, since the larders were stocked and I had no place I needed to go, I really enjoyed my "snow day."

I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been feeling under the weather, so to speak, fighting off non-stop chills by taking Tylenol, eating chicken noodle soup and sleeping, sleeping, sleeping...like I haven't slept in months.

During wakeful periods, the cats and I looked out the windows to watch the snow pile up. I spied an outdoor kitten seeing snow for the very first time .... it was such a delight to watch it jump into untouched snow, tossing tiny snowballs up in the air, then chasing them and throwing them around. Then the kitty would roll around over and over in the cleared space it had created. I could swear it was smiling ear-to-ear!

I also wanted to absorb some of its energy so I could stay up and work on my projects!

It's Monday now and the pristine snow surrounding my home has been disturbed and dirtied by cars, snow shovels, city trucks clearing the streets and the mailman, God bless his unfailing neither-rain-nor-sleet-nor-snow trek down the street.

The only disturbances in the scenic snowfall I considered to enhance its appearance were the various animal tracks - those of cats tired of foraging arriving at the door to look for a handout, birds walking around in the snow picking up feline leftovers, squirrels shaking various designs onto the snow cover out of the trees and the tell-tale footprints of pesky raccoons who had stealthily sneaked into the garage during the night to steal any remaining cat food.

It almost...almost...makes me sorry spring is coming soon.

'Nitey-nite'...or not?

A literary acquaintance recently went into throes of agony when I used the word “nite” as a shortcut in an email. And, boy, did I hear about it!

“The word in question would be your insouciant employment of ‘nite’ for ‘night,’” he replied.

(Admittedly this sent me to the dictionary to look up “insouciant,” which means “exhibiting light-hearted unconcern.” I did know that once upon a time when my brain was younger and information jumped the synapses in a flash, but, alas, I had forgotten.)

My learned friend with the steel-trap mind went on to say, “Some references call it an 'informal' variation. Others say it is slang, a lazy corruption, or just another prime example of how some Americans seem to regularly misspell even the most elementary English language words.”

I thought he was a little curmudgeonly, even overly concerned about the shortcut, but he is a perfectionist when it comes to use of language and I have to respect that.

He wasn’t finished expressing his disgust, however – in fact, he had just begun.

Random House excuses its usage by calling it a simplified spelling,” the purist continued

He indicated that it didn’t seem worth it to "simplify" a five-letter word by dropping two letters and adding a new one back in to create a four-letter word. I believe he has a legitimate point.

“Such illiterate wallowings may have begun with our construction of the Interstate Highway system, and the willingness to allow sign-makers to replace the word "through" with "thru," as in "thru lane" or "thruway." Next thing you knew, the word "light" had been debauched by "lite." What's next…we go the airport to catch our "flite," or have to purchase new underwear because the old ones are too "tite?"
Are you thru?” I asked.

But he does make sense – not that that will stop any of us from using those fun little shortcuts in an iPhone or an email message.

After that trouncing, I am curious to know what other people think. My own inclination is to go with the correct spelling. On the other hand, when I am in a hurry just to get an email or text out on its way, I like to use the shortcuts even if I do consider them cutsey or la-zee. (No disrespect intended toward my friend---I just couldn’t resist.)

How ‘bout it? Is it okay to use the EZ-to-rite form or should everyone stick to literary perfection?

Lemme know…