Posted in Quotes, tagged Fireworks, Pictures, Quotes, Wisdom, Words on February 16, 2010 | 1 Comment »
“I want the pictures to pop and the words to explode like fireworks in your mind.”
—Abraham Lincoln of Brookville, Ohio
Source: Pick a Peck of Pixels
Posted in English, tagged Communication, English, Expressions, languages, Linguistics, Up, Words on January 13, 2010 | 3 Comments »
English is an interesting language. Sometimes it can be totally irrational and sometimes it can be quite interesting. For example, I’ve noticed that there is obsessive use of the word up. Let me give you an illustration of the frequent use of the up word.
There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is “UP”
It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.
When it doesn’t rain for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so…it is time to shut UP!
What do you say? Is English obsessed with the word up? Good Day.
Posted in English, tagged Communication, English, Humor, Language, Meaning, Words, Writing on December 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As you probably know, I’ve been struggling to learn the English language for a very long time. So long, I don’t even remember how long. But I keep struggling; “hanging in there” as they say. I like the expression, “Practice makes perfection.”
This post is about playing with imaginary English words, which I feel will put a smile or two on your face now that the weekend has started. Here we go.
English is a dynamic language where words are many times altered and adapted to create clearer meanings in context. With this in mind:
* Instead of the category “other”, does the Pentagon use MISSILEANEOUS?
* Is the process of growing grass for cows called PASTUREIZATION?
* Is the habit of giving your word to others but never keeping it called PROMISECUITY?
* Is a system under which nothing ever gets better called FUTILEISM?
* Is the fan mail that backup singers get called CHORUSPONDENCE?
* Are organically grown herbal medicines called FARMACEUTICALS?
* Was the age when pork and mutton pretty much all you ate called MEATIEVAL?
* Is having a sweet tooth that kind of sneaks up on you called SYRUPTITIOUS?
* If one is contemptuous of rubdowns given by women, is one MASSAGEYNISTIC?
* Are crossword puzzle events that benefit charities called FILLINTHROPIC?
Note: Adapted from the L.A. TIMES Sunday, 11/15/09 crossword puzzle.
Posted in Quotes, tagged Literature, Quotes, Words on June 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »
‘I adore the scent of old paper in second hand bookshops, the dance of words on a page, gathering odd things like a magpie, fresh flowers, keeping company with art, the thrill of film and concocting an occasional culinary delight for the people I love. “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.”‘
~~ Virginia Woolf
Source: Willow Manor
