Word of the Day: Palimpsest

Palimpsest, n.

A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

Just learned this word and about this type of object yesterday, but what I find most interesting is the way artists are reclaiming the word to apply it to art projects. Is graffiti art a form of palimpsest? When Da Vinci reused his canvases, was he working with palimpsests?

This blog post discusses the concept of digital palimpsests and whether or not all digital images are, in fact, palimpsests.

Original book art is being created on the palimpsest principle, like this book found here by artist Denis Brown.

Palimpsest, a novel by Catherynne M. Valente, was shortlisted for the 2010 Hugo Award in the Best Novel Category, and this Palimpsest Bee Compass Pendant was created RockLove in honor of that book.

Style Court already posted this word of the day with some great palimpsest artwork images.

That's the beauty of learning a new word like this (combined with the power of the internet) - one Google search leads to hours of other types of new discoveries.

Word of the Day: Lagniappe

I can't wait to receive my lagniappe, coming in the mail, and from a Southern-speaking friend at that!

Word of the Day

I'm currently reading How Picturebooks Work by Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott - no, not as a bit of light reading, but actually for grad school - and came across this word today:

Portmanteau

in this sentence: "Tenniel also chose to illustrate such verbal images as the Mock Turtle, and nonsensical portmanteau constructions such as Rocking-horse-fly and Bread-and-butter-fly" (213). What a neat word, I thought to myself, I wonder what it means. One of the reasons I wondered that is because, (besides being slightly obsessed with anything Alice in Wonderland-related), to me it seemed like one of those words that originally meant one thing, but over time had come to have all sorts of other meanings, and was being used in one of those secondary meaning ways in this very passage.
And wouldn't you know it? I was right.

Definition: 1. a case or bag to carry clothing in while traveling, esp. a leather trunk or suitcase that opens into two halves; 2. a word or morpheme whose form and meaning are derived from a blending of two or more distinct forms (as smog from smoke and fog)

Fascinating, no?

But it gets better!

I did a basic Google search for images, and the most amazing things popped up, one of which was this blog named Willy-nilly! At least one of you out there knows of my affection for the term "willy-nilly" (sometimes used in the phrase "willy-nilly style"), and now to discover a blog by the name, a blog which they, themselves, had already done a post on the word portmanteau, well, as you can imagine, this is a Red Letter Day in my book. Here's an actual blog named Portmanteau, and here's A.Word.A.Day's more in-depth definition of the word, if you're at all interested.

Just had to share. And now, back to those papers!

Save the Words

I love Shelf Awareness. Ok, I'll admit it, sometimes I let them pile up for a day or few in my inbox, but I always enjoy them when I read (ahem. skim. ahem) them, looking for that little tidbit that'll pop out at me and make my week. I found this beauty a few weeks ago and it's been a delightful little online toy ever since.

It's free to become a member, so of course I joined right away and began adopting words as fast as my fingers could click. Want to know the first word they suggested I save?

Lambition, v. art of licking or lapping

Right...

Here's the word I chose to adopt (after I adopted that first one, of course):

Antipelargy, n. reciprocal or mutual kindness; love and care of children

That's much better. I love it when my angel and devil sides can have fun together. (Don't worry, the devil side is staying far away from children.)

What words have you adopted lately?

Writing Prompt One

For whatever reason, I'm finding it difficult to sit down and make the time to write. You'd think with no more class twice a week nor the homework required for them, I’d be writing reams every day. Sadly, this is not the case. While I want to blame it on the myriad of other interesting things I’ve found to do with that “free time”, I have to admit to a certain lack of inspiration. Some of the voices have become more subdued. As odd as it sounds, I have to chalk it up to my own summertime happiness; I seem to write better when I’m angsty and stressed (if I can find the time – go figure, huh?). I think it also has to do with the lack of a weekly writing group, like the one I have during my actual school year. This will not do, I’ve told myself, and as a result of last weekend’s grad school BBQ, I’ve made a firm resolution to write a little bit, if not every day, then certainly every week.

To get back in the spirit of things, I've decided to post my weekly responses to a writing prompt featured on this blog. The blog belongs to (or is written by) a former professor of mine, Jo Knowles, who has one published teen novel (Lessons From a Dead Girl) and is eagerly awaiting the publication of her second (Jumping Off Swings). When she was my professor, we would begin each class with an 8 minute writing prompt – she would give us the prompt, we would scribble away furiously for 8 minutes, and then go around the room reading these little unedited gems of whatever monthly, weekly, or daily neurosis had worked its way into our creative brains. We all agreed that those prompts were the best way to begin any creative writing class. In my own experience, the first inkling of what is now my teen novel-in-progress came out of one of these prompts, so I owe Jo quite a lot.

As much as I would like to commit to “every Monday morning at x-o’clock, I will sit down for this 10-minute writing exercise,” the reality of that happening is a little shoddy at best. Instead, I will firmly announce that sometime over the course of a week, I will answer the call of the prompt, and will not only write it, but will also post it for the world to see and possibly comment upon, if they so see fit. Comments are accepted, though not expected, and they don’t have to be nice either, feel free to tell me my writing is crap. I can take it.

Of course I’ve taken so long to write this post announcing my intention, that I have not left myself any time to actually answer this week’s prompt. I’ll have to get back to you on that. Stay tuned!

Word of the day: Awry

I like this word because it’s fun to say with a silly inflection, and also can be defined with one-word definitions that also both start with “a”.

Definition: 1) askew; 2) amiss

Word of the Day

Second word I've consciously added to my vocabulary - one I probably should have known a long time ago:

Propinquity
(Not to be confused with the obscure, one-record-producing, acoustic folk rock band from Colorado by this name; nor is it to be confused with one of the lost songs by The Monkees, also by this name. What is it with bad music and this word? I think it deserves a cooler reference/association. Sorry if I've just offended any Monkees fans.)

The word was first discovered (by me) in a Gina Barreca column in the passage:
"Propinquity is a poor basis for life-long passion. Just because you brush up against somebody in the dark a few times doesn't mean you have to vow to love them forever." Well said, Gina, well said.

Definition: 1. nearness in place, proximity (dictionary.com), 2. kinship (American Heritage Dictionary, 3. one of the main factors leading to interpersonal attraction (wikipedia.com)

According to wikipedia, the propinquity effect is the tendency for people to form friendships or romantic relationships with those whom they encounter often.

There's an actual term for that? I thought that was called "smart livin'". Or maybe, "how real life works for those who are not agoraphobic". Apparently "propinquity effect" is the more technical description. Mental note.

Word of the Day

I learned a new word today.
Literati.
(Not to be confused with the Illuminati - a sort-of secret society that is both myth and possibly real, immortalized in the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie.)

I discovered this word in an email from my mother and so promptly looked it up in the dictionary (like she taught me to).

Definition: 1. persons of scholarly or literary attainments; intellectuals (courtesy of dictionary.com) 2. The literary intelligentsia (courtesy of the American Heritage Dictionary) 3. Also refers to a type of bonsai tree, a style of painting, Confucianism, and a Scrabble game (courtesy of wikipedia.com)

I have a thing about collecting words. Some of my favorite book related words are colporteur (a peddler of books - my job) and bibliophile (a person who loves or collects books -my obsession). Some of my favorite non-book related words are surly (churlishly rude or bad-tempered - what I often feel but try not to be), tragic (extremely mournful, melancholy, or pathetic - a word WAY overused by local college students), lollygag (to waste time by puttering aimlessly; dawdle - this one mostly because of A League of Their Own and Tom Hanks's immortal words "You lollygag around the infield. You lollygag around the outfield. What does that make you? LOLLYGAGGERS!"), and vivacious (lively; animated; gay - and no, not just because the word gay is in the definition). Those are not my only favorite words, but they're the ones I could think of at this moment.

Last word of the day - Sonyak. Sounds like it should be the name of a Japanese electronics brand, but instead, it's a word of made-up genius that my family uses. It should be used in this way: "Those jeans are SOnyak." As in Bad. Can also be used as a name. I once named a fish that.