Things are crazy, time is scarce, so this will be brief. Today, April 1, isn’t just April Fools Day. It’s also the beginning of National Poetry Month. Next Friday, I’ll have some great ideas for getting into poetry this month. Until then, meditate on one poem (you know, song lyrics are basically poetry) and awaken your inner poet. Click the button below to help:
Thanks for getting poetic with me!
My book club is reading Orphan Train this month, and it’s a great novel for discussion. It also has a few words I had to look up, including pusillanimous. Whew, that’s a mouth full, isn’t it? I’ll include a pronunciation guide. 😉
If you like learning new words, join the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme, where bloggers share interesting words or new words they’ve learned from their reading.
Here’s the quote from Orphan Train:
Ralph hovers, uncertain. As always. She knows he’s caught between her and Dina, and utterly unequipped to handle either one of them. She almost feels sorry for him, the pusillanimous wretch.
Pusillanimous \pyü-sǝ-lǝ-’la-nə-məs\ adjective from Latin pusillus very small (diminutive of pusus boy) + animus spirit
from Merriam-Webster
Can you think a synonym for pusillanimous or share a pusillanimous character from movies or fiction? I suggest the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me today!
Daughter had her writing SOL last week – for those of you who don’t live in Virginia, “SOL” stands for Standards of Learning, standardized tests used to assess student competence at the end of a course. SOLs have dramatically affected the state of education in our Commonwealth, forcing teachers to link all of their instruction to SOLs and to sweat every spring in fear that their students won’t do well on the exams and, consequently, jobs might be in jeopardy. The current environment emphasizes spoon-feeding over exploration and regurgitation over problem solving.
Whoops, I got carried away. Let me step down off my box and continue with the topic of this post… Ahem.
Daughter didn’t know when to use italics and when to use quotes when using titles in an essay. My Word Nerd gut told her this: For big items, like books, movies, plays, use italics. For smaller things, like magazine articles or song titles, use quotes. I wasn’t sure about poems.
Here’s what my trusty resource, Grammatically Correct by Anne Stilman, has to say on the matter:
Italicize the following:
Use quotation marks to show:
Word Nerd Note: These are conventions, not absolutes, and it is acceptable to use italics or quotes or nothing to set off the items listed above. For bibliographies, you can use a style guide (usually your teacher or publisher suggests one) to determine what rule to follow, and if you have no specifications, just be consistent with your formatting.
Which of these need italics and which need quotations, according to the convention above?
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
I’m currently reading Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline, a lovely novel that alternates between the present and the early 20th century and combines interesting historical fiction with the theme of searching for a sense of family. It came highly recommended, and I’m glad I’m reading it.
My wondrous word for today comes from this quote from Orphan Train:
I follow her down the hall and through the door into a parlor, where a plump, bosomy woman with a nimbus of downy gray hair is sitting on a rose velvet sofa next to a glowing fire.
I always thought a nimbus was someone foolish, like a nincompoop. I think I got that from a cartoon of my childhood. Clearly, that doesn’t work here.
If you like to explore the meanings of new words, visit the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme, hosted by Kathy of Bermuda Onion.
Here’s what you need to know about nimbus:
nimbus \ˈnim-bəs\ noun, from the Latin for rainstorm or cloud; probably akin to Latin nebula cloud
From Merriam-Webster
Here’s a picture of a painting of Jesus with a nimbus around his head to signify his divinity:
First, have any of you heard of my definition of nimbus (someone silly or foolish?) Second, can you use nimbus in a sentence? Here’s my try:
After the phone call from Trevor, Katrina spent the evening walking around in a nimbus of bliss and was oblivious to her brother’s taunts.
Good luck, and thanks for getting nerdy with me.
A discussion with hubby prompted this question: Is alot a word? He swears he’s seen it in published pieces.
Here’s the short answer: no. If you try to look up “alot” in the dictionary, you’ll get nothing. The proper way to say that a large bunch of something exists is to say “a lot.” So, starting now, strike it out of your blog posts and school papers. “Alot” doesn’t exist.
Along the same lines, alright isn’t necessarily proper either. According to Merriam-Webster, alright means all right, and but “some critics have insisted that all right is all wrong”. 🙂 It’s used more often in informal writing and fiction. So, use at your own risk.
And finally, awhile is another “a-word” surrounded by confusion and controversy. As I related in my post on awhile, there are three things to consider when using awhile vs a while:
Are there any other “a-words” that give you trouble? How about other words that have been contracted but perhaps shouldn’t be? I’d love some fodder for future posts.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
This is my third post for the Who I Am project, a year-long writing adventure focusing on all the little things that make me, me. This month’s prompt: habits.
I’m gonna admit something embarrassing: I was a pudgy kid.
I liked to play outside, but I also liked to eat. And watch re-runs of Happy Days and Welcome Back, Kotter every day after school. Eventually, those habits left a mark around my middle, and Mom had to order “pretty plus” sizes for me from the Sears catalog.
Fortunately, before my teenage years hit, I learned to balance these indulgent habits with some healthier ones. Several influences conspired to create this shift:
First, in sixth grade I started playing soccer and realized I liked running, sports, and competition. One of my few good memories from middle school comes from Presidential Physical Fitness testing in seventh grade, when we had to run the 600 (the 1980’s version of the mile). I was in third place on the final stretch and closing in on the boy in second. He glanced back at me and said, “Yikes! It’s a girl!” The fear in his eyes was exhilarating. My love of running began.And so a habit was born.
Thirty years later, I still exercise to manage my weight and my stress. Yes, I have four children, and running is my Valium. The kids and hubby know: when Mom is cranky, send her out for a run. I don’t need a race to motivate me, although they are fun. I don’t need a running partner to keep me accountable, although a long run is so much more therapeutic when swapping rants with a good friend. Unfortunately, every friend I’ve ever run with has moved away or started to work full-time, so I’m currently hesitant to enlist running companionship. But, I know someone training for her first 5K, and, my runner’s enthusiasm is kicking in…
My habit has a positive focus, fitness and health, but I can’t deny that two negative emotions also drive me: the fear of gaining weight and the fear of poor health. Although I’ve got 45 years of wisdom to my name, I still have issues with body image. When I tell my daughter, “Your body is strong and beautiful and you can do awesome things with it, so enjoy it!” I’m speaking to both of us. Also, I spent my formative years watching my mother’s body deteriorate, and it scared me. I exercise to stay strong and functional for as long as I can. Aging is inevitable, poor health doesn’t have to be. (Not that Mom could do anything to prevent her illness, but it doesn’t hurt to try…)
As my Oma (grandmother) always said, “It’s a great life, if you don’t weaken.”
What is a habit defines you, and when did you start practicing it? I’d love to know more about who you are…
See what others have to say about quirks and habits via the Who I Am project, hosted by Dana and Bev.
Thanks for stopping by!