Tag: vocabulary

Re: Quaint

I used this word in a recent game of Scrabble. I got a score of 66 because I had the Q tile on a triple letter score where an I tile was exposed at a corner intersection, so I could get two words for a single play! I felt that Qi circulating as a life force of victory. My wife later captured a coveted seven letter word besting me and raising the ceremonial cup. Scrabble is a quaint game.

Quaint is the kind of word that, if used more often, has the potential to change the mood of a nation. I’m not talking MAGA, move back in time, dump progress, that sort of thing. No! Quaint is a beautiful old English word, rich with various meanings and applications. Quaint could be used in the context of a cleverly devised construction such as: “What a quaint looking chair!” Most people might use the Q word as a reflection on cuteness, which is OK but limiting. I wouldn’t put quaintness in the realm of a picture of a puppy, for example.

Currently my wife and I are providing eldercare to her 96 year old mother. This aged lady lives in our home and provides many moments of enjoyable exchanges. She says she loves a good conversation but will rarely start one; that’s quaint to me. Once I bring up a topic however, she will contribute some fascinatingly obscure points of view. When she uses words like Tarvia, or trousers, I feel a connection to another time while still being grounded in her present moment.

The other day a sales clerk in a store I was visiting gave me helpful feedback on where to find what I was looking for. We had a friendly dialogue which seemed to amuse her enough to say that she thought me charming. This remark made me suggest she had an old-fashioned way of speaking, to which she giggled, “People say I have an old soul.” The conversation that day, on reflection, could have been held in an old-timey London milliners shop, a scene in a play, or part of a serial book written by Charles Dickens. I would consider that master of the English language to be a Quaint-essential author.

Some words evoke a feeling rather than a fact. Quaint feels cozy, like a country cottage with a wood burning fireplace. Quaint exudes hearth and home. It is a timeless word, yet of-a-time. I wonder if a person could quaintly go about their business. I picture the character Geppetto doing just that as he pieces together the wooden parts that will become his Pinocchio, a puppet desiring to be a real boy. When I think of any sort of home-made craft my head spins with all the quaint aspects of bringing art to life.

My aging mother-in-law enjoys listening to her house mates play Scrabble. Even in her blindness she seems to gather warmth from the kitchen as my wife prepares a meal. She probably doesn’t realize that she is adding to the quaintness of our existence.

Re: Bond

Bond is a four letter word like Love. Of course when I say this word out loud I want to continue: “Bond, James Bond.” Being a film lover, I have much respect for the longevity of the Bond franchise (25 movies all told, unless you count the 2 rebel outliers). I read recently that the Broccoli caretakers are on the search for the newest iteration of this iconic spy character. Good luck to the producers as they navigate the sticky issues of misogyny, political correctness, sexual diversity, and national identities.

Love of any sort starts with attraction, then association, and eventually an adhesion of sorts. When we make a vow or sign a contract we have joined ourselves to another. Those ties are binding until we find the original circumstances have changed in some way or another. We all have certain attractions to things, both natural and unnatural. We feel bonded to our pets, our family, our friends, and our possessions. Those bonds can often be hard to explain, difficult to maintain and tricky to break. Emotion, history and convenience are involved.

My dad used a paper glue that brushed on and had light adhesive properties for his artwork. I think it was called rubber cement and it was designed for artists who needed something to tack gently to another surface, then after the material was removed the glue could be rolled off by your fingertips. He also used a fixative in a spray can to set his pastel drawings. I learned that, metaphorically speaking, some things are meant to stay fastened while other things may be better thought of as a hasty-note.

In high school I remember saying to a prospective girlfriend, “I’m stuck on you.” I think that’s a lyric in a song by Lionel Richie. Anyway that relationship didn’t stick around, so to speak. Much later I concluded my best emotional bonds were cohesive rather than adhesive. The former is a fixation on someone of similar disposition; like minds as it were. The latter is more about the phenomenon of opposites that attract (another great song by Paula Abdul). My longest lasting bonds have been with people, women in particular, who share similar philosophies of life with me. Birds of a feather, if you catch my drift.

There is a contrariness here when thinking of magnetic attraction. North and South poles on two magnets are going to snap together when brought close to each other. I’ve been with others where sparks fly causing fusion of ideas in spite of lack of commonality. This is not a case of like-attracting-like. It’s a question of Game On! And I know some successful human bondings that are the result of a connection between two people who many would consider to be polar opposites. In those cases there is mystery at work. Maybe it’s a hidden bond that holds them up along with the friction, like a bracket-less shelf.

I am bound to freak out when the next James Bond is announced. Don’t ask me to explain it.

Re: Set

Ready-Set-Go.

The set up for this page begins with an innocent looking three letter word. I start my blog postings with no set agenda (my work has been compared to an episode of The Simpsons). A single word is always the theme: In this case the word Set can stand alone or be incorporated into another word fragment. Read on and see how many references you can find. Report your findings to set the record straight. All set?

We all have a set of something: like golf clubs, luggage, cutlery, earrings, barbells, thimbles, or beer coasters. Sometimes the things we collect into sets are purposeful. Some folk can boast of having complete sets of things. I like to prune and harvest my own set of ideas about life. I choose to edit regularly so I don’t get set in my ways. As we age we collect a robust set of memories. And most old folks, including me, can set their mind to something and never let go of it, which can be upsetting to the younger generation.

As a kid, I liked watching cowboys shoot people on a TV set, while building a model battleship. As the glue set I would plan how I would re-enact a war scene. Back then every boy had a train set and every girl had a tea set. I see no sign that my grandkids are conforming to rigid cultural patterning like their grandfather. They wear pink if they want or dress as unicorns, dinosaurs or super heroes. As far as I can see there is no set idea regarding who they are or who they can become. Mindsets have changed.

I can’t believe the word Set is so ubiquitous! How many variations so far? Imagine you are an ESL student trying to sort through all these examples? Ok. Now visualize a stage set, which has pieces arranged in a setting to stimulate the minds of the audience. This set design is integral to the plot and to the actors who inhabit this temporary theatrical settlement. The play may be about an innocent man who has been set up or maybe the play’s about a dinner with friends and a grand table has been set with fancy china and a centrepiece.

My favourite activity in general is to set out on a journey. No matter whether it is a voyage of the mind or a geographical adventure. I usually set a goal for my escapade but I’ve been known to be spontaneous. I might set my watch to keep track. Or better still, setting an alarm will help if I get lost in my thoughts.

I’m feeling like I need a reset. Being silly helps me settle my nerves after a distressing news story. It’s a good thing I enjoy playing around with words. I’ve read that reading & writing is a way to prevent early onset dementia. Tennis may appeal to some, but going for sunset walks with my sweetheart keeps me feeling like a winner.

Game. Set. Match.

Re: Covid

Covid is a word that was not part of my vocabulary way back in December 2019. My blog postings are all about words that matter to me; words that create a thousand and one visuals in my brain; words that conjure up emotions and memories; words that have become as much a part of me as the bologna sandwiches I love to eat.

The word Covid has quickly found its way into dictionaries. Some may stick a number 19 onto it when they are speaking but I think the single C-word will persist throughout history. English language speakers regularly use about 20,000 words. Since December 2019, I suspect I’ve said Covid out loud every other day. Somedays I can’t stop talking about it. Here I’m writing  about my thoughts using Covid as a subject heading. Some English words come and go depending on relevance I guess. My wife sometimes teases me when I use a word like Trousers. She’ll say, with her eyebrows raised up to her hair line, “What century are you from?” I’m not anywhere near fluent in other languages, so I’ll try to do justice to my birth tongue, I’ll tell her. I can also baffle my bride with future words like Levidrome. I’m part of a growing group who is promoting its inclusion in the dictionary. It has been a fun pastime during Covid to share puzzles online as a way to maintain a semblance of social contact. I wrote a whole blog page on Levidrome. https://catchmydrift.blog/2020/06/22/re-levidrome/

Language changes with the times. Those born with a cell phone in their hands may shake their heads in disbelief when reading about someone using a phone booth. My grandfather used to love to entertain my children with tales of when his farmhouse got a wall phone that had to be cranked by hand in order to get the switchboard operator. Covid life has quickly become a before/after experience for many people in a similar way that people talk of life before/after computers or other profound moments in history.

Due to Covid, I’m beginning to forget how it felt to be in a crowd, in a restaurant, on a plane. I’m imagining my sons trying to explain the differences between then/now to my wee grandchildren. Questions of what it was like ‘before’ are no doubt becoming something that teachers must anticipate. Lesson plans involving how to keep Covid exposure to a minimum will be padded with discussions of the way it used to be when we crammed into a classroom. As a career teacher many of my happiest moments were when I planned a school wide assembly with guest actors, speakers or for awards ceremonies where three hundred or more squirmy bodies experienced each other in the gym for an hour of collective fun. The thought of that now makes me gasp at the risk for viral exposure. We didn’t think twice about it then.

Five years from now how will we talk about Covid?