Wordplay Wednesday™ November 25, 2015 – MEINY gobblers

Thankfully Gobbling with your Gaggle!

How MEINY* ways can you say family? This time of year we often see our close and extended family members much more than in the previous ten months.

So, if you’re preparing to mix with them this Thanksgiving week, take a break from your over-committed, overwhelmed, unrested mind and let it flow to the right side, for a fun challenge: how many descriptive words for a gathering of your clan (hint) can you dredge up?

 

Let me help you count the ways:

1) clan

2) gaggle

3) madding crowd

4) cluster

5) *MEINY! See – it wasn’t a typo. Yep, it’s today’s offering for Thanksgiving week’s Wordplay Wednesday. :-)

MEINIE or MEINY (māʹnē) – n. 1) [obsolete] feudal retainers or attendants, collectively; retinue or household; 2) [Scots.] a crowd; throng; multitude.

Whether you enjoy a crowd, gaggle, or meiny – or giving thanks in solitude this week (which I have done often over the years, when away from the madding crowd of family, and yes, I cook a turkey with all the trimmings, and give thanks that I can!), consider all that you have / enjoy, and all who / what make your life richer. Ask yourself, “What more can Ido?” ...

Wordplay Wednesday™ November 18, 2015 – Ennead 9

Number 9 … Number 9 … there’s a word for that …

ENNEAD (enʹē adʹ) – n. group or set of nine (books, gods, etc.).

Although the term is generally applied to groups of gods, our modern dictionary(ies) define ennead as any collection of nine – deities, things, persons, books, what-have-you. In mathematics it’s the sum of or the number nine.

Exploring Enneads in literary circles, you’ll also find reference to ancient philosopher, Plotinus’s writings, which were organized into fifty-four treatises in groups of nine, edited and compiled by his student, Porphyry (c. 270 AD).

In modern terms however, probably the most infamous ennead is The Beatles’ eerie loop intoning “Number 9” in the song, “Revolution 9” … do you know which album it appeared on?

Wordplay Wednesday™ November 11, 2015 – LENIS: Sound off

Let’s work up a sweat with the alphabet!

LENIS (leʹnis, laʹ-) – adj. Phonet. articulated with little muscle tension and little or no aspiration (smooth, soft, mild) —n. a lenis sound.

No, not lean us up against the jukebox …

Do you know that speaking can work up a sweat?! It’s true – tell that to your fitness coach. You’ll work harder on some words than others – I’m here to tip you off to the easier letters of the alphabet to use.

I’m all for easy if the results are the same, aren’t you?

Phonetically, when you speak, different letters require more or less effort to create either a soft – lenis – sound, or a harsher, harder – fortis – sound.

Wordplay Wednesday™ November 04, 2015 – Chaos into Peace

Oops! Missed Wednesday – Plan B

This week, since I missed Wordplay “Wednesday” we’re gonna switch it up to “Wayback Wordplay.” 

Nostalgic thoughts breed abstract, sometimes chaotic, reminiscing. 

http://lampshadeguy.tumblr.com/

In the 1960s and ‘70s things were volatile one day, giving way to Peace, Love, and Rock & Roll the next, much the same as today.

Just as jumbled in our jargon, we coined new words and mashed some together for a unique blend of slang. Traveling down California’s coast this week, I’m reminiscing and …

CHILLAXIN' – in the mid-1960s and early ‘70s to “chill” meant to relax – at some point, someone really wanted emphasis and squished the two words together for slang that lasted much of the latter decade. Cool, man …