Avoir La Molle

My son and I were talking on the phone today, and I told him that I was working on a paper for class that I was struggling with.  It is an academic assignment with no real room for creativity.  The professor selected the title which was also uninspiring.  Anyway I told my son that I just needed to slog through it and get it done so that I could enjoy a “snow day” or a day of doing just whatever I wanted to do.  He laughed and said, “I was just reading from a book called In Other Words on my iPad about a phrase that describes that.  It is avoir la molle.”

Then he sent me the spelling and definition from his iPhone.

His message:  Avoir la molle:  Swiss idiom for a kind of heavy lethargy that invade with a listless unwillingness to do any work  (from my son’s iPad book, In Other Words by C. J. Moore).

Now I am inspired to finish my paper so that I can plan my avoir la molle day, hopefully for Thursday.  I may not have heavy lethargy, but I am looking forward to my own personal “snow day” which is a day that everything stops for you and you get to do whatever you want – however little or however much.

Avoir La Molle Day – Tentatively Scheduled for March 3

purchase of a iPhone – maybe

shopping – definitely

lunch with a friend or son – maybe

extra sleep – oh yeah!

sunshine – I hope so! Not really under my control though.

Jammie day all day long – it’s always a possibility

recreational reading – quite possibly

In the meantime, between now and avoir la molle, there is much to do, beginning with at least a rough draft of this very uninspiring academic assignment.

As far as the uninspiring academic assignment, you could say “it is what it is.”  Yes it is an assignment to be completed for a professor who really probably does not want to read seven papers with the same title.  Of course, with the multiple opinions in the class that could be highly entertaining.  I would probably enjoy it more than the professor.

“. . . or is it” is a more apropos response, because I have really had to think through my response and all the intricacies and connections that have caused me such grief in bringing this assignment to a completed whole.

Time to write somewhere else for now.  Pushing through the avoir la molle feeling for today!

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Unfriend

Oxford University Press picked “unfriend”as 2009’s “word of the year” . . .

Read all about Unfriend: Oxford\’s 2009 Word of the Year or Dictionary word of the year: \’unfriend\’

Oxford defines “unfriend,” a verb, thusly: “To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.”

The unfriend conversation also includes

whether or not the word should be unfriend or defriend

how to actually unfriend someone on Facebook

who unfriends people

why people unfriend their  Facebook friends

Unfriend just sounds so unfriendly.

So the question is . . .

If you unfriend someone, were you ever really friends?

This question leads to so many more, but it’s time to sleep.

Good night, friends!

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nEw WorDs

Some new words added to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary – 11th Edition.

cardioprotective – serving to protect the heart

fan fiction – stories involving popular fictional characters that are written by fans and often posted on the internet, called also fan fic

flash mob – a group of people summoned (as by e-mail or text message) to a designated location at a specific time to perform an indicated action before dispersing

frenemy – one who pretends to be a friend but in actually an enemy

green collar – of, relating to or involving actions for protecting the natural environment

locavore – one who eats food grown locally whenever possible

sock puppet – 1. hand puppet made with a sock  2. a false online identity used for deceptive purposes

What do our new words tell us about the world we live in?  What are we concerned about?  Thinking about?

…health concerns

…technology

…relationships

What do the words we use say about us?

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Higgledy Piggledy Cognition

Have fun with that title!  I found a new word combo that is fun.   Look it up here in case you don’t know what it means.  I made it easy, but it’s really more fun trying to type it in correctly.

Anyway, here we go on this Tuesday morning.

Personal diaries used to be kept hidden from everyone.  Now personal diaries are blogs for the world to see.

We build friendships and then our friends move away.  😦   Time for grieving again.

We move “on”, but our past struggles to re-enter and dominate our lives and thinking.

The highest calling in a Christian’s life is to love, but we let our personal opinions and agendas divide us from the world and each other and create a lot of fear about who has it all figured out.  Let’s agree to talk with each without building walls between us over things like politics, religious beliefs, personal preferences of music, fashion, style, etc.

If Jesus physically walked the earth today, I wonder what He would look like, where He would hang out, who He would choose to spend the day with, who would His disciples be today…If we check out the New Testament, I think many people would be surprised by Jesus and what He would do.

It is so much fun to respond in ways that people don’t expect.  Wonder what that says about them?

Well, how is your higgledy piggledy cognition today?  Are you cognitive today?

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Words

Words.  You have to love them.  What would we do without words?  We would live in isolation from each other.  Communication would consist of what?  hand signals?  which are words again – symbols with meaning or from http://www.dictionary.com “words are a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning.”

The questions are

• Do you even think about the words you use?
• Do you speak with great care or carelessly?
• Are you aware of the impact of your words for good or evil?
• Do you believe that your words last forever in people’s lives?
• Do you think it is important to increase your vocabulary or do you know enough words to communicate your message?
• What does the future look like for communicating our words?  Shorter, more concise as in texting or new communication tools to more fully share our message?
• Are words a barrier in our communication? or are we the barrier in communication?  or both?
• Do we use words to hide ourselves?  our thoughts?  our motives? or do we use words to express who we truly are?

Words are valuable.  Use them wisely and carefully.  Learn some new ones it can be fun.

doughty (DOW-tee), adj. marked by fearless resolution, valiant, brave  – from http://www.dictionary.com Word of the Day

Be a doughty people today as you live today.  Who knows how your message will spread?  Words are the greatest tool in communication, but also the greatest barrier.  Use them thoughtfully.  They can change your life and someone else’s life forever.

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Brilliant Minds

Because we all want to make the most of our brilliant minds and in honor of the 1,000,000th word added to the English language on June 10th, 2009, I have selected a few words to increase our vocabulary prowess and maybe increase the cool and hip factor of those on the sidelines (more mature audience).

Drum roll please.

The 1,000,000th word selected was Web 2.0 which denotes the next generation of World Wide Web products and services.

Now for some fun new words that have been added.

WOOFS – well off older folks – Love this and them!

Swipeout – an ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because the magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use – Has this ever happened to you?

Twitterrhea – waaaaaaaay too much Twitter – Do you know of anyone suffering from this disease?

Stress puppy – a person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny – Any names coming to your brillant mind?

Wonderstar – overnight sensation excelling all reasonable expectations like Susan Boyle – May you all become wonderstars this week!

Brilliant minds go forth and share your new words!

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