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gluttonous glut.n.nes
comes from “glutton”, a person who consumes too much
purveyor per.va.er
a person who supplies something
pork
money,position, etc. received from the government through political patronage
patronage pa.tren.ij
the power to appoint to political office or grant other favors, especially political ones
Synonym: United States Congress
Depression
In economics: a period marked by slackening of business activity, much unemployment, falling prices and wages
The word strikes fear in our hearts because my generation grew up with stories about the depression. My father was lucky enough to get work with the Civilian Conservation Corps and worked in California when he was single. That got him through the worst of it, I guess, and he came back to Ohio to work. My aunt told of heating food on the furnace because her family couldn’t really afford to run the stove. Their families didn’t have money to begin with, so they didn’t lose money at the time of the stock market crash. But they still suffered as a result of the crash. My mom told of having holes in her stockings and quitting school because of remarks made to her about it. When you can’t buy a simple pair of stockings to cover your legs, things are bad. It was sad because she was a bright, intelligent person and would have benefited by that education. It would be tragic to see another depression.
The Emblem came from the inside of a little old trunk we found at a garage sale.
Here is a pdf from the National Archives that tells about the CCC. The information is on page 3.
Apathy pronounced ap.e.thy
indifference; listless condition; lack of interest or emotion
Empathy pronounced em.pe.thy
the projection of one’s own personality into the personality of another in order to understand him better; intellectual identification of oneself with another
This morning on Fox cable, one of the guests used the word apathy instead of empathy in reference to trying to understand those who got mortgages that they could in no way afford. The hosts sort of cringed, but didn’t say anything about the mistake. We definitely shouldn’t have apathy toward our country’s financial difficulties, and I’m not sure we should have empathy either for those who caused it, especially when we have tried so hard to live within our means for so many years. If someone suddenly lost a job or became ill and could no longer pay, that would be deserving of empathy. We often drive through a neighborhood and wonder how the people could afford those half-million-dollar houses. Now we know.
Feud pronounced fud
a bitter, deadly quarrel; especially, such a quarrrel between clans or families
History channel had an ad for a program last weekend and they spelled this word “fued”. Come on, let’s try to spell things right out there in tv-land!
Earmark
To set aside or reserve for a special purpose
In reference to bills in Congress, we used to call these “riders”. This is costing the American taxpayer millions of dollars as Congress uses earmarks to buy votes from their constituents or to send tax dollars to their area that benefit them is some personal way. Wasteful spending by Congress is the same as wasteful spending on the part of the average American. And that is what got us into this banking mess. Buying more that you can really afford is not the way to live. The right to buy a house presupposes and requires the ability to make the payments for that house. We have the right of the pursuit for happiness, not the guarantee of happiness. We have to work for what we want. Living above your means is not a responsible way to live. And our government has been doing the same thing……living above its means. Borrowing money from China is not the way to run our country.
Hysterogenic his.ter.e.jen.ik
causing hysteria
Laconic le.kon.ik
expressing much in few words; pithy; concise
Here’s an article about my cousin, John Walter.
The Boston Globe
What they say in the article is true. He was a journalist from the time he could hold a pencil, I think. He used to publish a little newspaper about both sides of his family. Everyone got such a kick out of it. So when he became a journalist, nobody was surprised. He will really be missed.
Irena Sendler deserved the Nobel Prize and lost to Al Gore. Read the story at Snopes.com.
