11.07.08
Posted in Main, Word for the Day at 10:12 am by Holder
Corn: a small hard seed or seedlike fruit, especially the seed of any cereal plant; kernel; in England, wheat; in Scotland and Ireland, oats; grain [Websters 1957]
Maize: a kind of grain that grows in kernels on large ears, also called Indian corn or just corn in the US, Canada, and Australia [Webster’s 1957]
Corn: The various cereal or farinaceous grains which grow in ears, and are used for food, as wheat, oats, rye, barley, maize [Webster’s 1879]
Farinaceous: Consisting or made of meal or flour; yielding farina or flour [Webster’s 1879]
Farina: The flour of any species of corn, or starchy root, such as the potato, etc. [Webster’s 1879]
Of course there is also corny humor and corns which grow on feet, not to mention corn liquor. And there is probably a good bit of all those types of corn in Wayne County, OH. But in this photo it is corn being transferred after harvesting into a truck near Wooster.
Permalink
11.03.08
Posted in Main, Word for the Day at 2:39 pm by Holder
“Progress” improvement, advance toward perfection or to a higher state
Sometimes progress hurts. Wooster, in Wayne County Ohio, is one of those old towns in which the buildings were built right next to one another, sharing walls in common. Walmart moved in and built at the north end of Wooster and then many new businesses followed. This resulted in the decline of downtown Wooster in spite of many efforts to keep it going. There are some buildings for sale and some that have had their fronts changed over the years. Recently the new wonderful library was built in the downtown area and there are hopes that will help to anchor some businesses to that area. So far I don’t see that happening. On our recent visit we noticed that the only department store in the downtown was closing. This is very sad to me because I see a lovely little downtown area disappearing.
Permalink
10.26.08
Posted in Main, Word for the Day at 12:56 pm by Holder
Censor: to examine literature, motion pictures, [news], etc to remove or prohibit anything considered unsuitable
Ok, I have held back on this rant just as long as I could. But now is the time to speak out. The Democrats/the Left for years were the only ones heard from on issues and elections. Then the silent Republicans/Conservatives finally began to speak up. When they did, the Left was outraged that we should have our voices heard. They want us to shut up and not ask hard questions of their candidates and not question the people with whom they have associated that may have affected their way of thinking. Or was it that the Candidate of the Left has sought out those with whom he agreed and now we are questioning those associations. Well, guess what… We won’t shut up and we will continue to ask the hard questions. What was Senator Biden so incensed about in Florida? Were the questions too difficult for you, Joe? Are you so used to a pandering leftist media asking you easy, fluff questions that you are just overwhemed by the “guts” of someone who asks you tough questions that point out your true politics? You acted as though that news interviewer didn’t have the right to ask you those questions. If the everyday average person dares to ask a question you don’t like, the Left proceeds to try to destroy their reputation and shut them up. Guess what, we have the right to ask candidates questions that WE think are important. And they are not questions about their wardrobe, or their glasses. They are questions about issues, political beliefs, and character!
And here I sit, in Ohio, wondering if my vote will be cancelled out by some moron who came to Ohio from another state to vote for the Leftist Candidate. That is called voting FRAUD! And the Democratic government of Ohio doesn’t have the guts to prosecute the offenders.
Peace and Love,
Holder
Have Courage!
Permalink
10.06.08
Posted in Main, Word for the Day at 3:01 pm by Holder
Means
resources, property, riches
Debt
something owed by one person to another: an obligation or liability to pay or return something
Something that has amazed me in this ongoing financial trouble in our country is the idea that businesses need to borrow money to make their payroll. Granted, I am not a business type person, but it just seems that if a business is run soundly, that they would have each payroll in reserve ahead of time. It just seems that a company isn’t on very sound footing if they have to borrow to pay their employees. But then, too many in America have the idea that living on credit is just a fine idea. Others understand that it is important to live “within your means.” When you get that monthy or weekly check from your employer, it is not really your money. The part left over after you pay all your bills is the part that is yours. You have already spent the other part and people are depending on you to pay up. As the definition of “debt” says, you have an obligation to pay.
Permalink
10.01.08
Posted in Main, Word for the Day at 6:40 pm by Holder
Wonky won.ky
shaky, tottery, feeble
Gaffe
A foreign noun [French] which means “blunder” or faux pas
I heard someone say today that they were a “wonk” when participating in a debate, at least that is what I thought she said. I had heard the word and knew it didn’t have what you would call a positive connotation. When I looked it up, the noun “wonk” wasn’t in the dictionary, but the adjective, wonky, was there. My dictionary is old, so “wonk” might be in the most current one. In an interview or a political debate, you don’t want to be wonky, that’s for sure. We’ll see after Thursday night if anyone comes across as “wonky” in the Vice Presidential debate. I just hope that if there are any references to American history, that there are no gaffes. You’d think that our elected officials wouldn’t be that bad at American history considering what is said about needing to know history if you don’t want to repeat its mistakes. Some others in Congress have very short memories too and can’t even recall recent history. Or maybe they would prefer just to forget their history and hope that nobody else remembers it either.
Permalink
09.29.08
Posted in Main, Word for the Day at 3:09 pm by Holder
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
Permalink
09.25.08
Posted in Main, Word for the Day at 9:49 pm by Holder
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.
Permalink
09.24.08
Posted in Main, Word for the Day at 2:37 pm by Holder
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.
Permalink
Posted in Main, Word for the Day at 2:21 pm by Holder
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!
Permalink
09.22.08
Posted in Main, Word for the Day at 2:52 pm by Holder
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.
Permalink
« Previous entries ·
