Today’s word comes from the Urban Dictionary. I picked it because I thought it was pretty funny.
Child supervision, my fellow wordphiliacs is when an older person, especially a parent, needs a tech-savvy kid to help him/her with computers or other electronic devices. Let’s see child supervision in a sentence:
“Jimmy, could you send your kid over to help me with my facebook? I’m afraid I might get a virus without some child supervision.”
I’ve heard the phrase ‘making money hand over fist’ many times. Unfortunately, it was not being used to describe me. If I had to guess where the phrase came from without doing any research, I would have probably said the phrase originated with games shows. I imagine a person in one of those money filled booths with money swirling all around them, quickly grabbing at it ‘hand over fist’ in a desperate effort to get all the money before the buzzer sounds and the off limit money floats slowly to the ground.
But I would have been wrong. The phrase ‘hand over fist’ originates from seaman who had to reach the rigging of sailboats by climbing ‘hand over hand’ up a thick rope. This same ‘hand over hand’ action was needed to haul in big catches. Being able to do this efficiently was a source of pride for many sailors. Around the beginning of the 19th century, the phrase morphed into ‘hand over fist’. ‘Hand over fist’ soon began to describe a person rising up the ropes in business rapidly and hauling in big catches (lotsa moolah).
Are you a spelunker? Yes? No? Maybe, if you knew what one was? Don’t worry being a spelunker is all that bad. Although it does sound like the nickname the kid in third grade, who nobody wants to sit by, would have. In fact, some people think it’s the only way to be. Me, myself, I’ll pass. A spelunker, my fellow wordphiliacs is a person who explores caves, especially as a hobby.
I love Starbucks’ coffee fraps. And when I say love, that is not an exaggeration. You could probably inveigle me into almost anything if you had one of those cool, sweet, coffee treats. Helping you move, babysitting your eight kids, or driving the get away car just doesn’t seem like a bad idea when a coffee frappucino is involved.
Inveigle, if you don’t know,means to entice or persuade by guile.
I’ve been a wordphiliac for a very long time. I remember tearing open my birthday gifts on my 9th birthday to find a copy of “Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein. I couldn’t have been happier to receive that collection of poems even as my cousins taunted me for being such a nerd. In their world, a little kid who got a book as a gift was not happy about it.
I’m remembering that day, because April is National Poetry Month. And I remembering the poem the book was titled after.
Where the Sidewalk Ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.
Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.
Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.
And I’m remembering searching for that place where the sidewalk ends where the world was different, better than the one I lived in. Where I could do anything and everything I wanted. Where kids ruled and there were no rules.
Needless to say, I never found the place where white grass grows but my search for the place where the sidewalk ends has not stopped, although my vision of it is a little different now. When you grow up believing in a place where the sidewalk ends it’s not so hard to imagine a place where every human is free and has access to clean water, education, and health care. A place where you can trust the food you eat and the air you breathe. A place where nature is respected and protected. A place where the dollar bill isn’t God and what’s on the inside matters more than the outside. Yeh, like a said, my vision of the place where the sidewalk ends is a little different now.
Words can change the world.
I believe in the power of positive thoughts and words. I respect words and I choose them very carefully because unlike some believe, I know that they are more than just words.
The above video is an interview with Japanese author, Masaru Emoto who claims to have concrete evidence of just how powerful words are. I hope you find this as thought provoking as I did. Enjoy the video. I’m off to buy some jars.
I do a bit of woolgathering. Ok, a lot a bit of woolgathering. Hey, I’m an only child. And sometimes all I had was my woolgathering to keep me entertained. My woolgathering could take me anywhere, even out of this galaxy or back in time. My woolgathering made me princess, ninja, and a pony.
Woolgathering my fellow wordphiliacs is indulgence in idle imagination or a foolish pursuit. You should try it sometimes.
