We’ve all witnessed a parent a brimming with pride because their baby has spoken their first word. A baby’s first word is usually mama or dada and this only adds to the parents excitement as they see some significance in this. Sorry to burst any parental bubbles, but research has discovered that it is the repetition of sounds in the words mama and papa that help the baby recognize the words and in turn say them.
In a study conducted by Judit Gervain, words were recorded and then played for 22 infants. Brain scans taken while the babies were listening to the words revealed that brain activity only occurred when they heard the words with repeating sounds. Words like nana, moo-moo, cha-cha along with mama and dada all created great activity in the infants brains, some who were only days old.
It seems like the whole world is subconsciously aware of this. Nearly every language has repeating sounds in their ‘baby talk”. Now it seems like we are left with the proverbial chicken and egg. Have babies adopted to adults or have adults adopted to the babies?
Mark McGwire’s confession about past steroid use was not that much of a shocker for most people. People had suspected for a while, that a little juice was behind his rise to the home run throne. It was bit of shock to me seeing as I really did not know exactly who he was.
I know absolutely nothing about baseball. In fact, until this recent admission of steroid use, I thought Mark McGwire was some how behind the famous line- “Show me the Money” uttered by Cuba Gooding Jr. Can you see how I got that mixed up? It was a movie about sports and Maguire somebody and … well I just did.
Yesterday I ran across an article “McGwire’s feckless admission is too late”. The first thing I thought (in true wordphiliac style) was the author should have wrote “feckless confession” because the “fe’s” would have played nicely with each other.
The other thing I thought was, what does feckless mean? So I pulled out my trusty Oxford dictionary and took a look. It seems that there are two definitions for the word. One meaning feeble and ineffective. The other meaning unthinking and and irresponsible.
Since I’m sure Mark McGwire did a tremendous amount of thinking and planning his words before making his announcement, the first definition is more appropriate. Would you look at that. Mark Mcgwire is #1 again.
You’re thinking to yourself you wouldn’t be caught dead with a dog head on, right? You’re probably thinking the woman in the picture is a little light in the self-esteem department. And you’re probably wondering why anyone would engage in such self-deprecating behavior. Well, I’m wondering why they call it self-deprecating.
When you add the word self in front of another word it means to do the action mentioned to one’s self. Self-medicate, self-taught, self-appointed, etc.
The word deprecate means to express disapproval or to wish or pray for the down fall of something. When the word self is added to it, logically it does not add up to the definition of self-deprecating.
To depreciate means to devalue or lessen. Depreciate would have been the better choice to add a “self” to, to get the intended meaning of self-deprecating. But self-depreciating isn’t a word. Go figure.
Happy New Year my fellow wordphiliacs! It’s out with the old and in with the new. According to Lake Superior State University there are few words we need to toss out with 2009 as well.
Since 1977, the University has released a list of words that they have deemed overused, misused, or just plain wrong that should be banned from the mouths and minds of the American public. Some of the words (or phrases) on list include “to big to fail”, “shovel ready”, and “Czar”. 2009 was a big year in politics, which means a big year for politicky (I’m using my creative license) words.
While, I have no problem co-signing most of the words on the list, one word made the list that I kind of have a thing for- bromance. I want to know what is wrong with a little bromance? If your not familiar with the combo-word (brother and romance), it refers to two heterosexual guys who have a really close platonic relationship. I happen to like the word, both phonetically and conceptually, and I don’t find it annoying like other combo words. Ahem… frienemy (friend and enemy).
I think we should keep this one alive as well as the idea behind it. Friendships are valuable and a bromance is…well, just cool.
Shockwave.com has over 45 word games. There are some games on there that you might be familiar with like “text twist” and “bookworm”, but they are many unique and interesting games as well.
One cool thing about Shockwave.com is their varying levels of membership. If you don’t want to sign up with the site, you don’t have to. You can just play and there are many great games at this level. You can also sign up, for free, get a cool avatar and participate in the sites raffles. Want more? You can sign up for “Club Shockwave” or “Shockwave exclusive” at a cost and gain access to more games and more functions.
I’ve played all of the word games on this site and “Super Word Scrapers” is my pick. In this game, you build words from letters like most other word games, but during “intermissions” you get a chance to earn bonuses by answering trivia questions. It’s this mix of word game and trivia that makes it stand out and adds something extra that you don’t find in most word games.
Speaking of Q words, I think we all need to take a minute and recognize the word qwerty for being the standout, trailblazer that it is. Qwerty is the only English word beginning with a Q that is not followed by a U.
Qwerty has laughed in the face of society’s standards and has made it’s own way. Later, when there are more Q words followed by a letter other than U they will have Qwerty to thank.
Now, I know what you’re thinking- it’s not really a word. It just happens to be the letters on the keyboard. My fellow wordphiliacs, I ask you, did Rosa Parks just sit down on a bus?
Etymology is the study of the origins of words. If you throw an “ize” on the end of it you have eytmologize, which is to find the origin of a specific word.
I chose Martini because I happen to be a big fan of the apple Martini, chocolate Martini, Jolly Rancher Martini, olive Martini….ok, you get the drift. I happen to be a fan of almost all Martinis.
Like most, I assumed that martinis got their name from the bottlers “Martini & Rossi” but as it turns out, the name martini is a toponym. A toponym is something (or someone) that gets its name from a place, usually the place it was made or born.
Originally the martini was called the Martinez. It was named after the place where it was created, Martinez, California. But soon after Martini & Rossi began distributing, around 1882 the cocktail took on their name.
Now, if this is news to you, I think you should celebrate your new found knowledge. What better way to do that than with a “Martinez” cocktail.
Out in the Milky Way Martini
Ingredients
* 6 ounces of freezing Absolut Vanil vodka
* 1 Milky Way candy bar sliced into smallish pieces
* 1 tablespoon of sweet chocolate shavings
* 2 slightly chilled Martini glasses.
* A well chilled, stylish martini shaker.
The mix
* Put the sliced candy bar into your microwave oven and heat until it melts.
* Pour the vodka into your cocktail shaker, which is half full of cracked ice.
* Shake, shake, shake. A good dozen vigorous shakes should do the trick.
* Let your shaker rest while you prep your glasses.
* Spoon 1 teaspoon of the gooey candy bar into the bottom of each glass.
* Strain the vodka equally (make mine a bit heavier–of course).
* Top each glass with some chocolate shavings.
recipe courtesy of Martiniart.com
