Autumn and Change
19
10, 2022
17
10, 2022
Why I love Noah Webster
A day to honor Noah Webster’s birthday on October 16, 1758. You probably recognize the name.
Webster is the “Father of American Scholarship and Education,” and author of the Blue-Backed Speller which taught generations of American school children to read and spell.
Because he disliked the complexity of English spelling rules, he streamlined our American way of spelling certain words like “color” instead of the English spelling of “colour.” His first dictionary was published in 1806.
A year later he began work on a more comprehensive dictionary, which took him twenty-seven years to finish. He learned twenty-six languages to evaluate the etymology of the seventy thousand words included in the work.
As a child, I spent hours poring through the pages of my grandmother’s eight-inch thick copy of Webster’s New International Dictionary (of the English Language).
The fifteen-pound book had leather alphabet tabs cut into the pages. The illustrations were detailed and the maps gorgeous. There were diagrams, charts, and thousands of words. It was a fertile resource for a blossoming logophile or wordsmith as I prefer to call myself.
Wonderful magical stuff can happen when you use a print dictionary. You discover word origins and its root which can give a deeper understanding of meaning. You also find synonyms and antonyms that provide possibilities for rewriting or a totally new idea.
Sure, you can get all that in a nanosecond online. But do you scroll down to discover all that? Probably not. Even if you do, you miss all those other words your finger glides over as it scrolls down the printed page. Words that you might never have seen.
As an author, I keep a print copy of Webster’s Dictionary closeby, and I use it often along with the online versions.
Authors and anyone who publishes also have another reason to appreciate Noah Webster. He played a role in forming the Copyright Act of 1831, which extended copyrights from fourteen to twenty-eight years with an option of renewal for another fourteen years. That changed with even greater protections under The Copyright Act of 1976, but Noah Webster started the copyright ball rolling.
Thank you, Mr. Webster, for your hard work. You do deserve a national day of recognition.
12
10, 2022
10
10, 2022
Why Columbus Day? More than you probably want to know.
On October 12, 1492, after a two-month voyage, Christopher Columbus landed the Santa María, the Pinta, and the Niña on an island in the Bahamas he called San Salvador. From there, he and his men traveled around the Caribbean for five months.
The Italian explorer believed he’d reached East Asia. He sighted Cuba and thought it was China, and when the expedition landed on Hispaniola, he thought he’d found Japan.
Statute of Christopher Columbus in Lavagna, Genova, Italy
His discovery has been celebrated since the 18th century. Columbus Day became a U.S. federal holiday in 1937.
Columbus’s contribution to world history was introducing Europeans to the New World, which led to cultural exchange, commerce, and exploration, and eventually to the discovery of the real westward route to the Indies.
But Columbus Day and the man who inspired it have also generated controversy.
Many argue that Europeans got land, slaves, and gold, while the aboriginals were dispossessed, enslaved, and infected. Those protests of Columbus Day celebrations resulted in the creation of Indigenous People’s Day in the 1990s, which coincides with Columbus Day.
South Dakota became the first U.S. state to recognize Indigenous People’s Day in 1989. Many states and cities officially celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day. Only Alabama and Oklahoma observe both.
I’m not taking sides on which day to celebrate, but I will forever recall the jingle I memorized to remember the man’s accomplishment.
Now you’ll have the jingle sailing through your head all day today too.
FYI, I do recognize the inaccuracies in the jingle. Columbus never really set foot on US soil, but I will forever remember when he discovered the Bahamas. =)
Happy Columbus Day/ Indigenous Peoples’ Day!
7
10, 2022
Chicken Tree
A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
I watched our neighbors’ chickens recently. I also fed their dog and cats but the chickens were the most interesting. They tend to wander the yard until the dog goes outside. Then they run for their lives!
Rosie caught one while I was on duty and it was not harmed at all. I think Rosie just likes to play chase.
The chickens have learned that, while Rosie is fast, she does not have wings. They fly up into the tree to safety.
Our neighbors have a chicken tree!
5
10, 2022
3
10, 2022
My Love of Words
Words are my world as a writer. I’m always working to build my vocabulary and hone my word use.
A recent blog post from Writing Tips, “The Vicissitudes of the Latin Plural in English” fascinated me.
Not because of the Latin. My knowledge of Latin is limited to “Et Tu, Brute” and “El Pluribus Union.”
What intrigued me was the evolution of Latin words and their plurals.
When the English-speaking curriculum included the study of Latin, the Latin plurals for words were standard. Nowadays, not so much. Use has changed their use. Imagine coming across any of these Latin words when you’re reading today.
| Latin Singulars | Latin Plurals |
| Formulae for formula | Octopodes for octopus |
| Agendum for agenda | Encyclopediae for encyclopedias |
| Hippopotami for hippopotamus | Dogmata for dogmas |
| Alumnus for alumni | Stigmata for stigmatas |
Don’t know about you, but I’d stumble if I read any of those in something I was reading.
Fortunately, language is always changing to suit the comfort of the people who speak it according to the blog. Whichever word sounds “less English” is dropped.
That’s why words like data are accepted as either singular or plural. Other words like medium and media, the plural, have taken on new and different meanings.
Media in today’s use refers to methods of communication such as newspapers, television, radio, and film. The word medium can be the material used by an artist to produce an artistic creation or any method for doing something.
Latin singulars and plurals are mostly found only in a scientific or academic context.
I can understand why. Can’t you?
30
09, 2022
Morning Smile
A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara
This year at school, we have new procedures in place to increase security. These have been added to the procedures regarding illness creating what could be a tedious morning duty routine.
However, as the self-appointment Campus Morale Officer this year, I am trying to stay positive in as many situations as possible. This includes morning duty.
My assignment is to greet the youngest students as they enter, take their temperature, and send them directly to their class. The older students who come through my door are headed to breakfast. All others enter a different door. Everyone has their temperature taken.
For this task, we have a rather bulky thermometer that is intended to rest on a stand. It monitors temperature as people walk by. The problem is that our people are too short. So, we take the thermometer off and point it at the students as they walk by.
This makes for some interesting situations.
Some students come in with a juice box and insist I check its temperature also. My favorite student believes I am taking his picture each morning.
He gives me the biggest smile! I smile back.
The principal put out a rotating duty schedule. I refuse to move from my duty station. I look forward to my morning smiles and don’t want to share.
28
09, 2022
26
09, 2022
One of my Favorite Fall Things
One of my favorite things about September is the moon. It’s always big and bright and seems so close. Moonlight guides my early morning walks with Finnegan.
It’s called a harvest moon.
The name likely sprang from the lips of farmers who, in the days before tractor lights, used its light to gather their crops, despite the diminishing daylight hours. As the light faded in the west, the moon would soon rise in the east to illuminate the fields throughout the night.
It’s not truly bigger, brighter, or more pumpkin-colored than other full moons. It just appears to be.
Our moon normally rises on average 50 minutes later every day as the year moves on. A Harvest Moon rises only 30 minutes later. Those twenty minutes make a difference in how big the moon appears.
The Harvest moon isn’t associated with a specific month like other full moons. The moon that rises closest to the autumnal equinox, is called the Harvest Moon.
That was September 10 this year and the night sky put on a dazzling lunar display for skywatchers around the world. Did you see it? If not, check out this Twitter post from Nicholas Isabella.
This morning’s Harvest moon setting above the Statue Of Liberty. It was worth waking up early for this. pic.twitter.com/fI55XbIF5K
— Nicholas Isabella (@NycStormChaser) September 10, 2022
You can enjoy other fabulous Harvest Moon shots from around the world here.