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?	The magic of words?

AWADmail Issue 1187

A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language

Sponsor’s Message: Wrench, write, dare, and sew with Shakespeare, Frankenstein, and Einstein at our Old’s Cool Academy classical education summer camp. Starting July 1st. .

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From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject:

I invited readers to share about their favorite tools. Here’s a selection.

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From: Rob Kantner (rob 9sg.com)
Subject:

My father, a stern disciplinarian and enforcer, often warned us kids to “walk chalk”.

Rob Kantner, Canadian Lakes, Michigan

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From: Glenn Glazer (glenn.glazer gmail.com)
Subject: chalk line

Working with a chalk line is a laborious task, eight hours a day on one’s hands and knees on concrete. The company I work for, , makes a robot that solves this problem. Now the person who had that awful job stands upright at the job site and uses an iPad to tell the robot where to go.

Glenn Glazer, Felton, California

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From: Dan Harrang (danharrang yahoo.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--

Ratchet is also an adjective (often derogatory, sometimes complimentary, depending on context) in contemporary .

Dan Harrang, Wailuku, Hawaii

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From: Mike Rosen (mrosen oberlin.edu)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ratchet

I was delighted to see the latest entry “ratchet”. However, I would like to add No.3 to the definitions listed. I would add that it is also defined as a cog rattle. There is a use of the term as an instrument used in orchestral music as well as in folk music and rituals. In a service on Purim as the megillah (the Book of Esther) is read aloud each time the name of the arch-villain Haman is mentioned the congregation makes noise usually with noisemakers and a ratchet called a grogger, or ra-ashan in Hebrew. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as: “a wooden device that when turned around and around produces a noise like a series of knocks, traditionally used during the Jewish festival of Purim.”

Michael Rosen, Professor of Percussion, Emeritus, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Nyack, New York

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From: John Nugée (john nugee.org.uk)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ratchet

The second definition of ratchet, “An incremental change, typically in one direction and irreversible”, has also given rise in the UK to the term ratchet politics, for a political change or innovation that, however fiercely contested at first, no one has any prospect of being able to reverse once it has been brought in. Clear examples in the last 100 years have been giving women the vote and legalisation of same sex marriages.

John Nugée, London, UK

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From: John H Craw (thecrawh gmail.com)
Subject: ratchet effect

Ratchet effect: Government spending, taxation; factory production; ....

“In labor markets, the ratchet effect refers to a situation where workers subject to performance pay choose to restrict their output, because they rationally anticipate that firms will respond to higher output levels by raising output requirements or by cutting pay.” ()

John Craw, Glenford, Ohio

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From: Richard S. Russell (RichardSRussell tds.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ratchet

You’re probably familiar with the creationist’s analogy to a tornado passing through a junkyard and assembling a 747 by sheer random chance. And you may think that actual evolutionary biologists are laughing themselves silly over it because of that “random” part. But no, what tickles them so much is that creationists so drastically understate their own case. A 747 is orders of magnitude less complicated than the biosphere. Of course the scientists understand the level of complexity involved and would never in a million years dream of chalking it up to pure chance and nothing but.

Fortunately, they don’t have to. They have a perfectly sensible, coherent, demonstrable explanation for the fact of evolution: the theory of natural selection. It depends on random mutations, but there’s this clever little ratchet built into it that says the good mutations don’t have to be constantly reinvented; they survive and thrive, while the bad ones don’t. And, over billions of years, that makes all the difference.

Richard S. Russell, Madison, Wisconsin

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From: Andre Dressler (AnDressler gmail.com)
Subject:

In 1962, born in Switzerland and being an able-bodied male, I was, as are all others, drafted into the Swiss Army. I was issued my canteen and foldable eating utensils and the namesake knife. As a recruit I got the standard one which had a beer bottle opener among its tools. The officer’s version also had the corkscrew to open wine bottles. Rank has its privileges, as we quickly learned.

Andre Dressler, San Rafael, California

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From: Marybeth Webster (marybwebs gmail.com)
Subject: Poetry is my Swiss Army knife

Poetry is my Swiss Army knife.

It pries
loose long-lost memories.
It unscrews
years of tight-kept secrets.
It punctures
lies and flattery.
It pounds
builds towers of verse.

It opens
bottled forbidden drams.

It cuts.

It corkscrews out
the truth.

Marybeth Webster (b. 1929), Grants Pass, Oregon

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From: Patrick Barron (patrickbarron msn.com)
Subject: Swiss Army knife

I am never without my Swiss Army knife. I use it almost every day. I like the anecdote of the grandchild who asks his grandfather, “Grandpa, do you have your pocket knife with you?” And the grandfather replies, “I have my pants on, don’t I?”

Patrick Barron, West Chester, Pennsylvania

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From: John Hadden (john restinglion.com)
Subject: Swiss Army knife

Since I was 10 years old (I’m 64 now) I’ve carried a Swiss Army knife (aka SAK) in my pocket. I look forward to when my grandkids (currently 8 months, 1 year, and 3 years) turn 10 so I can bestow this lifelong commitment to handiness on them!

John Hadden, Huntington, Vermont

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From: Jonathan Rickert (therickerts hotmail.com)
Subject: Tools

Master art thief Stephane Breitwieser employed a Swiss Army knife in conducting many, if not most, of his notorious capers, as described in Michael Finkel’s book The Art Thief. As the proud owner of a Swiss Army knife, I regrettably will no longer be able to look so benignly at that useful instrument after having read Finkel’s book.

Jonathan Rickert, Bainbridge Island, Washington

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From: Mardy Grothe (drmardy drmardy.com)
Subject: Misattributed quotations


This quotation was not authored by Washington Irving. It was first attributed to him -- without source information -- in an 1883 book (Angie Manly Stewart’s Hit and Miss: A Story of Real Life). It has never been found in any of Irving’s works, however, and is considered by scholars to be spurious. Sadly, almost all popular internet sites continue to perpetuate the error. For many authenticated love quotes, go .


This is mistakenly attributed to Maya Angelou. The actual author is Zora Neale Hurston, and it comes from Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography (1942). For more quotes on stories & storytelling, go .

Mardy Grothe, Southern Pines, North Carolina

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From: Colin Butterworth (colin.butterworth itforit.com)
Subject: Why I unsubscribed

I object to America taking over the world, including the English language, and calling the American language “English”. The pronunciations are abominable corruptions of the English language. I accept dialects of the English language, but the American language has changed the pronunciation of just about every word of the English language, but is still telling the world that it speaks English. That is not true. Similar deceptions and sophistries are now manifesting themselves very prominently in America’s new administration. I have had enough.

Colin Butterworth, Bromsgrove, UK

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From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com)
Subject: windmill and Swiss Army knife

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order putting an indefinite pause on new wind turbine leases. He’s argued that wind turbines are “killing bald eagles”, “driving whales crazy” and “(their) noise causes cancer”. Total balderdash. Trump is deeply embedded in the backpocket of the fossil-fuel industry, as evidenced by his tired mantra “Drill, baby drill!”


The term Swiss Army knife reminded me of polymath Carl Jung, whose seemingly insatiable curiosity and quest for knowledge defined him as having a genuine Swiss Army-like intellect. And he was a polyglot, to boot.

Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California

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Anagrams

	This week’s theme: Tools and devices that became metaphors Chalk line Ratchet Parish pump Windmill Swiss army knife	=	Fit behavior stamp Let rise inchmeal Parochial street-news desk Chased shadow (kick) Implement with many “must helps”
			-Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com)
=	We’d best act with ethics Has pawl, disk, teeth +/- linear rack Hmm seem parochial Vanes spin, hmm keep fens dry Is multitool	=	Approved manners Seek stepwise shifts; machine Local importance The hawk’s whim-based mythic threat Multi-skilled
	-Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz)		-Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com)

Make your own and .

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Limericks

chalk line

A chalk line she carefully set;
Her standards we knew must be met.
So let’s make a toast
To Emily Post --
The civilized world’s in her debt.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

“For opposing my anti-vax chalk line,
I would not with that quack 诲颈苍别,”
Said a vexed RFK.
“From the facts I won’t stray:
Kids afflicted with polio walk fine.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

parish pump

There once was an old village grump,
Who held court at the town’s parish pump.
He prophesied doom,
And we now can assume
That he meant the emergence of Trump.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

I’m OD-ing on talk about Trump
And need gossip that’s more parish pump.
I am fed up with gloom;
Tell me who’s dating whom --
Then perhaps I won’t be such a grump.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

“Our war plans? They’re just parish pump,”
Shrugged the sycophants; “Hail Donald Trump!”
For the clowns in that car,
Here’s the best quote by far:
“Stupid is as it does.” -Forrest Gump
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

ratchet

With the nonsense that Trump tends to say,
Fretful moments I have every day.
He ratchets up tensions,
When tariffs he mentions,
Which economists view with dismay.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

On Christmas Eve, Scrooge told Bob Cratchit,
“Your wages I never will ratchet.
LinkedIn and Indeed
Can’t yet help those in need,
So I’ll pay what I like -- you can’t match it.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

windmill

Don Quixote’s a hero to me,
And I’ll battle for justice like he.
There’s a windmill called Trump,
And so, I’m on a stump
To keep my America free.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

Don Quixote was on the attack,
But he tilted at windmills, alack!
Now Donald Trump, too,

And this crazy world view has come back!
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

The pitcher’s a female, but oh
Her arm like a windmill will go
Round and round! Then the ball
Just releases for all
That it’s worth! Like a rocket, you know!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

“The fun here would not fill a thimble,”
Argued Eve; “We should try being sinful.”
“Such endless debate,”
Adam sighed, “seals our fate;
To resist you’s to tilt at a windmill.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Swiss Army knife

She can do many things, you’ll agree.
She’s a jack of all trades, yessiree.
My talented wife
Is a Swiss Army knife,
And she yodels at home just for me.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

I have carried my Swiss Army Knife
In my pocket for most of my life
With its gadgets I fix
Sundry problem with tricks,
Applauded by folks (and my wife.)
-George Hawkins, Houston, Texas (hawkinsgeorge3 gmail.com)

A Swiss Army knife’s handy, I’ve heard.
And most soldiers adore them, my word!
But I just have to say
That a smartphone today
Is the multi-use item preferred.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

MacGyver was nobody’s fool.
He got out of scrapes with this rule.
“Wherever I roam,
I never leave home,
Without my Swiss Army knife tool.”
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“Here in Mayberry,” said ,
“Sheriff Taylor’s a Swiss Army knife.
As a boss, he’s the top!”
“But the question won’t pop,”
Grumbled ; “I’m still not his wife.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

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Puns

“Our white cliffs of chalk line the Channel coast,” explained the Dover tour guide.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

If you want to participate in the sidewalk art in chalkline up here,” the art teacher instructed the class.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“I love a French shoe, eshpecially a Parish pump,” said after a few drinks.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

The bayou’s flooded again. What we need is a parish pump.
-Laurie Tompkins, Laupahoehoe, Hawaii (Laurietom29@...)

The parish pump-ernickle bread was a hit at the church’s potluck dinner.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“C-ratchet!” Put that piece of coal back!” Hollered Ebenezer Scrooge to his clerk in Dicken’s A Christmas Carol.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

Said to Huntley, “I guess we have to pretend to like each other on TV, but you’re really a ratchet.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“As though carried off by the windmill-ions of hardworking, law-abiding immigrants and dissidents disappeared in the middle of the night,” said the history books about America’s Reign of Terror.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“We made it! With the Swiss Army knife-orget about being chased by Nαzis,” said Captain Von Trapp as his family crossed over the Alps.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

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Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking. -Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (6 Apr 1741-1794)