Word Fun

Just a quick note:

I read a blog called the Double Tongued Word Wrester, or its RSS feed, anyway. It finds new word coinages and talks about them (this is what people with advanced degrees in linguistics find interesting, you see). I like a word they recently found:

Catchword: malus

Filed Under: English, Germany, Money & Finance, New or Nonce

Part of Speech: n.

Quotation: A report by Frankfurt-based Center for Financial Studies has coined a new word—malus. Malus is Latin for “bad” while bonus means “good.” It says if executives can win bonuses for a superior performance, they also need to be exposed to penalties such as salary cuts for presiding over failures, which can have ramifications for financial stability.

Here's the link to the original.

I have been unhappy with how Big Businesses do business for many years. I am not thrilled that we regular folks get to help them out after they screwed up. I am really not happy with how many "maluses" have been passed out.

I do hope my house is no longer a pumpkin after I get home from the most festive Festival of Bands this evening, but of course, once more, I will not have been home in daylight to see it. Band season is almost over, though. I will try to not cry tonight. And I sure will miss the bus and all its drama.

Voting update: Williamson County is up to almost 15% of its population already voting, as of last Thursday. I hope lots voted Friday and Saturday!

Another good new word

I am loving reading all my vocabulary building feeds every day. Here's the one today from one of my favorite sites, the Double Tongued Word Wrester, by the authors of the Double Tongued Dictionary, who also have an NPR show, but we don't get it here. Boo.

The word is apatheism, if you didn't care to click. And it's "the attitude of not caring about religion or if there is a God. " That fits right in with some of the conversations I have with Tuba Boy and friends. There's this one who was very firmly atheist, but I could tell some of the stuff I was saying was getting to him. I didn't see him for a while (he stole that girl Tuba Boy liked in April) but now he is back...and an agnostic. He didn't enjoy my "I told you so." I do enjoy listening to the teens talk and figure out what they believe as they go. What a fun age.

And here is their most recent citation of the word, which I think is a great quote to ponder:

2007
[dgriffith] Freakonomics Blog (Aug. 2) “Cut God Some Slack”: I think you’ll find that the stance of simply not caring much about God or religion ("apatheism” in the jokey parlance) is much less common than you imagine. It seems to be growing as people get wealthier, but a depressingly predominate chunk of humanity believes that God is indeed worth caring about, one way or another.

For me, it's hard to get apatheistic about the beliefs of others, because they keep infringing on my right to believe nothing, not know what to believe, or mix and match as I see fit!

Words for Others

I promised to come up with words for the blog readers who contribute to my "one word" research. Thank you so much for making the effort to come up with a word, if you did. I find it quite challenging!

To ensure that people coming to the experiment for the first time don't see a list of words I came up with for others, I will post them as comments. Try not to read them until you come up with your word for me. It may take me a while to come up with your word, so, if you contribute and don't have a word yet, that means I am still thinking.

So far we have these kind contributors (and how I know them):

• Beccano (son)
• Belinda (DNO friend)
• Connor (DNO friend)
• "He Who Never Comments" (church friend)
• Katy S (DNO friend)
• Kris (DNO friend)
• Lee (partner)
• Marianne (DNO friend)
• Patty (DNO friend)
• Robin (DNO friend)
• Sam (DNO friend)
• Sandy (DNO friend)
• Shelley (DNO friend)
• Stephanie (DNO friend)
• Teresa (DNO friend)
• Tina (tarot/knitting friend)
• Vicki (email list and DNO friend)

What's nice is that these are some of the folks who know me best in the whole world, so they have a lot to base their words on. Thank you all!

PS: DNO = Dysfunctional Nonprofit Organization

PPS: I did not write explanations for why I picked your words, so if you'd like one, just email me. I plan to write up the explanations later, when I am analyzing.

What Is in a Word, ONE Word?

Background

A lady I know from the knitting store sent out this mass email (of course I did not respond and send it on to all my friends, knowing that I am SO not a mass emailer):

Describe me in one word.... just one single word.

Send it to me and to me only.

Then send this message to all your friends and see how many strange & interesting things they say about you.

The email sat there and I stewed about it. Nearly a month later, I sent her this:

[start email]

Believe it or not, I have been thinking about this a lot--it has to do with a book I am thinking of writing.

OK, so your word is:

OPEN

Here is how I apply it to you (I realize this is not part of the deal, but it is the idea of categorizing a person by one word and how it would affect your ideas about that person that intrigues me):

• You are open in how you view the world


• You are open to new experiences


• You are open to others who may differ from you


• You are open to the voice in your heart


• You interact with other people in an open, honest fashion
  
• You are open in how you share your feelings with others

I wonder how I would view you if I had picked another word? I am going to post on my blog an invitation for people to post a word about me, and then I will give them a word if I can think of one. It should be interesting.

[end email]

So, I have been thinking about how applying a label shapes how you think about another person. I think it would be interesting to note how the labels others would give to me would affect my own perceptions of myself. And can I give one-word characterizations like that to others? I am not sure!

---

The One Word Challenge

So, blog readers, are you up to the challenge? Can you describe me in one word? If you can, please post it in the comments but think of your word BEFORE looking at the others (I'd like to see if any repeat). In return, I will try to think of a word for everyone who contributes. I'll make it a blog entry and you can book mark it and come back, once it's up (I will link to it here).

I think we can learn a lot by considering how our perception of someone else
is shaped by how we categorize them in general, and whether thinking of a one-word
label for someone affects your view of them.

Then, think about how reading all the labels that I hope to find applied to
me affect your perception of me. I know it is weird to subject myself to such
scrutiny, but I didn't want to do it to anyone else, so I win.

Thanks in advance for participating!