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We have been doing a lot of waxing around here lately, some waxing poetic, some waxing wroth. Actually this introduction is just an excuse to bring some more of Groucho Marx' humor * to you as Groucho plays with the term "waxing wroth": "In the Marx Brothers' movie Horse Feathers, Groucho Marx, playing waggish university president and professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, is informed by his secretary: "The Dean is furious. He's waxing wroth." To which Groucho ripostes: "Is Roth out there too? Tell Roth to wax the Dean for a while."Aside from the very funny image of two distinguished professor types buffing each other to a nice shine, the question this raises is: What's waxing? And, for that matter, what's wroth? (Bonus word of the day within word of the day: wroth means 'angry.' Think 'wrath,' and also 'writhe.') 'Wroth' is an adjective, as is 'poetic,' and this is your clue, Holger, that nowadays one typically neither waxes a thing, nor waxes "how." Now, excuse me while I wax pedantic.Wax the verb (when not referring to actions involving the use of real or metaphorical [bees]wax-like substances, which share a different, though contested, etymology) derives from an Old English word weaxan meaning 'to become,' and counts among its Indo-European relations the German wachsen 'to grow, to evolve,' the Latin augere 'to increase,' the Greek auxánein, 'to grow, to increase,' and the Sanskrit uks 'to grow.' The earliest sense of the verb wax, first attested in the 8th century, was 'to grow; to increase in extent, quantity, intensity, power, etc.' It was used intransitively with subjects both animate and inanimate, so that one might say of oneself "Ich am wel waxen" (c1300), and of things less tangible, "His Art, still wexing, sweetly marrieth His quavering fingers to his warbling breath" (1598). This usage of wax has waned in modern times, except in reference to the moon, and in opposition to its more popular sibling, 'wane' (admit it, you didn't blink when I used it in the first part of this sentence, did you?)" http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000921* "I drink to your charm, your beauty and your brains — which gives you an idea of how desperate I am for a drink." [From "A Toast to 2005", New Year's thread] A Toast to Dr. Bill who is always with us -- and who will always be with us. Clink!Note: This "waxing" thread was suggested by Dr. Bill who thought Groucho would get us all in the mood for all the merrymaking tonight. I'll Clink! to that, Dr. Bill! 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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A waxing moon does, indeed, get shinier.
Having recently gained access to a rather complete collection of the Marx Bros, I'll take a bit of a gander at 'Duck Soup' tonight.
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A waxing moon does, indeed, get shinier
And the more we wax salubrious, musick, the shinier it becomes. :)
Christopher Fry said:
"A moon is a circumambulating aphrodisiac, divinely subsidized to provoke the world into a rising birth rate."
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Carpal Tunnel
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On this board, one is most likely to find someone waxing eloquent.
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Some people wax their wroth And some people wax their skiis Yet it's always a slippery slope If you don't avoid the trees. [Absolutely nothing sensible is intended. Hey, it's New Years! ]
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journeyman
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Absolutely nothing sensible is intended.
Plutarch, if you would just make this your signature, all of our problems would be over!
The Lone Haranguer
The Lone Haranguer
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Carpal Tunnel
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Plutarch, thanks for earthing up your thread starter from Mavens. Mavens died--and I don't think it has been resuscitated, has it? tsuwm? Do you know?
What I liked about Mavens was how so much random information was thrown together cohesively, such as in the use of the Marx material above along with the definition and etymological information for the word 'to wax.' Plutarch's travels to the 'wax' page took him back to 2000 when Mavens was still operating, and I don't know when the web page stopped running, but it was a loss.
Anyway, thanks, plutarch, for bringing Mavens back to my memory. The wane page you quoted is a good one the Mavens group put together--delightful, well-researched, surprising, and, I think, one of a group that operates no longer. Too bad.
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Plutarch, thanks for earthing up your thread starter from Mavens
Thanks for the nod, Wordwind, but Dr. Bill deserves the credit.
I didn't know "wroth" was the "Word of the Day" yesterday. Dr. Bill picked up on it and sent me the Maven link.
For newcomers who don't know Dr. Bill [wwh], he is an old-timer who doesn't post onscreen any more [eyesight limitations, as I understand it] but he is wise and witty [a true gentleman scholar] and he is very much alive and present beneath the floor-boards, and he always welcomes PMs from anyone interested in words.
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if you would just make this your signature, all of our problems would be over!
Good one, snoot. :)
Someone wrote:
"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."
But we can have too much of a good thing.
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