A.Word.A.Day -- AWADmail Issue 1180

A.Word.A.Day

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AWADmail Issue 1180

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

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From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Interesting stories from the Net

The Linguist Learning to Speak the Expressive Language of Cows
BBC
Permalink

King Felipe Slams Donald Trump for Removing Spanish Language from White House Website and Social Media Postings
The Olive Press
Permalink

From: Narayana Balu (narayanaswamybalu yahoo.com)
Subject: ombrophobe

The Sanskrit word for umbrella is atapatra, literally, heat protector. No mention of rain.

Dr. N Balu, Bangalore, India

From: Fateh Azzam (fatehazzam gmail.com)
Subject: ombrophobe

Understandably in the Arabic-speaking world, the word for umbrella is shamsiyyeh (shams = sun), as in a protector from the sun... also, no mention of rain.

You might have done this in the past, but it would be great if you can do some postings on English words with Arabic roots, starting with “algebra” and “algorithm” and moving to astronomy and medicine.

This might be important given the current upheaval in the Arab world, and the prevalent hostility of the English-speaking world, especially public media and the press, to the Arab world.

Fateh Azzam, Georgetown, Maine

We have featured words from Arabic in the past, including a whole week of them and there’s the possibility of more in the future given how many English words have origins in Arabic.
-Anu Garg

From: John Craw (thecrawh gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ombrophobe

Military folks who served on the ground during the monsoon seasons in SE Asia often become ombrophobes. You’re out in the rain without shelter, wet for days or weeks at a time. And you’re sometimes in combat in the rain.

I know veterans who flinch involuntarily in the rain. Some say, for example, “Why does this bother me? Not like I’m going to melt. LOL.”

John Craw, Glenford, Ohio

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From: Joy Montgomery (joymontgomery1225 gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ombrophobe

I guessed the word meant fear of umbrellas. When I was young and a lot lighter and umbrellas were made to last, I was picked up by a gust of wind while waiting for a traffic light to change, and deposited in front of a car. I don’t have a fear of umbrellas, but I haven’t used one since. A raincoat with a hood is just fine.

Joy Montgomery, Livermore, California

From: Rose Bartholomew (randrbart aol.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ombrophobe

Love your reference to Seattle’s rain: singing and jumping in puddle parties, and hiking through the downpour. In my youth back in 1946-1953, it was a given to get rubber boots (red) and an umbrella for starting school! Yellow slickers, well Mama didn’t splurge on that! Grazie, for bringing me back to a wonderful time as I was only 6-12 years old.

Now, at 84, I treasure your words. My dad was a mail carrier in West Seattle. We lived in Beacon Hill, across from Jefferson Park. We could see the SEARS sign light up green every night. We later returned to our Italian roots in Brooklyn, NY... culture shock at first.

Rose Bartholomew, Brooklyn, New York

From: Marc Davidson (flueln hotmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ombrophobe

Someone who’s an ombrophobe
To me seems a regular fella.
His fear of rain can be dismissed
By use of his ombr-ella!

Marc Davidson, Ormond, Florida

From: Glen and Alice Davis (glalice earthlink.net)
Subject: Ombrophobe

Observing people running and trying to escape the rain has always made me wonder why they do that. Rain is only water, after all, something that is good for the planet and its inhabitants. When I was a child, my mother would say rain meant that either the angels were crying or God was watering his plants. So just keep on going your merry way and enjoy this life-giving liquid!

Alice Davis, Blacksburg, Virginia

From: Mariana Warner (marianaw6002 gmail.com)
Subject: Ombrophilliac

In response to your intro to this week’s AWAD with a variation of the opposite of ombrophobe:

Amen

I agree with Gertrude Stein
that doing nothing is a sign of genius.

Still I sit, donned in cotton
pajamas at 10 am with the top
stating Once a King Always a King,
But Once a Knight ... Is Enough! (Anon.)

An ombrophiliac with my baby blue
umbrella, I sit doing nothing,
but ready on this sunny day
anyway, in case of rain.

Mariana Warner, Asheville, North Carolina

From: Steve Benko (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
Subject: Canophilist

This week you featured combined forms, whereas another recent theme was words with multiple unrelated meanings. Why not combine the two? A canophilist could also mean someone who enjoys long, skinny boats with points at both ends; a person who likes their beer straight out of the cylindrical metal container; or an individual who loves a walking stick which is hooked at one end.

Steve Benko, New York, New York

From: José María de la Iglesia (txemadelaiglesia gmail.com)
Subject: Words ending in -cracy

I could not help but think of a neologism for the government of fools: crazyocracy.

José María de la Iglesia, Berlin, Germany

From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com)
Subject: canophilist and ombrophobe

Loyal to a fault, “god” spelled backwards, Man’s Best Friend. What’s not to love about our trusty canine companions? Moreover, scientific studies have shown that having a pet pooch can lower one’s blood pressure, stimulate our pheromones and activate the “feel good” hormone oxytocin.

One of the few possible knocks against London is the frequent episodes of dreary, drizzly weather, particularly in winter. Here, an ombrophobic bulldog is not a happy camper. Yet his human companion (I hate the use of the word “owner”) has outfitted him with a spiffy mini-sou’wester rain slicker.

Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California

Anagrams


	This week’s theme: Words made with combining forms Ombrophobe Melomania Sarcophagus Archaeolatry Canophilist	=	May fear rain Musicophilia Casket, hmm tomb not below earth Oh we worship archaism/old things Becomes a dog person
			-Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz)
=	When blooms hate a rain wash or bath Music campaign Embellished casket Commemoration of history Dog worshipper	=	Mr. hates rain Ha! Romp, immerse in high-fi art music cache A stone (marble) tomb The good ol’ days Like bowwow, pooch snaps
	-Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com)		-Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com)

Make your own anagrams and animations.

Limericks

ombrophobe

An ombrophobe tends to complain
When forecasters say we’ll have rain.
And so in late June
When there’s a monsoon,
Their kvetching just drives me insane.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

Said Shakespeare, “Sans roof, the dear Globe
Hath made me a true ombrophobe.
When it poureth, I’m stunned;
Lo, a ticket refund!
‘Tis akin to the suff’rings of Job.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Said the wicked witch, “Doctor, don’t probe;
I’ve a perfectly good frontal lobe.
In the rain I would melt;
That’s the hand I’ve been dealt,
And it’s why I’m a staunch ombrophobe.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

melomania

OK. Listen up, girls and boys.
At the opera, please have some poise.
And keep (try like heck)
Melomania in check.
But at rock concerts you can make noise.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

A passion for music he has;
He loves a nice song with pizazz!
Melomania’s why
Any concert he’ll try,
Where he can hear folk, rock, or jazz.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

I love words that just self-explain;
Melomania’s one, I maintain.
The first syllable hints
At melodic imprints
And the rest -- you are kinda insane!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

An Aussie bloke made this confession,
About his great music obsession.
“I’ve got melomania;
It might be a pain ta ya,
But keeps me from feeling depression.”
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“A career to indulge melomania?
I forbid it, my boy! I will cane ya!”
Said the dad. “But my all
I will give it,” said Paul,
And with John, George, and Ringo, filled stadia.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

sarcophagus

A coffin of stone is the best.
For ages it’s passed every test.
No creatures necrophagous
Inside a sarcophagus
Will feed on you when you’re at rest.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

In sarcophagi pharaohs were placed,
For cremation was not to their taste.
Embalmers instead
Would handle the dead:
“That’s a wrap” thus to Egypt is traced.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

To the pharaoh inside his sarcophagus,
Billy Crystal declared, “You look mahvelous.
But no gold piece or jewel
Will the Eye of Ra fool,
For you can’t take it with you, Your Pompousness.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

canophilist

“A man”, he said, “can’t be all bad,
Hating babies and dogs, just a tad.”
No canophilist he,
That old W.C.;
Mr. Fields, it seems, was a real cad.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

The canophilist said of his hound,
“I am happiest when he’s around.
He’s the best kind of pet
One could possibly get --
I prefer him to people, I’ve found.”
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

I’m running so late, I can’t take
My usual walk by the lake.
A canophilist, tho,
I must let Rover go;
Will he come back just fine? Piece o’ cake!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

“I suggest you become a canophilist,”
Said the dog to the panicked economist.
“While the world goes to hell
Under Donald Trump’s spell,
I just wag my tail, always an optimist.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

archaeolatry

My youthful friend goes when she’s free,
Out to shop for antiques with much glee.
Is that, you might guess,
Archaeolatry? Yes!
She loves everything old, even me.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

With all of the ancients he’s smitten,
Devouring ev’rything written.
Archaeolatry’s why
He’s a well-informed guy,
Who’ll tell us how Rome conquered Britain.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

“I’ll call my invention geometry;
In math, it will end archaeolatry,”
Said Euclid. “Such fame
This will win me! My name
Will be heard in 10th grade by our progeny!”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Puns

“Doc, I’m terrified of the chanting by my fellow Hindu monks.”
“Ah! Zees ees classic case of Ombrophobia.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Once a year, the Mel Gibson Fan Club would run a film festival under the banner “Melomania!”
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

His voice is so melomania-dore Johnny Mathis.
-Janice Power, Cleveland, Ohio (powerjanice782 gmail.com)

“My idea of a great day is to lie in my hammock, listen to the leaves rustling and the birds chirping, and smoke a joint,” said the melomaniac.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“Doc, we’re both hopelessly in love with the same boy,” said Betty and Veronica.
“Ah! Zees ees classic case of Archeolatry.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“I have a pretty biz-sarcophagus,” shrugged the patient whose strange hacking defied diagnosis.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Zoologists took a rare South American tou-canophilist of endangered species.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“Developing the land around Vesuvius will make Pompeii great again!” said the newly installed vol-canophilist mayor.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men. -Alice Walker, poet and novelist (b. 9 Feb 1944)

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