A.Word.A.Day -- AWADmail Issue 1186

A.Word.A.Day

Home

AWADmail Issue 1186

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

Sponsor’s Message: “Way better than Wordle.” One Up! is the wickedest word game in the (real) world. “Brilliant. Again, brilliant!” A fabulous holiday gift. Shop now.

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

Bruce M. Selya, Federal Judge Known for Polysyllabic Prose, Dies at 90
The New York Times
Permalink
[We had him as a Guest Wordsmith some years back.]

When Did Human Language Emerge?
MIT News
Permalink

From: Jonathan Harms (jonathan.harms slu.edu)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--jammy

In skateboarding, the word is sometimes used to describe a quick, abrupt curve at the base of a wall. For example, the shallow end of a swimming pool might be called a jammy transition, because it jams you up as you try to ride up it.

Jonathan Harms, St. Louis, Missouri

From: Dave Shelles (writesdave gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--jammy

Also a noun/slang for a gun. To wit: “Pulled out the jammy, aimed it at the sky/He yelled ‘Stick ‘em up!’ And let two fly.” Beastie Boys, “Paul Revere” (from “License to Ill”)

And an adjective to describe a certain kind of music with long, meandering solos, in the style of the Grateful Dead or Phish.

Dave Shelles, Acworth, Georgia

From: Eileen Alexander (eileen dennycreative.com)
Subject: Jammy

Jammy brought to mind a prayer my sister would say before bed. It was a very cute mondegreen from a four-year-old. Instead of pleading to “Give us this day our daily bread” she would say “Give us this day our jelly bread.”

Eileen Alexander, Mill Valley, California

From: Shantanu Pandit (sdpandit gmail.com)
Subject: jammy

While climbing cracks, one jams fingers, palms, feet, etc. into a crack. There is also protective equipment that works by getting jammed into cracks. A rock climber may refer to a crack as jammy or not jammy.

Shantanu Pandit, Mumbai, India

From: Jeff Norman (inveraritype gmail.com)
Subject: jammy

The word jammy has another meaning relating to the use of jam as a musical term referring to improvisation. So, a jammy band is one whose music tends toward those of jam bands (but, it’s implied, isn’t a full-on “jam band”), whose music is characterized by a lot of improvisation... and, by implication, extended songs, a loose feel, and often incorporation of a broad range of musical styles from country to rock to blues and so on (in the manner of the Grateful Dead, the mother of all jam bands).

Jeff Norman, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

From: Joseph Kithinji (njagikithinji gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--tripe

Tripe, in Kenya, is commonly referred to as matumbo (literally, stomachs) and provides a cheaper alternative to and a pretense of meat. Thus a local expression that “Even tripe is meat!”

Joseph Kithinji, Kibwezi, Kenya

From: Paul Harris (paul.harris harrisdevelop.com)
Subject: tripe

In French, tripe is also used to mean someone has guts or courage, as in “She said that to the boss? Elle a des tripes!”

Paul Harris, Hastings on Hudson, New York

From: Emma Smith (cultjunkie aol.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--barmy

The term Barmy Army can refer to English cricket fans.. and also latterly a company of the same name, I believe.

A snippet from Wikipedia: “The group, then less organised, was given its name by the Australian media during the 1994-95 Test series in Australia, reportedly for the fans’ hopeless audacity in travelling all the way to Australia in the near-certain knowledge that their team would lose, and the fact that they kept on chanting encouragement to the England team even when England were losing quite badly.”

That level of stubborn barminess is one of my favourite parts of the English character, certainly in the examples where it hurts no one but oneself.

Emma Smith, Iver, UK

Email of the Week -- Brought to you buy One Up! -- “Guaranteed to ruin Christmas.”

From: Keith Morgan (morgan-k sky.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--taffy

In the UK, taffy is slang for a person from Wales. Probably linked to the River Taff, a main river in Wales that runs through Cardiff, the capital city. However, like a lot of slang, it is often a derogatory term. There’s an old song that goes: “Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief...” and so on. Welsh people were suppressed by the Saxons and conquered by the Normans but we still fight to keep our identity, culture, and language.

Keith Morgan, Cardiff, Wales

From: Rob McKay (mckayrob bigpond.net.au)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--taffy

Like many words, taffy is contextual, so it can range from a term of endearment to a pejorative! (Permalink)

Rob McKay, Sydney, Australia

From: Eric F Plumlee (ericfplumlee hotmail.com)
Subject: Taffy

My grandparents had a dog named Taffy, and she had a light yellow almost white coat. I vaguely remember we used the term taffy-colored to describe things that were her color of beige. So I always thought she was named for the color of her coat. But then again, maybe she was named for the airy silkiness of her fur or her sweetness.

And I knew taffy very well from the salt water taffy shops we visited in Seattle. Yummy.

Thanks for the memories.

Eric F Plumlee, Niederlenz, Switzerland

From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com)
Subject: taffy and jammy

Trump believes faux flattery will get him everywhere... or so he imagines. He’s a master of thickly laying on the taffy, stroking the egos of those he desperately wants to maintain loyalty and favor towards him. Granted, Elon Musk’s out-sized ego needs little stroking. Making his “X” market-cap drop from $44 billion to $12 billion is not genius. Encouraging people to sell their Teslas is not genius. Going to work with and aiding and abetting arguably the most demented person to hold high office on the planet Earth is hardly genius.

Contemplating our word “jammy” triggered my recollection of the word pajamas (aka “jammies”), one of several Hindi words borrowed into our English lexicon. Here, mom confronts her son, Jamie, wearing his jammies, literally getting jammy with it. How and why he’s managed to make a mess of things, I’ll leave up to my fellow AWADers’ fertile imaginations. Hmm... could his pooch somehow be involved?

Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California

Anagrams


	This week’s theme: Food words used metaphorically Farce Jammy Tripe Barmy Taffy	=	Jest, parody Charmed, I admire him Flummery Wacky, batty Soft soap, toffee, er Welsh
			-Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz)
=	Satire; crumb wad Sweet; jelled Hooey; icky farm parts Foamy; dim Toffee; sharp myth	=	A comedy master-show prop Like jam A dim scheme Frothy, batty A drier, fluffy sweet
	-Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com)		-Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com)

Make your own anagrams and animations.

Limericks

farce

With the Teslas all nicely arrayed,
A commercial the President made.
Just what is he doing?
A farce I am viewing!
It’s a favor for Musk, I’m afraid.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

The French do enjoy a good farce,
Where doors slam, and costumes are sparse.
Then when after they fight,
The lovers unite,
And villains all land on their arse.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

His first sixty days let us parse:
He’s turned governing into a farce.
Total chaos he sows,
And turns friends into foes --
Which is no big surprise from that arse.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

jammy

It’s a jammy day! Look at that sky!
No one’s happier ‘bout that than I!
I’ll wear summertime clothes
(With my new open-toes!)
Sunshine, warmth -- yep, a downright bull’s eye!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

How lucky I was,” said the lad.
“A job that was jammy I had!
The work was the best;
I’d rest and I’d test --
Each mattress I’d rate good or bad.”
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

She called her twins Tammy and Sammy.
While one was quite shy, one was hammy.
For lunch one fine day
She made PB&J,
And then shouted, “Oy vey, you’re so jammy!”
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

A girl on South Beach in Miami
Was looking deliciously jammy.
She was so nearly bare,
I could not help but stare!
But her gaze in return? Cold and clammy.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

tripe

I think I have one major gripe:
The White House is just full of hype.
When Karoline spins,
Duplicity wins.
She’s full of pure lies, total tripe.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“Have it off with a horse? Her kind’s tripe,”
Said the zebra, “not even one stripe.
Though a step above ass,
They’re just not in our class;
To quote Donald, ‘She isn’t my type.’”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

barmy

“America I will make great
By adding a 51st state!”
How barmy this notion!
Who set it in motion?
Why, someone Canadians hate!
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

She told jokes that could easily rile
Some folks who disparaged her style.
They thought she was barmy.
But boy! She could charm me
With her gorgeous and radiant smile.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

“The 51st state? Trump is barmy!”
Said Justin Trudeau. “Call the army!”
This crisis that fool
Caused by scorning the rule
That with Donald, you have to be smarmy.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

taffy

All candies, you know, have this fault:
Your teeth they will surely assault.
And salt water taffy?
That name is plain daffy
For tooth-rotting sugar, not salt.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

The ambitious young man, it is clear,
Offers praise that is most insincere.
“I lay it on thick
And that does the trick --
It is taffy my boss wants to hear.”
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

A pig who was mad at a duck
Would with flattery have no more truck.
Said Porky to Daffy,
“Enough with your taffy!
Behave or your feathers I’ll pluck!”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Puns

“May the farce be with ya,” Seamus told his friend after the Star Wars movie.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“So farce-o good,” said the optimist as he passed the 30th floor having fallen off the skyscraper.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“To escape a huge legal jammy ran for and got elected President again. But after the blue-wave midterms, he was impeached for the third time, and finally convicted,” lectured the history professor bot.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“I don’t want to wear the s-tripe-d dress, I want to be Ariel for the party,” the child Insisted.
-Janice Power, Cleveland, Ohio (powerjanice782 gmail.com)

“Let’s tripe-utting on a show!” says Mickey Rooney to Judy Garland in Babes in Arms.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“There’s no need for a tripe-artite negotiation. Vlad and I will work out who gets what,” Trump assured Zelenskyy.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“OK, maybe at barmy had a little too much to drink. But no one else has wheel yet, so no danger of collision driving home,” Oog tried telling the police officer.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“You can’t barmy from my own house!” the old drunk bellowed to his fed-up wife.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“I told Marco when he joined my s-taffy-s still little and he better act like it,” said Donald.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often. -Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and author (23 Mar 1900-1980)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise