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This is a "Water of India"* week. Anu will be amazing us with words which don't fit into any particular theme this week.
Today's AWAD [Day 5] is "animus". Please scroll down. The AWAD for Day 1 is:odium (O-dee-uhm) noun
1. Hatred accompanied by contempt.
2. A state of infamy or disgrace.
[From Latin odium (hatred), from odisse (to hate). Ultimately from Indo-European root od- (to hate) that is also the source of the words hate, annoy, noisome, and ennui.]I could take the podium and talk about "odium". But, I'm going to turn the stage over to the floor to get "odium" going. While we're waiting for the next post to arrive, I have a "Water of India" ALAD to divert you on our limerick thread in "Wordplay and Fun". So, join the Fun, or let "odium" run. :) Or visit SuperWAG's new thread "urban myths". [You could call it 'A Tale of Two Myths'. Betchya don't know the answer.] And, if you've ever wanted to learn how to read palms [and who hasn't!], you won't find out how to do it on Wordwind's "Handflata" thread. But you'll read a lot about palms there -- and before you know it, you'll know palms like the back of your hand. [And I'm not tryin' to palm anything off on you, either.] BTW how well do you know the back of your hand? How well do we know anything we just take for granted? * For those who don't already know, "Water of India" is Anu's linguistic prestidigitation for a diversion inspired by a magician he enjoyed in his youth in India. The magician used to do a trick at the side of the stage at irregular intervals while his assistants set up new props. Interesting how Anu has finessed Wordwind's "Handflata" thread into his AWAD today."Water of India" is a magic trick, and so is "prestidigitation". And the "digit" in "prestidgitation" [which also gives us "Presto"] is a finger -- which you will find on your hand. And the underside of your hand is -- you guessed it, your palm. Very clever, Anu! Now even I can take it from here. If you lose a hand, it would take magic to grow it back. But you can grow a palm. And that isn't magic. It's horticulture. Which means that tomorrow's AWAD will be -- you guessed it: "horticulture". But I would never want to take Anu for granted. So, maybe he's going to outsmart me -- again!  [I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Drat!] Oh, one more thing. It isn't only our hands which should go out to the palm. It is also our heart. To see what I mean, please visit Wordwind's "Handflata" thread. [ You'll never feel the same about "heart of palm salad" again, believe me.] P.S. I've been thinking. Maybe tomorrow's AWAD will be "suture", not "horticulture". You can't grow a new hand, but you can "suture" on an old one. [I guess we'll just have to wait for tomorrow.]
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Today's AWAD is:
presentism (PREZ-uhn-tiz-uhm) noun
Evaluating past events and people by present-day values.
[From English present, from Middle English, from Old French, from Latin praesent- (stem of praesens), from present participle of praeesse (to be present before others), from prae- (pre-) + esse (to be).]
Presentism is the application of current ideals and moral standards to interpret historical figures and their actions. For example, consider Mr. John Teacher who caned pupils in his 1889 class. A presentist would say that Mr. Teacher engaged in unacceptable violence against children
while one with an opposing view would claim that since it was considered OK to hit children at the time, Mr. Teacher isn't to be blamed.
Have you ever met an -ism that isn't a little extreme?
Presentism is like perfectionism applied after-the-fact -- to others, of course, never to ourselves.
We're always a lot more charitable with ourselves. When we look back on our own mistakes, we shrug our shoulders and say "Hey, hindsight is 20-20."
Now, you might be asking yourself: "What has presentism got to do with "horticulture"?" Looking back on it, nothing at all. But that's the trouble with "presentism", don't you see? So I was right about "horticulture" after all.
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Is a prism extreme?
What's your angle, Wordwind?
Seriously, "prism" is just an -ism without a whole word in front of it.
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atheism
baptism
classicism
fossilism
catholicism
mutualism
journalism
...I don't think these are extreme. There are lots of examples that are extreme, but I don't think that all ism's are extreme.
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I don't think that all ism's are extreme.Well, now you're taking my argument to extremes, Wordwind. But, you could have a point. Fossilism? [Hey, I've got you there.] But, you know Wordwind, I was thinking about this whole looking-backward, looking-forward, looking-inside-out pseudo-scientific sort of optical self-illusion kind of thing. You know: presentism, deconstructionism, post-structuralism, revisionism. It gets me going a little cross-eyed, sometimes. I honestly don't know whether I'm coming or going with it. Maybe it isn't just me. Maybe these ism-meisters don't know if they're coming or going either.
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Go to onelook.com, plutarch, and enter *ism. You won't even be able to read past the, oh, b*isms or so because onelook won't post more than 1,000 entires at a time. But it is amazing the number of isms that are out there! You could probably publish a mini-lexicon of isms.
I like presentism, by the way.
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Your presentism has won me over, Wordwind.
I think I'm gonna go back to bed. I may look back on this with a whole different perspective when I wake up and smell the coffee.
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Today's AWAD is:repine (ri-PYN) verb intr.
1. To feel discontent; to fret.
2. To yearn for something.
[From re- + pine, from Middle English, from Old English pinian (to suffer). Ultimately from Indo-European root k(w)ei- that's also the source of words such as pain, penal, punish, impunity, and subpoena.]I won't repine about today's AWAD because it's a piece of cake to bake one into a limerick -- at least, compared to yesterday's AWAD. "Presentism" was so tough we only had two ALADs. Fortunately, one of them was a "Pabst Blue Ribbon" entry [designed to win easy favor with themilum]. [Themilum is the "self-annointed" arbiter of the best limerick heads around here, for those of you who don't already know that.] I haven't got too much to say about "repine" myself, other than to say that some people make a full-time occupation out of it. There's always a cloud in the sky for some people. Reminds me of that "Snoopy" character. Remember that old WWI song. "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, and smile, smile, smile." All the repiners I have ever met are always "unpacking" their kit bag. And they never smile. Come to think of it, when was the last time you saw a smiley around here? Some old-timers don't even approve of smileys. Does that mean they're repiners? I don't think so. It just means they're sick and tired of smiley faces. So I use :) instead. It's a good idea to stay on the right side of old-timers 'cause if you stick around here long enough, you're going to end up as an old-timer yourself. Hmmm. That could be something to repine about. Now I remember that "Snoopy" character's name. It's "Linus". Wherever Linus goes, a cloud goes with him. I think they call it "the Linus effect". Anyway, you can pretty much see a cloud following a repiner around wherever they go. Unless the repiner is a yearner. There are fewer yearners than fretters as repiners go. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. But, it's easy to tell the difference. A fretter is always looking down in the mouth, and a yearner is always looking up although he's always down in the mouth as well. The eyes give them away. A fretter wants to stay down, and a yearner wants to be somewhere else. But neither one of them ever goes anywhere else. They just hang around and repine. You know, it suddenly occurs to me that repiners could be repiners because they're a lot smarter than the rest of us. Perhaps the rest of us are not smart enough to repine all the time. Check this out and you'll see what I mean: LUCY: If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud formations...what do you think you see, Linus?LINUS: Well, those clouds up there look to me like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean...that cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor...and that group of clouds over there gives me the impression of the stoning of Stephen...I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side....LUCY: Uh huh....that's very good....what do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?CHARLIE BROWN (growing alarmed): Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsie, but I changed my mind!http://www.culturedose.net/review.php?rid=10003971
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Don't we pretty much use 'to pine' in the same sense (and more senses beyond) of 'to repine'? It reminds me of the same relationship between iterate and reiterate with 're' being an intensifier, although I think here people use reiterate more than iterate, whereas they use 'pine' over 'repine.'
Actually, thank you, Anu, for this because it gives me another verb for the 're' as an intensifier example. Faldage would know the word I'm looking for that would be better than 'intensifier.'
Thanks, plutarch. Food to mull over today.
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Don't we pretty much use 'to pine' in the same sense (and more senses beyond) of 'to repine'? It reminds me of the same relationship between iterate and reiterate with 're' being an intensifier, although I think here people use reiterate more than iterate, whereas they use 'pine' over 'repine.'
Some people "iterate", others "reiterate"
Either way etymologists consider them literate.
It's the same with "pine"
And it's cousin "repine"
Either way you will feel like you want to commiserate.
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Today's AWAD is "diriment":
diriment (DIR-uh-ment) adjective
Nullifying.
[From diriment-em, present participle of dirimere (to separate or interrupt), from emere (to take). Ultimately from Indo-European root em- (to take or distribute) that is also the source of words such as example, sample, assume, consume, prompt, ransom, vintage, and redeem.]
Merriment can be a diriment to success as we discover in today's ALAD.
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I read in one source that diriment = absolute.
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diriment = absoluteI found that reference as well, Wordwind. At least, I think it's the same reference: Diriment \Dir"i*ment\, a. [L. dirimens, p. pr. of dirimere. See Dirempt.] (Law) AbsoluteI've never seen the term used in law before, but I assume that it is used in the sense of "absolute nullification". Since "nullification" nullifies something absolutely, the word "absolute" would appear to be unnecessary. But jurists are adroit in finding escape hatches in words where no-one else [in particular, lawmakers] can find them. They have conjured up nullities which can be reversed, and other nullities, namely, "absolute nullities", which cannot be reversed. "Nullities have been divided into absolute and relative. Absolute nullities are those which may be insisted upon by any one having an interest in rendering the act, deed or writing null, even by the public authorities, as a second marriage while the former was in full force. Everything fraudulent is null and void.
Relative nullities can be invoked only by those in whose favor the law has been established, and, in fact, such power is less a nullity of the act than a faculty which one or more persons have to oppose the validity of the act.http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/n082.htmBTW the same head scratching goes in law with "void" ["void ab initio"] and "voidable". VOID - Having no legal effect or consequence. http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/u041.htmVOIDABLE - Having no legal effect or consequence if the party affected so chooses. http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/u043.htm
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So, it would follow that deriment nullities are absolute nullities and cannot be nullified. Leave it to the legal profession...
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deriment nullities are absolute nullities and cannot be nullifiedThat's it, Wordwind. It's like falling down the rabbit hole: "In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next." http://www.snark.de/carroll/alice/alice1.htmlYou have just fallen down the lawyer's rabbit hole, Wordwind. Happily, this gives me a chance to plug tsuwm's thread "the plasticity of words".
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Today's AWAD is:
animus (AN-uh-muhs) noun
1. Hostility; ill will.
2. Purpose; disposition; governing spirit.
3. In Jungian psychology, the masculine part of a women's personal unconscious.
[From Latin animus (spirit, mind).]
Aha! Now I know why Anu called this a "Water of India" week with no particular weekly theme. Because it's a trick. It's all an illusion.
There isn't supposed to be a weekly theme, but actually there is one. There isn't supposed to be a rabbit in a top hat either, but "PRESTO", there's a rabbit!
Have you noticed, it's always a white rabbit? Do you suppose it has something to do with the White Rabbit in Alice and Wonderland? Alice popped out of a rabbit hole and a white rabbit pops out of a top hat.
Do you suppose Anu is trying to tell us something here?
Of course! He wants us to figure out the Weekly Theme for ourselves. Clever idea, Anu. You never run out of clever ideas, do you? Just like the "Water of India".
OK. Let's look at all of this week's AWADs:
odium, presentism, repine, diriment and animus.
Where's the white rabbit? What's the weekly theme?
[Drat! I should have figured this out yesterday when Anu led us down that rabbit hole with "diriment".]
I think I know, do you? If I'm right, you'll find a clue in today's ALAD. ['Course only Anu can say for sure. But a magician never tells. So we'll have to figure it our for ourselves.]
One other thing regarding the "animus" which is the masculine side of a woman's unconscious: Do you suppose Jung had some unresolved problems with women? [If he did, he's not the only one.]
Now this is really going to throw you. Did you know your dog has "animus" towards you. It's true. He's got animus revertendi.
If you're going to post your own answer, don't read this [it could throw you off your "animus"]:
All of this week's AWADs describe angry, anxious or censorious states of mind.
BTW I have a special treat for you today deja daedalus from our own Dr. Bill [wwh]. Check out "daedalus" in "AWAD in Schools".
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The commentary below is posted separately because Dr. Bill [wwh] invited me to investigate the association of the term "animus" with "penis envy" in Jungian psychology. Here is the result: Extract: Freud said, "Anatomy is destiny." He was much preoccupied with the genitals, and the role of the genitals in our minds and in guiding our lives. Freud felt that every boy both fears his father and wants to become like him. Many of his male patients expressed anxiety about their penis, as well as fears of having it cut off. The fears were based in part on actual threats in 19th-century pedagogy (where boys caught masturbating were threatened with having their penis amputated), but also, according to Freud, on a son's fear that his penis might be bigger than his father's and that consequently his father would cut it off. (It is for this reason, said Freud, that many men have problems if they earn more money, or achieve greater success, than their fathers.)Freud's female patients told him of their childhood envy of their brothers and fathers, men with an obvious appendage between their legs. Many also told him that when they began to menstruate, they assumed they had been genitally mutilated, that the blood between their legs was the consequence of their mother cutting off their penis. Freud believed these experiences created a yearning in women to have a penis so as to be as penetrative as men - not only literally, but also in the sense that they would have the right, the permission and the capacity to "penetrate" the world.
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Now, as then, there is not a single shred of empirical evidence supporting Freud's theory that suppressed desires-sexual or otherwise-rise up in our dreams disguised as symbols which therapists can usefully decode. Nor is there any scientific evidence to support the ideas of Carl Jung, Freud's renegade disciple, who believed symbols in dreams aren't disguised but have more direct meanings, some of them universal (a circle, said Jung, stands for "unity").http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/freud.htmlDr. Bill has just offered this little appendage: ancient joke. Little girl at a picnic
sees a little boy peeing, and exclaims:' What a handy
thing to bring to a picnic!'
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