Thursday, June 28, 2012

Wordsmith.org: Monish

My achy-breaky lower body—the squeaky knees and give-up groin—monish me to rest, but I disobey; Christopher Cross ("Say You'll  Be Mine"), Great Big Sea ("Can't Stop Falling") and Madonna ("Respect Yourself")—my iPod disciplinarians—order me to keep dancing, sweating, living.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Thesaurus.com: Abstergent

"We prize them for their rough-plastic, abstergent force; to get people out of the quadruped state; to get them washed, clothed, and set up on end; to slough their animal husks and habits; compel them to be clean; overawe their spite and meanness, teach them to stifle the base, and choose the generous expression, and make them know how much happier the generous behaviors are.'' -Ralph Waldo Emerson ("Conduct of Life"), as quoted at Thesaurus.com.

Ralph Waldo's words inspire me to create a more abstergent inner aura as I center myself in this new day, full of promise, adventure and service.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Monday, June 25, 2012

M-W.com: Frolic

Whenever I gaze upon an unfrozen pond, I envision its potential, come February, for frolicking about on sharpened skates.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

WordSmart: Counterpoint

I enjoy classical music for its counterpoints, those mingling melodies, and Boston Baroque exudes quietude that calms my runaway mind.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Thesaurus.com: Chockablock

Although Boston's Esplanade will be crammed with Yankee Doodle dandies and the Charles River chockablock with boats, grateful US citizens will celebrate the Fourth of July in peaceful fashion.

Friday, June 22, 2012

M-W: Wetware

Rapid advancements in hardware, middleware and software can boggle the brain; before I deploy these fast and flexible technologies each day, I find it helpful to first reconfigure my mind, to the slowest possible setting, and to calm my installed-before-birth wetware.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

WordSmart: Acerb

A crunchy, acerb apple—I prefer a Granny Smith, a.k.a.,Green Delicious—and a hunk of sharp cheddar cheese make for a tasty mid-afternoon snack.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Wordnik: Estivation

While the classic New Englander might find a summer vacation on Cape Cod idyllic, I prefer the less-populated paradise of St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, NB for my estivation.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Thesaurus.com: Penseé

Today's word of the day morphs into today's thought for the day as I share another personal hockey penseé, this one again pertaining to the type of puck-moving implement I prefer: Wood is good. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Monday, June 18, 2012

The Learning Network (NY Times): Alloy

My wallet and my hockey gloves bond better with simple wooden hockey sticks, so I eschew the expensive contraptions manufactured with steel alloys.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

M-W Word of the Day: Pungent

I was going to use a hockey reference, something like sweaty socks and unwashed hockey gear, to highlight today's word. However, M-W's example beat me to the punge, as it were, as today's entry cites a stellar hockey sentence from Chip Scoggins.

So here's my sentence: Is it not odd and wonderful that a frightened (or dead in the road) skunk's pungent stench is similar to the aromatic quality of certain brewed coffees?