Tag Archives: dictionary

I Go Ape for Monstrous Monday

Posted on January 30, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Here I am, back to my old tricks of making late blog posts early in the morning.  I had a little computer glitch earlier when my Chromebook started acting funny.  I finally got fed up and went back to my Tablet.  After checking my Facebook On This Day (as a delaying tactic, although I pretended to myself it was for inspiration), I realized I was not up to pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus.  This is one reason I hate to text; it is even worse with my fat finger.  But enough about me, let us get on with the monsters.

No fair pulling hair!

No, this is not me wrestling with my demons.  It is Bela Lugosi in The Ape Man.  It is not a bad flick.  I notice horror movies of this era make copious use of gorillas, although I understand they are in reality gentle creatures.  Hollywood play fast and loose with the facts?  Say it ain’t so!

Yeah, there’s another one!

Now we see my ignorance, because I don’t know the difference between a gorilla and an ape.  I’m thinking ape is the family, as in a gorilla is a certain species of ape.  I know, I could only google these things.

Random picture to denote passage of time.

I resorted to my dictionary, just to be old-fashioned about it.  Sure enough, an ape is any one of a group of such creatures.  The random picture, by the way is the late, great Lionel Barrymore in Devil Doll.  I loves me some Lionel Barrymore.

EEEEEEEEE!

Who could talk about gorillas in Hollywood without mentioning the King?  Kong, that is (see what I did there?).  I guess you could call him the Elvis of Apes, if you wanted to be silly, which of course, I usually do.

And that brings me over 300 words.  Woohoo!  Time for more coffee and the local news.  Once again, thank you for tuning in.

 

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Post, I Must!

Posted on July 24, 2021 by mohawkvalleygirl

Since I have been missing blog posts lately with no discernible injury to the space-time continuum, I am tempted to forgo tonight’s entry. The problem with that is that I will forgo other entries, and the next thing you know, I am no longer a blogger at all. That may not be a huge loss to the blogosphere, but it will diminish the quality of my life.

It should not be a problem today, being as it is Lame Post Friday. Only it is not a real Friday for me, because once again I work on Saturday. A conundrum, to be sure. Or is it?

Yes, it is. I just looked in my dictionary (an actual book, not Google) and learned that a conundrum is a riddle whose answer involves a pun or just anything that puzzles. I do feel puzzled, but wouldn’t it be awesome if I could also think of a pun?

Hmmm… nothing is coming. Since I work tomorrow but not Sunday, will tomorrow’s post be a Post Lame Post Friday Post? I guess that is a play on words but not quite a pun. Well, what do you want from me anyways?

However, I am just about at 200 words. I’ll call that a win, lame or not. Happy Friday, everyone!

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Do Not Forgo the Memory

Posted on December 28, 2019 by mohawkvalleygirl

Regular readers (if I still have any) (I hope I do!) know that I rarely forgo Lame Post Friday.

OK, this is usually something I would confine to a parenthetical comment, but this being Lame Post Friday, I will give it its its own paragraph. “Forego” with an “e” means to go before, to precede.  “Forgo” means to give up or go without. I learned that just now,  when my computer told me both spellings were correct (well, not in so many words, but it did not underline or autocorrect either version). I pulled out my dictionary and looked it up.

And now you know how old school (which sounds somewhat better than just “old”) I am:  I use an actual dictionary.  It is a large red book: Random House Webster’s College Dictionary (New York, 1991).  It was given to me many years ago as a Christmas present from some friends who knew I wanted to be a writer.

Ooh look, I just related this post back to Christmas.  But now I am thinking about the friends who gave me the dictionary, a couple we were very friendly with when we lived up north, in the Potsdam and Norwood, NY area.  We pretty much lost touch with them when they left the area, although we exchanged Christmas cards and eventually re-connected with the wife on Facebook.  Sadly, she died from cancer a few years ago.

This has gotten rather melancholy for a Friday Lame Post, but I think it is important to remember friends.  So, a lexicographical note and a memory.  Sounds like a Friday post to me.

 

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Curse You, Noah Webster!

Posted on May 19, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Whether I call it Monday Middle-aged Musings or Monday Mental Meanderings, today’s is going to be a foolish post.  I don’t know what it is with Mondays, but I am always so tired at the end of the day.  Perhaps it is the onset of middle age, which makes the former title more appropriate.  No matter.  My plan right now is to type in a few paragraphs then attempt to do at least one more useful thing before retiring to bed in self-pitying tears.

 

Just kidding.  I won’t cry and I am not feeling sorry for myself.  If anything, I feel bad for my blog readers, who may be looking for something a little more… shall we say, coherent.  However, if that is the case, the blogosphere is wide and varied.  Surely a blog reader can find something to please.

 

Here’s something interesting:  my computer seems to think blogosphere is not a word.  Perhaps I have it misspelled.  My Random House Webster’s College Dictionary is within reach, but I fear it was published before “blog” was a word, let along “blogosphere.”  I used to have a friend who enjoyed looking in older dictionaries and laughing about words that were missing.  “Computer” is the only example I can think of, unfortunately.

 

I just checked; “blog” is not in my dictionary.  “Computer” is, of course.  Now that I think of it, I don’t see why “computer” would not be in any dictionary.  According to this one, the word “compute” dates from 1630 to 1640, as does “computer,” which means “one that computes.”  Perhaps my memory is at fault and my friend was laughing at the outdated definitions.

 

And that brings up one thing that really annoys me.  Remember in school, when you had to write definitions of words and  you could NOT use a form of that word in your definition?  For example, if the word was “computer” and you put “one that computes,” you would get marked wrong and the teacher would probably say something rude and belittling (my teachers were not big on building self-esteem).  AND WHAT DID THE DICTIONARY JUST DO???  Curse you, Noah Webster!

 

I believe I have now been sufficiently foolish, and I am over 350 words.  I call that a respectable blog post.  I hope to see you lovely people again on Tuesday.

 

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But I’m Not Supposed to be Tired till Tuesday!

Posted on April 22, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

OK, so I just sat here looking at a list I wrote last week of potential blog posts I could write, and yet not writing any of them. I did not write a blog post while at work. I started to write something, then worked on a letter to my sister. As I continued to work, I thought, “This is no problem. I’ll go home, run, then write about my run.”

Oh, I am too tired to run. I am too tired to write. What’s that all about? I can’t do a Tired Tuesday post on a Monday! Monday is for Middle-aged Musings! Dammit! I can’t even stick to my own schedule which is, as you may have noticed, not particularly onerous.

I just sat here looking at the word “onerous” and thinking it did not look right. It looked like it should be pronounced “won-russ”, like the number 1 with rous. Or “wondrous” without the d. My computer did not underline it in red (like it is doing with “won-russ” and “rous”), but I looked it up in the dictionary anyways (I had to pause to remember if O came before or after P). It’s right.

My new plan is to take my precious list downstairs with me and write down why I could not write these potential blog posts tonight. The reasons involve foolishness like I don’t feel like looking up the links I would like to include or I left my notes in my work bag (said bag is on the kitchen floor, it’s not in the Antipodes after all) (I did mention I was tired, didn’t I?) (Incidentally, I believe that is the first time I have ever used the word “Antipodes” in a sentence).

Where was I? Ah yes, nowhere but working on getting somewhere for tomorrow’s blog post. At least I amused myself with today’s silliness. I can only hope others were entertained.

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