Wordplay Wednesday™ November 11, 2015 – LENIS: Sound off

Let’s work up a sweat with the alphabet!

LENIS (leʹnis, laʹ-) – adj. Phonet. articulated with little muscle tension and little or no aspiration (smooth, soft, mild) —n. a lenis sound.

No, not lean us up against the jukebox …

Do you know that speaking can work up a sweat?! It’s true – tell that to your fitness coach. You’ll work harder on some words than others – I’m here to tip you off to the easier letters of the alphabet to use.

I’m all for easy if the results are the same, aren’t you?

Phonetically, when you speak, different letters require more or less effort to create either a soft – lenis – sound, or a harsher, harder – fortis – sound.

Wordplay Wednesday™ November 04, 2015 – Chaos into Peace

Oops! Missed Wednesday – Plan B

This week, since I missed Wordplay “Wednesday” we’re gonna switch it up to “Wayback Wordplay.” 

Nostalgic thoughts breed abstract, sometimes chaotic, reminiscing. 

http://lampshadeguy.tumblr.com/

In the 1960s and ‘70s things were volatile one day, giving way to Peace, Love, and Rock & Roll the next, much the same as today.

Just as jumbled in our jargon, we coined new words and mashed some together for a unique blend of slang. Traveling down California’s coast this week, I’m reminiscing and …

CHILLAXIN' – in the mid-1960s and early ‘70s to “chill” meant to relax – at some point, someone really wanted emphasis and squished the two words together for slang that lasted much of the latter decade. Cool, man …

Wordplay Wednesday™ October 28, 2015 – Lycanthrope

Six Weeks of Weird Halloween Words ~ Week #6 (The End)

Question of the day: Was “Wolfman” Jack a lycanthrope?

 

LYCANTHROPE or more commonly – WEREWOLF (werʹwoolfʹ): n. Folklore, a person changed into a wolf, or one capable of assuming the form of a wolf at will; lycanthrope.**

Hmmmm … think about it … Robert Weston Smith, businessman, by day … howling, wild-‘n’-crazy, mysterious radio DJ extraordinaire, Wolfman Jack, by night. And we wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Halloween is simply not complete without a tribute to the most fun and famous “werewolf” of the 20^th century.

If you missed the thrill of personally experiencing Wolfman Jack’s sometimes salacious, always deliciously irreverent howl filling your radio’s airwaves, you missed history. Of course, there are taped airchecks and replays of his vintage shows* still sold in syndication. But there’s nothing like the real thing, baby.

More on Wolfman soon, including where you can hear him again. But first, speaking of the real thing – are werewolves “real”? Owwwwwwoooo …

Wordplay Wednesday™ October 21, 2015 – Trick-or-Treat!

Six Weeks of Weird Halloween Words ~ Week #5

Are you a Trickster or a Treater?

‘Fess up … do you fling open your door and greet Halloween visitors with feigned amazement at their creative costumes? OR, are you the Halloween Grinch, porch light off, with only the television light flickering in the shadows?

TRICK-OR-TREAT!: traditional greeting used by a Trick-or-Treater; orig. used with the meaning ‘give me a treat or I will play a trick on you!’

Uttered by millions of children masquerading as anything other than a child, Trick-or-Treat! aims to trick a few pieces of sweetness from you. Not particularly weird … but, why do we say it at all? Trick-or-Treat!Smell my Feet! And follow me …

Wordplay Wednesday™ October 14, 2015 – Jack-o-Who?

Jack-o’-Who? What?

You may think my choice for the fourth week of Weird Halloween Words is rather banal and too commonplace to be weird. Au contraire my little chickadees (a French tribute to relatives heading to Paris* this week!).

All About Pumpkins

JACK-O’-LANTERN (jakʹɘ lantʹɘrn): n. a hollow pumpkin cut to look like a face and usually illuminated inside as by a candle, used as a decoration at Halloween.

Few call it a Jack-o’-lantern anymore. That’s really a shame, because Jack-o’-lantern is way more creative and interesting than “Halloween pumpkin” – which we have come to assume is carved.

Using the name, Jack, probably stepped on someone’s politically correct toes, so the term fell out of favor. But what is a Jack-o’-lantern, really?