Ululate – Wordplay Wednesday™ 08/16/17

Shouting So Loud, Can’t Hear Yourself Think 

If only free speech was just for you, not everyone else, right? There is no right or wrong in violent rallies or riots. There is only loud stupidity.

How does destroying others’ property, causing harm to another because they have a different point of view, or throwing your lungs out through your throat, help your cause?

ULULATE (yōōlʹyoo lāt’) vi. 1) to howl or hoot; 2) to wail or lament loudly. [WW #125]

I applaud everyone’s right to ululate, but while you’re venting with violence, nothing is accomplished. What a waste of time and energy that could be spent effecting changes. Shouting never solved a problem.

How do I know this? Because I did much-too-much ululating as a young person (just ask my boys) and can’t recall one instance in which lamenting loudly made me feel better, or changed a situation to my ultimate liking.

Stop whining. Accept what you cannot change. Have courage to change what you can. Most importantly, cease ululation, so you can listen, understand, and learn enough to know the difference between the two.

I am a late subscriber to this philosophy. If I can help one other person see the wisdom in this, my day is a success.

Word Challenge: ULULATE. Excellent moment for another fractured adage: Don’t be part of the problem—offer a solution—as you fit ululate into your week of contemplative writings.

Write first for yourself … only then can you write for others. (L.Rochelle) 

'Til next time ... enjoy a wonderful "wordful" week …

                        

@PenchantForPen

@Irishwriter

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Vituperate – Wordplay Wednesday™ 08/09/17

When Your Day Requires Attitude Adjustment  

When one is beleaguered by circumstances beyond control and your daily schedule flies out the window into never-never-land, and nothing gets completed on time … it causes an attitude … 

VITUPERATE (vī tōōʹpɘr āt’) vt. – to speak abusively to or about; berate; revile. [WW #124]

Frustrated by technology, computers, and life in general, by mid-afternoon yesterday I loudly vituperated, realizing I had no hope that this week’s Wordplay Wednesday would live up to its name.

So hopefully, you, like I, learned a new word this “Throttle-My-Computer Thursday” which reminds you it’s Five O’clock Somewhere and life’s too short for prolonged vituperation. 

By the time I made adjustments to my pc’s skewed settings, cleaned out its lazy innards and restarted the beast, it was Happy Hour.

Once you realize you’re hopelessly mired in sh*t, use whatever method works for you to give yourself an “Attitude Adjustment.” Click on the title and let Hank Williams Jr. sing you into a smile. The first minute of relief is worth the effort.

If necessary, remember (after your first sip of libation) to apologize to those to whom you spoke vituperatively, and soldier on. This too, shall pass.

Word Challenge: VITUPERATE. An attitude you sometimes can’t avoid; but react to it mindfully as you fit vituperate into your week of frustrated writings.

Write first for yourself … only then can you write for others. (L.Rochelle) 

'Til next time ... enjoy a wonderful "wordful" week …

                        

@PenchantForPen

@Irishwriter

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Xeric – Wordplay Wednesday™ 08/02/17

Desert’s Dog Days of Summer 

Are you tired of being hot and sweaty? Yep, it’s summer. The salty droplets stream down your face at the slightest movement, and a cold beer or one of those frosty, fruity drinks with the colorful umbrella, punctuate Happy Hour.

Of course, there are those who live year-round in sweltering climes … and if doomsday futurists’ predictions of global warming manifest, we’d better start acclimating our bods now. As the world temperature rises, your buzzword for the week is …

XERIC (zirʹik) adj. – of, pertaining to, or having dry or desert-like conditions. [WW #123]

Even if we’re forced to master conditions the likes of Death Valley, it may not be that bad. As their website says, “Despite its morbid name, a great diversity of life survives in Death Valley.”

Its mountains are draped in winter snow, wildflowers come with rare rainstorms, and pockets of its vastness cultivate small oases for humans and wildlife to enjoy. 

Most of us learned about the driest of all US national treasures, through history books recounting harrowing adventures of our pioneering ancestors. Most famously, the “Lost 49ers” seeking that shiny metal on which our country’s monetary system is built. 

 

Yep, the Gold Rush of 1849 gave Death Valley its name, by a wayward group of families who followed a ne’er-do-well’s “shortcut” to California. After splintering off a couple of times, losing men, mules, and wagons, those who made it through the valley, bid a not-so-fond-farewell to “Death Valley.”

Deserving of its intimidating name, DV still holds the record of 134 d. Fahrenheit, for the hottest day on Earth, July 10, 1913.*

Take heart. If you want to know how to survive when our icecaps no longer cool the oceans, take a trip to Death Valley and learn your dry-life skills… and take LOTS of water.

Word Challenge: XERIC. Are you discovering new ways to alleviate the summer’s xeric conditions in your life? Cheers to a “dry” martini, as you fit xeric into your week of refreshing writings.

 

* For ninety years, a Libyan city held the record at two-plus degrees hotter. A dispute in 2012 resulted in an investigation which determined that taking the temperature over asphalt rather than native soil, disqualified it. The record was returned to Death Valley.

Write first for yourself … only then can you write for others. (L.Rochelle) 

'Til next time ... enjoy a wonderful "wordful" week …

                       

@PenchantForPen

@Irishwriter

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