Footling – Wordplay Wednesday™ 05/01/2019

From April Fools to Mindless May 

Let’s face it. We’re too busy for words in the Fall, suffer through Winter as best we can, and skip jauntily through Spring … just to get to SUMMER!!

 

Yes, Summer is just around the corner, with Memorial Day weekend the unofficial start to beach time, vacations, outdoor concerts, and backyard BBQs.

But first, take a deep breath of the heady blooms’ perfumed scent. May is pre-summer warm-up and a great month to simply slow down and smell the flowers, as a wise adage reminds us. May is not quite mindless, however, and certainly not …

FOOTLING: (fōōtʹliŋ) adj. – silly and unimportant, trivial, trifling. [WW #214]

Mellow May hosts month-long events that are far from the footling crowd, but worth our attention: Military Appreciation Month (salutes in order), National Bike Month (to work off weekend picnic goodies), and National Water Safety Month (here comes summer!).

Others are a mix of footling festivities and pre-summer warm-up excitement: Reading is Fun Week (12^th – 18^th; close to my heart), American Craft Beer Week (13^th – 19^th; cheers!), and National Public Gardens Week (13^th – 19^th; smell the flowers).

 

Sometimes silly is good in the merry month of May. Where can you join in the footling happenings and medieval or pirate tomfoolery, too? Several U.S. Renaissance Festivals are set up now. 

Smear turkey-leg juice on your face before Thanksgiving and become a jester or queen for a day! Make footling activities a necessary part of your life … it’s good for your soul.

Word Challenge: FOOTLING. In fiction, it’s an alternative to the tired standards. In nonfiction, it’s a kinder way of expressing the inane. Make May your favorite month, as you slip footling into your week of lighthearted writing.

Learning knows no prejudices or boundaries, and it isn’t fattening! Expanding your mind is a no-cost, simple joy. Do you feel that way too? What’s your inspiration? Share your creative genius and Wordplay Wednesday comments below.

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

Cheers to learning a new word on Wordplay Wednesday!

           

@PenchantForPen

@Irishwriter

[LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and an author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series about pioneering R&R Radio DJs. The true behind-the-mic tales make GREAT Holiday Gifts available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!]

E-N-Dzzzzzzzz  

Yeasayer – Wordplay Wednesday™ 04/24/2019

The Yeas and Nays of Life

We all know the naysayers … never a good word to say about anything or anyone. As the dictionary says, they … oppose, refuse, or deny, esp. habitually.

Ignore them. Turn instead to those who lift your spirits every time you encounter them …

YEASAYER (yāʹsāʹɘr) n. – a person who has an affirmative or positive attitude toward life.  [WW #213]

That isn’t to say negative, frustrating, or devastating events never happen to them, it’s simply how they deal with the experience. 

Perhaps a short “cursing a blue streak” in the beginning, but then with some thought … and a little invisible effort … the yeasayer looks for a positive outcome in every negative event. Be it in their life or yours.

Every day may not be great, but every smile is.

Word Challenge: YEASAYER. Celebrate those in your life who make every day a life-affirming happening. Are you one of them? Terrific! Never underestimate the power of a smile, as you slip yeasayer into your week of uplifting conversation and writing.

Learning knows no prejudices or boundaries, and it isn’t fattening! Expanding your mind is a no-cost, simple joy. Do you feel that way too? What’s your inspiration? Share your creative genius and Wordplay Wednesday comments below.

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

Cheers to learning a new word on Wordplay Wednesday!

           

@PenchantForPen

@Irishwriter

[LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and an author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series about pioneering R&R Radio DJs. The true behind-the-mic tales make GREAT Holiday Gifts available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!]

E-N-Dzzzzzzzz  

Mephitis – Wordplay Wednesday™ 04/17/2019

Well That’s a Pile of Stinky Stuff  

When it comes to words, writers can earn the title of wordsmith with their creative, yet appropriate use of a word’s definition. Give it a shot …

MEPHITIS (mɘ fitʹis) n. – 1) a harmful, bad-smelling vapor from the earth, as the exhalation from decomposing organic matter or poisonous gas from a mine; 2) a bad smell, stench. (adj. mephitic)  [WW #212]

I know mephitis pertains to the earth and a natural emission, or biologic classification applied to living organisms (think skunk), but it also aptly describes my week. Frankly, it stinks.

This post is late due to a frustrating and angering episode with my cute little parked PT Cruiser hit by another vehicle in a freak accident. Ruined my day, likely my week-plus, and totaling the car has been suggested, which of course, means I’ll be short-changed in the whole mephitic deal.

So—I won’t go on and make your week a downer, too; just know that in your writing and conversation, you can pull mephitis out of your vocabulary and use it in terms of the second definition to define body odor, bad day, or other stinky situation!

Word Challenge: MEPHITIS. Hopefully, you will only have reason to apply this word to your writing and not your life, as you fit mephitis into your week of odorous prose.

Learning knows no prejudices or boundaries, and it isn’t fattening! Expanding your mind is a no-cost, simple joy. Do you feel that way too? What’s your inspiration? Share your creative genius and Wordplay Wednesday comments below.

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

Cheers to learning a new word on Wordplay Wednesday!

           

@PenchantForPen

@Irishwriter

[LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and an author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series about pioneering R&R Radio DJs. The true behind-the-mic tales make GREAT Holiday Gifts available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!]

E-N-Dzzzzzzzz