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Musings Uncategorized Write Away

Write Away: “Milquetoast”

This week, I’m sort of – maybe – interested in the word, “Milquetoast.” What does it mean?

  • Adjective: lacking in character or vigor : WISHY-WASHY
  • Noun: A timid, meek, or unassertive person

It’s a strangely spelled word, introduced in 1924 by cartoonist Harold T. Webster in a comic strip called, “The Timid Soul,” published in the New York Herald Tribune. Webster claimed the character, Caspar Milquetoast, was a “man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick.” It slipped into use as a synonym beginning in the mid-30’s.

The word sounds like, “milk toast,” doesn’t it? This dish, popular in the late 19th and early 20th century, consists of toasted bread served in warm milk, sugar and butter…eesh. Seems like the bread would get all mushy. On the other hand, french toast, which is bread soaked in eggs and maybe a little milk, that’s completely different.

Here’s a sentence from Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary: Do we really want a someone who is a milquetoast halfhearted candidate or someone who will defend the Constitution with every fiber of her being?
— Dana B. Orr

Here’s mine: I refuse to order a milquetoast breakfast of bread soaked in anything but eggs!

Now you try!

Read about other words and more at JD-Sullivan.com.

Today’s word suggestion and history comes from Workman Publishing and the editors of Merriam-Webster, 365 New Words-A-Year 2021. The definitions are from Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary.

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Musings Write Away

Write Away: “Panoptic”

Write Away Cat - ReducedThis week, a dear friend of mine, Donna Conrad, gave me one of those “word-a-day” desk calendars. She knows I’m obsessed with words. She’d also enjoyed my Write Away posts and hoped I’d get back to them one day. Maybe the calendar could help?

Well, it seems to have worked! Today, I’m enjoying the word, “Panoptic.” What does it mean?

– being or presenting a comprehensive or panoramic view (derived from the Greek panoptés, meaning “all seeing”) 

How cool is that? Panoptic kind of rolls off the tongue. You can imagine it spoken in a deep voice, maybe by James Early Jones. “Luke, I am your father. And the universe is panoptic.”

How cool is that? The word is somewhat fluid. It rolls off the tongue (panoptic…panoptic…). You can also imagine it spoken in a deep voice, perhaps by James Earl Jones. (“Luke, I am your father. And the universe is panoptic.“)

Here’s the sentence from the desk calendar: Loaded with careful details and telling imagery, the documentary is a panoptic portrayal of the lives of traveling circus workings.

Here’s mine: Loaded with books that tell stories from the time of Christ, to modern days, and through an envisioned future, my Kindle account is a panoptic experience of the real and imagined world.

Now you try!

Read about other words and more at JD-Sullivan.com.

Today’s word comes from Workman Publishing and the editors of Merriam-Webster, 365 New Words-A-Year 2021

 

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Food Recipes

#DinnerLastNight: Green Detox Soup from Skinnytaste.com

Photo from Skinnytaste.com
June 20, 2020

Photo from Skinnytaste.com

I must admit my brain’s translation feature no longer works, ever since it equated “Covid-19 Quarantine” to “Eat Like You’re In College, Jacqui.” Cookies, ice cream, croissants, snack sized candy, and the lovely spirits; my food choices have morphed into meals I don’t recognize until they show up on the scale. To begin to counter this, I cooked a wonderful recipe from Liz Moody’s cookbook Healthier Together, also presented online by Skinnytaste.com. Green Detox Soup With Toasted Hemp Gremolata.

Continue reading “#DinnerLastNight: Green Detox Soup from Skinnytaste.com”
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Food Recipes

#DinnerLastNight – Tandori Shrimp from nomnompaleo.com

June 20, 2020

Nom Nom Paleo’s Tandori Shrimp

Dinner last night was another recipe from Michelle Tam on the Nom Nom Paleo site, this one called Tandori Shrimp. It was as easy and yummy as advertised.

Continue reading “#DinnerLastNight – Tandori Shrimp from nomnompaleo.com”
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Food Recipes

#DinnerLastNight – 06/06/20:

Photo From Skinnytaste.com

Coconut Broth Clams w/Lemongrass

Photo From Skinnytaste.com

Are there yummy ways to cook clams besides the standard chowders? Yes, and I’ve been missing out for most of my life! Two nights ago I tried, Coconut Broth Clams with Lemongrass, from Gina Homolka, the author and recipe developer for the website Skinnytaste.com.

I followed Homolka’s suggestion by adding toasted artesian bread (brushed with olive oil) to dip into the broth. I paired it with a small, simple salad. The aroma and the flavors – Yum!

Skinnytaste.com continues to be a favorite source for inspiration. The recipes are given one or more labels, such as Low Carb, Paleo, Gluten Free, etc. and I’ve pretty much always enjoyed the meal.

Note: this recipe is labeled Under 30 Minutes, but make sure you see the caveat – the clock starts after the clams are cleaned, a soaking process for at least and hour and fifteen. I’m glad I did my “mise en place,” because then the recipe goes pretty quickly.

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Uncategorized

Write Away: “Sonder”

Write Away Cat - ReducedThis week, I’m obsessed about the word, “Sonder,” which I found on a nifty Pinterest site, Cool Words and Their Meaning, by Marisa Turpin.  What does this word mean?

– the realization each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.  

How cool is that? Haven’t heard about Sonder before? The noun seems to have been invented by John Koenig and was planned to be described in his upcoming book, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.

Continue reading “Write Away: “Sonder””

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Food Recipes

#DinnerLastNight – 05/31/20

Pureed Broccoli Soup…

Photograph from Wikipedia –

Thanks to Covid, I’m starting to enjoy cooking at home again. Last night, I tried Pureed Broccoli Soup from Eating Well, a healthier version of this standard (yum). I thought I’d share the recipe with my friends. Note: I doubled the parsley and I always add a dash of lemon juice to brighten the flavors, a trick I learned from Deborah Madison in her wonderful book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Linking to it, I just realized she released a new version in 2014!

#DinnerLastNight

Categories
Food Recipes

#DinnerLastNight – 05/20/20

Halibut Cheeks…

Photograph By ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST –

It only took a global pandemic to get me to stop eating out all the time. Now I’m on the hunt for fast and easy dinners. Last night, I found Roasted Halibut Cheeks w/Lemon Butter. Yum. Thought I’d share with my friends. This recipe was posted by Eric Akis at the Times Colonist website. Check it out!

The image is also from his post. I was so taken by my dinner’s aroma that I snarfed it right away.

#DinnerLastNight

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Musings Write Away

Write Away: “Kakistocracy”

This week, I’m obsessing about, “Kakistocracy,” thanks to a suggestion from Amy Forsberg in early August.  It’s not an easy word to twist in fun, or even to say just once (I had to practice), but considering the 2016 presidential race, it’s timely.  What does it mean?  Let’s see:

– Government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power (from Dictionary.com),  

The origin of the noun is Greek from ~1829.  It’s thought to have been “coined on analogy of its opposite, aristocracy, from Greek kakistos “worst,” a superlative of kakos “bad.”    

Come on, admit it.  With all the cow pies that both presidential candidates keep stepping in, doesn’t this word sound like it might describe our political future?  Maybe you’ve shut off the TV news or finished a Sunday article recounting each of the candidate’s failings and thought to yourself, “Oh crap.  In some ways both of them stink.”

I know I have.

Here’s a fun fact.  According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, kakos may be related to the general word for, “defecate.”  Like it feels as if these politicians are going to poop on us, no matter who we elect.  

~*~

Note:  Amy found the word while reading this opinion piece by Peggy Noonan in the Wall St. Journal.  In it, Ms. Noonan highlights her opinion that Trumps tends to be the one dumping caca on his own campaign, and that his antics steal the public attention away from the on-going Clinton email scandal.  Noonan closed by introducing the word, with the following assertion:

“We’re on our way there, aren’t we? We’re going to have to make our way through it together.”

Shit.  I hope not.

#amwriting, #amediting

~*~

Officially citing:

kakistocracy. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.http://www.dictionary.com/browse/kakistocracy (accessed: August 21, 2016).

kakistocracy. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian.http://www.dictionary.com/browse/kakistocracy (accessed: August 21, 2016)

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Musings Write Away

Write Away: “Moil”

This week, I’m obsessing about, “Moil,” thanks to a suggestion from Chris St. Clair. Here are some of the many definitions:

 – To work hard : drudge

 – To whirl or churn ceaselessly; twist; eddy.

 – Glassmaking. a superfluous piece of glass formed during blowing and removed in the finishing operation.

– Origin 1350 – 1400

It’s actually a derivative of the Latin word, mollis, or soft.

Find the full definition for moil at Dictionary.com.  (I’ve been trying to use a variety of sources for fun, and had hoped to use Miriam-Webster this time, but Dictionary.com was more complete.)

~*~

Trivia note:  Chris found the word on a website about the Johnstown, PA flood (which has been referred to as the Great Flood of 1889.)  I’m not sure if I have the same website, but I found a related site here on wikipedia:  “Before hitting the main part of Johnstown, the flood surge hit the Cambria Iron Works at the town of Woodvale, sweeping up railroad cars and barbed wire in its moil.”

Railroad cars!  It’s an interesting read and a bit terrifying!

~*~

…Bubble, Bubble, Moil and Trouble (hmm, might work).

#amwriting, #amediting