stonkered

stonkered

/ˈstɒŋkəd/
adjective
NZ, Australian
informal
1 predicative Utterly exhausted or defeated.
1.1 Drunk.

Origin
1920s: from Scots and northern English stonk ‘game of marbles’, perhaps of imitative origin.

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Simon was stonkered after the game. It did help that his team had won, but there were at least two more games in the series to go.

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torment

torment

noun
/ˈtɔːmɛnt/
mass noun
1 Severe physical or mental suffering.
1.1 count noun A cause of severe suffering.
verb
/tɔːˈmɛnt/
[with object]
Pronunciation /tɔːˈmɛnt/
1 Cause to experience severe mental or physical suffering.
1.1 Annoy or provoke in an unkind way.

Origin
Middle English (as both noun and verb referring to the infliction or suffering of torture): Old French torment (noun), tormenter (verb), from Latin tormentum ‘instrument of torture’, from torquere ‘to twist’.

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She tormented him with her words.

pragmatic

pragmatic

/praɡˈmatɪk/
adjective
1 Dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations.
1.1 Relating to philosophical or political pragmatism.
1.2 Linguistics Relating to pragmatics.

Origin
Late 16th century (in the senses ‘busy, interfering, conceited’): via Latin from Greek pragmatikos ‘relating to fact’, from pragma ‘deed’ (from the stem of prattein ‘do’). The current senses date from the mid 19th century.

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Joe understood his origins as a naked ape, but he put on shoes every morning, taking the pragmatic view that his feet would be more comfortable on today’s concrete pathways through his “jungle”.

Watchful readers may recognize the elements of today’s illustration. Both the walking man and the sneakers have been utilized on their own before. Combining them in a quick update for today is a pragmatic decision. Today will be busier than most and time is short for doing much creatively.

Besides, I’m participating for the first time in INKTOBER, an annual art effort to develop skills with direct use of ink on paper…but that’s beyond me, so I’m attempting the same style (no erasing!) with my digital favorite Inkscape. For me, the exercise is #Inkscapetober.

Today’s prompt is “DROOL”

 

horology

/hɒˈrɒlədʒi/
noun
mass noun
1 The study and measurement of time.
2 The art of making clocks and watches.

Origin
Early 19th century: from Greek hōra ‘time’ + -logy.

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Sid slowly, deftly slid the final hand into place. He was proud of his first complete watch build, on his way to his horology credentials.

monitum

/ˈmɒnɪtəm//ˈmɒnɪtʊm/
noun
A document giving warning of something, or giving a warning to someone; (Roman Catholic Church) a warning sent to a particular person or about a particular issue by the Holy Office.

Origin
Early 18th century; earliest use found in John Flamsteed (1646–1719), astronomer. From post-classical Latin monitum, specifically use of singular form corresponding to classical Latin monita warnings, precepts, use as noun of neuter plural of monitus, past participle of monēre to advise, warn.

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“The sky is falling!” was the monitum of Chicken Little, though that classic children’s story probably wasn’t taken from classical Latin.

fantast

(also phantast)

/ˈfantast/
noun
North American
archaic
An impractical, impulsive person; a dreamer.

Origin
Late 16th century (formerly also as phantast): originally via medieval Latin from Greek phantastēs ‘boaster’, from phantazein or phantazesthai (see fantastic); in modern use from German Phantast.

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I fear that people buy clothing from the shopping channels they are convinced will look “perfect” on them. Fantasts that they are, they frequently suffer buyer’s remorse.

Of course, with sufficient will and effort, and careful buying acumen, their dreams might come true.

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The Word of the Day is a daily challenge to myself to illustrate the word with a sentence or rhyme along with a small drawing typically done with Inkscape. I’ve been doing it for a while, but am going to begin posting it here in this blog as a record (WordPress.com doing all the heavy lifting of backups and uptime.  I’ve crashed two home-based servers so far and am getting fed up with restarting with fresh installations and restoring the data. I concede that I am not the greatest system admin.)

Copyright Creeps

There’s a new “free” trade agreement among the three North American nations which apparently includes language extending Canada’s copyright to  life of the creator plus 70 years.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/10/01/canada-capitulates-on-copyright-in-new-usmca-deal.html

It’s another blow to the commons. I presume that it’s another bit of chicanery by Hollywood and the publishing industry to keep a tight grip on ALL creative works. Not that the works are routinely available for the public, mind you. In Disney terminology, they are in the Vault for years until a new generation can be made to pay for the privilege to watch an animated film from the 1940s. Then, too there are all the out of print books by authors long dead. Even libraries have culled them because the physical books became musty and were not regularly circulated. Those same works have not been lovingly converted into digital ebooks by their original authors or even by their estates because the publishers own the rights. The public, people like you and me, only has the right to complain. Our voices carry not at all in the midst of the “negotiators” who speak regularly with the poor, downtrodden film and publishing industry.

House vs. Home

Realtors with their advertising suggest to us that a building with residential zoning is a home which can be purchased. I don’t think so. The building is just a house, no matter how cute or how many rooms have hardwood floors and crown molding.

A house becomes a home only when someone moves into it and makes it a cozy, emotionally warm and safe. “Home is where the heart is.” That old adage tells me that one or more people need to invest their love into making a house more than an occupied building.

Veronica

Also known as “creeping speedwell”, Veronica is a tiny lobed flower growing in my lawn. I look forward to seeing this little thing even though it is technically a weed. The flower is tiny, only a few millimeters across. You need to look closely, probably even kneel or stoop on the lawn to see how pretty it is.

(An entry of “Weed and Wildflower Wednesday”)

Clickbait

I don’t like the clickbait posts which I see on social media, so, of course, I had to make one of my own.