Monday, March 7, 2011

A Title Is Such A Tiresome Necessity


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Attention!

My weight today is 155.2 pound.

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My new word for today is phrop and I'll bet it's new to you, too.

In one of his most excellent entries, Michael Quinion wrote:

Sir Arnold Lunn invented the name "phrops" for these euphemistic phrases that do not wear their true meaning on their face. Examples of phrops are "we must have lunch sometime", and "we must keep in touch", both of which actually mean "my life’s ambition is never to meet you again".

Now I am constantly on the lookout as I read news reports, blog entries, and even novels for more examples of these phrops.

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ASH WEDNESDAY

Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent --

From Wikipedia:

Ash Wednesday, in the Western Christian calendar, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days (40 days not counting Sundays) before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It can occur as early as February 4 (February 5 on leap years) or as late as March 10. Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a sign of repentance.


The ashes used are typically gathered after the Palm Crosses from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned. In the liturgical practice of some churches, the ashes are mixed with the Oil of the Catechumens (one of the sacred oils used to anoint those about to be baptized), though some churches use ordinary oil. This paste is used by the minister who presides at the service to make the sign of the cross, first upon his or her own forehead and then on those of congregants.

Good Grief! I don't know what more to say about that.

But eventually I'll think of something.
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The Poetry Radio Project offers audio recordings of poems and famous people speaking their thoughts about poems and poets.

I found Godzilla's Avocado by Thomas Sayers Ellis to be fascinating.
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What is the difference between freedom and liberty is one of those annoyingly recurring questions I have asked myself. Finally, I decided to look it up and see what others have to say about it.

According to Merriam-Webster:

FREEDOM

1 the quality or state of being free: as a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another: INDEPENDENCE c: the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous d: EASE, FACILITY e: the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken f: improper familiarity g: boldness of conception or execution h: unrestricted use

2 a: political right b: FRANCHISE, PRIVILEGE synonyms FREEDOM, LIBERTY, LICENSE mean the power or condition of acting without compulsion. FREEDOM has a broad range of application from total absence of restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated. LIBERTY suggests release from former restraint or compulsion . LICENSE implies freedom specially granted or conceded and may connote an abuse of freedom.


The attempt by Merriam-Webster is not enough. I still don't see the difference. So, I guess that my best choice is to give this question some more thought.

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It seems that I never get tired of reading or listening to certain poems. And this is one of them:


Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.


No, I did not get formal permission to reproduce the above poem.

If the copyright owner asks me to, I will immediately remove it.

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A poem is "never a put-up job.... It begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a loneliness. It is never a thought to begin with. It is at its best when it is a tantalizing vagueness."
--Robert Frost

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