One of the reasons I have composed no entries for the last few days is that I have not been feeling well. Several days of painful chest and sinus congestion and lots of coughing and sneezing kept me away from the blog. But I am feeling better now.
Another reason is that I have been working on a separate writing project. That project is not going well. But I am not yet ready to delete it and then forget it, as is often the case with my mind's somewhat weird workings.
Not yet.
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Greta Christina writes of cognitive dissonance and of memes. Both of these words swirl fuzzily within my eternally changing realm of understanding and once again I find it necessary to look up their definitions. Wikipedia announces that cognitive dissonance is discomfort caused by holding conflicting cognitions (e.g., ideas, beliefs, values, emotional reactions) simultaneously. And Wiki declares that a meme is "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."
Oh . . . yeah . . . Now I remember. I knew both of those definitions at one time. Since, however, I never actively use those two words but merely occasionally read about them, their definite meanings tend to fade from the forefront of my mind with that lack of active usage.
Words . . . Words and phrases, and their presumed meanings. I have always believed that a specific word (or phrase) should have a definite meaning and that its meaning should be recognized by all who read it. How else can the information being correctly communicated from producer to recipient?
I am not sure I have a distinct point by writing the above. It seems (to me) a bit hollow. Or incomplete perhaps.
Oh well . . .
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WORD FOR TODAY
gavage [guh-vahzh]
noun
forced feeding, as by a flexible tube and a force pump
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Born June 5, 1934
Bill Moyers is an American journalist and public commentator. Mr. Moyers is currently 77 years old
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__________Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
--George Carlin
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