or search for 'martin cadwell -caldwell' to eliminate caldwell returns (take note of the position of the minus sign) or 'martin cadwell blog' in your browser.
I am not on YouTube or social media.
[ 5 minute read ]
It doesn't seem to matter if I come up with unusual names for my story characters. I thought I had invented the name 'Harrari', which originates from the sound of cars passing over the joins in a dual carriageway over-flying a roundabout near to where I lived. I use that name for my abandoned alien friend.
Of course, I know that the name 'Hakim' is real. I have no doubt heard in it a Hollywood film. I use that name to identify an avatar spirit.
Hakim and Harrari, as characters, know each other and sometimes act as counsel in my posts. So, I have added tags to a few posts, 'Harrari and Hakim'.
There is a YouTube video, titled 'Yuval Noah Harari on Sky News', 'The World With Yalda Hakim' that is listed above my post 'My alien friend and my avatar' on the DuckDuckGo search ranking index! I thought 'Harrari' might be unique and a strong individual name for a character. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that combining it with another strong name would not be unique at all. In the modern world, we are all trying to come up with a hook that is our own.
I think I recall reading something that buzzed around. 'We are all plagiarists because every word we write has already been written in the dictionary.' Except they are in a different order.
I love words. My bedtime reading when I was sixteen was a Collins Pocket Thesaurus. One might think I would be really good at words but we have to use them to become proficient. I love words so much that I write the 'pretty' ones I find on a large piece of paper that is stuck to my wall. Eventually the paper is full and I have to replace it, but I keep the 'full' pieces of paper. How can a two-dimensional object (to all intents and purposes to the common man) 'get' full?
I have in mind calling up some of these words, sort of randomly, and then writing something that coherently includes them. Here are some of the words I have recorded:
desuetude; eschew; endue; surplice; sine qua non; internecine; commingle; aegis; spissitude; anoesis; deleterious; amphiboly; longanimity; ataraxia; immure; esperance; quotidian; obdurate; dilatory; minatory; perfidious; rebarbative; divagate; paludal; atemporal; nescience; oscitant; zugzwang (one of my favourite words); bathos; metastasis; apperception.
I know the meaning of some of these, and others I have to read the attached meaning. I almost never use any of them. The spell checker hates half of them. so, let's have a go at using a few, at least half, anyway. I will write without preparation or any idea of where it is going.
I don't know what to do
(Glossary at the end)
Today, I found myself in a zugzwang position. Either I continue living in a state of anoesis or swerve towards ataraxia. In any case, I would need to make big changes in my life, and no amount of esperance would cause me to consider either position to be fruitful. One might, in describing me, use the word 'feckless'. Growing up in some seclusion, I have always had to make strong attempts to commingle with the common man. Most of the time, I have to suffer the surplice of my neighbour's nescience. Our conversations, though not quotidian, were often enough to endue in me an idea that his paludal mind is set on obdurate behaviour towards all and everyone. A 'Do Not Bend' package delivered through my letterbox, addressed to his girlfriend, was described in his deleterious, almost minatory, manner, as being delivered by a lazy delivery person who couldn't be bothered to seek his front door. The truth is that his continental-style letter-box has insufficient depth to accept non-bendable packages, such as photographs, and the delivery person was more conscientious than oscitant or clumsy.
To free myself from being permanently affected by people who divagate into rebarbative and perfidious gossip, or general loose cohesion and frippery in their statements, albeit atemporal in nature, a metastasis in my own life must occur. I feel that I should immure myself within my own safe scope of apperception. I have a predilection towards logic and an aptitude for taking two positions simultaneously. Perhaps, my longanimity is wearing thin and I crave peace and equanimity, yet, I can not help thinking that ataraxia is enormously difficult for me to achieve simply because I need sharp mental stimulation, the spissitude of which must be high. Flighty tidbits does nothing for me. Clearly, being perturbed pleases me. That then means that anoesis must be the preferred state to be in. However, I know I grow tired of japes and personal witticisms and seek knowledge to act as superstructure for my thoughts. Neither condition then seems to be an acceptable recluse. Of course no-one wants to make a change that negatively impacts on the rest of their life, and zugzwang positions make us choose the least harmful path. Perhaps, my dilatory personality will allow me to continue to oscillate between my private home-life of quiet study and submission to the general desuetude of common sense in my fellow man for a while longer.
-end-
I think I might have used the words correctly. In any case, I had fun playing around with them. It is one of my hobbies. I am certain that if I used those words, as I have done, in a conversation with someone who knows them, I would see a skeptical question on their face that asks, 'Do you really know what you are saying?' And, because I like to be honest with myself, but also fair and benevolent with myself, I would have to laugh and say 'No, not really.'
I wrote the little story using a selection from the list of words. The meanings of the words I used from the list are here. I have cut and pasted from whichever online dictionary comes up first.
Zugzwang - (my own understanding) This is a German word used in chess. A zugzwang position is one in which a move must be made but any move will result in a following negative position - usually the loss of a piece or consequent check-mate, Being in 'check' is often a zugzwang position.
anoesis - (my own understanding) a state of mind that consists of pure sensation without cognitive content.
ataraxia - a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety, tranquility.
esperance - an archaic and now obsolete word meaning 'hope' (Let's bring it back)
commingle - to mix thoroughly
surplice - punishment, torture, anguish; punishment of hell
nescience - (my own idea is that this word is like 'conscience' and 'prescience', it is to do with perception and understanding and the prefix 'ne' works to negate) 1, lack of knowledge 2. agnosticism
quotidian - 1. usual or customary, everyday; (quotidian needs) 2. daily (a quotidian report) 3. ordinary, commonplace (paintings of no more than quotidian artistry)
endue - provide with a quality or trait
paludal - 1. relating to marshes 2. produced by marshes, as miasma or disease
obdurate - 1. unmoved by persuasion, pit, or tender feelings; stubborn; unyielding 2. stubbornly resistant to moral influence; persistently impertinent (an obdurate sinner)
deleterious - 1. harmful; injurious (deleterious influences) 2. injurious to health (deleterious gasses)
minatory - menacing, threatening
oscitant - 1. drowsy or inattentive 2. yawning as with drowsiness, gaping 3. dull, lazy or negligent
metastasis - change, transference
immure - 1. to shut in; seclude or confine 2. to enclose within walls 3. to imprison
divagate - (my own understanding focus on the 'div' part, to digress or deviate) 1. to wander, stray 2. to digress in speech
rebarbative - causing annoyance, irritation or aversion; repellent
perfidious - deliberately faithless, treacherous. deceitful ; a perfidious lover
atemporal - not given to time, timeless
apperception - logical reasoning through the exchange of opposing ideas
longanimity - patient endurance of hardship, injuries, or offense; forebearance
Zugzwang position - I don't know what to do
All my posts: https://learn1.open.ac.uk/mod/oublog/view.php?u=zw219551
or search for 'martin cadwell -caldwell' to eliminate caldwell returns (take note of the position of the minus sign) or 'martin cadwell blog' in your browser.
I am not on YouTube or social media.
[ 5 minute read ]
It doesn't seem to matter if I come up with unusual names for my story characters. I thought I had invented the name 'Harrari', which originates from the sound of cars passing over the joins in a dual carriageway over-flying a roundabout near to where I lived. I use that name for my abandoned alien friend.
Of course, I know that the name 'Hakim' is real. I have no doubt heard in it a Hollywood film. I use that name to identify an avatar spirit.
Hakim and Harrari, as characters, know each other and sometimes act as counsel in my posts. So, I have added tags to a few posts, 'Harrari and Hakim'.
There is a YouTube video, titled 'Yuval Noah Harari on Sky News', 'The World With Yalda Hakim' that is listed above my post 'My alien friend and my avatar' on the DuckDuckGo search ranking index! I thought 'Harrari' might be unique and a strong individual name for a character. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that combining it with another strong name would not be unique at all. In the modern world, we are all trying to come up with a hook that is our own.
I think I recall reading something that buzzed around. 'We are all plagiarists because every word we write has already been written in the dictionary.' Except they are in a different order.
I love words. My bedtime reading when I was sixteen was a Collins Pocket Thesaurus. One might think I would be really good at words but we have to use them to become proficient. I love words so much that I write the 'pretty' ones I find on a large piece of paper that is stuck to my wall. Eventually the paper is full and I have to replace it, but I keep the 'full' pieces of paper. How can a two-dimensional object (to all intents and purposes to the common man) 'get' full?
I have in mind calling up some of these words, sort of randomly, and then writing something that coherently includes them. Here are some of the words I have recorded:
desuetude; eschew; endue; surplice; sine qua non; internecine; commingle; aegis; spissitude; anoesis; deleterious; amphiboly; longanimity; ataraxia; immure; esperance; quotidian; obdurate; dilatory; minatory; perfidious; rebarbative; divagate; paludal; atemporal; nescience; oscitant; zugzwang (one of my favourite words); bathos; metastasis; apperception.
I know the meaning of some of these, and others I have to read the attached meaning. I almost never use any of them. The spell checker hates half of them. so, let's have a go at using a few, at least half, anyway. I will write without preparation or any idea of where it is going.
I don't know what to do
(Glossary at the end)
Today, I found myself in a zugzwang position. Either I continue living in a state of anoesis or swerve towards ataraxia. In any case, I would need to make big changes in my life, and no amount of esperance would cause me to consider either position to be fruitful. One might, in describing me, use the word 'feckless'. Growing up in some seclusion, I have always had to make strong attempts to commingle with the common man. Most of the time, I have to suffer the surplice of my neighbour's nescience. Our conversations, though not quotidian, were often enough to endue in me an idea that his paludal mind is set on obdurate behaviour towards all and everyone. A 'Do Not Bend' package delivered through my letterbox, addressed to his girlfriend, was described in his deleterious, almost minatory, manner, as being delivered by a lazy delivery person who couldn't be bothered to seek his front door. The truth is that his continental-style letter-box has insufficient depth to accept non-bendable packages, such as photographs, and the delivery person was more conscientious than oscitant or clumsy.
To free myself from being permanently affected by people who divagate into rebarbative and perfidious gossip, or general loose cohesion and frippery in their statements, albeit atemporal in nature, a metastasis in my own life must occur. I feel that I should immure myself within my own safe scope of apperception. I have a predilection towards logic and an aptitude for taking two positions simultaneously. Perhaps, my longanimity is wearing thin and I crave peace and equanimity, yet, I can not help thinking that ataraxia is enormously difficult for me to achieve simply because I need sharp mental stimulation, the spissitude of which must be high. Flighty tidbits does nothing for me. Clearly, being perturbed pleases me. That then means that anoesis must be the preferred state to be in. However, I know I grow tired of japes and personal witticisms and seek knowledge to act as superstructure for my thoughts. Neither condition then seems to be an acceptable recluse. Of course no-one wants to make a change that negatively impacts on the rest of their life, and zugzwang positions make us choose the least harmful path. Perhaps, my dilatory personality will allow me to continue to oscillate between my private home-life of quiet study and submission to the general desuetude of common sense in my fellow man for a while longer.
-end-
I think I might have used the words correctly. In any case, I had fun playing around with them. It is one of my hobbies. I am certain that if I used those words, as I have done, in a conversation with someone who knows them, I would see a skeptical question on their face that asks, 'Do you really know what you are saying?' And, because I like to be honest with myself, but also fair and benevolent with myself, I would have to laugh and say 'No, not really.'
I wrote the little story using a selection from the list of words. The meanings of the words I used from the list are here. I have cut and pasted from whichever online dictionary comes up first.
Zugzwang - (my own understanding) This is a German word used in chess. A zugzwang position is one in which a move must be made but any move will result in a following negative position - usually the loss of a piece or consequent check-mate, Being in 'check' is often a zugzwang position.
anoesis - (my own understanding) a state of mind that consists of pure sensation without cognitive content.
ataraxia - a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety, tranquility.
esperance - an archaic and now obsolete word meaning 'hope' (Let's bring it back)
commingle - to mix thoroughly
surplice - punishment, torture, anguish; punishment of hell
nescience - (my own idea is that this word is like 'conscience' and 'prescience', it is to do with perception and understanding and the prefix 'ne' works to negate) 1, lack of knowledge 2. agnosticism
quotidian - 1. usual or customary, everyday; (quotidian needs) 2. daily (a quotidian report) 3. ordinary, commonplace (paintings of no more than quotidian artistry)
endue - provide with a quality or trait
paludal - 1. relating to marshes 2. produced by marshes, as miasma or disease
obdurate - 1. unmoved by persuasion, pit, or tender feelings; stubborn; unyielding 2. stubbornly resistant to moral influence; persistently impertinent (an obdurate sinner)
deleterious - 1. harmful; injurious (deleterious influences) 2. injurious to health (deleterious gasses)
minatory - menacing, threatening
oscitant - 1. drowsy or inattentive 2. yawning as with drowsiness, gaping 3. dull, lazy or negligent
metastasis - change, transference
immure - 1. to shut in; seclude or confine 2. to enclose within walls 3. to imprison
divagate - (my own understanding focus on the 'div' part, to digress or deviate) 1. to wander, stray 2. to digress in speech
rebarbative - causing annoyance, irritation or aversion; repellent
perfidious - deliberately faithless, treacherous. deceitful ; a perfidious lover
atemporal - not given to time, timeless
apperception - logical reasoning through the exchange of opposing ideas
longanimity - patient endurance of hardship, injuries, or offense; forebearance
spissitude - density, thickness
japes - (from my Roget's thesaurus: witticisms; jape (verb) amuse oneself
dilatory - 1. tending to delay or procrastinate; slow, tardy 2. intended to delay, gain time, or defer decision; a dilatory decision
desuetude - discontinuance, disusage, disuse
Twenty five words I have never used before. I am pleased.