Transformation

I don't find these words in my dictionary, but they are all over the paper today and the past week or so: transgendered and transsexual.

"Trans" means across, so "transgendered" is an adjective which means having changed from one gender to another. And "transsexual" is a noun referring to a transgendered individual.

Postponed

Sorry, the word for today is postponed until tomorrow.

Please check my other blog, Musings, for exerpts from a new presentation I'm working on.

Don't read this

The brain is so fascinating. If I say “don’t run,” my son will immediately start running. Then when I exclaim “stop,” he’ll slow down. I know this, but shouting “Walking Feet!” is still just a bit awkward and unnatural. I guess I have to keep at it until it is natural for me to use positive expressions. It’s okay to negate positive expressions or to use words that begin with "un" or "non." It’s much better to say unhappy than depressed. Unhappy still contains happy inside it. Or say less than or not exactly, as in I am not exactly optimistic today. I am not spectacular. I am unhappy. I am non-ebullient. I am the opposite of exuberant! Hyperbole makes me laugh. And laughter is so effective at changing my state when I do happen to feel less than wonderful.

Hyperbole? I'm sure it's Greek. It means an exaggeration. Exaggeration? Latin. Why do I start by saying, don't read this? I'm using a principle of neurolinguistic programming, which states that the brain doesn’t process the not or the don’t. You have to first understand the statement, before you can negate it. That’s why a toddler will almost always spill the milk if you hand her a cup and say, "don’t spill it!" It’s much more effective to say, "hold it carefully and use walking feet while holding it! "

Whoa, “neurolinguistic.” That’s a mouthful! Neuro has to do with neurons in the brain, and linguistic has to do with language. Neuro is from Greek and linguistic from Latin! A mixed heritage for that word.

Profanity

Little things amuse me. I mean little things literally, like little words, especially 3 or 5 letter words. Isn’t it funny that the expression “4-letter words” refers to profanity. Isn’t it odd that most profanity has only 4 letters? I guess all I can handle today are 3-5 letter words. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed lately.….

Back to those friendly, droll words. I like the sound of these: mirth, glee, smirk, smug! "Mirth" is a very funny word. Say it a few times and see if you don’t laugh. If you don’t, try it with a high, whiney voice. If you still aren’t laughing, make an appointment with a private investigator or hypnotherapist and see if you can’t recover your lost sense of humor!

Why does “profane” mean obscene, rude or crude? “Pro” means for or toward and what is “fane?” In Latin, “profanus” means before the temple, but outside of it, indicating that something is secular, not sacred or pious.

I feel overwhelmed. Can one be underwhelmed? Subdued would be synonymous with underwhelmed. How about whelmed? “Whelm” must be from Latin as there is no “WH” in Greek. My dictionary says it is from Middle English, overwhelmen, which definitely sounds German. But there is such a word as “whelm!” It means to submerge, or cover with water. It’s true, you can learn something every day! Even me, the philolog!

Trance

My most creative time for writing is when I get to my office, and I’m still not completely awake, or while I’m in the hypnopompic state.
Hypno Pompic! Sounds a bit pompous, don’t you think? It means the time just after awakening from sleep. I guess that it’s a transition state. Is that where the word trance comes from (transition)? Transition comes from a Latin verb meaning to go across. Trance came to us from French, where it meant to pass from life to death, or depart. In English it’s less scary, it means: 1. a hypnotic state. 2. a state of detachment as in daydreaming. 3. a dazed state, stupor.

The mystery of relaxation

I’m intrigued by common words. They are like mysteries to me. I had several conversations about different methods of relaxation yesterday.
Where does the word relaxation come from? I suspect Latin. Yesss!!! “Re” means back and “lax” means loosen, and “ation” means state of.
Meditation? Probably Latin. Right again! The Latin word “meditari” means to consider, reflect.
Hypnosis? I know this is from Greek, “hypnos,” meaning sleep. I think there might even have been a minor Greek god named “Hypnos.”

Pop Icons

I am so fascinated by all the news articles about Anna Nicole Smith, that I can’t think of a word to accurately describe my state. Disgust? Horror? Dysphoria? Upset? Confused? The last article I read said that she was a “pop-culture icon!” What does that say about our culture? What does that say about icons? What exactly is an icon? Icon has a few meanings, since the ubiquity of Windows, it simply means a symbol.

For example: There are unused icons on your desktop!

It also means a religious article of great significance, including body parts or clothing of dead saints and portraits, statues, or other likenesses… “Icon,” must be Greek. The Greek Orthodox revere their icons. That’s why there is word which means someone who doesn’t approve of symbols, “iconoclast.”

Okay, I did it. I brought up popular culture, but found a way to sneak in some interesting words and not actually criticize or explore popular culture itself.

Ubiquity means that it is present everywhere, omnipresent. It’s derived from Latin.
Icon means an image or symbol. Also, a representation or picture of a sacred Christian personage, itself regarded as sacred especially in the tradition of the Eastern Churches. Originally from Greek.
Iconoclast is someone who destroys icons, or one who attacks traditional ideas or institutions. From Medieval Greek, image-breaker.
Dysphoria means depressed or anxious. Must be derived from Greek.

Beautiful youth

Is our country suffering from hebephrenia? We are definitely obsessed with youth. Everybody has to look youthful. And I can’t get over why some of us middle-aged folks want to look youthful by dressing like the teenagers today, when we only wind up looking foolish. I work with teenagers. I think they look awful and I have pointed out to them how embarrassed they will be in 20 years, when their teenage children look at photos of them with their pants hanging off their butts. Oh, is that still in style in New York? Probably not, but the kids here still want to wear clothes that don’t fit. The boys wear everything too big. They have to wear a dress over their shorts so we don’t see the gymn shorts they wear in an effort to prevent drafts and pass the “dress code,” and the girls wear everything too small. The tops are tiny, got to show that belly ring! And the bottoms may be long and wide, so they sweep the floor, but they are small enough on the top, which is not around the waist, but riding so low on the hips they show their tiny little thong underwear. Remember when “thongs” were sandals?

Oh, and tattoos are very popular in Florida, too.
I never considered a tattoo (commitment-phobe that I am). They are so permanent. And again look much better on the young. And I have seen many senior citizens with them here. Not a pretty sight.

He be phre ni a n. a schizophrenia characterized by foolish mannerisms, delusions, hallucinations, and regressive behiavior. From Greek (of course, observe the PH), hebe, youth, Hebe, the goddess of youth and spring.
He be phren ic. Adj. immature or foolish.

Rainy days and Mondays

The word of the day is soporific. Mondays mornings are not easy around here. All the high school students are so tired after their exciting weekends. School is the perfect place to catch up on sleep, right? Not in my classroom! You better get up early and be on time to my class, or it results in an extra day of solitary confinement. So get to bed early! Plan ahead! Oh, I forgot. Teenagers now have that excuse that the brain is not fully developed until 21 and the reasoning part is not quite connected yet to the logical component. When I was in school, we didn’t have that excuse, and kids were held responsible for getting to class on time and staying awake in class…

Sop o rif ic -- adj. 1. inducing sleep. 2. drowsy. From Latin.

Right above soporific is soporiferous, which is a synonym for soporific. Feeling sleepy yet? All this talk about sleep has made me…I’ll just rest my eyes for a minute…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Power of Attraction

"Resistance is futile."

My moods are determined by the news on the radio, by the songs I hear, and by the miserable people around me. There’s nothing I can do about it.

Or is there? Can I control the songs I hear… and turn off the news… and look for the positive people? Can I choose my words more carefully, knowing how powerful they are? Can I read something inspirational every morning? Can I make sure I look for things to laugh at instead of things to complain about? There are plenty of both around. Which are we going to concentrate on? Which are we going to attract? We always seem to find evidence for whatever we are concentrating on…..

That’s why I listen to positive affirmations and do self-hypnosis everyday…

For more info on this subject, see www.EnlightenedHypnosis.com

Sexist Terms 2

I recently received a report, which started like this:

This will separate the Men from the Boys!!!!

I was a little taken aback. Would I be a Man after reading this report? Even if I wasn’t a Boy to start out with?!

I understand the meaning, but I think it could be stated differently:

This will separate the adults from the children! But this only displays an age difference, so it’s not equivalent.

This will separate the superior from the inferior! Is that right? Or is it the accomplished from the inexperienced? I think that captures the flavor a little better for me, but it’s not too catchy. This will separate the experts from the novices. The geeks from the newbies? The nerds from the herds? I got it! The best from the rest!

This will separate the best from the rest!

To the point

I’m on another punctuation rant. “Punk chu a shun.” What a weird word. It must be originally from Latin. There are not a lot of words that begin with “punc,” which is good because it doesn’t look or sound pretty. Punctual, punctuation, punctilious. What a perfectly silly word! “Punctilious,” is one of those words that just makes you laugh for the absurdity of it.

punc til i ous n. 1. attentive to the finer points of etiquette and formal conduct. 2. precise; scrupulous. See synonyms at meticulous. From New Latin, punctum, point.
punc tu al adj. Prompt, arriving at the time appointed; exact, precise.
punc tu ate v. 1. to provide a test with punctuation marks. 2. to interrupt periodically. 3. to stress, emphasize.

I realize I may be one of the few people in the world who knows how to use punctuation. I know what a semicolon is for. I don’t much care for them. I prefer exclamation points! I’m quite liberal with periods and question marks. On the other hand I’m very conservative with quotation marks. I think a paragraph filled with them is quite annoying and unattractive. I prefer using a name or title and a colon on each line of a conversation (see Sexist Terms for an example). I like parentheses for the most part. I really enjoy ellipses… those are the three dots which indicate a pregnant pause… or a missing word or phrase.

I told my son that “ain’t” wasn’t a proper word. Then of course a song came on the radio with double negatives and the aforementioned term, “ain’t.” It is much more common here than it was in New York.

I pride myself on knowing the rules. But they keep changing them! I feel like an anachronism.

anachronism n. anything out of its proper time. From Greek, ana, backward, chronos, time.

Okay, here's the conclusion. There must be some relationship between the top of this article and the bottom. I'll try to tie in punctuation with anachronism: You never hear much about punctiliousness these days. I guess it's anachronistic to be concerned with propriety or punctuation in today's informal society.