Word

Words beginning with the »sn« sound in English are often unpleasant: snide, snob, snigger, sneer, snicker, snub, snert, snotty, snippy, snit, snarl, snore, sneak, snag. »Snow« is a word over which there is debate and even an annual change of heart. The first snowfall is almost always welcomed. Christmas snow is considered magical. But too much of a good thing for too long and March blizzards push »snow« into line with the rest of the »sn« words.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«

Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«


 – Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
 – An Essay on Criticism [1711], pt. II, l. 109

LI

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

--The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
(trans. Edward Fitzgerald, 1st ed.)

“Be careful what you say—you may have to eat your words.”

I don’t think so much about eating my words as about wearing them. When someone sees me, the words come back to haunt like a miasma around me. No matter how colourful my dress, bad words turn everything grey and muddy brown.

Spaces define which letters to together to make up a word.

Without another word spoken on either side, the lodger took from his great trunk, a kind of temple, shining as of polished silver, and placed it carefully on the table.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«


There it was, word for word,
The poem that took the place of a mountain.


»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«


 – Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)
 – The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain [1952], st. I

My favourite word in the English language is »language«. However, if you gave me a slightly larger set of words to choose from I might have more difficulty expressing a preference.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«

Words like winter snowflakes.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«


 – Homer (c. 700 B.C.)
 – The Iliad, bk. III, l. 222

The >>Word of the Day<< today over at dictionary.com is >>oblation<<.

>>Oblation<< comes from the past participle form of the Latin verb* >>offerre<< meaning >>to bring<<.

So, an oblation is an offering or a gift.

__________
* A Latin verb is traditionally cited by giving four forms, in this case: offero, offerre, obtuli, oblatum.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«

Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled.

»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«


 – Horace (65-8 B.C.)
 – Epistles, bk. I, epistle xviii, l. 71

»Therefore« is a word the poet must not know.

(Andre Gide)

A man of words and not of deeds
Is like a garden full of weeds.

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.

(Mark Twain)