The value of a brother in Christ

Great lunch meeting with a dear, close friend today. I miss the days when we could meet weekly. We shared and prayed some good stuff today, I think, rooted in a long history of walking together.

Today's words

On this list of 13 (with apologies for sending the reader to what is clearly a marketing site), I knew six, and have experienced at least three or four others. My new ones, plus a couple of bonus words discovered when looking up ones links for the ones from the list that I didn't know:

overmorrow - the day after tomorrow, apparently obsolete

which lead to the also obsolete

ereyesterday - the day before yesterday

eigengrau - the uniform dark gray background that many people report seeing in the absence of light

apparently also virtually obsolete

dysania -  state of finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning

very rarely used

eyesome - pleasant to look at

archaic

 anuptaphobia - the fear of remaining unmarried or being married to the wrong person

a rare word, but its roots make perfect sense

collop - 1. a small piece or slice especially of meat  2. a fold of fat flesh

the only of these words to be both common enough and current enough to be included on Merriam-Webster's site. Also, the first I think I've heard before.

lethologica - the inability to remember a word or put your finger on the right word

The Free Dictionary entry for this word then led me to the related

loganamnosis - the obsession with trying to recall a word that one wishes to use

 

The "Love is love" trend

I just read a litany about all the things that marriage allegedly isn't about, with an example for each one indicating why it isn't. One of them was procreation.

Really?

Gay marriage may be among the least damaging effects of our efforts to separate of our sexuality from its primary biological function. Or it may be far more damaging than we understand. Perhaps both of these are true at the same time. But here are some other serious results of that trend: broken families, rape culture, sexual abuse, STD epidemic, single parenthood, emotionally broken children who grow into emotionally stunted adults, increased poverty and crime (in prison, Mother's Day is the most difficult day to use the phone; Father's Day is just another day), pornography addiction, other sexual addiction, prostitution, sex trafficking, abortion, etc.

When compared against this list, it's easy to understand why proponents of allowing gay couples to marry insist that they aren't hurting anyone.

(It is no coincidence that so many items on the list above could also be listed as effects of drug addiction, as the neurotransmitters engaged in our sexuality are as powerful as many artificial addictive substances, and they are commonly engaged both in sexual activity and drug use.)

In a world with 7+ billion people, I can understand why some might argue that sexuality and procreation shouldn't necessarily have anything to do with each other. 

Today's bonus word

orology - the science of mountains

Courtesy of today's Jumble Crossword. (Sorry; I'm all hyperlinked out today.)

Today's words

jiggery-pokery \ˈji-gər-ē-ˈpō-kər-ē\ - underhanded manipulation or dealings :  trickery

This piece of vocabulary used by Justice Scalia in his scathing dissent from the majority SCOTUS ruling on the most recent challenge to the ACA to make it through the court was highlighted in a Words at Play blog post. The renowned post author, whose books I'm going to have to check out on Amazon Prime if I can get my wife to leave her Kindle behind when she goes on vacation, presents it as simple example of rhyming slang, with a wonderfully witty editorial nod to its (presumably) English source. However, a commenter on this post pointed out a possible older Scottish etymology for the word, and Google led me to this gem - which you should get while it's available as its linked and related article from the previous week appears to be gone; it also provides a likely etymology for the modern verb juke.

stare decisis \ˌster-ē-di-ˈsī-səs, ˌstär-\ - a doctrine or policy of following rules or principles laid down in previous judicial decisions unless they contravene the ordinary principles of justice

The same blog post led me to this legal term of Latin origin. I was familiar with the concept but the actual term is new for me. My brain is going to insist on the Latin pronunciation, even though I don't really know Latin, because that's just how I am.

waddy \ˈwä-dē\ - cowboy

I believe I've encountered today's WOTD before, but didn't remember it when I saw it. (I wish the Merriam-Webster website would use the same pronunciation scheme for the WOTD as for the rest of the site.) 

skewbald \'skew-ˌbȯld\ - 1. (adj) of an animal :  marked with patches of white and any other color but black  2. a skewbald horse

And one of the the examples in that WOTD write-up has led me to this other word that I'm pretty sure I'd never heard before. It makes me wonder if this word inspired the Peter, Paul and Mary classic, Stewball.

 An uncommonly rich morning for new words!

Two smiles this morning . . .

. . . following another restless evening (for far more mysterious reasons than the night before):

First, talk about living on the edge! The bungee walk!

Then this gem from a Words at Play post about Scalia's dissent on the SCOTUS ACA ruling:

Jiggery-pokery comes from Britain, as does most of the finest rhyming slang and spicy mustards . . . 

(I'm ignoring the awkward verb/subject disagreement issue . . . )

More on the latter in today's vocabulary post.

Another thought about the value of dialogue

In addition to my preference for writing, which I will freely grant is partly because it gives me a chance to keep from being a clumsy oaf with regard to the effect that the expression of my own feelings is likely to have on the recipient, there is an element of emotional safety that the dialogue process is supposed to provide for us.

For instance - and I mention this strictly as example; I am not at all still dwelling on this moment - on Sunday I needed for my bride to understand that I was struggling. Yet because I had to express that in the context of the plans she was trying to make, my feelings were received as an impediment to her desire to do something nice for me rather than as an indication of my need for support. Therefore, the response I received wasn't support and love, but frustration and irritation.

This whole incident wasn't affirming for either one of us. It slapped her down in her well-intended and loving initiative as she tried to do something nice for me, and reinforced once more my long-standing tendency to guard my heart and mind.