Word of the Week 12/30/18: Apotheosis

From Merriam-Webster:

1.a. the perfect form or example of something : QUINTESSENCE
1.b.  the highest or best part of something : PEAK
2. elevation to divine status : DEIFICATION 

Among the ancient Greeks, it was sometimes thought fitting, or simply handy, say if you wanted a god somewhere in your bloodline to grant someone or other god status. So they created the word apotheosis, meaning "making into a god." (The prefix apo- can mean simply "quite" or "completely," and "theos" is the Greek word for "god.") There's not a lot of Greek-style apotheosizing in the 21st century, but there is hero-worship. Our extended use of "apotheosis" as "elevation to divine status" is the equivalent of "placement on a very high pedestal." Even more common these days is to use "apotheosis" in reference to a perfect example or ultimate form.

From Wikipedia:

Apotheosis is the glorification of a subject to divine level.

In theology, apotheosis refers to the idea that an individual has been raised to godlike stature. In art, the term refers to the treatment of any subject (a figure, group, locale, motif, convention or melody) in a particularly grand or exalted manner.

Before the Hellenistic period, imperial cults were known in Ancient Egypt (pharaohs) and Mesopotamia (since Naram-Sin). From the New Kingdom, all deceased pharaohs were deified as the god Osiris.

In the Greek world, the first leader who accorded himself divine honours was Philip II of Macedon. At his wedding to his sixth wife, Philip's enthroned image was carried in procession among the Olympian gods.

Up to the end of the Republic, Romans accepted only one official apotheosis: the god Quirinus, whatever his original meaning, having been identified with Romulus. Subsequently, apotheosis in ancient Rome was a process whereby a deceased ruler was recognized as having been divine by his successor, usually also by a decree of the Senate and popular consent. In addition to showing respect, often the present ruler deified a popular predecessor to legitimize himself and gain popularity with the people. The upper-class did not always take part in the imperial cult, and some privately ridiculed the apotheosis of inept and feeble emperors, as in the satire The Pumpkinification of (the Divine) Claudius, usually attributed to Seneca.

At the height of the imperial cult during the Roman Empire, sometimes the emperor's deceased loved ones—heirs, empresses, or lovers, as Hadrian's Antinous—were deified as well. Deified people were awarded posthumously the title Divus (Diva if women) to their names to signify their divinity. Traditional Roman religion distinguished between a deus (god) and a divus (a mortal who became divine or deified), though not consistently.

From britannica.com:

The most significant part of the ceremonies attendant on an imperial apotheosis was the liberation of an eagle, which was supposed to bear the emperor’s soul to heaven.

Merry Christmas 2018

Word of the Week 12/23/18: Love/Agape

During the month of December, Let's Just Leave That Here presents a series of weekly word explorations on love. The ancient Greeks used four separate words to differentiate the different types. This week's word is Agape.

From Wikipedia:

Agape is a Greco-Christian term referring to love, "the highest form of love, charity" and "the love of God for man and of man for God". It embraces a universal, unconditional love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstance. The noun form first occurs in the Septuagint, but the verb form goes as far back as Homer, translated literally as affection, as in "greet with affection" and "show affection for the dead". 

Within Christianity, agape is considered to be the love originating from God or Christ for mankind. In the New Testament, it refers to the covenant love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term necessarily extends to the love of one's fellow man. 

The word agape received a broader usage under later Christian writers as the word that specifically denoted Christian love or charity (1 Corinthians 13:1–8), or even God himself. The expression "God is love" occurs twice in the New Testament: 1 John 4:8,16. Agape was also used by the early Christians to refer to the self-sacrificing love of God for humanity, which they were committed to reciprocating and practicing towards God and among one another.

The Christian use of the term comes directly from the canonical Gospels' accounts of the teachings of Jesus. When asked what was the great commandment, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40) In Judaism, the first "love the LORD thy God" is part of the Shema.

Word of the Week 12/16/18: Love/Eros

During the month of December, Let's Just Leave That Here presents a series of weekly word explorations on love. The ancient Greeks used four separate words to differentiate the different types. This week's word is Eros.

From Encyclopedia Brittanica: 

In the Theogony of Hesiod (fl. 700 BCE), Eros was a primeval god, son of Chaos, the original primeval emptiness of the universe, but later tradition made him the son of Aphrodite, goddess of sexual love and beauty, by either Zeus (the king of the gods), Ares (god of war and of battle), or Hermes (divine messenger of the gods). Eros was a god not simply of passion but also of fertility. His brother was Anteros, the god of mutual love, who was sometimes described as his opponent. The chief associates of Eros were Pothos and Himeros (Longing and Desire). In Alexandrian poetry he degenerated into a mischievous child. In Archaic art he was represented as a beautiful winged youth but tended to be made younger and younger until, by the Hellenistic period, he was an infant. See also Cupid.

From Merriam-Webster:

1 : the Greek god of erotic love

2 : the sum of life-preserving instincts that are manifested as impulses to gratify basic needs, as sublimated impulses, and as impulses to protect and preserve the body and mind

3a : love conceived by Plato as a fundamental creative impulse having a sensual element

3b : often not capitalized : erotic love or desire

Word of the Week 12/9/18: Love/Philia

During the month of December, Let's Just Leave That Here presents a series of weekly word explorations on love. The ancient Greeks used four separate words to differentiate the different types. This week's word is Philia.

From thoughtco.com:

Philia means close friendship or brotherly love in Greek. It is one of the four types of love in the Bible. Philia (pronounced FILL-ee-uh) conveys a strong feeling of attraction, with its antonym or opposite being phobia. It is the most general form of love in the Bible, encompassing love for fellow humans, care, respect, and compassion for people in need. For example, philia describes the benevolent, kindly love practiced by early Quakers. The most common form of philia is friendship. Philia and other forms of this Greek noun are found throughout the New Testament. Christians are frequently exhorted to love their fellow Christians. 

Examples of Philia Love in the BibleLove one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10 ESV)
Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another... (1 Thessalonians 4:9, ESV)
Let brotherly love continue. (Hebrews 13:1, ESV)
And godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. (2 Peter 1:7, ESV)
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart ... (1 Peter 1:22, ESV)
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (1 Peter 3:8, ESV)
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4, ESV)

Word of the Week 12/2/18: Love/Storge

During the month of December, Let's Just Leave That Here presents a series of weekly word explorations on love. The ancient Greeks used four separate words to differentiate the different types. This week's word is Storge.

From Wikipedia:

Storge means "tenderness, love, affection" and "especially of parents and children". Storge is the common or natural empathy, like that felt by parents for offspring, or all humans for young mammals that are ‘cute’.The word ‘storge’ is rarely used in ancient works, and then almost exclusively as a descriptor of relationships within the family. It is also known to express mere acceptance or enduring situations, as in "loving" the tyrant. This is also used when referencing the love for one's country or a favorite sports team.

Storge is a wide-ranging force which can apply between family members, friends, pets and owners, companions or colleagues; it can also blend with and help underpin other types of tie such as passionate love or friendship. Thus storge may be used as a general term to describe the love between exceptional friends, and the desire for them to care compassionately for one another.

Sometimes the term is used to refer to the love between married partners who are committed and plan to have a long relationship together, particularly as a fundamental relational foundation after initial infatuation (limerence).

Another interpretation for storge is to be used to describe a sexual relationship between two people that gradually grew out of a friendship - storgic lovers sometimes cannot pinpoint the moment that friendship turned to love. Storgic lovers are friends first, and the friendship, and the storge, can endure even beyond the breakup of the sexual relationship. They want their significant others to also be their best friends, and will choose their mates based on similar goals and interests—homogamy. Storgic lovers place much importance on commitment, and find that their motivation to avoid committing infidelity is to preserve the trust between the two partners. Children and marriage are seen as legitimate long-term aims for their bond, while passionate sexual intensity is of lesser importance than in other love styles.

From GotQuestions.org:

The Greek word for love, storge, which relates to natural, familial love such as the love between a parent and child. In the New Testament, the negative form of storge is used twice. Astorgos means “devoid of natural or instinctive affection, without affection to kindred.”

Romans 1:31 describes sinful humanity as having “no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.” The Greek word translated as “no love” is astorgos. The other instance of this word is found in 2 Timothy 3:3, where it is translated “without love.” Paul warns that one mark of the “terrible times in the last days” (verse 1) is that people will lack natural love for their own families.

From Psychology Today:

Storge (‘store-gae’), or familial love, is a kind of philia pertaining to the love between parents and their children. It differs from most philia in that it tends, especially with younger children, to be unilateral or asymmetrical. More broadly, storge is the fondness born out of familiarity or dependency and, unlike eros or philia, does not hang on our personal qualities. People in the early stages of a romantic relationship often expect unconditional storge, but find only the need and dependency of eros, and, if they are lucky, the maturity and fertility of philia. Given enough time, eros tends to mutate into storge.

Word of the Week 11/25/18: Portmanteau

From Dictionary.com:

A case or bag to carry clothing in while traveling, especially a leather trunk or suitcase that opens into two halves.1580s, "traveling case or bag for clothes and other necessaries," from Middle French portemanteau "traveling bag," originally "court official who carried a prince's mantle" (1540s), from porte, imperative of porter "to carry" + manteau "cloak".Portmanteau word "word blending the sound of two different words" (1882), coined by "Lewis Carroll" (Charles L. Dodgson, 1832-1898) for the sort of words he invented for "Jabberwocky," on notion of "two meanings packed up into one word."

From Wiktionary:

First used by Lewis Carroll in 1871, based on the concept of two words packed together, like a portmanteau (“a travelling case having two halves joined by a hinge”).A word which combines the meaning of two words (or, rarely, more than two words), formed by combining the words, usually, but not always, by adjoining the first part of one word and the last part of the other, the adjoining parts often having a common vowel; for example, smog, formed from smoke and fog.

From Vocabulary.com:

You might remember portmanteau from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, where Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the portmanteau word, in which "two meanings are packed up into one word." So, according to Humpty Dumpty, slithy means "lithe and slimy," and mimsy is "flimsy and miserable."

Word of the Week 11/18/18: Sobriquet

From Wikipedia:

A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. Distinct from a pseudonym, it usually is a familiar name used in place of a real name without the need of explanation, often becoming more familiar than the original name.

From Wiktionary:

Borrowed from French sobriquet (“nickname”), from Middle French soubriquet (“a chuck under the chin”).

From Vocabulary.com:

Sobriquets are often but not always humorous, so in order to pronounce this word, you might want to remember that the last syllable rhymes with play. Sobriquets are usually given to you by other people, but you can choose one for yourself.

Word of the Week 11/11/18: Bowdlerize

From Merriam-Webster:

1 literature : to expurgate (something, such as a book) by omitting or modifying parts considered vulgarbowdlerize the text2 : to modify by abridging, simplifying, or distorting in style or content

Few editors have achieved the notoriety of Thomas Bowdler. Bowdler was trained as a physician, but when illness prevented him from practicing medicine, he turned to warning Europeans about unsanitary conditions at French watering places. He then carried his quest for purification to literature, and in 1818 he published his Family Shakspeare [sic], a work in which he promised that "those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family." The sanitized volume was popular with the public of the day, but literary critics denounced his modifications of the words of the Bard. Bowdler applied his literary eraser broadly, and within 11 years of his death in 1825, the word bowdlerize was being used to refer to expurgating books or other texts.

From Oxford Dictionaries:

Bowdlerize (or bowdlerise) means ‘remove material that is considered improper or offensive from (a text or account), especially with the result that the text becomes weaker or less effective’

Bowdlerize owes its existence to Thomas Bowdler. This came about because of Thomas Bowdler’s The Family Shakspeare (retitled The Family Shakespeare in subsequent editions, following the differing trends for spelling the playwright’s name). This was published in 1818, in 10 volumes; an advertisement quoting the preface declared Bowdler’s intention:

Word of the Week 11/4/18: Phlegmon

From Healthline:

Phlegmon is a medical term describing an inflammation of soft tissue that spreads under the skin or inside the body. It’s usually caused by an infection and produces pus.  

The difference between phlegmon and abscess is as follows:
- A phlegmon is unbounded and can keep spreading out along connective tissue and muscle fiber.
- An abscess is walled in and confined to the area of infection. Usually, an abscess can be drained of its infected fluid. A phlegmon can’t be easily drained.

From Wikipedia:

As with any form of inflammation, phlegmon presents with inflammatory signs: dolor (localized pain), calor (increase local tissue temperature), rubor (skin redness/hyperemia), tumor (either clear or non-clear bordered tissue swelling), and functio laesa (diminish affected function).

edit. note: While the g is silent in the word phlegm and phlegmy, it is voiced in the words phlegmatic and phlegmon (otherwise you could say that "when life gives you phlegmons, make phlegmonade.")

Halloween Pumpkin 2018

Word of the Week 10/28/18: Banal

From Macmillan Dictionary: 

Something that is banal is boring because it contains nothing new, original, or unusual

From Oxford Dictionary: 

So lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring

From Cambridge Dictionary: 

Too often used in the past and therefore not interesting, boring, ordinary, and not original

From Vocabulary.com: 

Repeated too often; over-familiar through overuse

From Collins Dictionary: 

So ordinary that it is not at all effective or interesting, dull or stale as because of overuse; trite; hackneyed; commonplace, lacking force or originality; trite; commonplace

From The Free Dictionary: 

Drearily commonplace and often predictable; trite

From Wiktionary: 

Common in a boring way, to the point of being predictable; containing nothing new or fresh

From Merriam-Webster:  

Lacking originality, freshness, or novelty : trite 

There are several pronunciations of banal, but the three most common are \BAY-nul\, \buh-NAHL\, and \buh-NAL\ (which rhymes with canal). The earliest pronunciation given dictionaries is the now-unused \BAN-ul\ (rhymes with “flannel); it is attested to in dictionaries back to the 1800s, but has dropped out of use. \BAY-nul\ is the next oldest pronunciation. The more recent \buh-NAL\ and \buh-NAHL\ came about through French influence, since banal was borrowed into English from French, and those two pronunciations are closer to the French pronunciation of banal. All three pronunciations are acceptable in educated speech; \buh-NAL\ is currently the most common, followed by \BAY-nul\ and then \buh-NAHL.

From Dictionary.com: 

Lacking force or originality; trite; commonplace 

1840, from French banal , "belonging to a manor, common, hackneyed, commonplace," from Old French banel "communal" (13c.), from ban "decree; legal control; announcement; authorization; payment for use of a communal oven, mill, etc.". The modern sense evolved from the word's use in designating things like ovens or mills that belonged to feudal serfs, or else compulsory military service; in either case it was generalized in French through "open to everyone" to "commonplace, ordinary," to "trite, petty."

Word of the Week 10/21/18: Golem

From Wikipedia:

In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being that is magically created entirely from inanimate matter (specifically clay or mud). 

The word golem occurs once in the Bible in Psalm 139:16, which uses the word גלמי (golmi; my golem), that means "my light form", "raw" material, connoting the unfinished human being before God's eyes.

The oldest stories of golems date to early Judaism. In the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b), Adam was initially created as a golem (גולם) when his dust was "kneaded into a shapeless husk." Like Adam, all golems are created from mud by those close to divinity, but no anthropogenic golem is fully human. 

During the Middle Ages, passages from the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation) were studied as a means to create and animate a golem, although there is little in the writings of Jewish mysticism that supports this belief. It was believed that golems could be activated by an ecstatic experience induced by the ritualistic use of various letters of the Hebrew Alphabet forming a "shem" (any one of the Names of God), wherein the shem was written on a piece of paper and inserted in the mouth or in the forehead of the golem.

A golem is inscribed with Hebrew words in some tales, such as the word emet (אמת, "truth" in Hebrew) written on its forehead. The golem could then be deactivated by removing the aleph (א) in emet, thus changing the inscription from "truth" to "death" (met מת, meaning "dead"). 

The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th century rabbi of Prague, also known as the Maharal, who reportedly "created a golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava River and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks" and pogroms. Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. It was said that he could make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead. Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing the shem before the Sabbath (Saturday) began, so as to let it rest on Sabbath. One Friday evening Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem, and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath.

The rabbi then managed to pull the shem from his mouth and immobilize him in front of the synagogue, whereupon the golem fell in pieces. The Golem's body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue, where it would be restored to life again if needed. According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew's Golem still lies in the synagogue's attic. The attic is not open to the general public.

Word of the Week 10/14/18: Internecine

From Merriam Webster:

1 : marked by slaughter : deadly
especially : mutually destructive 

2 : of, relating to, or involving conflict within a group 

Internecine comes from the Latin internecinus ("fought to the death" or "destructive"), which traces to the verb "necare" ("to kill") and the prefix inter-. ("Inter-" usually means "between" or "mutual" in Latin, but it can also indicate the completion of an action.) Internecine meant "deadly" when it appeared in English in 1663, but when Samuel Johnson entered it in his dictionary almost a century later, he was apparently misled by "inter-" and defined the word as "endeavouring mutual destruction." Johnson's definition was carried into later dictionaries, and before long his sense was the dominant meaning of the word. "Internecine" developed the association with internal group conflict in the 20th century.

Word of the Week 10/07/18: Tontine

From Wikipedia: 

A tontine is an investment plan for raising capital, devised in the 17th century and relatively widespread in the 18th and 19th centuries. It combines features of a group annuity and a lottery. Each subscriber pays an agreed sum into the fund, and thereafter receives an annuity. As members die, their shares devolve to the other participants, and so the value of each annuity increases. On the death of the last member, the scheme is wound up.

The investment plan is named after Neapolitan banker Lorenzo de Tonti, who is credited with inventing it in France in 1653, although it has been suggested that he merely modified existing Italian investment schemes. Tonti put his proposal to the French royal government, but after consideration it was rejected by the Parlement de Paris. While the historical financial literature had long credited Tonti as the inventor of the tontine concept, subsequent research discovered that concept was previously proposed by Nicolas Bourey in 1641. 

Each investor pays a sum into the tontine. Each investor then receives annual dividends on the capital invested. As each investor dies, his or her share is reallocated among the surviving investors. This process continues until only one investor survives. Each subscriber receives only dividends; the capital is never paid back. In a later variation, the capital devolves upon the last survivor, thus dissolving the trust and usually making the survivor very wealthy. 

Louis XIV first made use of tontines in 1689 to fund military operations when he could not otherwise raise the money. The initial subscribers each put in 300 livres and, unlike most later schemes, this one was run honestly; the last survivor, a widow named Charlotte Barbier, who died in 1726 at the age of 96, received 73,000 livres in her last payment. The English government first issued tontines in 1693 to fund a war against France, part of the Nine Years' War.

Word of the Week 9/30/18: Retcon

From Merriam-Webster:

Retcon is a shortened form of retroactive continuity, and refers to a literary device in which the form or content of a previously established narrative is changed. Retcons are often encountered in serial formats such as comic books or television series, where they serve as a means of allowing the work’s creators to create a parallel universe, reintroduce a character, or explore plot lines that would otherwise be in conflict with the work. Essentially, a retcon allows an author to have his or her cake and eat it too, as it enables the return of dead characters, the revision of unpopular elements of a work, and a general disregard for reality.

The term appears to have its roots in a 1973 book by E. Frank Tupper titled The Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg: “Pannenberg’s conception of retroactive continuity ultimately means that history flows fundamentally from the future into the past.” Although Tupper’s book, which was based on his 1971 Ph.D. dissertation, undoubtedly did quite well, it is unlikely that retcon would have been so successfully integrated into our language without retroactive continuity being used by other writers.

This began in the early 1980s when the term gained some degree of currency among comic book fans. The abbreviated form, retcon, started appearing in Usenet newsgroups before the end of the decade. Retcon's noun and verb forms appeared almost simultaneously. By the turn of the 21st century retcon had moved beyond the province of the Internet, and began to surface in newspapers and books.

Word of the Week 9/23/18: Inchoate

From Wiktionary:

1. Recently started but not fully formed yet; just begun; only elementary or immature
2. Chaotic, disordered, confused; also, incoherent, rambling

From Thefreedictionary.com:

1. Imperfect; partial; unfinished; begun, but not completed; as in a contract not executed by all the parties
2. Referring to something which has begun but has not been completed, either an activity or some object which is incomplete. It may define a potential crime like a conspiracy which has been started but not perfected or finished, (buying the explosives, but not yet blowing up the bank safe), a right contingent on an event (receiving property if one outlives the grantor of the property), or a decision or idea which has been only partially considered, such as a contract which has not been formalized.

Word of the Week 9/16/18: Hirsute

From Dictionary.com:

1. hairy; shaggy.2. Botany, Zoology. covered with long, rather stiff hairs

From Wiktionary:

Considerably more formal than the everyday "hairy"- antonym: glabrous

From Vocabulary.com:

Pronounced “HER-suit”

ed. note: why the peak usage in 1980?

Word of the Week 9/9/18: Elision

From Literarydevices.net:

An elision is the removal of an unstressed syllable, consonants, or letters from a word or phrase, for the purpose of decreasing the number of letters or syllables when mixing words together. The missing letter is replaced by an apostrophe. Generally, the middle or end letter or syllable is eliminated, or two words are blended together, and an apostrophe is inserted. 

By merely looking at contraction and elision examples, one would think the two are the same. However, there is a slight difference between them. Contraction is a more general term referring to the combination of two words to form a shorter word. For instance, can’t is a contraction of “can” + “not,” which is a combination of two words. On the other hand, elision is a specific term. It is the omission of sounds, syllables, or phrases, and replacing them with an apostrophe. For instance, ne’er is an elided form of “never.” Similarly, gonna is an elision of the phrase “going to.” 

Usually used deliberately, elisions are often found in prose and poetry with the objective to continue a regular meter, or to create flow in iambic pentameter. Since a specific meter is required, elision is employed to achieve the set number of syllables necessary to create flow in a piece. 

Example from Christopher Marlowe's Dr Faustus:

“Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin
To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess:
Having commenc’d, be a divine in show,
Sweet Analytics, ’tis thou hast ravish’d me!
Is, to dispute well, logic’s chiefest end?
Then read no more; thou hast attain’d that end:
Be a physician, Faustus; heap up gold,
Why, Faustus, hast thou not attain’d that end?
Whereby whole cities have escap’d the plague,
And thousand desperate maladies been cur’d?
The god thou serv’st is thine own appetite,
Wherein is fix’d the love of Belzebub:
To him I’ll build an altar and a church…”

Examples of elision (elided syllable underlined) from EnglishPronunciationRoadmap.com:

- every
- lovely
- general
- evening
- different
- several
- reasonable
- comfortable
- military
- natural
- history
- ordinary
- library
- secretary
- interesting
- vegetable
- literature
- temperature
- business

Word of the Week 09/02/18: Limerence

From Limerence and the Biochemical Roots of Love Addiction, by David Sack, MD:

Limerence, a term coined by psychologist Dorothy Tennov in her 1979 book Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love, has been described as “an involuntary interpersonal state that involves an acute longing for emotional reciprocation, obsessive-compulsive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and emotional dependence on another person.”

Albert Wakin, an expert on limerence and a professor of psychology at Sacred Heart University, defines limerence as a combination of obsessive-compulsive disorder and addiction, a state of “compulsory longing for another person.”He estimates that five percent of the population struggles with limerence.

Early in a romantic relationship, it can be difficult to distinguish love from limerence. One begins to follow a calmer, more rewarding path that feels good to both partners, while the other intensifies and stops feeling good to one or both partners over time. Limerence is smothering and unsatisfying and cares little about the other person’s well-being. Securing the other person’s affection takes precedence over earning their respect, commitment, physical intimacy or even their love.

Word of the Week 8/26/18: Brinkmanship

From Encyclopedia Britannica: 

Brinkmanship, a foreign policy practice in which one or both parties force the interaction between them to the threshold of confrontation in order to gain an advantageous negotiation position over the other. The technique is characterized by aggressive risk-taking policy choices that court potential disaster.

Although the practice of brinkmanship has probably existed since the dawn of human history, the origin of the word comes from a 1956 Life magazine interview with former U.S. secretary of state John Foster Dulles, in which he claimed that, in diplomacy, “if you are scared to go to the brink [of war], you are lost.” In response, American politician and diplomat Adlai Stevenson derided Dulles’s “brinksmanship” as reckless. The term was used repeatedly during the Cold War, a period characterized by tense relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. It marked a significant change in the conduct of foreign policy. Whereas the interaction between states had previously been predicated on the balance of power—largely based on a state’s economic and military power and the desire to prevent any major shifts in the status quo—a state’s possession of nuclear weapons created an entirely new set of foreign policy tools, which it could use to influence others.

Perhaps the best-documented case of brinkmanship was the Soviet placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962 and the U.S. response, which is now referred to as the Cuban missile crisis. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev sought to defend Cuba from the U.S. and to extend Soviet strategic power in the region by secretly placing medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Cuba, which threatened much of the continental United States. Instead of gaining a leveraged position over the U.S., Khrushchev’s brinkmanship almost brought the U.S. and Soviet Union to nuclear war. The crisis concluded after U.S. President John F. Kennedy revealed the presence of Khrushchev’s weapons and ordered a naval “quarantine” (or blockade) around Cuba, which resulted in the Soviet Union withdrawing its missiles.

From Bertrand Russell:

"Since the nuclear stalemate became apparent, the governments of East and West have adopted the policy which Mr. Dulles calls 'brinksmanship.' This is a policy adapted from a sport which, I am told, is practiced by some youthful degenerates. This sport is called 'Chicken!'."

Word of the Week 8/19/18: Chthonic

From Dictionary.com:

of or relating to the deities, spirits, and other beings dwelling under the earth.

From Merriam-Webster:

It comes from "chthōn, "which means "earth" in Greek, and it is associated with things that dwell in or under the earth. It is most commonly used in discussions of mythology, particularly underworld mythology. Hades and Persephone, who reign over the underworld in Greek mythology, might be called "chthonic deities," for example. "Chthonic" has broader applications, too. It can be used to describe something that resembles a mythological underworld (e.g.,"chthonic darkness"), and it is sometimes used to describe earthly or natural things (as opposed to those that are elevated or celestial)

From Worldwidewords.org:

This adjective refers to people and things that belong to or inhabit the underworld.

The biggest problem with it, once you’ve worked out how to spell it, is how to say it. American dictionaries suggest that the initial ch should be silent, while most British ones say that it should be said as k, reflecting the Greek source, khthon, earth. No such ambiguity exists with another word from the same source, autochthon, an original inhabitant of any country, who seems to have sprung from the soil; here the ch is said as k.

The classic Greek word referred not to the surface of the ground, which would be gaia, but to what lies underneath. Both gaia and khthon were associated with the supernatural beings that dwelled in these domains, Gaia being the personification of the Earth and the original mother of all beings, while the deities of chthonic realms were Pluto and Persephone.

It’s said that H P Lovecraft took the name of Cthulhu, his enormous alien god creature, from khthon. Certainly, Lovecraft did a lot to popularise chthonic.

From Britannica.com:

Chthonic, of or relating to earth, particularly the Underworld. Chthonic figures in Greek mythology included Hades and Persephone, the rulers of the Underworld, and the various heroes venerated after death; even Zeus, the king of the sky, had earthly associations and was venerated as Zeus Chthonius. Oracles (prophecies) delivered through incubation (that is, whereby the inquirer slept in a holy precinct and received an answer in a dream) were believed to come from chthonian powers. In the symbolism and iconography of chthonic deities, snakes are often associated with such deities in world mythology; thus, divinities are often portrayed entwined with serpents. 

Word of the Week 8/12/18: Liminal

From BetterHelp.com:

It's talked about as a threshold, and indeed, the etymology of liminal comes from the Latin root word "limen," which means threshold. Liminal spaces are transitional or transformative spaces. They are the waiting areas between one point in time and space and the next. 

During a rite of passage, an individual is at the threshold between two different states of being. Quite often, it is the state between childhood and adulthood, the space between when one isn't quite a child anymore but is not yet an adult. The person is standing in a doorway and hasn't yet gone through. Many religions and belief systems explore these concepts and create rites of passage to coincide with the threshold moments in life.

The liminal veil is what we call the place where a transition occurs between the threshold and the place that waits before us. 

Liminal spaces are often physical places. In some cases, the same place may be at one time liminal and at other times not. Whenever we are at a place during a time that's not usual for that space, it can feel unsettling. Or if we're in a liminal space for longer than necessary to pass through to our actual destination, we may experience that same feeling of something being "off" that we can't quite pinpoint. Unfamiliar spaces tend to have more liminal qualities than those we see regularly.

Examples include: 

1. Stairways and elevators
2. Art galleries that are empty other than you
3. Hotel hallways late at night

Word of the Week 8/5/18: Homunculus

Wiktionary presents the TL;DR version:

1. A miniature man, once imagined by spermists to be present in human sperm.

2. The nerve map of the human body that exists on the parietal lobe of the human brain.

From the Embryo Project Encyclopedia:

The term homunculus is Latin for “little man.” It is used in neurology today to describe the map in the brain of sensory neurons in each part of the body (the somatosensory homunculus). An early use of the word was in the 1572 work by Paracelsus regarding forays into alchemy, De Natura Rerum, in which he gave instructions in how to create an infant human without fertilization or gestation in the womb. In the history of embryology, the homunculus was part of the Enlightenment-era theory of generation called preformationism. The homunculus was the fully formed individual that existed within the germ cell of one of its parents prior to fertilization and would grow in size during gestation until ready to be born.

The origin of the homunculus concept of a pre-existing fetus is usually credited to Dutch telescopist and microscopist Nicolaas Hartsoeker. He receives this credit largely because it was his sketch in the 1694 Essai de Dioptrique of a homunculus in a sperm cell that illustrated the concept most clearly. However, the Italian anatomist Marcello Malpighi proposed in 1673 that the entire structure of the embryo was present in the egg from the very beginning, and that the gestation period involved the growth and unfolding of that pre-existing structure. Around the same time, the French metaphysician Nicolas Malebranche discussed the idea of emboîtement, meaning encasement, for which preformationism is infamous. Emboîtement describes not just a homunculus in the egg cell or sperm cell, but an infinite train of homunculi stretching back to Adam and Eve.

Word of the Week 7/29/18: Riggwelter

From Wikipedia's Glossary of Sheep Husbandry:

Riggwelter – a sheep that has fallen onto its back and is unable to get up (usually because of the weight of its fleece)

In a similar vein:

Cast – unable to regain footing, possibly due to lying in a hollow with legs facing uphill and/or having a heavy fleece. 

 - thanks to Susan T for the word 

Kid Update Photos 7/26/18

Word of the Week 7/22/18: Exulansis

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (website run by/word created by John Koenig):

"(Exulansis is) the tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it—whether through envy or pity or simple foreignness—which allows it to drift away from the rest of your life story, until the memory itself feels out of place, almost mythical, wandering restlessly in the fog, no longer even looking for a place to land." 

Word of the Week 7/15/18: Contronym

From Oxford Dictionary:

Single words that have two contradictory meanings are known as contronyms. Terms like these are also sometimes called antagonyms, auto-antonyms, and words having self-contradictions, or Janus words, named after an ancient Italian deity, regarded as the doorkeeper of heaven and represented as having two faces, one on the back and one on the front of his head. 

Here are some examples:

cut (1) get in, as in a line; or (2) get out, as in a class
- UsingEnglish.com

hysterical: (1) frightened and out of control; (2) funny
- Oxford Dictionary

finished: (1) completed; or (2) destroyed
model: (1)the original; perfect example; or (2) a copy
wear: (1) to endure; or (2) to deteriorate
- Mother Nature Network

Word of the Week 7/8/18: Defenstration

From Merriam-Webster:

1. a throwing of a person or thing out of a window

2. a usually swift dismissal or expulsion (as from a political party or office) 

From Wikipedia:

"Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window. The term was coined around the time of an incident in Prague Castle in the year 1618, which became the spark that started the Thirty Years' War. This was done in 'good Bohemian style' and referred to the defenestration which had occurred in Prague's City Hall almost 200 years earlier (July 1419), which also at that occasion led to war, the Hussite war.

"While the act of defenestration connotes the forcible or peremptory removal of an adversary, and the term is sometimes used in just that sense, it also suggests breaking the windows in the process (de- also means removal).

"The term originates from two incidents in history, both occurring in Prague. In 1419, seven town officials were thrown from the Town Hall, precipitating the Hussite War. In 1618, two Imperial governors and their secretary were tossed from Prague Castle, sparking the Thirty Years War. These incidents, particularly in 1618, were referred to as the Defenestrations of Prague and gave rise to the term and the concept.

"Historically, the word defenestration referred to an act of political dissent. Notably, the Defenestrations of Prague in 1419 and 1618 helped to trigger prolonged conflict within Bohemia and beyond. Some Catholics ascribed the survival of those defenestrated at Prague Castle in 1618 to divine intervention.

"The Hebrew Bible records that Queen Jezebel was defenestrated at Jezreel by her own servants at the urging of Jehu. (2 Kings 9: 33)

"There is a range of hacker witticisms referring to "defenestration". For example, the term is sometimes used humorously among GNU/Linux users to describe the act of removing Microsoft Windows from a computer."

The Defenestration 1618 - Václav Brožík

Word of the Week 7/1/18: Dybbuk

From britannica.com

"Dybbuk, also spelled dibbuk, plural dybbukim, in Jewish folklore, a disembodied human spirit that, because of former sins, wanders restlessly until it finds a haven in the body of a living person. Belief in such spirits was especially prevalent in 16th–17th-century eastern Europe. Often individuals suffering from nervous or mental disorders were taken to a miracle-working rabbi (baʿal shem), who alone, it was believed, could expel the harmful dybbuk through a religious rite of exorcism.

"Isaac Luria (1534–72), a mystic, laid the grounds for Jewish belief in a dybbuk with his doctrine of transmigration of souls (gilgul*), which he saw as a means whereby souls could continue their task of self-perfection. His disciples went one step further with the notion of possession by a dybbuk."

 *gilgul (Hebrew: גלגול הנשמות‎, literally 'rolling') puts forth the idea that a soul must live through many lives before it gains the wisdom to rejoin with God. - Wikipedia

From tor.com article Dybbuk or Demon: Knowing Your Jewish Ghosts and Ghouls

"A dybbuk is actually a ghost that sticks around after death to possess the body of the living for malevolent purposes. The stories state that it is either a malevolent spirit out to harm an innocent person, or a more neutral spirit out to punish a wicked person for their transgressions. Either way, the defining factor that represent a dybbuk is that they are out to cause harm to their host."

From Jewishvirtuallibrary.org

 "In Jewish folklore and popular belief an evil spirit which enters into a living person, cleaves to his soul, causes mental illness, talks through his mouth, and represents a separate and alien personality is called a dibbuk. The term appears neither in talmudic literature nor in the Kabbalah, where this phenomenon is always called 'evil spirit.' (In the New Testament it is sometimes called 'unclean spirit.') The term was introduced into literature only in the 17th century from the spoken language of German and Polish Jews.

"At first, the dibbuk was considered to be a devil or a demon which entered the body of a sick person. Later, an explanation common among other peoples was added, namely that some of the dibbukim are the spirits of dead persons who were not laid to rest and thus became demons. This idea (also common in medieval Christianity) combined with the doctrine of gilgul ('transmigration of the soul') in the 16th century and became widespread and accepted by large segments of the Jewish population, together with the belief in dibbukim. They were generally considered to be souls which, on account of the enormity of their sins, were not even allowed to transmigrate and as 'denuded spirits' they sought refuge in the bodies of living persons. The entry of a dibbuk into a person was a sign of his having committed a secret sin which opened a door for the dibbuk. The power to exorcise dibbukim was given to ba'alei shem or accomplished Ḥasidim. They exorcised the dibbuk from the body which was bound by it and simultaneously redeemed the soul by providing a tikkun ('restoration') for him, either by transmigration or by causing the dibbuk to enter hell. Moses Cordovero defined the dibbuk as an 'evil pregnancy.'"

From Wikipedia:

"The term first appears in a number of 16th century writings, though it was ignored by mainstream scholarship until S. Ansky's play The Dybbuk popularised the concept in literary circles. In the play, a young bride is possessed by the ghost of the man she was meant to marry had her father not broken a marriage agreement. Earlier accounts of possession (such as that given by Josephus) were of demonic possession rather than that by ghosts. These accounts advocated orthodoxy among the populace as a preventative measure. For example, it was suggested that a sloppily made mezuzah or entertaining doubt about Moses' crossing of the Red Sea opened one's household to dybbuk possession."

Word of the Week 6/24/18: Widdershins

From Oxford Dictionary:

"In a direction contrary to the sun's course, considered as unlucky; anticlockwise."

From Wikipedia:

"Literally, it means to take a course opposite the apparent motion of the sun viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, (the centre of this imaginary clock is the ground the viewer stands upon).

"Because the sun played a highly important role in older religions, to go against it was considered bad luck for sun-worshiping traditions. It was considered unlucky in Britain to travel in an anticlockwise (not sunwise) direction around a church, and a number of folk myths make reference to this superstition, e.g. Childe Rowland, where the protagonist and his sister are transported to Elfland after his sister runs widdershins round a church. There is also a reference to this in Dorothy Sayers's novels The Nine Tailors (chapter entitled The Second Course; 'He turned to his right, knowing that it is unlucky to walk about a church widdershins...') and Clouds of Witness ('True, O King, and as this isn't a church, there's no harm in going round it widdershins'). In Robert Louis Stevenson's tale 'The Song of the Morrow,' an old crone on the beach dances 'widdershins'.

"Many individuals prefer the word 'widdershins' over its alternatives, chiefly 'counter-clockwise', as not only is the abbreviation for 'counter-clockwise' 'c', the same letter as the abbreviation of its primary antonym, 'clockwise', it has also been noted that the word 'widdershins' is fun to say. (emphasis is my own -ed.)

"The opposite of widdershins is deisul meaning clockwise."

Word of the Week 6/17/18: Anathema

From Wikipedia:

"Anathema, in common usage, is something or someone that is detested or shunned. In its other main usage, it is a formal excommunication. The latter meaning, its ecclesiastical sense, is based on New Testament usage. In the Old Testament, anathema referred either to something (living or inanimate) that was consecrated or something denounced as evil or accursed and set aside for sacrificial offering.

"Anathema derives from Ancient Greek: anáthema, meaning 'an offering' or 'anything dedicated', itself derived from the verb, anatíthēmi, meaning 'to offer up'. In the Old Testament, it referred to both objects consecrated to divine use and those dedicated to destruction in the Lord's name, such as enemies and their weapons during religious wars. Since weapons of the enemy were considered unholy, the meaning became 'anything dedicated to evil' or 'a curse'.

"The Old Testament applied the word to anything set aside for sacrifice, and thus banned from profane use and dedicated to destruction—as, in the case of religious wars, the enemy and their cities and possessions. The New Testament uses the word to mean a curse and forced expulsion of someone from the Christian community.

"Although in the canons of ecumenical councils the word 'anathema' continued to be used to mean exclusion for heresy from the society of the faithful, the word was also used to signify a major excommunication inflicted with particular solemnity. Anathema in this sense was a major excommunication pronounced with the ceremonies described in the article 'bell, book, and candle', which were reserved for the gravest crimes

"The ceremony traditionally involved a bishop, with 12 priests with candles, and is solemnly pronounced in some suitably conspicuous place. The bishop would then pronounce the formula of the anathema. After this recitation the priests would respond: Fiat, fiat, fiat ('So be it! So be it! So be it!') The bishop would then ring a bell, close a holy book, and he and the assisting priests would snuff out their candles by dashing them to the ground."

Word of the Week 6/10/18: Petrichor

From Wikipedia:

"Petrichor is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The word is constructed from Greek petra, meaning 'stone', and īchōr, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology.

"The term was coined in 1964 by two Australian CSIRO researchers, Isabel Joy Bear and Richard G. Thomas, for an article in the journal Nature. In the article, the authors describe how the smell derives from an oil exuded by certain plants during dry periods, whereupon it is absorbed by clay-based soils and rocks. During rain, the oil is released into the air along with another compound, geosmin, a metabolic by-product of certain actinobacteria, which is emitted by wet soil, producing the distinctive scent; ozone may also be present if there is lightning.

"When a raindrop lands on a porous surface, air from the pores forms small bubbles, which float to the surface and release aerosols. Such aerosols carry the scent, as well as bacteria and viruses from the soil. Raindrops that move at a slower rate tend to produce more aerosols; this serves as an explanation for why the petrichor is more common after light rains."

Word of the Week 6/03/18: Thaumaturgy

From Wikipedia:

"Thaumaturgy is the capability of a magician or a saint to work magic or miracles. Isaac Bonewits defined thaumaturgy as 'the use of magic for nonreligious purposes; the art and science of "wonder working;" using magic to actually change things in the physical world.'

"Kings of France and England were also called thaumaturges, as they were traditionally considered able to heal scrofula.

"The word was first anglicized and used in the magical sense in John Dee's book Mathematicall Praeface to Euclid's Elements (1570). He mentions an 'art mathematical' called 'thaumaturgy... which giveth certain order to make strange works, of the sense to be perceived and of men greatly to be wondered at.'

"In Dee's time, 'the Mathematicks' referred not merely to the abstract computations associated with the term today, but to physical mechanical devices which employed mathematical principles in their design. These devices, operated by means of compressed air, springs, strings, pulleys or levers, were seen by unsophisticated people (who did not understand their working principles) as magical devices which could only have been made with the aid of demons and devils.

"By building such mechanical devices, Dee earned a reputation as a conjurer 'dreaded' by neighborhood children. He complained of this assessment in his 'Mathematicall Praeface': 'And for these, and such like marvellous Actes and Feates, Naturally, and Mechanically, wrought and contrived: ought any honest Student and Modest Christian Philosopher, be counted, & called a Conjurer? Shall the folly of Idiotes, and the Malice of the Scornfull, so much prevaille ... Shall that man, be (in hugger mugger) condemned, as a Companion of the hellhoundes, and a Caller, and Conjurer of wicked and damned Spirites?'"