What a strange word Miriam Webster’s “Word of the Day” is today. I’ve seen it before but have never known what it means. Palimpsest.
Yeah, you heard me.
In its original meaning it refers to a parchment manuscript (or other writing material) that is being reused after the original writing on it has been erased. The underlying text is said to be “in palimpsest.” Its meaning has been extended to cover something that has diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface.
I can’t imagine using it — except that I just did!
In this piece from tomorrow’s Met Diary, I like the moment at which the writer senses the weight of the chair has lifted. It’s by Sarah Gundle and is called “Big Leather Chair.”
Dear Diary:
I was rushing to the subway one day when I passed a big leather chair lying on the sidewalk. It looked perfect for my closet-turned-office. Its weathered brown leather and slight scuffing gave it plenty of character.
I was three blocks from my apartment, and the chair was very heavy. I tried dragging it, but the legs wobbled precariously. I tried lifting it and walking with it hermit-crab style, two steps at a time, but its unwieldy bulk made me feel as if I would topple over.
Unsure what to do, I suddenly felt the chair’s weight lift before I got a look at the stranger who had stopped to help me carry it.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
I nodded down the street.
“I got you,” she said. And from there we carried it down the block side by side.
“This was a good find,” she said when we got to my building. “Most people miss the treasures that are right before our eyes.”
“New York City is full of them,” I responded, gesturing in her direction.
If you’re going to get into a good fight with your boyfriend, one that involves throwing things at him and pushing him over stanchions, the worst place to do it is in an airport security area. They have more cameras on your ass than an NFL replay booth.
And that’s how our favorite Olympic runner, Sha’Carri Richardson, wound up getting arrested at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. The boyfriend is also a sprinter, Christian Coleman. He holds the world record for 60 meters. Sha’ had just run 100 meters in 11:07 to finish second in the U.S. Track and Field Championships.
We asked Owl Chatter’s sports consultant, women’s hockey star Sarah Fillier, for her analysis. She doesn’t see anything wrong with Sha’s knocking his ass down. “Did he lose teeth?” Thanks SF! The hockey perspective is always informative.
From The Onion:
Businessman Does His Work Lying On Bed Like Schoolgirl
Ghislaine’s dinner tonight consists of a choice of a Caesar Salad or Vichyssoise to start off. The second course will be Penne ala Vodka or Ravioli. The Main Course is Mediterranean Chicken, Skirt Steak, or Wild-Caught Alaskan Salmon. All come with vegetables on the side. Dessert is a choice between Chocolate Lava Cake and Apple Pie.
Bon Appetite, Madame.
The following has been copied verbatim from a story by ABC News:
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History removed references to President Donald Trump’s two impeachment proceedings from an exhibit on the “Limits of Presidential Power.” The exhibit now only includes references to the impeachment proceedings against Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868, Richard Nixon in 1973 and Bill Clinton in 1998.
The best plural of octopus is octopodes. That’s because octopus is Greek and podes is the plural ending for Greek words. But octopi has been used by mistake so often that it has become acceptable too. That’s the plural ending for Latin words which octopus is not. Octopuses is okay too — that’s the English plural ending that can be used since octopus has been adopted into English.
Circus hasn’t caused the same problems, as far as I know (admittedly, about as far as I can throw a Buick). No one has tried circi, or circopodes. It’s circuses. Its ancestry is Middle English, from Latin. Still no one tried has tried circi.
Why am I jabbering on about this? Because the guest blogger for Rex today jokingly tried circi and circopodes before circuses.
Hmmm, as I reread this portion, it seems dull enough for the Dull Men’s Club (UK). Maybe I’ll give it a try over there.
Chuck Mangione passed away last Tuesday. He was honored with an appearance in the puzzle today, clued with “Flugelhorn player on the 1978 instrumental hit ‘Feels So Good.’” Did you know he was (still is) supervocalic? That means his name has exactly one of each of the five vowels.
Chuck was born and died in Rochester NY. He was 84. As a kid, his father took him and his brother to the Ridgecrest Inn in Rochester, where jazz luminaries like Miles Davis, Art Blakey and Dizzy Gillespie played regularly. “My father would walk up to someone like Dizzy and say: ‘Hi, Mr. Gillespie. These are my two sons and they can play.’ And we would sit in.”
“Then my dad would invite everyone to our house for spaghetti and homemade wine. Dad had a grocery store attached to the house, and Mother loved to cook, so we could have a party in a minute. This week it would be Dizzy, the next week Carmen McRae, then Sarah Vaughan, Art Blakey, Kai Winding.”
It worked dad.
Rest in peace, Chuck.
Thanks for popping in — see you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 