Intercalate. What does that mean? Well, I see the prefix ‘inter-’ and I tend to see those letters when a word works the element of ‘placing between’ into the meaning. An interview is a meeting between two people. An interstate is a road that goes between two states. So, yeah, I feel pretty comfortable with the prediction that intercalate will involve elements and the concept of existing ‘between’. Well, I also see a ‘c’ and an ‘a’ and an ‘l’, which start the word calendar. Indeed, one meaning of intercalate is to insert information into a calendar, like an extra day or month or what not. For instance, if a snow blizzard were to come through New Jersey in the next week and the schools were required to not only use up all their pre-allotted snow days, but take additional time off, then it is likely that extra school days would be intercalated into the end of the school year, cutting into the summer break. It is not necessary to use the word in regards to calendars only as its meaning can be generalised to mean placing any entity between other entities or into a pre-existing one. I, for one, become quite upset when they intercalate lettuce and tomato into my sandwiches after I request quite clearly my preference for their absence.
Wow. What is with all the Scottish words? Well, here is another one. A makar is a poet, a Scottish one. I mentioned the other day that that Wikipedia article about neeps, turnips, was written in what appears to be Scottish and that it is not so easy to read. It is possible to get a gist, but one, like me, cannot read it as quickly as I would American English or, possibly, British or Australian English. I think I remember that in the film, ‘Braveheart’, that the epilogue had William Wallace’s voice stating that they fought like ‘warrior poets’. Well, I suppose it would be more appropriate to say the fought like ‘warrior makars’. But, if they had done that, I am sure the Scots would have been tickled pink whilst the rest of the world sort of tilted their heads and raised their eyebrows, wondering if they heard correctly. What is a makar? I must admit that it sort of sounds like the name of a bird. Oh, I get it. It sounds like ‘macaw’. Macaws are not from Scotland, though, so I do not think I can make connections there.
A lost, travelling macaw,
Also, a rhyme creator,
Found itself in the Highlands,
And there became a makar.
Oh, wait. Apparently, makar does not sound like macaw, but rather like maker, so what I wrote above does not make so much sense. It looks, in my opinion, like it should rhyme with macaw, but it does not. The second ‘a’ just sounds like it would if it were an ‘e’. Oh, well, I think my poem still works, so that is all that matters.
A bleb is a bubble. In physiology it can also be a blister or a vesicle. So, instead of asking someone if they would like to blow bubbles, one could ask if they would like to blow blebs. I imagine that such an offer would be met with some strange looks, but precisely because of that, I think I will give it a shot at some point. Sometimes, I can create blebs on my hands without soap by running my hands under water and then shaking them vigorously. I think the oils in my hand react with the water and the air currents created by the shaking in order to create these tiny blebs that sort of look like soap suds. These blebs used to freak me out because I thought they were leftover soap residue and I would try and try to rinse them away, but they always seemed to reappear after shaking my hands dry or rubbing my still wet hands together. I have grown to love those blebs and they no longer scare me. I think I will try to remember ‘bleb’ for my word games because it is short and, before now, those letters did not seem to form a legal word. I think the letter ‘b’ is worth a few points, so if I can play it on a double or triple letter score, that would be ideal and a bonus. Oh, since we can change bubble to bubbling, I wonder if we can change bleb to blabbing, using it as a verb. So, now, I can decide whether my soda is effervescing or blebbing and be in the right no matter which choice I make. The soda’s blebs of effervescence danced delightfully down my tongue. Wunderbar.
It is funny that last week was short and seemed to drag, while this is a full week and seems to be flying by rather quickly. Perhaps, renaming the first day of the work week to Almost Tuesday is having a positive effect on the entire week. I just need to figure out how to slow down the rotations and revolutions of the solar system between three on Friday and ten on Sunday. Apparently, Einstein could not be bothered with that, so it looks like it is up to me. Gah! When am I supposed to take care of this? Between work and my posts, I have next to no time. Well, I guess Almost Days are going to have to suffice for a while.
I think I am going to try to go to bed early this evening. I was so tired this afternoon that I felt like I was going to nod off a bit during some of the classes. And, when driving home, I became quite scared because I was not sure I could even make it back safely. There was that nod I had at a stoplight the other day, but I was feeling that tired while I was accelerating. I talked myself home, but once I pulled in, I had to close my eyes and, finally, find peace with the headrest. I would like to get caught up with sleep before the weekend so that I do not waste any of my valuable and scarce weekend time by sleeping in late. Okay, time to go and create some sweven blebs above my state of slumber. TTFN.
