In case you haven’t guessed I’m pretty passionate about my work with kids who have autism. This means that I occasionally get pulled into some of the Autism wars. I firmly believe that there are very few black and white situations in life, and even fewer in the world of autism. There’s a saying that if you’ve met one person with autism, then you’ve met one person with autism. Which is all well and good except it really doesn’t only apply to people with autism. Every person is different, and one-size-fits-all thinking should really be called one-size-really-fits-none.
Recently one of the kids I work with was told that he needs to stop calling himself “autistic” and use person first language, saying, “I am a person who has autism”. I understand why person-first language is great and why it should be the default when dealing with people you haven’t met. However, when someone who HAS autism, declares a preference for the term “autistic”, who are we to judge? This is a conscious decision made by the person most affected by the language and I, for one, will support his choice as well as his right to change his mind if he wishes to in the future.
The one thing I am very ardent about is the fact that I don’t see autism as a disease that needs to be cured. In fact, I don’t see it as a disease at all. I am a strong believer in the neurodiversity paradigm and the belief that autism is part of the natural neurological variance found in humans. The neurodiversity paradigm, has 3 main tenets: 1) that neurodiversity is a natural and valuable form of human diversity; 2) that the idea that there is one “correct” form of neurocognative functioning is an artificial construct and is no more helpful to society than the idea that there is one “correct” form of gender or ethnicity; and 3) that the social dynamics relating to neurodiversity are no different than the social dynamics of other forms of human diversity (ethnicity, culture, gender), including and especially that this diversity, if embraced, can be a source of creative potential.
I believe that people with autism should be welcomed into society and that we shouldn’t be trying to change them to become more like neurologically “typical” people. That isn’t to say that I believe we should abandon all programming and services for people with autism, because I believe that as they are neurological outliers on the bell curve, the world isn’t geared towards them and so there are some skills that need to be learned in order to have life be less frustrating for them and for those who care about them. In honour of this belief, today’s Word Wednesday word is neurodiversity.
Neurodiversity
The neurodiversity movement is relatively young, about 20 or so years old. The term was coined by an Australian social scientist who was on the autism spectrum, and has become more and more widespread as time goes on. The movement encompasses more than just the autism community now – other neurological differences such as learning disabilities (LD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and bipolarity are part of the neurodiversity movement. I think part of the reason I like the neurodiversity movement so much is because I’ve always considered myself neurologically diverse – I have a learning disability, ADHD, and was identified as gifted in school – the triple threat of neurological differences. So I’m clearly in the neurodivergent camp.
The word is a compound word – comprised of the prefix neuro – which is from the Greek word neuron – which means nerve and is used in medicine to refer to things relating to the brain. The word diversity comes from the Latin word diversus – meaning separate, opposite, or different.
Neurodiversity (neur-o-di-ver-si-ty) noun
The infinite variation in neurocognative functioning in the human species.
I spent a lot of time this summer with my eyes turned towards the skies. Unlike last summer where it seemed to rain every time I went up to the cottage, and a lot of the time at home (which put a serious damper on the amount of time I could spend stargazing), this summer had less evening / nighttime rain. Mosquitoes aside, there wasn’t anything keeping me from going out on the dock and just staring up at the night sky. While I wouldn’t consider myself an astronomer, I do have a healthy appreciation of the heavens and love learning more about space (and not just from Doctor Who, although that’s pretty awesome too). Speaking of The Doctor, this week’s Word Wednesday post would not apply to anyone from the planet of Gallifrey.
The word that came to mind (mostly because I heard it on an episode of Antiques Roadshow referring to the astronomical tool, when I was trying to figure out what word I should use for this week’s post, is tellurian. The word tellurian has two meanings, one of which is an old astronomical device that I know of as a tellurion but can also be spelled tellurian (at least according to both the Antiques Roadshow and Wikipedia). I’m keeping with the more traditional meaning: a noun meaning “an inhabitant of the earth” (now does the Doctor Who reference make more sense? Probably not, unless you’re a Whovian like me).
Tellurian
Once again, unsurprisingly, this word comes to English via Latin. Though unlike some recent words it is a pretty direct link. The Latin root word is tellus which means “earth”. Interestingly I can’t come up with any other words with the same root, which is unusual for a Latin root. (That’s not to say that there aren’t. If you know of any, please let me know in the comments!) To use it in a sentence: While The Doctor is an alien, his companions have traditionally been tellurian in their origins. Though once they are in the TARDIS are they still able to be described as tellurian? They’re not really inhabiting the earth when they’re off exploring time and space except for all the times they explore earth in another time period. Maybe semi-tellurian should be a thing? While I go ponder that, I’ll leave you with the traditional definition and pronunciation guide.along with a picture of the Earth, taken from space (but sadly, not from the TARDIS). Happy stargazing fellow tellurians.
Home Sweet Home
Tellurian (te-loo r-ee-uh n) noun
An inhabitant of the earth.
adjective
Of or characteristic of the earth or its inhabitants, terrestrial.
I’ve written before about my introverted nature and how I can actually be very shy in social situations, but to those who know me well, I’m a chatterbox. I always have been. If I’m talking your ear off, it means I’m comfortable with the situation I’m in. I’ve found that since mum died, I’m less talkative, and don’t feel the need to fill the silence with idle talk, but I still have my moments. One of the ways my introversion shows itself is that I hate small talk. I’m happy to talk to people about big ideas but not about things like the weather. If I ask you about your day, it’s because I actually care about what you say, not because I’m performing a social nicety.
It’s funny, because I would never have guessed that I am an introvert, but by the classic definition of an introvert I am. I can handle myself in crowds, and even enjoy social occasions, but I need alone time to recharge. If I have too many days where I’m surrounded by people, it affects my sleep and my mood. Even a few hours on my own or with one or two friends instead of a crowd will put me in a much better headspace. Like the meme says, Introverts Unite! (Separately, in your own homes). It’s so true. I love social media because I can control how much socializing I do. Plus it’s behind a computer, which makes things easier.
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All of this makes my Word Wednesday choice somewhat ironic (in the sense that it’s contradictory to what one would expect from an introvert). One of my favourite words to say and write, has to do with one of the things in life that I enjoy the least. To confabulate means to talk informally – small talk in other words.
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I’m back to the Latin roots with this word, and to one of my favourite Latin words to boot: fabula – meaning story. This is also the root from whence we get the word fable. (Side note, I’m going to have to look into the word ‘whence’ at some point.) It’s surprising that this word isn’t used more often, since it’s kind of awesome. Instead of saying “let’s talk”, you can say “let’s confabulate”. I think I’m going to start using it more often, simply because I can.
Confabulate (con·fab·u·late ) noun
to talk informally or casually (chat)
to hold a discussion.
Want to confabulate? Leave me a comment below or catch me on Twitter or Facebook .
Word Wednesday – In search of the ghost of Tom Thompson
It’s been a busy week around here. I spent most of the day Thursday and all day Friday and Saturday getting ready for Dad’s 60th birthday party at the cottage. Thursday I put in a full 8 hours of work writing for clients, packed the car for dad and the dog to leave for the cottage right after dinner, and then went into town to get some supplies for the party (and a card for dad since I’d forgotten to get one when I got part of his present). Somehow, I managed to volunteer for a couple of hours AND get the errands done but it meant I was out until 10:45 pm which was longer than planned. Friday, I got up early, loaded the van with all the last-minute things like gas cans for the boat that can’t go in the night before, packed the cooler, went to the vet to pick up Monty’s special cookies, dropped a bag at home, picked up the ice pack I’d forgotten, and drove to the cottage stopping at Costco and for Gas and other party supplies on the way. I had lists on top of lists on top of lists, with photographs of said lists on my BlackBerry in case I misplaced one. It was supposed to be a quick in and out mission at Costco. Of course, if you’ve ever been to a Costco en route to cottage country on a Friday during the summer, you’ll realize the folly of my plan.
Actually Costco itself wasn’t the problem. Their debit system wasn’t working though which made for longer than usual lineups and very frustrated people in line. This despite having multiple employees walking through the line-up area announcing that the debit was unavailable but MasterCard or cash would work. I know I heard the announcement at least 4 times while waiting in line. Whatever was messing with the debit system also made the bank machine at Costco not work. People were given the option to put their carts to the side and go out of the store, across the street to a bank (and there were multiple banks available within a 5 minute drive of this Costco) and pay cash for their purchases or they could line up at the one customer service till that managed to have debit service. I didn’t need debit so I was fine but the number of people who screamed at the Costco employees astounded me. I mean, grow up people. Sometimes things happen, and yes, it’s annoying but I highly doubt the Costco employee you’re currently berating woke up and thought “hey you know what would be fun today, pulling the plug on the debit machine to completely screw over customers”, so cut them some slack. (OK the rant portion of this post is now over – I needed to get that off my chest though!)
Having made all the stops I needed to, I proceeded up to the cottage pulling over a few times because the rain was so heavy I couldn’t see the road. (PSA – when it’s raining cats and dogs put on your headlights people – yes your daytime running lights give you a little light but they don’t activate tail lights and those are kind of important when driving on the 400 series highways in a rainstorm!) The normally 2.5 hour drive took me a bit shy of 5 hours with the stops and the rain. I was frazzled when I got to the cottage. My uncle arrived a couple of hours later and we had some dinner which made everyone feel better. I asked dad if it had rained at the cottage and described my drive. He said it hadn’t yet. The speed at which a storm can roll in at the lake never fails to astound me. One minute there are scattered clouds, and the next it’s a downpour. This storm was one to remember too – the wind was whipping the water and the waves on the lake were moving from north to south at high-speed. At one point I could barely see the end of the dock because it was raining so hard. We lost power briefly but thankfully not for long. The rumbling thunder rattled the windows and the lightning lit up the evening sky. I went and sat in my bedroom with the dog, who, after years of being ambivalent about thunder and rain on the metal roof, has suddenly decided he doesn’t much care for it and would like to be petted and reassured please and thank you. I was glad I’d got all the essentials down from the van before the storm and was hoping the fierce storm would make way for a nice sunny day for the party. It did.
Saturday dawned with high heat, humidity, and lots of sunshine. I appreciated the sunshine as I spent six straight hours putting the last touches on the cottage, trying to clean the resin patio furniture, making beds at the rental cottage next door for guests who would be staying overnight, and getting appetizers ready for the party. Dad and my uncle also helped, moving stuff out of the way, vacuuming the cottage, and stocking the beer fridge. They also did some quality testing of each of the 4 types of beer we had in stock for our guests. We all jumped in the lake to cool off, then I jumped in the shower because my hair was legitimately gross from sweating so much while trying to make the patio furniture look less dingy (I swear, I’m just going to buy that plastic spray paint next time). We still had an hour before the first guests were due to arrive – except some decided to show up early. Naturally. For the next 6 hours I ran around like a mad woman – greeting guests, introducing people, getting drinks, making sure there was enough food, meeting and helping the caterer bring down the main course, cleaning up spills, putting leftovers in the fridge, finding containers for the leftovers when the big catering trays wouldn’t fit in the fridge, bringing the cake over from next door, and generally being social. As an introvert, that party was exhausting. Even with slightly less than 20 guests, I felt like I was always being pulled in a multitude of directions. I tried to escape for a few minutes a couple of different times but one guest in particular seemed to *desperately* need my help to find *something* the minute I closed my door (she also had no qualms about opening my closed bedroom door to ask me things – what if I’d been changing?) so I never managed to steal away for those much-needed recharging minutes alone.
All of that aside, the party was a great success. Much fun was had, the food was amazing, and the designated driver system I’d arranged worked as planned. Everyone got home safely and I fell into bed about 1:30 am exhausted. Of course I didn’t sleep well because I was over-tired. Which leads me to my Word Wednesday for this week and what I’ve been seeking since Sunday morning.
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Quietude – a favourite synonym of mine for tranquility. While this is a working holiday for me in that I have some writing to do for clients, it’s also a week for recharging my batteries by the lake. I’ve been more quiet than normal on Twitter, because I just don’t have the energy to do it right and I’d rather be quiet than simply broadcast tweets without engaging. I’ve got my colouring books and pencil crayons, a stack of books in a TBR pile on my nightstand, a kayak to explore in, a motor boat for trips further around the lake, and a Muskoka chair sitting on the deck that overlooks the lake. I’m off in search of quietude and know I’ll find it here. I love sitting and looking at the wind move the tree branches. Several of the pines I saw on my boat ride on Monday looked like they’d leapt off of the canvas of a Tom Thompson painting. Indeed, our cottage is only about 45 minutes away from one of the southern entrances to Algonquin Park where Thompson drew his inspiration from the Canadian Shield. Whenever I see a windswept pine tree, I am reminded of the print we had hanging in the house I grew up in, and of this great Canadian artist who managed to capture the places where rocks, trees, and water meet so vividly.
The word quietude is one of my favourite words, not just because it’s what I’m often seeking, but because it has a very simple etymology. It’s derived from the Latin word quietus which means (according to my trusty Latin-English dictionary) a stillness or pause; something that quiets or represses; removal from activity; especially: death. While death is somewhat extreme, I am enjoying the removal from activity, and the stillness of the lake. I’ve included a couple of pictures I took on our Monday boat ride up the lake that capture some of the quietude I find up here.
Quietude (qui·etude) noun
The state of being quiet or calm; tranquility.
The trees seem to just grow out of the bare rocks. There is so little soil that I’m constantly amazed more don’t topple over into the lake. I love this group of trees, close to the cottage of a childhood friend. Whenever I go by and it’s windy, it looks like they’re waving to me.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or aren’t Canadian), you will have heard that a general election has been called for October 19th 2015. The election period is an unusually long 12 weeks (most are considerably shorter) and I’m already sick of the rhetoric. It’s like the old joke – how can you tell when a politician is lying? His (or her) lips are moving. I will vote come election day, because I was raised to believe that they who do not vote have no right to complain about the government. Since I happen to quite enjoy complaining about the government, I have to vote. I’m fully prepared to pay more attention to the election – once the summer is over. I have a limited attention span for political doublespeak and it’s definitely not 12 weeks long!
I’ve worked the last few elections as a poll clerk. I haven’t decided if I want to work this one. For one thing, it’s the day after a big conference I’m really looking forward to attending. For another it’s a really long day and if you don’t have a good partner, it can really suck. The pay is decent though, and it is fun to be a part of the democratic process.
Courtesy of Elections Canada
That said, you’d have to have been under a rock to not have heard something about the first leader’s debate. I chose not to watch it on television or stream it, but instead kept track of who was saying what about whom via Twitter. I noticed, that as politicians are wont to do, there was a lot of prevarication going on. Which gave me the idea for today’s Word Wednesday post. So some good came out of it at least.
Some of the politically savvy readers may know that as a matter of parliamentary procedure, one member cannot call another a straight out liar in the House of Commons. It has consistently been ruled as “Unparliamentary language” and there’s a partial list of all the words deemed unacceptable here. I’m not sure what the rule on thesaurus use is, because I would like to point out that almost every member is guilty of prevarication on occasion.
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Prevarication(pre·var’i·ca’tion** ) noun
a false or deliberate misstatement; a lie
2) the act of deviating from the truth
Maybe calling someone a liar would be better if we used a fancier word? Don’t accuse your opponent of lying – say they’re prevaricating. By the time they look up the meaning, you’ll be long gone. At least the first time.
Prevarication has a pretty interesting etymology. it comes from the Latin word praevaricatus, past participle of praevaricari, meaning to act in collusion – or literally to straddle. The meaning comes from the second half of the word, which has its roots in the word varus, meaning bowlegged.
So the next time you think a politician is straddling the truth, don’t accuse them of lying – accuse them of prevarication instead. You’ll say the same thing, but it sounds better.
Wordless Wednesday – Looking up at the Sky, through the woods, and into a campfire
As much as I love #WordWednesday, I’m up on a mini vacation right now and am too busy staring at clouds, following overgrown paths in the woods, and gazing into campfires to choose a word. I’ll be back next week but in the mean time, take a look at these gorgeous distractions.
Sunset at the lake This path led to wild raspberries, some cuts and scrapes, and more than a few mosquito bites A crackling campfire, shared with my cousin and his family.
Word Wednesday – An old word that has new life in the Internet Age
It’s been an interesting week here. Had an amazing time out with friends Friday, went up to the cottage on Saturday, and returned Tuesday. Oh… and last Wednesday I watched the ESPYs (ESPN Awards) to see Caitlyn Jenner get the Arthur Ashe Courage Award and unwittingly stepped on an internet landmine when I tweeted that I thought she looked great and that I thought she deserved the award. A few people took umbrage at my choice of pronoun and decided to tell me all about how it is a crime against nature and / or God – both privately via DM or in a Twitter conversation. I disagree wholeheartedly, and think that views like that are exactly why she deserved the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Bruce Jenner could have easily faded into obscurity, becoming a footnote in Olympic history, but chose to make the metamorphosis into Caitlyn Jenner public. She knew there would be backlash, and a lot of it, yet chose to do it anyway. To me, that is what courage is all about. She is using her celebrity to raise awareness and I applaud her for that. As she said last Wednesday night, “If you want to call me names, make jokes, doubt my intentions, go ahead, because the reality is, I can take it, but for the thousands of kids out there coming to terms with who they really are, they shouldn’t have to take it”.
Caitlyn Jenner at the mic at the ESPYs
It seems like some people on the Internet took the first part of that sentence as a challenge. I broke the first rule of the internet last Thursday when I read comments about the award. Wow. Huge mistake on my part. I was simultaneously flabbergasted and disgusted with many commentators. Comments ranged from “Jenner is an ‘it’ not a ‘she’”, to “Bruce Jenner was the one who won the medals, Caitlyn Jenner is a nobody”, and even to “if you say you were born as a woman in a man’s body, you are accusing your Creator of making a mistake. Only depravity and ignorance can bring someone to THAT conclusion!”. I understand that there are people who don’t agree with Ms. Jenner’s choices – the good news is, nobody is forcing them to become transgender. Nobody forced any of these commentators to watch Caitlyn Jenner get the award. I’m fairly certain it wasn’t a surprise to anyone that she was getting the award, so if they were that bothered by her choice, then why watch it in the first place? There were some commentators bashing their heads against brick walls and trying to refute the worst of the comments, but they were very much outnumbered by people who make the case for bringing back this week’s Word Wednesday word: Anonymuncule.
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This word was coined in the 19th century, but I think it should be revisited and brought back into common usage today. The word means: An Insignificant, Anonymous Writer. It’s a compound word, made up of anonymoyus – not identified by name, and homunculus– little man (used in the maturity context instead of the physical one in this case). I think it’s a great word for the Internet age – who amongst us has not encountered anonymuncules online? People who hide behind the anonymity the world wide web gives them and pass judgement. Yes, we could call them a troll but I’m not sure that’s fair to trolls. The classic Internet definition of troll (as in not the ugly creature living under a bridge) courtesy of dictionary.com is “to post inflammatory or inappropriate messages or comments on the Internet, especially a message board, for the purpose of upsetting other users and provoking a response”. So to me, there is a difference between an anonymuncule and a troll in that the latter is deliberately being provocative while the former may not be trying to start a fight, but just stating an uninformed view. I think I’m going to start using anonymuncule whenever I need a good word for someone on the internet.
Anonymuncule: (anon·y·mun·cule) Noun
an insignificant anonymous writer
I’m going to put in a usage, lest you think I made up this word…
Who, after all, that I should write of him, is this scribbling anonymuncule in grand old Massachusetts who scrawls and screams so glibly about what he cannot understand? ~ From Miscellanies by Oscar Wilde.
So I guess, maybe, that sometimes breaking the first rule of the Internet (Don’t read the comments), isn’t the worst thing ever – not when you get to learn a fun word like anonymuncule.
Well, I had to turn to the internet to help find a word for this week. I still have my list but none of them felt right today. Sometimes that’s just the way words work, at least for me. So I went on a word hunt to remind me of neat words I liked that I don’t see used very often. I was reading a thread on Reddit about words to use when playing Scrabble – particularly when you have a lot of vowels in hand. That’s when the idea came to me.
It’s not a word I’ve ever played in Scrabble but it is a word I’ve loved because it’s the shortest word possible with ALL the vowels (a,e,i,o,u,y) in alphabetical order. There are other words with the 5 main vowels in order – but I wanted to include the often neglected y in my word. As a note, the shortest word that contains all of the vowels in alphabetical order (excluding y) is aerious which means “airy”. There are other words that contain the 5 vowels in alphabetical order but I’ll let you find them for yourself. It behooves me right now to stop with the Perendination (yeah, I couldn’t resist that set up) and get down to brass tacks to reveal today’s word without further ado.
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Today’s word is facetiously, meaning “lacking serious intent” or “concerning something non essential” and “not meant to be taken seriously or literally”. As in “the man facetiously said that he was the Queen of England”. In recent years, the word has taken on a tone that deviates a little from this definition – one of deliberately inappropriate humour about a subject. Take this e-card from someecards as an example:
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It’s a fun word to have in your back pocket and I’m sure one day it will come in handy when I’m playing Scrabble. I’m back to the Latin origins with this one, though it’s via French. It’s one of my favourite Latin roots too – Facetus – an adjective meaning witty, elegant, fine, or courteous. From Facetus we jump to the noun facetia meaning jest, witticism, or humourous remark. That’s it for the Latin, but French gave usfacétieux meaning “a joke”. From there it wasn’t a huge jump for the English to coin facetiously in the late 1500s. (What can I say? I have a thing for old words)
Facetiously: (fuh–see-shuh s ly) Adverb
i) Meant to be humourous or funny – not meant to be taken seriously
ii) In a manner that threats serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humour.
So the next time you feel like being deliberately silly on a serious issue, go ahead – you’ll be treating it facetiously! (Of course there are some issues that shouldn’t be treated facetiously, but I trust you will know where to draw the line.
Another Word Wednesday is upon us, and this time my problem is picking which word I want to do – I had 3 words lined up and then I read Alexander McCall Smith’s book The Sunday Philosophy Club and I picked up 5 or 6 new words whilst reading. I am always pleasantly surprised when a book in a new series not only gives me great entertainment but also challenges my vocabulary. I’ve put sticky notes in the book for when I come around to needing more fodder for this feature. I’m also going to review the book on here at some point because it wasn’t what I expected, and yet it was more than I expected.
Plus the book cover looks really cool.
The cover combines elements of the book
The best thing about a novel set in Edinburgh is that you can imagine the characters speaking in a lovely Scottish accent. In fact I haven’t stopped thinking in a Scottish accent since I finished the book. Today’s Word Wednesday word sounds really awesome with a Scottish accent. In fact I can hear the main character, Isabel Dalhousie saying the word. So without further perendination on my part, today’s word is behoove. It behooves met to note that it is appropriate that I picked a word that is Old English in its origins instead of Latin or Greek.
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Behoove comes from the Old English word behoof which means use, advantage, or benefit. Behoof is one of those wonderful Old English words that comes from stealing bits and pieces of other languages – in this case Dutch, Middle High German, and German. The origins are as follows: Dutch behoef, Middle High German bihuof “useful thing,” German Behuf “advantage, or benefit”. The first known use of the word was before the year 1200, so it’s definitely Old English. I find behoove a fun word to say in either a fake (and really bad) Scottish accent or in my regular un-accented voice. I should note, that the word rhymes with move or prove and not with rove or grove as is commonly thought. It makes me feel regal to use the word, “it behooves one to wave to the Queen when one is in London”. I’m going to try and insinuate behoove into my everyday conversations as often as possible.
Behoove (bih-hoov) Verb (transitive and intransitive)
i) (transitive) To be necessary, proper, or advantageous.
ii) (intransitive) To be necessary, fit, or proper.
So I’m feeling a bit of pressure here. I’m told that the fourth installment of a series should be the best. Many of my geeky friends argue that the fourth Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope, which was actually the first one released… so now I’m not sure if it fits my point) is the best one[Yes, I know, some of you beg to differ]. The fourth Harry Potter book (Goblet of Fire for those keeping track at home) was a change of pace from the first three, marking not only the era of longer books but also a darker tone to the series, and is definitely a favourite of mine. If something is going to continue on, the fourth installment needs to be great. Plus, having missed last week due to some website moving /hosting issues and a few life events, the fourth installment falls on Canada Day. Well let’s hope I hit it out of the ballpark with this week’s word.
I mentioned this word on my Facebook page last week and one of my friends, Laureen (who, incidentally, has a great blog over at Tempered With Kindness) was very much in support of me using this word for my Word Wednesday post. Even though it’s technically 2 years too early. On the other hand. it’s good to know about this nice and early-like so we can all be prepared when the event happens right? Yep. That’s what I’m going to go with. In 2017, Canada will be celebrating it’s sesquicentennial, meaning the country will be turning 150 years old; so today’s Word Wednesday is sesquicentennial.
The word just rolls off the tongue
Sesquicentennial – I love the way the word sounds. Six syllable words have a way of rolling off the tongue that makes them amongst my favourite words to say (see also the word amongst which, despite what WordPress seems to think, is a legitimate word). The ‘squ’ trigraph (a phoneme with 3 letters that make a single sound) is one of the word sounds I find really easy on the ears. So any word that has 6 syllables and the ‘squ’ trigraph is doubly awesome.
As a note, sesquicentennial is relatively young as a word – though the components are old. The word comes from combining the Latin words sesqui, which means one and a half times, and centennial, which comes from the the Latin word for 100 (centum). Putting them together we get sesquicentennial meaning the 150th anniversary of an event. According to the Mirriam-Webster dictionary, the first known use of sesquicentennial was in 1880 for the city of Baltimore’s 150th anniversary.
Canada’s sesquicentennial celebration is going to be awesome, with lots of events already being planned. I remember the celebrations for the 125th anniversary of the creation of Canada, and the sesquicentennial celebrations promise to be bigger. Maybe not as big as the centennial in 1967, because there’s no Expo ’67 like event going on and I’m not sure if the provinces are going to create ear-worm like songs (Ontari-ari- ario anyone?) for the sesquicentennial but it’s going to be a great party.
Sesquicentennial(ses-kwi-sen-ten-ee-uh l) Noun – A 150th anniversary or its celebration.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a few quintessentially Canadian pictures in honour of the day.
The CN Tower lit up in our National colours The giant Canadian flag that was unfurled on the field at the 100th Grey Cup game in Toronto. A loon swimming on the lake
