David Zapatka Baseball spring training is upon us. The Cactus and Grapefruit leagues are in session. The smell of spring is in the air. Holy Cow! The Cubs are the defending World Series champions! 2017 is really going to be a historic preseason. Anyone remotely familiar with baseball remembers Harry Caray’s enthusiastic “Holy Cow!” Chicago…
Tag: Word of the Month
Features, February 2017
Word of the Month: Abstemious
David Zapatka Thinking about buying a new car recently, reader Tom Mohr was researching a Car and Driver publication for the 2017 Honda CR-V. In the first-drive-review section of the article, the “highs” were listed – spacious inside, abstemious at the pump, quiet cabin, excellent steering. Reading “abstemious at the pump” prompted Tom to research the…
Features, January 2017
Word of the Month: Archetype
David Zapatka While reading about the hero’s journey, a theme that occurs in nearly all movie scripts, the word ”archetype” was presented as an aspect of movie characters. This so-called hidden DNA of storytelling was recognized in the 1800s by Max Muller when he noticed similarities between ancient epic stories and wrote about them in…
Features, December 2016
Word of the Month: Phronesis
David Zapatka Reading Acton Institute’s monthly newsletter this past week, I ran into a word I’m fond of. Reverend Robert Sirico, Acton Institute President, speaks about phronesis, this month’s Word of the Month. Phronesis fits in well with Acton’s mission statement which is “to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and…
Features, November 2016
Word of the Month: Tardigrade
David Zapatka Luz Stella Perotti, friend and science enthusiast, says this month’s word makes her laugh and have a lot of fun. She poses these questions to introduce us to her fun word. “What is the most resilient animal in the world? What living creature can withstand temperatures down to minus 458 degrees F (close…
Features, October 2016
Word of the Month: Logorrhea
David Zapatka Are you enjoying our political cycle of nonstop commentary on the candidates, their platforms, their off-handed remarks and actions? How about the debates; fascinating? insightful? longwinded? boring? Does it sometimes seems like the words of the talking heads and the candidates go on 24/7? Lindsay Cantoni, friend and fellow bridge player, brings this…
Features, September 2016
Word of The Month: Proprioception
David Zapatka Have you ever fractured an ankle, leg or hip? Did you find it difficult regaining your balance and full control of your healed joint or limb, maybe instability or possibly even “knowing” exactly where it was? This can be very unsettling. On a dead run last year I stepped into a concrete rain…
Features, August 2016
Word of the Month – Doyen
David Zapatka Friend and fellow table tennis-playing enthusiast, Bill Lewis, exposed me to our word for this month, doyen, in a recent correspondence about long-term expertise in the sport of table tennis. When reading his email and coming across his use of the word “doyen” I had to look this one up. Doyen noun doy·en doi-ĕn′,…
Generals, Clubs & Classes, July 2016
Word of The Month: Wombat
David Zapatka This month’s word of the month is wombat; noun wom·bat ˈwäm-ˌbat any of several stocky burrowing Australian marsupials (genera Vombatus and Lasiorhinus of the family Vombatidae) resembling small bears. Origin of wombat – Dharuk (Australian aboriginal language of the Port Jackson area) wombad. Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about 40 inches in length with…
Generals, June 2016
Word of the Month
Secede David Zapatka Our January, 2015 word of the month was malapropism, suggested by friend and bridge player Susan Hoffelt. We had a lot of fun learning about and playing with that word which ties in to this month’s word of the month, secede. The word secede is one of those common malapropic words. So…