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AWADmail Issue 650

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From: Brian Price (b.j.price hotmail.com)
Subject: Juggernaut

When semi-trucks (articulated lorries) were first introduced into the UK they were often referred to as juggernauts as a reference to their greater size compared with earlier fixed-cab lorries. As they have become more ubiquitous in recent years, this usage seems to have diminished.

By both of your definitions, juggernaut can be used to describe the military and the military experience. As a sculptor with three combat tours in the infantry I searched for years to find an image that captured the essence of my experience and "juggernaut" could not have been more perfect (see the sculpture). The national objective should be to keep these juggernauts from ever starting to roll -- we know how much damage they can do once they get going.

From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--klatsch

Kudos to talented illustrator Leah Palmer Preiss for today's delightful pictorial depiction of her imagined gathering of mother hens engaged in a lively coffee klatsch.

Love the compositional balance and symmetry of it all, particularly the birds 'wing/hands' daintily holding their respective cups of coffee, plus the vivid color-and-shape echoing of the hens' colorful features in the precisely arranged crescent cookies and wedges of cherry pie on each of their plates.

For me, the piece-de-resistance has to be the subtle stitched white embroidered trim running along the apron edges of the two foreground chatty chickens, reading respectively, "Pick A Little" and "Talk A Little", a clever 'grace note' to perfectly capture this moment of apparent conversational bliss... or in this case, 'fowl language'. (groan)

From: Paul Schierenbeck (paulschierenbeck gmail.com)
Subject: klatsch

This word brought back wonderful memories of my mother's "coffee klatsch" with her friends when I was a child. About once a month the group would get together at someone's house (hosting duties rotated) and share coffee, stollen, or coffee cake, and probably gossip. I'd be surprised if no one ever offered Bloody Marys.

It was a mystery to me as a little boy just what these ladies were doing, but it sounded exotic and fun. And the "old-fashioned" names of the members came immediately to mind: Ruth (my Mom), Arlene, Lorraine, Ione, and so on.

From: Claus Cartellieri (cartellieri t-online.de)
Subject: klatsch

Being German I would like to add that "klatsch" may also have the meaning of rumour, implying negative information about persons or objects.

From: Maureen Winterhager (etceterantik t-online.de)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--klatsch

Also see Klatschtante -- a gossipy woman. Klatschpresse -- yellow press. Lots more, lol...

From: Ollie Haffenden (oliver.haffenden rd.bbc.co.uk)
Subject: Oneiric

The word oneiric, though possibly not its meaning, has been known to geeks worldwide since 2011, when version 11.10 of the Ubuntu operating system was released. All Ubuntu releases are codenamed in the form "(adjective) <animal>"; both words start with the same letter, which progresses through the alphabet with each release. Thus 11.10 was Oneiric Ocelot and came between Natty Narwhal and Precise Pangolin. The current release, Utopic Unicorn, is unusual in being named after a mythical rather than zoological beast.

From: Evan Hazard (eehazard paulbunyan.net)
Subject: scandent

First came across this root in Mammalogy class at Cornell University in '50. Among various modes of locomotion, climbing mammals (e.g., grey squirrels) are termed scansorial.

From: Aurita P. Puga (beterana2002 yahoo.es)
Subject: Congrats

Congratulations for the beautiful art illustrating the words this week. And Thank you for the daily inspirational messages. We appreciate both the vocabulary and the quotations at the end of the pages. Thanks again and thanks to those who sponsor your newsletter making it possible for all of us.