Today, while calmly puzzling over an algebra problem, (in case you're interested, the problem was 9x2-49y2 , and, in case you furthermore care to know the answer, it is (3x+7y) (3x-7y)) I was interuppted by my sister, who was doing math in the other room. The conversation proceeded something like this:
Her: "Hey can you go to dictionary.com and look something up for me?"
Me: "Sure...what is it?"
Her: "Sphygmomanometer."
Me: "WHAT???????"
Her: "Sphygmomanometer!"
Later, after she has spelled it out twice to me and we have been enlightened as to what the thing is, (by the way, in case you care to know, "a sphygmomanometer is a device used to measure blood pressure, comprising an inflatable cuff to restrict blood flow, and a mercury or mechanical manometer to measure the pressure." That's Wikipedia.) she calls out another word for me to research.
Her: "Can you look up 'tacometer'?
Me: "Taco-WHAT? What in the world is a tacometer for? To measure how hot your salsa is?!!"
(By the way, dear readers, the correct spelling for this queer instrument is "Tachometer.") Yes, the world of language is a big place and even the native speakers can't learn everything there is to know about their own language.
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-StrongJoy
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"Up through an empty house of stars, Being what heart you are, Up the inhuman steeps of space, As on a staircase go in grace, Carrying the firelight on your face, Beyond the loneliest star." G.K. Chesterton
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- I have been saved by grace and blessed beyond compare. All things are mine since I am His. How can I keep from singing?
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This Week's Quote
"I have committed myself to joy...we must not be afraid to announce it to refugees, slum-dwellers, saddened prisoners, angry prophets. Now and then we must even announce it to ourselves. In this prison of now, in this cynical and sophisticated age, SOMEONE MUST BELIEVE IN JOY." -Richard Rohr
Poetry
THE GREAT MINIMUM by G.K. Chesterton
It is something to have wept as we have wept,
It is something to have done as we have done,
It is something to have watched when all men slept,
And seen the stars which never see the sun.
It is something to have smelt the mystic rose,
Although it break and leave the thorny rods,
It is something to have hungered once as those
Must hunger who have ate the bread of gods.
To have seen you and your unforgotten face,
Brave as a blast of trumpets for the fray,
Pure as white lilies in a watery space,
It were something, though you went from me today.
To have known the things that from the weak are furled,
Perilous ancient passions, strange and high;
It is something to be wiser than the world,
It is something to be older than the sky.
In a time of sceptic moths and cynic rusts,
And fattened lives that of their sweetness tire
In a world of flying loves and fading lusts,
It is something to be sure of a desire.
Lo, blessed are our ears for they have heard;
Yea, blessed are our eyes for they have seen:
Let the thunder break on man and beast and bird
And the lightning. It is something to have been.
It is something to have wept as we have wept,
It is something to have done as we have done,
It is something to have watched when all men slept,
And seen the stars which never see the sun.
It is something to have smelt the mystic rose,
Although it break and leave the thorny rods,
It is something to have hungered once as those
Must hunger who have ate the bread of gods.
To have seen you and your unforgotten face,
Brave as a blast of trumpets for the fray,
Pure as white lilies in a watery space,
It were something, though you went from me today.
To have known the things that from the weak are furled,
Perilous ancient passions, strange and high;
It is something to be wiser than the world,
It is something to be older than the sky.
In a time of sceptic moths and cynic rusts,
And fattened lives that of their sweetness tire
In a world of flying loves and fading lusts,
It is something to be sure of a desire.
Lo, blessed are our ears for they have heard;
Yea, blessed are our eyes for they have seen:
Let the thunder break on man and beast and bird
And the lightning. It is something to have been.
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5 comments:
OH haha that is funny. :)
Love
MJ
Haha! How funny! And she needed to know the definitions of those words when she was working on math?? Oh my. :-)
I like your definition of "tacometer". *grins*
And thank you very much for your comment on my blog... it made a lot of sense to me, perhaps because I so much understand the entire screaming by writing it out thing... I do that so often it's insane.
Take care! :) Watch out for the really hot salsa! Oh, and for what it's worth, we usually just call sphygmomanometers "blood pressure cuffs" or something of the sort. ;)
And... I can't believe I forgot to say this... I have heard Tears of the Saints. It's an incredible song... very haunting. It is, very much, an attitude we need... not to grow calloused to the pain of the world.
HA! That is SO funny! (Must be so fun to be working on an Algebra problem... I'm in it right now and loving it ;))
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