Friday, August 31, 2012

Fog

The word Fog, can be used as a noun or a verb. As a noun, it refers to a cloud like mass or a collection of liquid water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air or near the Earth’s surface, that reduces visibility.  It also refers to a confused mental state. 

As a verb, Fog refers to covering or enveloping one with fog or to confuse or obscure a situation. 

“After the accident, he was in a fog like state for several days”

The steam from the boiling water, fogged her glasses so she could not see"

We experienced fog each morning this past week staying on the beach at Bodega Bay.  For me it felt like a soft blanket of cool air.  It was very quiet and peaceful and reminded me of this poem. 

The Fog - by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes 
on little cat feet. 

It sits looking

over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on. 

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Translucent

Translucent is an adjective (Latin) used when light is permitted to pass through an object in a diffused manner so that you cannot clearly see the people or objects on the other side.  

Some examples of objects that are translucent are stained glass, net curtains, colored plastic cups, frosted glass, honey, fog and a leaf. Translucent is sometimes confused with Transparent which means you can see through the object clearly as opposed to the other extreme with the word Opaque, which means that you cannot see through the object at all.  

A quote: 

Sabrina fair, 
Listen where thou are sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of my amber-dropping hair.

By John Milton 
English Poet, Historian and Scholar.  
He ranked second to Shakespeare among English poets (1608-1674)


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Bupkis

Bupkis is a noun (Yiddish).  The word means, absolutely nothing, zero, zip, zilch, nada, squat.  It is a slang word, used mostly in conversation and the spelling will vary.  Sometimes spelled bupkes or bupkus. In Yiddish it literally means “bean”. Also, from the word kozebupkis it means “goat pellets”  Huh?  Okay, I could go many places with this, but I will take the high road.

Some examples of use:

“After pulling the business back off of the brink of bankruptcy, my friend got bupkis for his efforts.”

“When my brother asked me for a loan, I told him that he will get bubkis from me.”

“It is apparent that you know bupkis about planning a vacation."

Okay, kind of a silly word and I don’t really have anything clever to add.  Do you?