Reflections 2019

What a terrible year. I’d say I’m happy to see it go, but then I start panicking about all the things that I have to do once it’s 2020. Anyone else remember a time where they were able stop screaming in horror for more than five seconds? Because I don’t.

Well, that got darker than I expected. What was I supposed to do this year?

Resolutions 2019

1. Figure out some way to keep my yearly resolutions in mind. Maybe I’ll put them at the top of the file I organize my blog posts in.

I think doing this the day before the year ends does still technically count.

2. Finish the first draft of my new WIP and make my editing plan.

Hey, I did this. Didn’t get as much editing done as I wanted, but I was busy with other projects.

3. (Hopefully) finish my older WIP, and at the very least keep making progress on it.

It’s actually as close as I can get it. It could probably use some more beta reads to be sure, though.

4. Write something new, but not necessarily an entire book. Something smaller.

I did this. And also wrote an entire new book. I’m not sure that’s a fail, though.

5. Start up a new spam blog. I know. It’s the stupidest thing ever. I just think it’s hilarious.

Kind of did this since I’m now posting it on here. Plus that’s so many more blog posts I don’t have to write. Win-win.

6. Arm myself for the upcoming revolution.

It’s taking too long to get here.

7. Be nicer. To the people who are nice. The people who are mean will learn new definitions of pain.

This would probably be the only one I could consider a fail. It’s been a tough year for niceness.

I actually did most of what I wanted to. I’m pleased with that. I just wish things were a little easier. It’d be nice not to have to worry about losing my health insurance or screwing up my taxes.

What did you think of 2019? Did you get anything important done? Are you glad to see it go? And be sure to have a fun night!!!

Christmas Re-Post #3

Only four more days until the New Year.

Now I only have a cat that actually gives me personal space while I sleep. I don’t know how I’ll survive.

Christmas Re-Post #2

Happy post-Christmas Come Down. Anyone else had a TON of candy?

One of my favorites of her.

Christmas Re-Post #1

AKA it’s the last full week of the year and I’m too lazy to do real posts. I’m not ashamed of this.

And just like with the last holiday, this week is going to be about Veronica, since I will always miss her.

She was always so loud… like an engine.

Shipped

Product tracking is great, when it actually works properly.

An item ordered over the internet is always one of two things: “doesn’t exist” or “tried to deliver it, but you weren’t there.”

Language of Confusion: Gifts

Tis the season, right? Let’s look at where some gifts come from.

Gift showed up in the mid thirteenth century, I assume after give, although give doesn’t actually have a date of origin. Gift is thought to be Scandinavian in origin, like the Old Norse gift/gipt, gift, and before that is definitely from the Proto Germanic geftiz, from geb-, to give, from the Proto Indo European root ghabh-, give or receive. And of course that’s where give is from, just with different word tenses. It’s from the Old English giefan, give, from the Proto Germanic geban, which is also from geb-.

Now let’s look at a common gift that’s given (ha!): game. It showed up in the thirteenth century from the Old English gamen/gamenian, joke or play. It’s descended from Proto Germanic, from two parts: ga-, a “collective prefix”, basically a prefix that indicates a collection/collective; and mann, which means person. So a gaman is a collection of people. And that’s how you have a game. In related words, gamy/gamey is related to game, originally meaning spirited, then morphing to having to do with taste in the sense of hunting wild game. However, there’s also a rarely used definition of game where it’s a synonym for lame, i.e. a game leg. That use of game is not related to the others, and is probably just some sort of slang.

Toy showed up in the fourteenth century meaning, ahem, “amorous playing”, or sport. It actually didn’t mean toy like we use it until the sixteenth century. Unfortunately, not much is known about its origin, and it may be a combination of several different words. There are some similar Germanic words, like the Dutch speeltuig, which means toy, and the Swedish tyg, which means fabric, but we really don’t know where toy came from.

Finally today, how about a type of toy? Like a doll. Doll showed up in the mid sixteenth century, but back then it was only a nickname for Dorothy. In the early seventeenth century, it became slang for a girlfriend or lover, but then by the mid sixteenth century, it basically meant a slut. And then somehow when the eighteenth century rolled around, it was used for a child’s toy baby, and by the end of the century, it was once again back to being used as a term for pretty or silly women, so in a slightly more favorable light. Of course, if you try to use it on a woman these days, you’re liable to get punched in the mouth (deservedly so) for being patronizing. Wow, this word really went on a crazy journey.

Sources

Online Etymology Dictionary

Google Translate

Omniglot

Dictionary.com

University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center

University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language

Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English

Old English-English Dictionary

From The Spamfiles

The last spam of the year. I can’t believe it’s happening already.

Oh no. The Love Swans are after me again.

I’m… not sure why that’s something to congratulate someone over.

I think this person’s usage of emojis should be a crime. Maybe not a felony, but at least a misdemeanor.

Calling an Asian woman “exotic” is super, super problematic. I’d avoid that in the future, spammers.

Sooooo. Is this two different people (Lisa and Lissa) or did she just straight up spell her own name wrong? 

The ladies are really after me this week. I better go hide.

Search History

I swear, it’s for research.

This is all research for one of my WIPs. It also will look really, really bad to anyone who happens to see it.

Language of Confusion: I’m Cold Right Now

Seriously, I was chilly so that’s what inspired this. I’ve done cold words before, but not these ones!

Frost

Frost comes from the Old English frost, which could also be spelled forst (and both meant frost), because… I don’t know. Because. Both words were common until the late fifteenth century, where frost won the battle, I guess. The words are from the Proto Germanic frustaz, frost, which is from the verb form freusanan, to freeze. That word comes from the Proto Indo European preus-, to freeze or to burn. Speaking of freeze…

Freeze

Freeze wasn’t actually how the word used to be spelled. It used to be freese or friese, coming from the Middle English fresen and Old English freosan, to freeze. That word was taken from the Proto Germanic freusan, to freeze, from the verb freus-, which is also related to the abovementioned preus-. As for why its past tense is frozen… there’s no good explanation for that. Sorry, that’s an unsatisfying answer, isn’t it?

Frigid

A lot of these words start with “fr”, don’t they? Frost and freeze are related, so that makes sense, but frigid? Nope. Frigid showed up in the early seventeenth century from the classical Latin frigidus, which is just cold. It’s actually from the Proto Italic word srigos-, yes, an S! and that’s from the Proto Indo European srig-, cold. Come on! How do you get from an S to an F???

Refrigeration

I’m going with this tense because it’s actually the first to show up in English, back in the late fifteenth century—refrigerate was in the early sixteenth century and refrigerator not until the early seventeenth century. Refrigeration is from the classical Latin regrigerationem, which means cooling, as the re- means again and the rest is from the verb frigerare, to make cool. That word happens to be from frigidus, which means refrigeration is from the same place as frigid. At least that one makes sense.

And I think that’ll be it for this week. I’m cold and tired.

Sources

Online Etymology Dictionary

Google Translate

Omniglot

University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center

University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language

University of Texas at Arlington

Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English

Old English-English Dictionary

Glosbe

From The Spamfiles

Lots of spam in the comments this past week. Which is weird, since it’s been months since I’ve gotten even one.

Of course it has a link to buying a vacuum cleaner. If you’ll recall, the post was about a cat.

Look at this! That’s sixteen comments on posts from years ago. All in the space of about ten

minutes. I practically had a heart attack when I opened my mail and found so many messages waiting for me. Then I realized. Oh. Spam.

This is what is in each of those comments. According to Google Translate, this is Indonesian, and the words are convection (konveksi), jacket (jaket), sell/sale (jual), store (toko), and arrowroot (garut). I think they might be trying to sell me jackets.

Now for some traditional repetitive, unending spam. I like how everything is the same except those weird hashtags at the end. What are those about?

I feel like if I ever learn what this really refers to, I’ll never be able to look at chocolate or whip cream again.

Quick! Without confirmation, they can’t capitalize normally!

Glasses

November… was not my month.

Oh. Joy. Another expense.

Secret Origins: November

Aw, we’re almost done with these. I’m actually quite bummed about that—which is why it’s been over a year since I’ve done one, as I’ve been trying to stretch them out. I’ve done the days of the week, and now almost all the months. What else can I do???

Seriously. I’m asking.

As a word, November showed up in the thirteenth century from the Old French novembre and classical Latin November/Novembris mensis, which I assume you all know just means month of November. The novem is just nine, because November used to be the ninth month in the March-starting calendar, while the -bris is just a suffix for adjectives. Which makes it kind of weird that it’s used for the end of month names, but whatever.

Now, in Old English, November was the far, far cooler Blotmonað, which literally translates to blood sacrifice month, because it was the month where the Saxons sacrificed animals for winter and butchered them for food. That is even cooler than the original name for October, winterfylleþ.

I cannot believe we can be calling November Bloodmonth and we’re for some reason not. This is how you know the world is not a fair and just place.

Sources

Online Etymology Dictionary

Google Translate

Omniglot

University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center

Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English

Old English-English Dictionary

Time And Date

December Goals

Ugh, November. UGGGGHHHHH. I am glad to see it gone considering how my body basically imploded on me. What was I even supposed to do this month?

November Goals

1. Finish the rewrites and reorganizing for WIP-1, then hopefully get it out to more beta readers.

I was able to do the first part of this, although not the second. I kind of got exhausted so I wasn’t able to ask people if they’d be willing to look at it. Ugh, November.

2. Edit the synopsis and et al. and get some help looking at that, too.

No, I had too many other things to worry about to get to this. Nuts, I really wanted it done.

3. Thanksgiving! So I’ll have to deal with that, too. Hopefully it will provide me with a much needed recharge and not total dread.

I really should have known better.

Okay, what should I do this month?

December Goals

1. Get WIP-1 out to beta readers (any volunteers?) and actually work on the synopsis and stuff.

2. Edit WIP-2. Man, I can’t believe this sounds like the easier goal.

3. Christmas! New Years! Please let it be a nice break!

I wonder how much I can do this month. What are your plans?