Word Brain

I’m playing this word game (it’s an Apple app) because I like word games and because I want to keep my brain functioning.  I’m not sure if this is helping, or just adding to the general confusion.  The game starts off being really simple and easy (to get you hooked) and becomes more challenging as you progress.  All you have to do is find words by running your finger over the letters in the right order.  The above picture doesn’t make sense to me, because where is the word music in that block of letter blocks?  More puzzling than that, how in the world did this player get two hundred and fifty hints??  It must be a level way beyond the one I’m on.  And either this person is a genius who never uses hints, or there is some magic way to cheat to get them.  I’m going to google that later.

The puzzles I am solving now consist of two words.  If you don’t guess them in the right order, the second one could have its letters drop down too scrambled to solve.  So you have to hit the circling arrows and start again.  When I got to the two-word puzzles it took me – oh, I don’t know, maybe 6 or 10 puzzles – to figure out that the solutions are not words that go together to mean something.  You know, like ‘chair back’, ‘barn yard’ and ‘rock band’.

Here are some of the best ones I found which I think we should add to the English language as two-word phrases.  Just because.  They conjure up the best images.

1.  lemon face (give a baby something sour to see a really great one)

2.  fish shout (hey guys, boat bottom overhead!  go deep!)

3.  egg tennis (hardest serves to return ever)

4.  book elbow (you read way too much)

5.  snail skis (not the best choice for downhill racing)

6.  sock petal (this flower smells weird)

7.  melon well (fetch a pail of honey dews)

8.  sun waffle (for breakfast – moon waffles are for midnight snacks)

9.  skull tent (not proven to be a bear deterrent)

10.  spinach tv (the only reason you have it is because it’s part of a package)

This game really should give these kinds of hints, instead of merely showing you the first letter of one of the words.  If they did that, I would have gotten at lot more of them right, a lot faster.  If anyone from Apple would like to contact me for other advice about their apps, I’m not that busy.

E is for Etymology

E is for Etymology, Origin 1350–1400; Middle English < Latin etymologia < Greek etymología, equivalent to etymológ ( os ) studying the true meanings and values of words.
One of the first things I do every morning is play my many word games.  Apparently, that’s what WRITERS do.  Ergo, I must be a writer.  Ergo is another lovely E word, way quicker to type than therefore, ergo I decided to use it here and if I continue on with this sentence for much longer you will begin to seriously doubt I have any talent for writing whatsoever.  Ergo I shall stop.

If you love words too, check out

PR Daily News 

and click on Writing and Editing.  Or anywhere else, for that matter.  It’s full of interesting stuff.  The article that convinced me I must belong to that elite group called “writers” is here.  Because I love all those word games and play most of them every day.

MOST days I feel very smug and smart with all the words I know or can figure out and sometimes am even able to spell correctly.  Other days it’s good to bring that ego down a  peg or two by playing Etymologic.  The first time I played I got 4 out of ten by making wild guesses.  The best I’ve done is 8 out of 10 by cheating.  You can totally rationalize cheating if you convince yourself it’s in the interests of learning something new and has nothing at all to do with getting a less embarrassing score.

These games are also something I can enjoy by clicking away with one hand while using the other to drink coffee, another activity which gives me great pleasure.  I wonder where the word multitasking originated?  From Latin multis (much, many) and French tâche (job or task)?  Although the word tache without the accent can also mean ink stain.  So another plausible meaning might be too many ink stains on your fingers from writing so much, and ergo, get a keyboard you moron.

Having a good book on the subject of etymology seemed like such a great idea to me this morning that I searched Amazon for just such an invaluable source of information.  There were just way too many choices. What I ended up downloading to my kindle was this:

English Swear Words and Other Ways to be Completely Misunderstood, by Peter Freeman.

I doubt that it will be helpful for cheating at  Etymologic, but it could prove to be wildly educational.  Sort of like learning a second language, and probably a lot more fun than Latin.

Grandma Tarot Gives Good Advice

Junon, card II of Tarot de Besançon, 1818, Strasbourg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m subscribed to an app on facebook that sends me Tarot Card readings in my e-mail every day, and some days it’s like receiving random sage advice from an ancient relative, like my grandma, for example.  She was very free with her advice even if it didn’t make a lot of sense.  Once she told me that if I ever poked myself with a sewing needle I should make sure it was threaded so that it would be easier to pull out.  I’ve never had to heed those words of wisdom, but I’ve certainly never forgotten them either.This new substitute grandma I’ve adopted is rarely that confusing, and sometimes borders on inspirational.  Everyone could use a little stimulus and motivation in their lives.  And it’s easier to accept these words to the wise when they’re not repeated six times and followed by are you listening to me??

So here’s some excellent guidance that I’ve received in the last little while, which I can take or leave on a whim and nobody’s feelings get hurt.  In real life I tend to have very selective hearing so I’ve carried that over to the printed word and picked out only what I consider to be the good parts.

1.  Keep your attention on the positive.  (Yep, negativity can kill you.)  (I’m totally serious, it can.)

2.  Give yourself a day off if you can.  Get some rest. (I would like to take this to heart every single day for the rest of my life but if I don’t win the lottery, perhaps I’ll have to settle for every second day.)

3.  Don’t try to push things that are not important.  Don’t let minor arguments or misunderstandings get under your skin.  (Hmmph. Easy for you to say.  Hard for me to do.  So I’ll just not allow the fact that you said that to get under my skin.)

4. You just may surprise yourself with how well you do under pressure.  (Or, you just may surprise yourself with how completely you freak out and then crumble into a weeping mess.  It’s a toss up.  But try to remain positive. And get up off the floor for heavens sake.)

5.  Get out there and play like a carefree child.  You need to get out of the house and have some fun right now.  (Go away, I’m playing word games on my I-Phone.)

6.  There will be wonderful news and exciting possibilities coming your way through different forms of communication.  Information about the past will be a benefit to your future.  (Really?  Are you suggesting that I shouldn’t have cancelled the newspaper?  I must admit I was a bit miffed when they wouldn’t let me put a five month vacation stop on it.)

7. You are even hotter today than yesterday.  Unforgettable energy is pouring from your love sectors.  You will attract attention no matter where you go.  (HAHAHA!  YES!  I will be laughing so hard about that one all day that many people will begin to watch me carefully while questioning the state of my mental health.) (I will later google love sectors to find out what the hell they are.)

8.  Don’t be a stick in the mud.  (I’m not.  I’m looking up love sectors, aren’t I?)

9.  You may find that your creative talents provide an unexpected spiritual outlet.  (Huh. That would be nice.)

10.  You feel that you are being misunderstood right now by just about everybody, no matter what you say or do.  (No I don’t!  Shut up!) You are tempted to sneak quietly away and never come back. (I’m running away from home as we speak,) But will that change anything? (YES! ) Probably not. (Oh.)  Don’t give up on your dreams just yet. (Okay, fine. As if you know everything.)

Thank you adopted grandmother Tarot.  You are one smart cookie.