Posted on 07/16/2013 5:08:27 AM PDT by SoothingDave
Word For The Day, July 16, 2013
In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
diz-muhl]
-adj
1. causing gloom or dejection; gloomy; dreary; cheerless; melancholy: dismal weather.
2. characterized by ineptness or lack of skill, competence, effectiveness, imagination, or interest; pitiful: Our team played a dismal game.
3. Obsolete
a.disastrous; calamitous.
b.unlucky; sinister.
-n
4. Southern US a tract of swampy land, usually along the coast.
[ 1275–1325; Middle English dismale unlucky time, dismol day one of two days in each month considered unlucky (hence later taken as adj.) < Anglo-French dis mal < Medieval Latin diēs malī literally, evil days ]
Oooh la la!
Fancy hotel charging for wifi is one of my pet peeves. Just a blatant ripoff.
They do it with their conferences too. His IT guy just tells them no we are not gonna pay for that.
I have not been paying attention, where are you vacationing this year? Sounds like you are off to a good start!
You are too depressing today with your word. I refuse to submit a homework like that.
91 glorious degrees here today. Pool time.
Sprinkling off and on and 85 here-
How dismal our chances ate
For keeping any of our money-
Our taxes give the mob EBTs
So their dispositions stay sunny
They buy stuff we can’t afford
Since all these layoffs came-
Mostly because of Obamascare
And the person with that name
He played Soviet Union
Even as the economy sank-
Now, our Nero plays golf
As his numbers are in the tank
Speaking of dismal-don’t forget the fictional Lake Woebegone...
We have 88 — feels like 95 here today. Hit 90 yesterday for the first time this year. Probably will every day this week.
Now I’ve started thinking of place names that don’t paint a pretty picture, and there are several glaring ones just within 10 miles or so in this county- two miles upriver is the site of a small sawmill and settlement in the mid 1800’s-a pretty landmark called Mormon Bluff-it was the scene of one of the bloodiest Indian massacres in the county’s wild west history.
About 8 miles away is a country lane that winds around a hill-the road sign says “Starvation Hill”-no one I’ve asked knows who-or what-starved up there, when, or why.
There is a Lovers’ Leap Road-along a cliff over the river, of course-a Ghost Lane that winds through a dark ravine with trees covered in wild grape vines on either side, a Hellsgate Road-and in the community just across the river, the only way in or out is a treacherous one-lane track winding up the steep hill by the dam, aptly named Suicide Road...
You have to wonder who came up with this stuff...
The 90’s are normal for here, but hot for y’all-It is a bit cool for July here...
I saw a few minutes of Holder’s blabbing at the racial haters’ convention, but with that piano emphasizing his words, I turned on classic rock instead. I was reminded of the traveling tent revivals a couple of my aunts used to go to-I half expected to hear “Amen” or “Yes Lord” from the audience. Now I have a Neil Diamond earworm-
“It’s brother Love’s traveling salvation show-
Pack up the babies and grab the ladies and everyone go”...
Its actually cooled down a bit. We had some rumbles and a bit of rain. Storms passed to the south.
There is a place informally known as “headrush hill” but that is because of the effect you get if you drive over it at a sufficient speed.
I like Headrush Hill-very descriptive. I hope when I build my nest, it can be on a country lane I can name-if even a path has to be cut to get a driveway on your property from a county road, and you are the first one to cut a driveway to the road, you get to name that path/lane, if you want to. Lots of stuff named Don’s Lane, Paul’s Path, etc. I think Ghost Lane is one of those.
We have Frozen Head State Park. Seems a little ghoulish.
And just north of Fredericksburg, TX there is a historical site known as "Baby Head Mountain".
Seems a band of Comanches attacked a farmstead, killed the parents and kidnapped the children. When the posse went out looking for them, they made a grisly find on top of this particular mountain -- a baby's head.
So far as I know, the rest of the children were never recovered.
I’ve heard that story, too-the first time was when I went there with some friends from college. But it seems to me that it is more reasonable hat someone thought the shape of the hill resembled a head-sort of.
The Comanches and other tribes usually didn’t give kids back, even for ransom, for whatever reason-Quanah Parker’s mother was a captive settler, taken as a child.
Unlike Stevie Washed up Wonder who’s boycotting FL bc of the GZ verdict, we came to FL to celebrate it ; ) Amelia island/Fernandina beach
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