
From Nov. 23 - and this is sort of complicated:
Joanna and Brad are asking about “connecting words,” and they don’t mean conjunctions like “and” or “but.” No, what they’re looking for are unique, or treasured words that we’ve found out and about in our daily travels, words that might not be common usage, or often heard, but which struck a chord for some reason.
Now, the blog cited is
this one and it looks quite fascinating. The way Joanna and Brad pose the question is this:
All you need to do is share with us (and the rest of the blogosphere)
1. A word or words that you’ve learned, read, noticed, been gifted
2. What it means to you
3. Who you got it from
4. Any conversations or connections that followed
Carpe diem. Okay, it's two words, and they aren't even English, but it's my LJ so I can cheat all I want to.
Carpe diem. Sieze the day. I love the concept. Take what opportunities come. Do what you want to, or need to, or can, and do it now. Step into the TARDIS. Write. Lounge. Follow your bliss, wherever it leads.
I've no idea when I first heard the phrase. I was long familiar with it when I re-encountered it in
Latin for Canadian Schools as a teen. Perhaps when I was four, tiptoeing to look at the wonderful sundial at the frog pond at the Experimental Farm - for some reason, unremembered now, I associate the phrase with that garden and that age. Perhaps my mother said it to me.
I love it too when people use and abuse the phrase -
carpe horam (sieze the hour),
carpe canem (grab the dog),
carpe pecuniam - go for the money. Or just
carpe your chances, buddy!Now, if I can add an addendum to this... and I can... this brings to mind another whole class of words that I think of as Dunnett words, meaning they are words I first encountered in the Dunnett novels. "Otiose" is a good example of this. It means "useless". I love the word. I found it in
The Disorderly Knights, where a hard-drinking pirate calls Lymond "dead cold sober to the point of otiosity". I love it when a pirate talks like that.