Poetry Friday - Germs

After a weekend of introspection, I had a week of “no spection” - meaning muddled thinking. I was attacked by a germ.

I have mentioned my love of dictionaries. Well, I couldn’t help looking up the definition of the word introspection again which led me to musing which led to germ - I promise it does!

Ogden Nash’s
“The Germ”

A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm.
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my popet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ.

Germ has many meanings, of course. It can mean a minute life form, especially a disease causing bacterium. It can mean a small electronic listening device - a bug. By the way, part of the etymology of introspection is specere - to look - which leads to spy. And we know that spies are very fond of bugs! But one of the meanings of germ is something that may serve as a basis of further growth or development: the germ of a project.

In my book . . . I can only hope that my "muddled thinking" causing germ will soon give way to that one which allows developing a real project!

Side note I: Definitions were taken from The Free Dictionary (Online) and Merriam-Webster Online.

Side note II: Last week some 6th grade boys actually asked me about dictionaries. I was thrilled! As I have said, and as you can see by my last two blog entries, I love dictionaries!

Word Joy - 2

Yesterday was the first day of attendance for students at my elementary school.

What an exciting time - the great adventure of learning stretching before them - new backpacks, new pencils, new books! So many new books - composition books, workbooks. And in my library, there are boxes of new books!

I love books (another good trait for a librarian). I especially love new books. I love how they feel and smell and look. The boxes in my library held thin books, thick books, tall books, short books - books about eggs, dos, frogs, turtles, dragons, boys and girls, old and young. So many worlds to explore and new ideas to ponder and all in the pages of books.

One of my favorite books is a dictionary. A good dictionary should include at least a brief history of each entry - an explanation of how a word came into existence. In researching the word book, I found that it derives from the Old English work bōk meaning beech probably because ancient Germanic peoples wrote on strips of beech wood. When I looked in my well used dictionary, I found pressed between its pages a leaf picked by son many years ago as we explored our yard, something he loved to do as a toddler. So, books can contain memories, too!

Memories - Word Joy!

In my book - Book leaves form trees - trees of knowledge, trees of memories. Sit beneath them. Climb them! Treasure them! Remember them!

Word Joy 1

I love words - a good thing for a librarian. For the last few days I have been reading around the blog world about the new words accepted for inclusion in the 2007 copyright date of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.

My favorite new word is ginormous, officially defined as “extremely large: humongous”. My favorite user of ginormous is George, host of HGTV’s “What’s With That House?”.

English is a living language. Growing. Changing.

Words come. Words go.

Word Joy!

In my book . . . A dictionary is a great source for Word Joy!