This Week's Word Is - Bacchanalian

adj.
Characterized by, connected with, or given to drunken revelry; riotously drunken, roystering

Xuemei - The Entries

Xuemei
Will soon stray
So far away,
But hopefully someday
Her stay here will replay
And she will make her way
Back to Saint Mary’s Université!

At least for a visit!

- Bridgit



AND THE WINNING ENTRY IS....


Excuse me, but i will miss you,  Xuemei.

- Patrick ONeil


You'll be missed, Xuemei!

This Week's Word Is: Lachrymose

adj.

Given or ready to shed tears. Of the eyes: Suffused with tears.

Amanuensis - The Entries

n.
One who copies or writes from the dictation of another.



Amanuensis

I wish I had amanuensis when i have to write research papers for school so that I do not have to write or type anything.

-Nawaf Mutair




AND THE WINNING ENTRY IS.....

Amanuensis

I was out for my evening constitutional last night, in a shady end of town, when I came across a man lying in a pool of blood under the glow of a broken streetlight.  Just a single bare bulb flickered across the grisly scene.  At first I thought he was a gonner but then I heard him moan, and when I leaned in to him he whispered, "Word of the Week...".  His breath rattled and then again, more faintly, "Word of the Week."
I instantly knew what must be done.  I leaned still closer, and he whispered a short tale in my ear.  Then he smiled a faint smile, and breathed "Just make sure my story is told."  I nodded, peace came to his tortured eyes, and he expired.
I raced to call the cops, and then returned to the scene of the crime.  As you might expect, the remaining bulb was darkened, the body was gone, and the ground was clean and dry.  No trace of the corpse remained, save a battered fedora leaning against the lamp-post.  A jauny petunia was stuck in the hat band.
"This could be the start of some tale," I thought to myself.  "A hell of a lot more interesting than the story he told me."  But a promise is a promise; I have written down his tale as best I remember it, and it is attached.
Have a good week.
Your pal,
Ken      

Amanuensis

    by ‘Anonymous’

As so often they do, the Circulation staff were lolling about in the office bitching about how slack all the student assistants had become.

Somewhere in the depths of this conversation Nancy concluded that rather than listening to others bitching about the problem, she really ought to do something about it.  Even worse, she decided that what needed to be done was the setting of a good example.  A mistake Sue would not have made.

At the same time, as it happened, two bookworms met at a bar near the intersection of the spine and the middle pages of PR 3348 C65 M45 1985.

Boris and Dieter, two of a number of Trogium pulsarium working their way through the second-floor collection, met there at the bar most afternoons after work.  Dieter usually stopped by for a quick beer; although his wife nagged him to come straight home, secretly she was just thankful that he was nothing like his wastrel friend Boris, who stayed late at the bar every night and came home loaded, and who scarcely noticed that his wife had taken up with her personal trainer and that his oldest daughter had fallen in with a rough crowd and was peddling dope out by the CIP.

Unlike his more passive friend, Boris was the life of the bar.  He was always surrounded by barflies, who stood him rounds and laughed at his jokes, and who admired the tales he told and the poems he so easily created.  As he worked his way through the collection Boris was always on the look-out for quotations or unusual words he could use to impress his drinking buddies.  He digested new material quickly, and delivered his best lines with the skill of the practiced tavern raconteur.  Though Boris found Dieter a bit dull, his friend was a steady after-work companion and useful sounding-board for the bon mots Boris later deployed for the entertainment of his more serious drinking buddies.

So it was no surprise to Dieter when, just as he finished his draft and got up from his stool, Boris leaned back and intoned,  

The rest of bugmanity,

That ilk and that tribe,

Call the dictation taker

The simple word, ‘scribe’.

But not us, their betters!

‘mong us there’s consensus

That the one word to use

Is amanuensis.

The last line was accompanied by a grand flourish of Boris’s arm and hand, which Dieter interpreted as his dismissal; the family man ducked out to worm his way homeward.

At that very moment Nancy, whose idea of a good example, unaccountably, is shelf-reading, had just worked her way to the letter and number combination PR 3348 C65 M45 1985.

Now, because this is a fable there will be a moral to the story, but that moral is decidedly not that this thing we call ‘setting a good example’ lies very close to the heart of its near-relative, ‘being a terrible warning’.   Still, inevitably, Nancy’s gaze somehow slipped upwards from the call number to the spine title of the book, and with a start of recognition and fond memory she was moved to wonder whether she would still find this as excellent a work of literature as she remembered from the first dozen or so times she had read it.  And whether a quick peek inside might be rewarded by a warming revisit with some of her favourite naughty bits.

A startled Boris felt the sturdy tome shift beneath his many feet, and was stunned when the book was opened to the very page where he had been basking in the self-induced glow of his latest literary triumph.  Too far from the spine or any hole to scramble away back, he froze as Nancy’s fierce gaze pierced his compound eyes.

“Shit,” Boris thought. “Going to have to talk myself out of this one.”

Nancy took the lead instead.  “Pick a number between one and seven”, she offered.

“Oh good,” Boris thought.  “She just want to…Okay, I’ll play her silly game.”

“Three?” he offered.

“Not today,” said Nancy, and with a wicked smile she slammed the book shut on poor Boris.

The moral of the story is thus: The end of the other end of the tail is the end of the tale.

- Ken Clare

This Week's Word Is: Amanuensis

n.
One who copies or writes from the dictation of another.

Abecedarian - The Entries

abecedarian, adj.

Of or pertaining to the alphabet; marked with the alphabet; arranged in alphabetical order, as abecedarian psalms, like the 119th.

Abecedarian

So who’s you’re favourite group?
“Abba” said Deryan.

- Doug Vaisey



Abecedarian

OMG, R U SRYUS?
YR WRD ZNT 4 ME.
I M A PROPR ABCDERIAN.

- VAZI



Abecedarian

I used to hate
Having to wait
For all of the Abbotts, Browns and Hoods
To finish before they got to the Woods
The only time they changed the procession
Made an abecedarian concession,
Was if a test, jest or general mess
Was the outcome of the session.

- Sue (Wood) Cannon



Abecedarian

FoR Only …

a
Brave and
Confidant (read foolish) Soul would even
Dare
Endeavour to enter this
Fray,
Given never
Having attempted
In any manner, whatSOEvER tO
Joust with theSe word-crafting wizardS, … yet
Keyboard rattling, 
Laboriously breathing,
Mind racing, (gaSp…!) I’ll
NeveR possibly
OveRcome this mind-bending
Punishment and
Quell these fears to 
Realize the
Seemingly heRculean
TaSk of arranging enough
Unconventional
Verbs, nouns and other … like 
Word-type thingEES to disguise my baSic 
XengloSSia and finally … be able to
Yell …
ZOMG! … I did it !

- Chris Macdonald



Abecedarian Library Lingo
 Aleph
Books
Circulation
Database
E-books
Fax
Government Documents
Holds
ISBN
Journals
Keywords
Laptops
Microfilms
Non-circulating
OPAC
Periodicals
Quiet
Reference
Shelving
Theses
URLs
Volumes
Workers
Xerox
Yearbooks
Z39.50

- Nancy Wilson



An Abecedarian PoemBy:  Bridgit Bell

A ll was quiet
B lack was the night
C learly, I wasn’t
D evoid of fright

E veryone had gone home
F aking various reasons
G arrulous bunch that they are
H elped  me more by leaving

I heard the first scamper
J ust entering second floor,
K neeling low to the ground
L istening for more.

M any others would have fled
N o explanation found,
O f why we heard music and
P lenty of fooling around

Q uick as a wink, I saw
R unning through the stacks
S even little mice
T erpsichor past so relaxed!

Uaware of my presence
V iewing was a delight
W himsical folly and
X ylophone playing mice!

Y  uk, yuk, yuk :)
Z  zzzzzzzzzzzzzz!



AND THE WINNING ENTRY IS....


Abecedarian

I love the lexicon,
So crisp and clear
And unambiguously alphabetical.
So orderly as aa follows a,
All the way to zzz
At the end of a long day.

A lullaby for sleepy English
Scholars hunched over blocked
Text on bound pages,
Running a finger to malinger
And secretly craving sherry in
The Common Room.

Start our young lives with dreams
Of fighting fires or piloting great planes,
But with cruel certainty and under-muscled
Arms, take up pens to become
Abecedarians.

ABCDEFG
Glory jobs ain’t gonna be.
QRS and TUV
Dictionary dweeb,
That’s me.

- Doug Vaisey

Congratulations Doug!

We loved all your entries...Keep up the good work everyone!

This Week's Word is: Abecedarian

adj.

Of or pertaining to the alphabet; marked with the alphabet; arranged in alphabetical order, as abecedarian psalms, like the 119th.

Garrulous - The Entries

garrulous, adj.
Given to much talking; fond of indulging in talk or chatter; loquacious, talkative.




Garrulous

Some say Sue’s chatty
Some will say she’s garrulous
Let’s talk about it

-Sue Cannon




Garrulous

here is how I feel about the word garrulous.

- Trish Grelot




Garrulous

Garry, now he was a talker.
No man could bend your ear
So far,
                so long,
                                  so intently.
They said he could charm
The birds out of the trees,
But he preferred  to try
His luck
                on birds
                                studying in the Library.
It might have been cute
His efforts to strike a date
With Sophia
                or  Michelle
                                or Zalentha
But Garry was a talker
At top volume, regardless
Of who was studying
                Or sleeping
                                Or reading nearby.
It got so bad that we had
A Garry patrol, that went around
Saying Garry, less
                                Garry, less
                                                Garry, less!

- Doug Vaisey



AND THE WINNING ENTRY IS....




Garrulous

ON AND ON, AND ON, AND ON, AND ON, AND ON

Gabby,

Always had the most to say.

Reciting the most inconsequential

Rhetoric,

Usually of a personal or trivial nature.

Leading others to believe, after these displays

Of verbal diarrhea, that

Ultimately, sometimes a name really

Suits its owner.

-Nancy Wilson



Congratulations Nancy!!!

This Week's Word is: Garrulous

adj.
Given to much talking; fond of indulging in talk or chatter; loquacious, talkative.

Anfractuous - The Entries

anfractuous, adj.
Winding, sinuous, involved; roundabout, circuitous; spiral.


I have to start out by saying this was the toughest week ever; we were blown away by your entries! We would have liked to let you all win, but figured that decision would impede the intense competition we have going on and decided we had to pick just one. It was so tough we had to bring in a guest judge to help decide. Each entry deserved to win based on different criteria, but in the end we decided to award the coveted trophy to the entry that was the most unique. If only we had three trophies!




Anfractuous

I tried to rhyme anfractuous
(a project somewhat fatuous)
The task was so circuitous
that anyone more trepidous
would fall upon their thesaurus
in weeping, deep and sonorous.
Yet, every challenge new to us
Makes our vocab more omnibus.

- Doug Vaisey



Anfractuous

I find our Trish
Is somewhat bitterish
Over the facto ipso
That a proven dipso
Could beat her score
Despite being ‘no Terpsichore’

But guess what Trish?
We are both amateurish
With Doug back in town,
 Bridgit throwing down
(And Nancy’s getting fancy)

Our hides will be tan
If we hear from Nawaf, Amber or Dan
Carol would be dangerous,
Our road is so anfractuous!

So let us end our agonies
Combine our strategies
How about changing gear
And just go drink beer?

- Sue Cannon



Anfractuous

As I was pursuing my anfractuous way
to work, I espied an afractuous policemen
providing an anfractuous explanation to
an older driver who was growing increasingly
anfractuous.

Or in other words:

Wending to work
I did espy
the craggy cop
through imprecision
trying to win over
an old fart driver
who thought him a jerk.

Cop stop
Scold old
See Carl snarl.

- Doug Vaisey




AND THE WINNING ENTRY IS....

I couldn't figure out how to make it bigger, so here's what it actually says:

My alarm didn't go off;
no lights to check my watch;
my cellphone battery was dead.
No power,
no hot water;
all out of Downy sheets (Ask Dan).
No milk for my coffee;
fell out the front door;
broke my toe!
My car wouldn't start;
then started;
but had a flat tire;
had to take the bus.
The bus was late;
then we got caught in a construction zone.
Finally arrived at work, clamouring pointlessly as to why I was late when my supervisor said...

"Oh please, give it a rest. Your excuses are anfractuous at best!"

A Tardy Student Assistant's Woes

- Bridgit Bell
  Dan Shanahan

Executive Consultant
James Kennedy

(otherwise known as "The Synonyms")



Congratulations to everyone, you all had us laughing hysterically! Keep up the good work!

This Week's Word is: Anfractuous

Terpsichore - The Entries

terpsichore, n.
The Muse of dancing; hence, a female dancer; dancing as an art.



Terpsichore

Fond Memories

I remember when I first started  at St.  Mary’s
I found it to be a little scary.
One day while sitting at my desk using my eraser
I pretend to be busy because apparently I malinger.

I hear commotion coming from my cubicle neighbour
I turn to see Shannon and Sue the dipsomaniac but also my mentor
In the midst of dancing!  Sue doing the Running man
She interprets the dance the best she can.

Any boss who does the running man without even a care
I knew I belonged at St. Mary’s right then and there
However with moves I’ve never seen before
I thought to myself “she’s no Terpsichore”.

- Trish Grelot



Terpsichore

Pardon me.
But did you say,
“Open washrooms on the first floor.”
Seems like they’ve been closed…. a year or more.

Hooray!
It’s time to parrrrrty.
Come one, come all for a little Terpsichore.
I just hope the floor is not slippery.

- Nancy Wilson



AND THE WINNING ENTRY IS.....



Terpsichore

I obviously need to step up my game
Make a plan
Focus my aim
My footwork is sloppy
The music lacks swish
But that’s in the past
Bring it on Trish!

So I’m fixing my sight
Gonna turn it out
Groove my moves
Get some what what

Make no mistake,
I give her props
But what it comes down to is a
Terpsichore –off

     Word.

 

- Sue Cannon

Congratulations Sue!!

This Week's Word is: Terpsichore

Malinger - The Entries

malinger, v.
 To pretend or exaggerate illness in order to escape duty or work; to feign or produce physical or psychological symptoms to obtain financial compensation or other reward. (Originally used of soldiers and sailors.)



Malinger
On contemplating the medical
dangers of Word of the Week

Oh my gosh,
I hurt my finger.
Is this reason
to malinger?

Finger's worse --
maybe infection
Hone my illness
to perfection.

Oh my God!
My finger's blue.
Panic! Angst!
What will I do?

Calm your nerves,
says Dr. Sven.
Your "gangrene"
means a leaky pen.

-Doug Vaisey



Malinger
As I lay in bed one morn
My thoughts ran through my list to do.
There was ma laundry, ma cleaning, ma groceries, and more!
I got so weary at the thought
I opted to malinger where I lie.

Brenda Bentley



Malinger
John Munroe Faker

I’ll tell you a story about my brother. 
Malinger should have been his middle name.
For when supper was done and the chores doled out
His excuse is what led to his fame.

His words were so blunt.
“I’m gonna barf!” he would yell.
That chameleon could make his face turn green.
At that, my mother would whisk him away, leaving my sister and I to clean.

Clang, bang, go the dishes, the pots and the pans.
Clang, bang, we scour, dry, and shelve them away.
Our work now complete, silence settles upon the place.
And we know, yes we know,  his recovery is well underway.

Our dear  brother, John Munroe Faker.

-Nancy Wilson



Malinger
I really did cut my little finger
When I made my rye and ginger
As I listened to the singer….
Doya hafta
Doya hafta
Doya hafta let it malingerrrrrr

-Sue Cannon



AND THE WINNING ENTRY IS...


Malinger

A phone call.

“Hello Sue? It’s Trish…

Not good, not good at all…

I’m calling in sick today…

Why? Well, ‘cause I have a paper cut on my finger!

What? Malinger? Hmph! I DO NOT malinger!”

*Uttering under breath* “at least I’m not dipsomaniacal”

-Trish Grelot


Congratulation Trish!  First entry ever!  A natural!

This Week's Word is: Malinger

Doxology - The Entries

doxology, n.

A short formula of praise to God, esp. one in liturgical use; spec. the Gloria in excelsis or ‘Greater doxology’, the Gloria Patri or ‘Lesser doxology’, or some metrical formula, such as the verse beginning ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow’.

Dogsology: the utterance of praise of dog

Now thank we all our dog
With Hartz and Iams and Ballard,
At wonderous sniffs for rot,
His doggie nose rejoices.
Who from his kennel farm
To us has found his way,
To sit at table, stare
And mooch what scraps he may.

To be sung to the music of Felix Mendelhound.

-Doug Vaisey



AND THE WINNING ENTRY IS...

Doxology 101

Take a deity. Call him or her God.
         Devote a millennium to religious mythology
                  Boil down the theology into memorable units
                           Make songs out of the units
                                    Repeat the songs endlessly in public.
                           Export the songs through foreign missions
                  Start missions at home
         Bring your outreach to the seaports
Now you have a docks-solid doxology

Send your donation to Missions for Seamen today.

-Doug Vaisey


Yep, you read it right.  Doug is the winner again, and was in competition with himself.

I'm going to chalk this lack of involvement up to the long weekend interruption.   

This Week's Word is: Doxology

Dipsomaniacal - The Entries

dipsomaˈniacal, adj.

To be affected with a morbid and insatiable craving for alcohol, often of a paroxysmal character. Also applied to persistent drunkenness, and formerly to the delirium produced by excessive drinking.

Dipsomaniacal
I went to the seashore
to dip in the water.
I thought of cavorting
like dolphin or otter
The beach was ablaze
with dazzling sunlight
but the water was freezing.
It didn't feel right.
My fear of pneumonia
seemed hypochondriacal.
So I ran up and dove in
-- a dip, so maniacal.

-Doug Vaisey



Dipsomaniacal
If you are lactose intolerant, you are, ipso facto, anti-lacto, eh.
If you crave '80s music, then you are, ipso facto, disco-whacked-o, dude.
If you need a drink a day, then you are, ipso facto, dipso, man.
I - aahh - call that a consequence of the Word of the Week contest!

-Sandra Hamm



Dipsomaniacal

-Nancy Wilson



Dipsomaniacal
As the saying goes “beer before wine, everything’s fine”.I started with beer.
So, then I had sum wine.
Notsosure when I shtarted wi the rum
Boy tha wuz sum. Fun. Rum.
Didnt make it to tha tequila atal
So I guessi’m not dipso *hic* manmanman iacal
An another thing how come jus cuz I like a likkle ouzo, everyone calls me dipso?

-Sue Cannon



Dipsomaniacal
Our Jessie went on a Himalayan trek last summer.   One of the way stations she stayed in was the remote town of Manali, one of the few places where visitors enjoy the local sport of yak skiing (you could look it up).  The skier, she observed, begins at the bottom of the hill.  First shaking and then spilling on the ground a basket of local nuts, the great beast’s master entices the peckish bovine to race down the side of the hill—and up the hill the skier is pulled.
Our Jessie, ever the curious little thinker, wondered about the connection between the nuts and the yak’s downward venture.  “Perhaps,” she pondered aloud, “The shaking sound simply brings the Yak’s attention to the lower ground that needs to be explored; perhaps Yaks naturally flow downhill; perhaps…”
The helpful guide, wishing to shut her up even for a moment, said, “Let’s try a little experiment.”  And so he went to the top of the hill, shook the nuts and scattered them about up there, whereupon the hairy mammal ran right back up the hill.  “Ipso facto*”, he said, “The Yak follows the nuts.”
Ever the wit, and perhaps a little miffed, Jessie replied, “Well, the Yak dipped  downhill, in so doing reversed the normal order of things for the skier, so might not it be more accurately said of the nuts, “Facto dipso, main yak call?”

*I know, I know, but in a rarefied mountain atmosphere, herders sometimes confuse philosophical terms.

-Ken Clare




AND THE WINNING ENTRY IS...

Dipsomaniacal
They stood, on stilted legs,
their bright beaks glistening
with liquid light,
bobbing,
bobbing,
bobbing
in endless insatiable motion.

It's so unfair.  When dipping birds
in trinket shop windows can
drink,
and drink
and drink yet more and stand
on stilted legs, unphased by intake.

Yet I, on stilted legs
at the bar will wobble and fall
after bobbing,
bobbing,
bobbing
into the booze.

Why can the plastic toys
dip so maniacly
and bow like unaffected oil field pumps
and when I do it
I become a dictionary parody
- dipsomaniacal.  Quick
there must be some Scotch
left in my lower drawer.

-Doug Vaisey


Congratulations Doug!

This Week's Word is: Dipsomaniacal