Good Morning Digital Neighbors!! Happy Monday ADD Irregulars, Refugees and Phamily! Hello again Dawn Patrol, Early Birds, Later Dayers, Day Walkers, Supporters, Conversants, Members, Lurkers and Visitors to Locals!
Its been a while since we have explored some words, so how about a visit to some books that explore the obscure, forgotten or fascinating nature of words? Up to bat is Mr. Robin Devoe and Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely for a Monday peek!
Catawampus or Cattywampus - askew; crooked; not properly lined up; out of whack; a fierce imaginary creature said to inhabit forests; diagonally positioned, catercornered.
This is still an active word in my vocabulary, thought seldom used. It is just a fun word to say. That meeting went all catawampus!
Charientism a gracefully-veiled insult; taunting language softened by jocularity.
A playful or witty insult is the type that delivers the pinch but does not incite the target. These days that is precarious stuff - too many are so thin skinned, perpetually offended or in s state of perma-offense. Such people will eventually bear the burden of horrible company or no company at all. The inability of others to actually bear disagreements, pre-2000 intellectual diversity, or non-tribal thinking is expanding in large part because of public education and the final transformation of the university (once a place of actual diversity, curiosity and expansive thinking) into a group-think citadel.
Want to know the non-thinking Fundamentalist, identify those devoid of humor and chances are you have found them. The only humor the enjoy is that which silences and destroys others. Not really humor as much as cruelty masquerading as such.
Chirk - to enliven; to make or become cheerful; lively; in good spirits.
We need more chirking in life!! The Fundamentals, the Cultists, the Group-thinkers & Herd-feelers need more chirking! Happy Monday Chirkers!
Spring-barn with yellow flowers - not sure where, but it is beautiful.
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
Quite apart from the fact that I utterly admire, even love, her, this is the best possible response to an idiot, who, in his defense, asked a pretty good question.
https://x.com/TBifford/status/2087992591279407133/video/1?s=61
The Beautiful
Said the Disciple to the Lover, “Sir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved. Were they then speaking the truth?”
The Lover answered, “Those who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved. So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.”
