Good Morning Digital Neighbors! One last wish of Merry Christmas on this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, worry don't Labor Day will be here soon enough and the return of decorations and advertising.
As we move into the New Year, about another look at some fun with words, a reoccurring pastime and exploration in this space. I mentioned over on Phetasy that one of my reluctances in writing is reoccurring typos and the mangling of grammar. Both occur frequently in my writing since I knew when I intended to say, certainly the rest of you can figure it out. Right??
New on the docket is Simon Hertnon's Endangered Words - A Collection of Rare Gems for Word Lovers. Hertnon's book not only presents you with these little oddities, he goes into the age, etymology, rarity and why he liked the word well enough for its inclusion in his little treasured tome. Off we go to the fun world of words!
Afterwit - The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) lists four meanings that Hertnon says are all obsolete except for the last one.
Afterwit - 1) later knowledge, the knowledge of riper years or later times
2) Secondthought, reconsideration
3) Wisdom after the event, that comes too late.
4) Hence, recognition of former folly, practical repentance,
a 'coming to one's sense'.
Hertnon writes afterword that after has the feel of knowledge gained too or witty replies come too late to mind. The use of the phrase dates back to the 16th century and is a simple compound word of after & wit. Shout out to the new parent Content Creator out there @DaveRubin @DaidJanet @BridgetPhetasy @JustJeren and @KonstantinKisin I think you can probably resonate with this quote:
As a parent of twins, with no other children planned, afterwit perfectly describes a common theme of my parenting experience. Every time my wife and I finally worked out the best way to respond to the latest ‘phase’ (feeding, burping, sleeping, crying, crawling and so on), the phase was over and the next one had begun. Sure, our afterwit is dissipating with every year that passes, but for those frantic first two years (which my wife can only hazily remember) afterwit really was the wit du jour in our busy little household.
Parenting - the exploration of one's afterwittery. Politics - the embracing and exaltation of afterwittery in the public sphere. After all other options have been exhausted, a few politics stumble upon actual solutions. These days actual solutions are discounted and dismissed since serving the public is not in the interest of 99% of PermaState and its Morlocks.
Happy Monday ADD Irregulars, WSN Aficionados, Friends, Refugees, Early Birds, Later Dayers, Conversants, Lurkers, Phamily, Dawn Patrol, Misfits, Triggeratti, Fascinating People, Afterwitted Bigots, Seekers of Sanity & Civility and finally all you Iversen Common Sensers!
Somewhere in Idaho - this wonderful barn
