noun
a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain.
• something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form: Sutton Place is a palimpsest of the taste of successive owners.
You may think that domestic cats are nocturnal, but you’d not really be right. In fact, you’d be wrong, they are crepuscular, which means they are most active whenever you are trying to work or sleep during the twilight hours around sunset and sunrise.
The more you know, as they say. Here’s more that you may or may not know. Shpilkes (also shpiklis and god knows how many other spellings) means pins and needles, ants in the pants, and various other forms of nervous energy which may be exhibited by crepuscular beings in the morning when you’re trying to get to work and in the evening when you’re trying to settle down to dinner. Or so I hear.
Today’s word of the day is affogato. The literal definition from Italian is “drowned” but affogato also describes and names a dessert composed of espresso poured over a scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato. Usually, you’re served a shot or two of espresso in a little pitcher alongside a more traditional dish of ice cream and allowed to pour it yourself. I prefer to pour a little at a time so the coffee doesn’t all go cold at once. Here’s an example from Nebo in the North End (where, by the way, I recently had an excellent gluten-free meal with not one but two professors M)
Quite the striking black and white in color composition, don’t you think? Anyway, if you’ve read the above and looked at the photo you probably don’t need a recipe, but here’s Giada De Laurentiis’ version which uses chocolate ice cream and a lot of whipped cream for a slightly different black and white balance.
If you’re into ghoulishly-named Italian food (and who isn’t?) you should also look up strozzapreti, a pasta dish variously translated as “strangled priest” and “priest choker.” Yum.
I couldn’t help but notice the estimable Jason Scott‘s profane and precise review of the new(ish) US passport design, not least for his use of the word “glurge.” I completely agree, and the RFID chip makes me sad, too.
The Mac’s dictionary app drew an amusing blank, and the OSPD claims ignorance of glurge.
It turns out that glurge comes from Snopes.com, the great debunking website. I quote therefrom:
Glurge is a term specific to snopes.com, coined in 1998… The word was invented by Patricia Chapin, a member of the urban legends discussion mailing list run in conjunction with this site. At a loss for words to describe the retching sensation this then-unnamed category of stories subjected her to, she fashioned a word that simultaneously named the genre and described its effect.
Glurge … is the body of inspirational tales which conceal much darker meanings than the uplifting moral lessons they purport to offer, and which undermine their messages by fabricating and distorting historical fact in the guise of offering “true stories.” Glurge often contains such heart-tugging elements as sad-eyed puppies, sweet-faced children, angels, dying mothers, or miraculous rescues brought about by prayer. These stories are meant to be parables for modern times but fall far short of the mark.
So now you know.
Today’s word of the day is concision.
Used in a sentence…
