Fritinancy

Word of the week: Galentine's Day

When does a madeupical holiday become a genuine holiday? We can quibble over criteria, but a Hallmark home-page promotion is probably the smooch of validation.*

 

Like Chrismukkah and Festivus before it, Galentine’s Day was invented by television writers – in this case, Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, creators of “Parks and Recreation” Season 2, Episode 16, which originally aired on February 14, 2010. In the episode, our heroine, Leslie Knope  – the world’s most upbeat and energetic civil servant – invites her mother and her women friends to breakfast on February 13, the day before Valentine’s Day. It’s “ladies celebrating ladies,” Leslie (Amy Poehler) burbles.

Word of the week: Kowtow

“Donald Trump is reinventing the kowtow for the Twitter age,” wrote David Rothkopf in a Los Angeles Times op-ed published November 3, just before Trump left for a 12-day, five-country Asia trip. Rothkopf cited Trump’s “fawning tweets” celebrating Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “extraordinary elevation” at the 19th Chinese Community Party Congress – an elevation that cemented Xi’s authoritarian rule – and Trump’s “over-the-top” boast “that he and Xi had the best ‘president-president’ relationship ever.”

The previous week, the Guardian (UK) had used the same verb in a headline about Trump’s China visit.

 

 

In both instances, the choice of kowtow was revealing and contextually appropriate: the English word derives directly from a Chinese term, k’o-t’ou, whose literal meaning is “knock the head” – a gesture of extreme subservience.  

Kowtowing before officials in Guangzhou, China, pre-1889. Via Hong Kong Free Press; the headline on the story reads “It’s time to stop the shameful kowtowing to China – before it’s too late.”

October linkfest

Fictional African countries are in the news these days thanks to the U.S. commander-in-chief’s name-checking “Nambia” and anticipation building for the Black Panther movie. (Marvel Comics fans will recall that the Black Panther hails from the land of Wakanda.) Naturally, there’s a Wikipedia entry on fictional African countries – updated to include Nambia. And here’s Marvel’s Black Panther wiki, which includes the Wakandan map and flag.

 

 

August linkfest

Years ago, I named the world’s first “bidirectional” condom, so this story really spoke to me:

Diverse & Resilient, an LGBTQ organization in Milwaukee, decided to do something about the bland branding of free condoms. So it partnered with a local marekting agency, Cramer Krasselt, to create Naughty Bags, condoms designed by teens for teens. According to Adweek, the condoms are made “to be sex-positive, humorous, and cool” and feature “witty names like Pork Parka, Pelvic Poncho, Scuba Gear, Surge Protector and—our favorite—Papa Stopper.” Brilliant – in every sense.

Word of the week: Nooch

A tweet from @Mededitor last month sent me down the vegan equivalent of a rabbit hole.

 

@Fritinancy @LouiseHarnby @stronglang @gdoslang You get the sense that FoodKick is channeling the voice of Thug Kitchen: https://t.co/vwtdYlOErT

— Mededitor (@Mededitor) April 11, 2017

I’d written about Thug Kitchen a few years ago, but I hadn’t seen TK’s new cookbook. I couldn’t resist going past “Fast As F*ck” on the book’s cover – the point of Mededitor’s tweet – to the Amazon description, which contains this sentence:

TK holds your hand and explains ingredients from chickpeas to nooch so you'll feel confident knowing exactly what the f*ck you're cooking.

Nooch? It sounded vaguely salacious, which wouldn’t be out of keeping with the TK style guide. (Chapter titles in the new cookbook include “Freshen the Fuck Up” and “Hot Box.”) But it turns out that nooch isn’t nasty or brutish, it’s just short. For nutritional yeast.

Imperfection

This headline popped up today on the home page of Uniqlo, the ubiquitous Japanese retail chain.

It links to the site’s jeans section, where the clothing is replete with rips, holes, and other “tasteful rough touches.”

Normally I’d focus on the verbing of imperfect – an example of anthimeria I hadn’t encountered previously. But as it happened I’d already been thinking about another sense of perfect: the grammatical sense. In grammar, perfect doesn't mean “impeccable”; it means “made complete” or “completely done.” 

The impetus for my musing was a tweet from @realDonaldTrump, a personal Twitter account, at 5:35 a.m. this morning:

What season is it?

Why, ’tis the ’tis-the-season season!

Name in the news: Wawa

For any other political candidate, the campaign stop would not have made headlines. But because it was this cycle’s Republican nominee, who has rarely deigned to perform the rituals of retail politics, it created a bit of a stir.

 

He would prefer not to. (Via Philly.com)

 

Happening now: Trump and his entourage make surprise visit to a Wawa gas station in PA. pic.twitter.com/1gEJZFSBgD

— Sarah McCammon NPR (@sarahmccammon) November 1, 2016

 

*TastyKake. https://t.co/UCzEk693dZ

— [RAPH]AEL (@MyNameIsRaph) November 1, 2016

The news reminded this Californian that there still are regional mysteries in this great land of ours. “Wawa” is one of them.

 

 

You say “Wawa,” I say “Baba.”

 

 

Back to (brand) school

Welcome, students! Here’s your curriculum for the semester:

 

Anthropologie

Course description: “Founded in Wayne, Pennsylvania in the autumn of 1992, Anthropologie remains a destination for women wanting a curated mix of clothing, accessories, gifts and home décor that reflects their personal style and fuels their lives' passions, from fashion to art to entertaining.”

Extra credit: Anthropologie has a charitable division called Philanthropie.

 

Checknology

Course description: “Get connected today and take control of your money like never before.”

Instructor: Central Bank, Edmond, Oklahoma.

Sad sackcloth

A blanket merchant in the Pacific Northwest is doing laudable work under a mournful moniker.

The company commissions and sells handmade blankets in a variety of materials and designs. For every blanket you purchase, the company donates a blanket to your local homeless shelter.

The name of the company: Sackcloth & Ashes.