Mighty Deep Roots

Duty

Heh heh, duty.  Ok, that's really childish. 

And yet. . . . . . .

Zygodactyl

-A Zygodactyl animal has two pairs of toes on each foot aligned opposite to each other, two toes on the front of the foot and two toes on the back.

Wow.  Isn't that just one of those awesomely specific words?  I'm thinking that if you have a reason to use this in conversation, you are absolutely required to, now that you know it.  Also, it's great fun to say.

(suggested by the love of my life, Ingrid)

Cwtch

(that's pronounced basically like "Kutch," I think)
-Cwtch comes from Welsh, and literally means something like "a safe place." 

Cwtch can refer to a cupboard of sorts or a storage place (like a "coal cwtch" in the basement), or maybe something more like a "cubby" in America.  More interestingly, though, it also refers to a more metaphorical, personal safe place.  It is often used to refer to intimate gestures, from the way a mother wraps up a baby in a shawl or holds her children to a hug between old friends to a cuddle between lovers.  It also can be used to mean to keep something private or secret.  Sometimes it is used more broadly to refer to the feeling of safety and privacy that being comfortable with loved ones brings.  Mostly, I think it's used as we use the word "hug," but it seems to imply much more.  I like how much can be carried in this word, how the idea of safety and comfort can mean so much, and can be imparted in simple gestures.  American English doesn't have a word that I think even begins to carry all of this meaning in it, so I think that we should bring it in, even if only for the awesome spelling.

[note: a Welsh friend of mine pointed out that Cwtch was added to the Oxford Concise Dictionary in August of 2005]

Effervescent

- To bubble, foam, hiss, as a gas escapes, generally from a liquid.  Also used to describe someone who is lively, energetic, entertaining.

It's a fun word, certainly.  It brings up images of Alka-Seltzer and champagne, sophisticated women with perfect, engaging laughs.  There's something of youth in this, too.  Champagne is only effervescent for a limited time, because it is letting that which makes it wonderful escape for your pleasure.  It is that way, I think, when someone is effervescent.  It isn't a state that can be maintained indefinitely; it is deeply, intrinsically associated with youth.  A bubbly, effervescent woman is indulging in her youth for you.

I think that I especially love this word in the verb form: to effervesce.  "We all sat in wonder, watching her effervesce in the circle of strangers."

This girl made this word hit my brain.  Here's a picture of her joyfully popping bubbles.  She seemed unaware that anyone else was even there.  She was totally in the moment, and deeply infectious, giving all of us huge smiles.

Silvery

-Having the qualities of silver.  Sometimes used to figuratively describe purity or sleekness.

I don't too much care for "sss" sounds usually, but something about the sibilant sound of silvery combined the the soft buzzing v and the lightly rolled l just speaks to me (the same can be said of Sylvan or Sylvia). Silvery says exactly what it is, whether it's describing a vision, a texture, or a voice.  It evokes pure silver with (to me) a hint of the palest green lightly reflected.  It whispers in my ear as clear as the finest silver bell and slides almost unfelt across the back of my hand.  To be silvery is to show no hint of brass, though it may well imply the steel frame beneath.

The Etymology of Etymology

Etymology is an -ology (study) of etymons, The origins of a word.  This comes from the Greek word etumon, which means the true meaning or true sense of a word (the change came on its way through Latin).  This Greek word probably comes from (or is at least very closely related to) the word etumos, which means simply "True."  At least, you know, that's the word on the street.

This Greek word etumon seems like it could be useful to those of us who often find themselves discussing semantics and language.  There is often some sort of meaning to a word that goes deeper than etymology, connotation, or denotation.  The etumon, as I imagine it being used, expresses the sense of a word, something kin to the Platonic Ideal of it.  Someone remind me to use it.

Statement of Purpose

[8-26-08-Note: I'm keeping this post as a sort of interesting (to me only) historical document.  This website was originally to be about old-school video games.  It was "Mighty Deep Roots: Exploring Our Gaming Roots One Cartridge At A Time."  Not bad, if you ask me.  However, I find now that, 8 months after creating it, I haven't posted a single real post.  Turns out that my enthusiasm for the subject was insufficient to sustain a website, even one that I would have been able to make money off of.  So it goes, as the man said.  I am, however, in love with the name "Mighty Deep Roots."  I found myself looking for a name for a blog I wanted to do about my favorite words (and language sort of in general), which is among my very most favoritest subjects, and I realized that I already had a great one that I wasn't using.  Not really.  So, Mighty Deep Roots is no longer about video games.  There's enough talk of them on the internet.  Too much.  So, now that my mightily failed foray into old-school gaming has committed an honorable seppuku, Let's Play with Language.]

I love video games.  For the last several years, though, I haven't played them very much.  The problem is that new games often aren't all that great.  Sure, the graphics will blow your face off, but you don't play cutscenes and graphics, you play games.  Thus, I've started getting back into old school games.  That's what this blog is about: reexploring my gaming roots. This past Saturday night marked our first Old-School Night.  I finally got my N64 back from my sister, so we plugged that puppy up and rocked out to some Goldeneye.  Which, for the record, is the single greatest FPS ever created, bar none.  I'll readily admit, my Bond reflexes have slowed, and my trigger finger is rusty.  In fact, I was having trouble remembering which finger is my trigger finger.  We played a few rounds last night, too, and things went better.  I've got some original NES's that are going in there, too, and a few Ataris to boot.  We're looking for a Genesis and a Super Nintendo, also.  Old School gaming?  Back.