Friday! Yippee-Skippee! Weekend. No plans. There is a hot-pink float in the back yard with my name on it, and I hope to take full advantage. Not that it has been a terribly hard week or anything like that, it just seems like last weekend was a year or two ago. Next week will be busy, too, but not AS busy, which will be very welcome. ROT (Republic of Texas) Rally started today, and there are motorcycles everywhere. It is really not as bad at Austin City Limits or South by Southwest. Most of these attendees (100,000) are not RIGHT downtown, they are more spread out. Most of them are bankers and lawyers who just happen to ride motorcycles. Tonight they will be all up and down Congress Avenue, and that is a good 50 miles from us. Over the weekend however, they find the country roads to be particularly inviting. Can't say that I blame them, there are just lots of curves and blind spots. Be safe everybody!Winnow -- Verb. 1. to remove (something, such as chaff) by a current of air. 2. to remove, separate, or select as if by winnowing. 3. to narrow or reduce. 4. to blow on or fan. The judges have winnowed the list of essay entries down to five finalists.
Did You Know? Beginning as windwian in Old English, winnow first referred to the removal of chaff from grain by a current of air. This use was soon extended to describe the removal of anything undesirable or unwanted (a current example of this sense would be "winnowing out outdated information"). People then began using the word for the selection of the most desirable elements (as in "winnowing out the true statements from the lies"). The association of winnow with the movement or air led to the meaning "to beat with or as if with wings," but that use is rare. The word's last meaning ("to blow on or fan," as in "a breeze winnowed her hair") blew in at the turn of the 19th century.
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