Wednesday, October 16, 2019

2019 - Day 289/76 - Wednesday...Gnomic...

Today was a pretty good day, even though there have been several disappointments. The disappointments are mainly because of the venue for this conference. It is (allegedly) a really fancy hotel and conference center, but the facility is inadequate, the service is poor and the staff is totally unprepared to handle a group (or several) that is here. As a rule, the staff is caring and apologetic, but there is only so much apologies can do for you. Apologies cannot make the eggs better. I have to admit, while we have been here, there have been lots of things comped; Uber rides, breakfasts, and a few other things. I would rather pay for what is advertised than to get something that was not really adequate for free. Does that make sense? However, some of the free things I have received while here is lovely vistas, extraordinary rock formations, and beautiful sights. I documented lots of stuff yesterday, but I think this is one of my favorite images. I have taken (probably) hundreds of images, and I have narrowed those down to three of four favorites. This is one of them, and I have always been really attracted to cactus blossoms.

Gnomic -- Adjective. 1. characterized by aphorism. 2. given to the composition of aphoristic writing. The young artist has drawn attention for her gnomic utterances, but some critics argue that her sayings are simply pretentious rubbish.

Did You Know? A gnome is an aphorism-that is, an observation or sentiment reduced to the form of a saying-that is particularly common in Old English verse. Gnomes are sometimes couched in metaphorical or figurative language, they are often quite clever, and they are always concise. We borrowed the word gnome in the 16th century from the Greeks, who based their gnome on the verb gignoskein, meaning "to know." (That other gnome-the dwarf of folklore, and the one I am familiar with-comes from New Latin and is unrelated to today's word.) We began using gnomic, the adjective form of gnome, in the early 19th century. It describes a style of writing (or sometimes speech) characterized by pithy phrases, which are often terse to the point of mysteriousness.

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