Every now and then I indulge in the madness of Youtube. I can say, right now, that whoever came up with the idea for that side bar is rolling in the dough as we speak. Yep, rolling in it. All you have to do is look up a video, and then you'll see something on the side that looks interesting. Then, suddenly it's two hours later. You've been sucked in!
I fall victim to this occasionally, so I have a great collection of my favorite videos. That, my friends, is what today's post is all about!
This one is a video I got hooked onto recently from a friend I made in my digital foundations class. It's called Thought of You, and it was animated by Ryan Woodward. I posted it on facebook earlier this week, but I had to share it again. It's sooooooooo beautiful. The best way to view it is in full screen, 720p. It will blow your socks off. You won't be able to find them. Stock up on some socks before you watch it.
So, last semester I got hooked on Portlandia after Caroline told me about it. This one is a particular favorite because we watched it in one of my art classes a few weeks ago. It might be hilarious, but it's also ridiculously true....which is kind of sad I think.
I don't know why, but I got into The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which is a youtube series that started last April and ended yesterday. It's basically Pride and Prejudice in 2012, if Elizabeth had a video diary. I found it by accident one day, in January, but I caught up and for the past three months I've been watching every Monday and Thursday when the new ones came out.
How it Should Have Ended is a really good channel I stumbled across after watching one of their videos. It's basically a bunch of animated shorts of how popular movies should have ended. The first one I ever watched was How Tangled Should Have Ended.
Their Superhero Cafe shorts are good too.
The dance walking always amuses me.
And then, of course, there's Kid President. Someone should get me a shirt that says, "Not cool, Robert Frost!"
On a side note, this guy is my Spanish teacher. He can dance.
And, then, there's Cooking With Arpakasso! A stuffed alpaca who cooks and has that smooth voice should get everyone's views.
And finally, BurdFu! My friend Adam makes these hilarious videos. Watch them all...or else.
This is the newest one.
But this one is my favorite.
I'm addicted people.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Dear Baby
I love you and I haven't even met you yet. You're making one of my dreams come true, one that, at times, I never thought would happen. Why? Because, dear, I knew your mother when she was in high school. She was the most frightening teenager you or I could ever imagine, and I could never imagine her having kids. And then there was the time when she swore that she would never have kids, and Grandma Rose said that she would change her mind. That's the kind of aunt you have, one that remembers really obscure things.
I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to meeting you, and holding you, and smelling your baby smell. There's definitely something to say about the relationship between an aunt and her nieces and nephews. I've experienced it, and I know it's something intricately unique, but I've never seen it from the other side. This is going to be new and exciting for the both of us!
I can't promise that your parents or your family are 100% normal. We're all a pretty crazy bunch, but I have a feeling you'll fit right in. I mean how could the child of a man in a beard club not fit in? Anywhere? And don't get me started on your mother, or your grandparents, or well, anyone you're related to. I have some interesting stories about almost all of them...but I'll save those for when you're older.
Don't despair about life in this world, baby. It's a lot better than some people make it out to be. You get to hug people and laugh with people and run around without shoes on (sometimes in the rain!). I know you're going to enjoy it, baby, because I'm your aunt, and I said so.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Write a Novel in a Month...You Know You Want To...
Remember my post One Score, One Finish Line, One Novel? I mentioned something called NaNoWriMo. It's short for National Novel Writing Month, 30 days of crazay writing! I know it's not until November, but you guys need to hear about it now so you can prepare. Every November thousands of people from elementary school to people retired and living in old fart bliss attempt to write a novel, or 50,000 words. To some people that just sounds crazy and outrageous, and it is, but it's also glorious and aaaaaaaaaamazing!
Come on people, it's only 1,667 words a day! Anybody can do that! There's even a website to help you! You can create a profile and befriend other writers (Writing Buddies!). You don't even have to know them outside of NaNo. There's a place for your novel information, and your information (which doesn't have to be real, I mean, who lives on Goaty Goat Island? I do apparently.)
(My profile, with my horrible pen name)
One of my favorite things is that they give you your statistics:
(Yeah, mine from last year look pretty bad)
It kind of helps you keep track of things, especially if you get behind, which happens to me a lot. And like I said before, you're not alone! In 2011, more than a quarter of a million people did NaNoWriMo, and I'm pretty sure last year more than 300,000 people signed up. There are more than 60 forums where you can talk with all these crazy writers, so you're bound to find someone you have something in common with. My favorite forums are the Adoption Society and Games, Diversions, & Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination. The first is a place to drop off things you don't need and pick up things you do need. From titles to catchy character lines, you can pretty much find anything there. The second is a place where you can waste time and have fun. Insane games abound! Sometimes they can be constructive and develop your characters, sometimes they're just ridiculous, like Throw Something at the Next Poster.
I turn my nose up at the NaNo naysayers, the people who think it's a menace to the "art" of writing. It's not all about quality, it's about getting it done, something I have problems with myself. It's not just for people who are dead serious writers, it's for people who want to write, regardless of whether they're good or not. And for those who think nothing good can come from writing furiously for a month straight, you can forget that argument. Did you know Water For Elephants started out as a NaNo project? Yeah, go ahead and look bashful. Over 100 NaNo Novels have been published, and one day mine will be one of them.
And guess what? It's not just in November! Camp NaNoWriMo, which is way more flexible, happens in April and July. You can choose a different word count other than 50,000, and you can have cabin mates! So if November is too hectic for you, try April or July. Personally, I prefer July because November and April are hectic end-of-the-semester months.
So for everyone out there who has ever wanted to write a novel, has issues with finishing things, or likes a challenge, this is for you, and you should try it! I've done it for three years and I haven't won ever, but I know one day I will. The fact that I still want to keep trying every year should be an encouragement to you. You can write, because I say you can. Don't let anything stop you.
Come on people, it's only 1,667 words a day! Anybody can do that! There's even a website to help you! You can create a profile and befriend other writers (Writing Buddies!). You don't even have to know them outside of NaNo. There's a place for your novel information, and your information (which doesn't have to be real, I mean, who lives on Goaty Goat Island? I do apparently.)
One of my favorite things is that they give you your statistics:
It kind of helps you keep track of things, especially if you get behind, which happens to me a lot. And like I said before, you're not alone! In 2011, more than a quarter of a million people did NaNoWriMo, and I'm pretty sure last year more than 300,000 people signed up. There are more than 60 forums where you can talk with all these crazy writers, so you're bound to find someone you have something in common with. My favorite forums are the Adoption Society and Games, Diversions, & Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination. The first is a place to drop off things you don't need and pick up things you do need. From titles to catchy character lines, you can pretty much find anything there. The second is a place where you can waste time and have fun. Insane games abound! Sometimes they can be constructive and develop your characters, sometimes they're just ridiculous, like Throw Something at the Next Poster.
I turn my nose up at the NaNo naysayers, the people who think it's a menace to the "art" of writing. It's not all about quality, it's about getting it done, something I have problems with myself. It's not just for people who are dead serious writers, it's for people who want to write, regardless of whether they're good or not. And for those who think nothing good can come from writing furiously for a month straight, you can forget that argument. Did you know Water For Elephants started out as a NaNo project? Yeah, go ahead and look bashful. Over 100 NaNo Novels have been published, and one day mine will be one of them.
And guess what? It's not just in November! Camp NaNoWriMo, which is way more flexible, happens in April and July. You can choose a different word count other than 50,000, and you can have cabin mates! So if November is too hectic for you, try April or July. Personally, I prefer July because November and April are hectic end-of-the-semester months.
So for everyone out there who has ever wanted to write a novel, has issues with finishing things, or likes a challenge, this is for you, and you should try it! I've done it for three years and I haven't won ever, but I know one day I will. The fact that I still want to keep trying every year should be an encouragement to you. You can write, because I say you can. Don't let anything stop you.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Frank Lloyd Wright Has No Sense of Storage, But I Still Like His Houses
Going to a major university can sometimes have its advantages. Like how today I got to go visit a Frank Lloyd Wright house, the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in Florida, which happens to be right here in Tallahassee. It was so bittersweet. You see, the family he designed the house for didn't have a lot of money, and they still don't, so the place is falling apart, which is just so sad. Some parts outside weren't even completed. The place is called Spring House and it was built in 1954 over ten months with only six men building it. The only way I can describe the shape is that it's very boat-like. Here's a picture of the blueprints for a better idea.
The kitchen and the fireplace are round and on the bottom floor there is a bench that runs half the length of the building along the wall in a big open spacious room that pretty much takes up the whole first floor. Across from the bench, the entire wall is nothing but windows. We got to meet the daughter of George and Clifton Lewis, the people who had the house built. Her name is Byrd and I got to sit and talk with her by the round fireplace while I got warm from walking around outside. She told me that when she was in college, going to FSU, she used to sleep down there on that bench. She said it was beautiful in that room at night when there was a full moon.
If I could, I would put up a million pictures just to show you how great this place was, because I took a lot. Honestly, I probably took more than a hundred. But Byrd's mother, Clifton, who is still alive by the way, doesn't want anyone to publish any pictures. I can understand that so much, so I'm going to honor her wishes. I did however, find photos on the Spring House Institute website, so here's some of that.
Vintage picture from the 50s when the house was still fairly new.
The family, way back when. The girl next to the woman is Byrd.
The entrance nowadays.
The window wall, from the second floor.
The second floor, where all the bedrooms are. Beneath this is where the bench is.
And for all of you who don't know who Frank Lloyd Wright is, here's a little spiel
Frank Lloyd Wright is a very famous American architect who built the house in the above picture, known as Fallingwater (Oh, and he designed the Guggenheim, but no biggie). I like to call it the Cantilevered Wonder. Wright was into organic architecture and Usonian homes (phrases he coined himself). Organic architecture is basically the blending of buildings with nature so that everything is harmonious. A Usonian home is characterized by simplicity and practically no storage. My mom couldn't live in one of these houses. In fact, I don't think she and Frankie would have gotten along very well.
So what was the point of all this? Spring House was recently put on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Spring House Institute wants to restore and update it and they need our help raising the funds for it. They would like we, the students, to create pieces of art inspired by Spring House. These works will then be auctioned off at a big pricey fundraiser event, with the student receiving half of what their piece was auctioned for, and the foundation receiving the other half. Whoever came up with this was awesome. I will definitely be keeping everyone abreast of how my piece, whatever it turns out to be, is coming along.
When I have kids, we'll be fieldtripping to this place for sure.
If you want to know more, see more pictures, or donate, you can go here: www.PreserveSpringHouse.org
The kitchen and the fireplace are round and on the bottom floor there is a bench that runs half the length of the building along the wall in a big open spacious room that pretty much takes up the whole first floor. Across from the bench, the entire wall is nothing but windows. We got to meet the daughter of George and Clifton Lewis, the people who had the house built. Her name is Byrd and I got to sit and talk with her by the round fireplace while I got warm from walking around outside. She told me that when she was in college, going to FSU, she used to sleep down there on that bench. She said it was beautiful in that room at night when there was a full moon.
If I could, I would put up a million pictures just to show you how great this place was, because I took a lot. Honestly, I probably took more than a hundred. But Byrd's mother, Clifton, who is still alive by the way, doesn't want anyone to publish any pictures. I can understand that so much, so I'm going to honor her wishes. I did however, find photos on the Spring House Institute website, so here's some of that.
Vintage picture from the 50s when the house was still fairly new.
The family, way back when. The girl next to the woman is Byrd.
The entrance nowadays.
The window wall, from the second floor.
The second floor, where all the bedrooms are. Beneath this is where the bench is.
And for all of you who don't know who Frank Lloyd Wright is, here's a little spiel
Frank Lloyd Wright is a very famous American architect who built the house in the above picture, known as Fallingwater (Oh, and he designed the Guggenheim, but no biggie). I like to call it the Cantilevered Wonder. Wright was into organic architecture and Usonian homes (phrases he coined himself). Organic architecture is basically the blending of buildings with nature so that everything is harmonious. A Usonian home is characterized by simplicity and practically no storage. My mom couldn't live in one of these houses. In fact, I don't think she and Frankie would have gotten along very well.
So what was the point of all this? Spring House was recently put on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Spring House Institute wants to restore and update it and they need our help raising the funds for it. They would like we, the students, to create pieces of art inspired by Spring House. These works will then be auctioned off at a big pricey fundraiser event, with the student receiving half of what their piece was auctioned for, and the foundation receiving the other half. Whoever came up with this was awesome. I will definitely be keeping everyone abreast of how my piece, whatever it turns out to be, is coming along.
When I have kids, we'll be fieldtripping to this place for sure.
If you want to know more, see more pictures, or donate, you can go here: www.PreserveSpringHouse.org
Friday, February 15, 2013
One Score, One Finish Line, One Novel
I am a writer. I don't claim to be the next Jane Austen, or anything, though. I write mostly for myself, because it's something that makes me happy, but it also hinders me from letting other people see my work. I'm so critical of myself that I feel like other people will be too, especially because I know I don't write nearly as well as some people I know.
For me, writing came from reading; I can see now that it was inevitable. I don't remember not being able to read. My mom used to take me to the public library all the time for those events they had for little kids. I'm so grateful she did. From then on, I read anything fiction I could get my hands on. By the time I entered middle school I was practically reading on a high school level. I was set in my ways, though, and some books I just refused to read. I loved the genres I loved, and I wouldn't read outside of them, mostly because the few times I had, I was bored to death. So, die-hards, look away...I've never read Harry Potter! But that's okay, you'll get over it sooner or later.
In elementary school I read through nearly all of the Nancy Drew books, and by middle school I was mainly into the adventure and fantasy genres. I was all for anything relating to pirates, knights, and other worlds. Sword fighting and bows and arrows were usually a must. A little romance thrown in wasn't too bad, but it was just as good without it. But by the time middle school was beginning to come to a close, I was having trouble finding books that I liked. I perused the library for as long as I was allowed, reading countless book covers and many times leaving empty handed, or with a book I never ended up reading more than a few pages of. Thus, the birth of my writing.
Truly, I had been writing since elementary school, because when you read like I did, there's no way you can't have a bursting imagination. But later, when I couldn't read, I wrote. I still have a mound of my crazy unfinished stories, written on various brands of notebook paper, in handwriting so horrible, I myself can barely make it out. There are pictures too, but we'll talk about that another time. It got to the point where I told stories to myself in my head as I fell asleep at night.
My senior year in high school I took creative writing. The class was made up of a ragtag group of various ages. I think there were about three of us who had voluntarily signed up for the class. I really got to explore there, and write like a crazy person, so I was sad that it was only a semester class. It was in that class that I wrote the very first draft of my first complete story.
I had had a scene in my mind for several months before we had to write. Sometimes I even think it was induced by God. I can't even explain how you can look at the sky when a random song comes on the radio, and a scene unfolds in your mind that you can't file away. I didn't even have a story at the time that the scene would fit into. So when it came time for our fantasy short story assignment, I just created a story for the scene. It was short and very rough, but it was a start.
In college, about a year after high school graduation, Caroline told me about National Novel Writing Month. Basically, you write a novel in a month. Some crazy writing fiend must have come up with it. Who else would? I signed up on the website immediately and then settled in on figuring out what to write. It dawned on me that I had never really hashed out the full idea for my short story back in high school, so I went with that. I wrote furiously that November, and thankfully my classes weren't too hard. By the time December 1st rolled around, I hadn't finished, or gotten anywhere near the 50,000 word mark that signals victory. I set it aside. Then, literally the day that classes ended that semester, I jumped on that thing. I was so close. I don't remember the exact date, but sometime before Christmas, I typed the last word. It was only a rough draft, mind you, but it was one of the most significant points in my life.
I mentioned earlier that I had a stack of unfinished stories. On my computer, I have at least thirty unfinished plots awaiting completion. I even had to limit myself to stop coming up with plots, and put a majority of the ones I already had in a file appropriately named, "You're not allowed to work on these yet!". Up to that December in 2010 I had never been able to finish a story. That day, I didn't cruise into the winner's circle, I didn't get prizes galore, I didn't make it to 50,000. But I still won. I won because I finished.
For me, writing came from reading; I can see now that it was inevitable. I don't remember not being able to read. My mom used to take me to the public library all the time for those events they had for little kids. I'm so grateful she did. From then on, I read anything fiction I could get my hands on. By the time I entered middle school I was practically reading on a high school level. I was set in my ways, though, and some books I just refused to read. I loved the genres I loved, and I wouldn't read outside of them, mostly because the few times I had, I was bored to death. So, die-hards, look away...I've never read Harry Potter! But that's okay, you'll get over it sooner or later.
In elementary school I read through nearly all of the Nancy Drew books, and by middle school I was mainly into the adventure and fantasy genres. I was all for anything relating to pirates, knights, and other worlds. Sword fighting and bows and arrows were usually a must. A little romance thrown in wasn't too bad, but it was just as good without it. But by the time middle school was beginning to come to a close, I was having trouble finding books that I liked. I perused the library for as long as I was allowed, reading countless book covers and many times leaving empty handed, or with a book I never ended up reading more than a few pages of. Thus, the birth of my writing.
Truly, I had been writing since elementary school, because when you read like I did, there's no way you can't have a bursting imagination. But later, when I couldn't read, I wrote. I still have a mound of my crazy unfinished stories, written on various brands of notebook paper, in handwriting so horrible, I myself can barely make it out. There are pictures too, but we'll talk about that another time. It got to the point where I told stories to myself in my head as I fell asleep at night.
My senior year in high school I took creative writing. The class was made up of a ragtag group of various ages. I think there were about three of us who had voluntarily signed up for the class. I really got to explore there, and write like a crazy person, so I was sad that it was only a semester class. It was in that class that I wrote the very first draft of my first complete story.
I had had a scene in my mind for several months before we had to write. Sometimes I even think it was induced by God. I can't even explain how you can look at the sky when a random song comes on the radio, and a scene unfolds in your mind that you can't file away. I didn't even have a story at the time that the scene would fit into. So when it came time for our fantasy short story assignment, I just created a story for the scene. It was short and very rough, but it was a start.
In college, about a year after high school graduation, Caroline told me about National Novel Writing Month. Basically, you write a novel in a month. Some crazy writing fiend must have come up with it. Who else would? I signed up on the website immediately and then settled in on figuring out what to write. It dawned on me that I had never really hashed out the full idea for my short story back in high school, so I went with that. I wrote furiously that November, and thankfully my classes weren't too hard. By the time December 1st rolled around, I hadn't finished, or gotten anywhere near the 50,000 word mark that signals victory. I set it aside. Then, literally the day that classes ended that semester, I jumped on that thing. I was so close. I don't remember the exact date, but sometime before Christmas, I typed the last word. It was only a rough draft, mind you, but it was one of the most significant points in my life.
I mentioned earlier that I had a stack of unfinished stories. On my computer, I have at least thirty unfinished plots awaiting completion. I even had to limit myself to stop coming up with plots, and put a majority of the ones I already had in a file appropriately named, "You're not allowed to work on these yet!". Up to that December in 2010 I had never been able to finish a story. That day, I didn't cruise into the winner's circle, I didn't get prizes galore, I didn't make it to 50,000. But I still won. I won because I finished.
(The original name and cover I made. Who knows what the title will end up being...)
Saturday, February 9, 2013
If All My Dresses Were Made of Lace, I'd Be a Happy Girl
When you move from a small town to a place like Tallahassee you get exposed to new things, some strange and some fun. One of the strangest things about living in a college town is the fashion. In general, things people wear around here are just a little bit strange to me. Take, for instance, the current obsession with tights. Don't get me wrong, I love tights. They're really comfortable and great for layering, but the crazy girls around here just take it to a whole new level. Apparently to them, layering is "so last year." Instead, they like to wear their tights as a substitute for pants. This drives me absolutely insane! The most popular look is tights with a hoodie and tall boots, like these for instance:
Sometimes I'm compelled to ask them why they feel the need to show every contour of their booty to the whole world.
With art students, fashion is generally insane. I've seen anything from cut up t-shirts to shorts that might as well be underwear. Bras are optional and individuality is so thick you can't breath. Some things you really just have to see to understand.
I've always had a pretty good sense of style, even though my style changes from day to day, but I've never been able to buy into the general fashion trend of showing as much skin as possible. My best friend/roommate, Caroline, shares this sentiment. Caroline is basically my window to the Korean/Japanese world, so I get to hear about all the crazy fashion trends they have over there, like those crazy big eye contacts they love so much. But last fall I found out about one of their fashion trends that feels like the best thing for you life: Mori Girl.
Mori is the Japanese term for forest, so the whole idea is to look like a girl who lives in/came from the forest. Lace and natural colors are encouraged, as is layering, and modesty (something foreign here in America) is almost always a must. To me, lace is one of the best fabrics in the world, and I enjoy coming up with a Mori girl outfit every now and then, even if it's just to rebel from the rebels. Now I'll leave you with a ridiculous amount of Mori Girl pictures.
The rapture will probably happen before this becomes popular around here.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
The English Language is Ridiculously Awesome, Even Though We Stole Most of It
The first month of 2013 is over, which means I've gone through the first month of my new calendar. I know that sounded really stupid and redundant, but if you knew how nifty (yes, nifty) this calendar was, you would be as excited as I am. I haven't come across a word that describes just how nifty it is yet, but the year is young and I have roughly 288 more words to go. So now, for your enjoyment, have a snack of forgotten English.
shame-faced - The quality of being too fearful of losing the esteem of others or doing something that may give them a bad opinion. Shamefaced, easily blushing, easily put out of countenance.
snow-bones - Remnants of snow after a thaw.
court-holy-water - Insincere complimentary language.
lying by the wall - The interval between death and burial is sometimes spoken of in Suffolk as "lying by the wall." There was a saying, "If one lie by the wall on Sunday, there will be another corpse in the same parish before the week is out."
trollibags - The intestines. Norfolk. [Still known in Northern England.]
bowssening - Casting mad people into the sea, or immersing them in water until they are well-nigh drowned, have been recommended by high medical authorities as a means of cure.
whizz-bang - A mixture of morphine and cocaine injected subcutaneously.
behopes - Hope, expectation. Ireland, Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire.
fauxonry - Fraud, in the legal sense; falsification of deeds or measures, coining false money, etc. Adaptation of Old French faussoner, to deceive, faus, false.
vomitory - A door of a large building; from Latin vomitorious.
upputting - Lodging, entertainment for man or beast. Scotland, Northhamptonshire.
real cheese - The Anglo-Indian, by his rough-and-ready adaptation of native words and expressions...is responsible for the currency today of many popular sayings. Amongst others, such a source has been suggested for the common expression the real cheese, meaning the real thing, quite in fashion, or up to date. There is a Persian and Hindustani word chiz, meaning thing, and a young Anglo-Indian would frequently say, "My new horse is the real chiz," easily corruptible into the English cheese.
- Duck's meat; hardened mucous in the corners of the eyes after sleeping.
boanthropy - A form of madness in which a man believes himself to be an ox.
strowlers - Vagabonds, itinerants, men of no settled abode, of a precarious life; wanderers of fortune, such as gypsies, beggars, peddlers, hawkers, mountebanks, fiddlers, country-players, rope-dancers, jugglers, tumblers, showers of tricks, and raree-show-men.
heterarchy - The government of an alien; from Greek heteros, foreign, and arche, rule.
milkscore - Account of milk owed for, scored on a board.
trumpet marine - An instrument with a bellows, resembling a lute, having a long neck with a string, which being struck with a hairbow sounds like a trumpet.
conbobberation - Conbobberation, helliferocious, mollagausauger, to puckerstopple, and peedoddles were actually in use, and seem unbelievably outlandish today only because of their unfamiliarity...The "tall talk" of the backwoods. moving ever westward with the frontier, left unmistakable traces in the writings of Mark Twain, John Hay, and a good many smaller fry.
Don't you want this calendar now? I thought so.
shame-faced - The quality of being too fearful of losing the esteem of others or doing something that may give them a bad opinion. Shamefaced, easily blushing, easily put out of countenance.
snow-bones - Remnants of snow after a thaw.
court-holy-water - Insincere complimentary language.
lying by the wall - The interval between death and burial is sometimes spoken of in Suffolk as "lying by the wall." There was a saying, "If one lie by the wall on Sunday, there will be another corpse in the same parish before the week is out."
trollibags - The intestines. Norfolk. [Still known in Northern England.]
bowssening - Casting mad people into the sea, or immersing them in water until they are well-nigh drowned, have been recommended by high medical authorities as a means of cure.
whizz-bang - A mixture of morphine and cocaine injected subcutaneously.
behopes - Hope, expectation. Ireland, Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire.
fauxonry - Fraud, in the legal sense; falsification of deeds or measures, coining false money, etc. Adaptation of Old French faussoner, to deceive, faus, false.
vomitory - A door of a large building; from Latin vomitorious.
upputting - Lodging, entertainment for man or beast. Scotland, Northhamptonshire.
real cheese - The Anglo-Indian, by his rough-and-ready adaptation of native words and expressions...is responsible for the currency today of many popular sayings. Amongst others, such a source has been suggested for the common expression the real cheese, meaning the real thing, quite in fashion, or up to date. There is a Persian and Hindustani word chiz, meaning thing, and a young Anglo-Indian would frequently say, "My new horse is the real chiz," easily corruptible into the English cheese.
- Duck's meat; hardened mucous in the corners of the eyes after sleeping.
boanthropy - A form of madness in which a man believes himself to be an ox.
strowlers - Vagabonds, itinerants, men of no settled abode, of a precarious life; wanderers of fortune, such as gypsies, beggars, peddlers, hawkers, mountebanks, fiddlers, country-players, rope-dancers, jugglers, tumblers, showers of tricks, and raree-show-men.
heterarchy - The government of an alien; from Greek heteros, foreign, and arche, rule.
milkscore - Account of milk owed for, scored on a board.
trumpet marine - An instrument with a bellows, resembling a lute, having a long neck with a string, which being struck with a hairbow sounds like a trumpet.
conbobberation - Conbobberation, helliferocious, mollagausauger, to puckerstopple, and peedoddles were actually in use, and seem unbelievably outlandish today only because of their unfamiliarity...The "tall talk" of the backwoods. moving ever westward with the frontier, left unmistakable traces in the writings of Mark Twain, John Hay, and a good many smaller fry.
Don't you want this calendar now? I thought so.
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