Wacky Wednesday: September 16

Today’s Wacky Wednesday is filled with many holidays. This could be the most we’ve had in one day since starting on this wacky adventure. But first, we have our wacky words. Our first word is a noun from medieval days. A Quire is four sheets of paper or parchment folded to form eight leaves, as in medieval manuscripts. Most books today are comprised of several quires and are then stitched and glued together. Ratoon is another noun referring to a new shoot or sprout springing from the base of a crop plant, especially sugar cane, after cropping.

Now the many holidays. Let’s get our token food holidays out of the way. It’s National Cinnamon Raisin Bread Dayand National Guacamole Day. I don’t recommend mixing the two. It’s also National Stepfamily Day and National Working Parents Day. If you want more fun, today is National Play-Doh Day. It is also Mayflower Day, commemorating when the ship set sail from Plymouth, England on September 16, 1620. But enough about uptight white people. Today is also Mexico’s Independence Day. Cinco de Mayo is often confused for this holiday, but it was September of 1821 when Mexico won their independence from Spain.

Wacky Wednesday: September 9

Hello all you wacky people. We’ve got some exciting new things for today. Our first word today is a noun which derives from Scotland and Northern England. Oxter is a person’s armpit. I don’t know any way to use this term other than to insult someone without them knowing. Our next word is a rare adjective. Pauciloquent means using few words in speech or conversation. You could use this to describe your quiet, shy friend. I am still on the lookout for more strange and wacky words. If you know any, please share them in the comments.

Let’s start the holiday section with our token food holiday. Today is National Wiener Schnitzel Day. If you don’t know what that is, it’s like an Austrian corndog. Veal is salted and breaded then deep-fried. There’s a law in Austria requiring the dish to be made with veal though it can be made with pork or other meats. The next two holidays go together well on September 9. The first is National Teddy Bear Day. In 1902, President Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear cub while hunting. It made national news. After a caricature cartoon was published in the Washington Post, Morris Michtom created a new toy and asked the President’s permission to name it the “Teddy Bear.”

There have been many famous Teddy Bears including Big Bird’s bear named Radar, Garfield the Cat’s bear Pooky, Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington from across the pond in Great Britain, and the Muppet Fozzie Bear. Also, in 1981 starting as greeting cards before into television and toys, the Care Bears. This brings us to our next holiday, Care Bares Share Your Care Day. The main goal of the holiday is to inspire acts of kindness and goodwill. That’s something we all need to see more of in the world. Go out and Share Your Care.

Wacky Wednesday: September 2

Welcome to the first Wacky Wednesday of September. It’s a light day but still fun. We have a couple words and a couple holidays. Nothing too crazy. Our first word is Microsmatic. This is a simple adjective meaning having a poor sense of smell when referring to humans and certain animals. It’s not likely a term one will need for small talk. Unless you’re a pretentious know-it-all. Our next word is another adjective. Nudiustertian means of or relating to the day before yesterday. Similar to saying “yesterday morning” one could say the “nudiusterian morning.” Though I’m certain everyone just says “the other day.”

Our token food holiday for today is National Blueberry Popsicle Day. Since last week celebrated cherry popsicle day, it feels appropriate to continue the theme. Today is also National V-J Day. What does that mean? It stands for “Victory of Japan” by the Allied Forces during World War II. The surrender was officially announced on August 15, 1945. The official signing of the surrender was today September 2, 1945. This took place on board the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. That’s all for the bit of history and fun facts for the day. I’ll be on the look out for more exciting words as we near the end of the month. Please comment with any suggestions.