What on earth happened yesterday? One moment I was typing out my prompt answer, and the next, we were moving out of our apartment!
For anyone not aware of our recent FunVee activities, some moron decided it would be fun to set a fire in the 4th floor garbage room, thereby, setting off that section of the buildings water suppression units. It flooded all the way to the basement parking lot!
We’ve had to wait nearly three weeks for them to get to our unit for repairs, and had been under the understanding that they would work around us. That wasn’t happening, as there were about 10 of them + us … which equaled out that we would be spending at least several days, corralled in our tiny bedroom with all our belongings. They needed to basically gut the whole left side of the apartment and the bathroom, as well. Mold has become a concern, so plans changed.
In the space of 4 hours, 6 darling young maintenance workers helped us completely move from the 2nd floor to the 5th! It’s the Penthouse baby!
Well, maybe not THE penthouse, but it’s actually a bit more spacious than our previous unit. Though we’ve just a little one bedroom there’s now room for my office to sit beside my husbands. The nice thing about this is because now I have room to turn my closet into a baby nook for Maisie when she starts coming over. I get to babysit when my daughter goes back to work, and I’m so stoked!
It’s perfect for her crib, and there’s room for a bookshelf and toy bin, once the pictures all get put back on the walls. Baby steps! Hahahahah, I just realized what I did, there.
Why must I take baby steps, you may be asking? Well, you try moving in only 4 hours! Me and my island of misfit internal organs had a field day, yesterday. Fibro started banging on her drums, thereby, sending IBS running off the reservation, and finally that left Arthuritis (yes I purposely misspelled that), to simply wipe out my back for the next several days. Folks it hurts to type, lol! My fingers keep falling asleep.
Personally, I think the move was worth it for the rewards…
Wouldn’t you agree?
(for my daughter’s privacy, I’ll often be implementing our SugarPlum, as my granddaughter’s stand-in.)
I’m going to attempt writing today’s word adventures, amidst the chaos of construction! Maintenance has finally arrived to repair all that water damage from our apartment building fire. Others experienced far worse than our place, so we didn’t mind waiting our turn. Anyhow, it might get a bit noisy and distracting, but I aim to stick to schedule with my Monday Messages… these are like my wee journalist resume’s!
One day somebody will spy my little column, and then I’ll have to get a WordPress site for myself. I wouldn’t want to confuse them with Wiwohka’s stuff… and, it might hurt her feelings if I become a star before she sells her books.
Just in case I get a call up, I best get back to studying. I’ve been on the case of the nefarious literary criminal mastermind, better known as “Rules of the English language”!
Today’s episode deals with dastardly duplicitous duplication… a.k.a., polysemous words. You might have thought that what I wrote made no sense at all, or is it sensus? Like how I did that? I’m leading you toward our target literary conundrum… how do we know which meaning goes with the word we’re trying to use? There’s even a name for this lovely little wordage merry-go-round.
What is this name, you should hopefully be asking yourselves?
According to Mr. McGoogle,
Multiple meaning words, are also known as polysemous words, homonyms, or heteronyms, and they’re words that have more than one definition or meaning.
I hate it when they do that!
Polysemous refers to a word, phrase, or term possessing multiple related meanings, derived from the Greek polysemos (“of many senses”). Common examples include “bank” (financial institution vs. river side) and “run” (flow vs. operate). Polysemy differs from homonymy, as polysemous meanings are conceptually connected, whereas homonyms are unrelated.
I chose not to pull up all the different words that have multiple uses, as I think you could probably do that yourselves. Instead, I thought to simply ask the question we all want answered… Why? Why did they opt for this pattern in our language structure? There must have been a reason, right?!
AI Overview
Polysemy—the phenomenon where a single word has multiple, related meanings (e.g., “bank” as a financial institution vs. a river edge)—is not a “rule” that was made up, but rather a natural, organic development in human language.
It exists for reasons of communicative efficiency, cognitive economy, and historical evolution rather than by deliberate design.
Here is why polysemy exists:
Linguistic Economy and Efficiency: It is more efficient for a language to reuse a familiar word for a new concept than to create a completely new word from scratch. This allows for a compact, flexible vocabulary.
Cognitive Association (Metaphor and Metonymy): New meanings are often developed through mental connections. For example, “paper” meant a physical material, and was extended to mean “a newspaper” or “a scientific paper” based on its substance. This allows speakers to express complex ideas using existing, understood terms.
Semantic Drift Over Time: Words change and add meanings over centuries. A word might begin with one meaning and, through use in different contexts, diverge into new meanings while still retaining its original one.
Contextual Clarity: Polysemy is not usually a hindrance because the correct meaning is typically clear from the surrounding context (“I’m going to the bank to sit on the riverbank”).
“Run” Example: As a case study, the word “run” has developed hundreds of meanings over time (e.g., to run a race, to run a company, a run in a stocking) by shifting from a literal action to metaphorical applications of “moving,” “managing,” or “functioning”.
In summary, polysemy developed to make language more adaptable and efficient, enabling humans to manage a large number of concepts with a limited set of sounds or symbols.
Well, the answer was so thorough, I decided that I simply can’t argue with it. Isn’t that a hoot! Me… Lilly the literary navigator has learned some really important stuff today. How bout you?
Snacks for tough questions shall be arriving, henceforth…
Just look at all the valuable lessons he’s taught, thus far. Why the title of today’s prompt response, in and of itself, was great wisdom.
Look how fast they roll off the tongue…
A confident person is like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re gonna get!
I might not be confident, Jenny, but I know what love is.
… from that point on, whenever I was going anywhere, I was confident!
… and I met the confident president… aaaagiiinnn!
Me and confidence, we go together like peas and carrots!
See what I mean? What a guy! Oh, wait! I just realized that the person has to be someone I know, and I never actually met the man.
This is hard because I only know about a half dozen people, up close enough to gage their confidence level.
I’m going with my husband, as the man keeps movin whether it rains or shines. No has never stopped him, but only rerouted his path! Yes, I know I’m being partial. But, as this prompt fully intends us to answer with partiality, I’ve full license to proceed!
My husband! My best friend! My partner in crime! My lover! The other half of myself!
Wait! If all that is to be true, then what did I just say? Don’t think I walked you into me being the confident one, because that would be entirely self-gratifying and I’m in no way calling myself the most confident person in the room.
Doggone it! I went and did it again. I AM the only one in the room!
Well, whatever you choose to believe, here, I simply meant that my husband is truly the most confident person I know. We’re in this car together… til the wheels fall off!
I’ll be honest in saying that movies are more my thing, as far as binge watching anything over and over again. First of all I abhor commercials, so tv episodes usually only consist of about 18 minutes of show and 12 minutes of sales pitches on everything from toilet paper to cars! Secondly, I am not usually captivated enough by a television show, to watch it more than once… let alone more than 5 times.
That being said, I will confess that I’ve watched the Castle series more times than I wish to admit, but we purchased the series on DVD to alleviate all the bothersome commercials.
Now binge watching my favorite movies, on the other hand, is one of my guilty pleasures, as I am an avid insomniac with hours of nocturnal boredom. The list I’m about to give you, are my late night favorites, and the number of re-watches shall not be disclosed… but the number 5 is Childs play for this owl!
My ultimate go to, in the wee hours, is The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings… all of em!
Next up would be the Harry Potter series, but my most watched of that series has to be The Prisoner of Azkaban with Gary Oldman… great actor!
Then we have the entire series of Jurassic Park movies… the original will probably always be my favorite one, primarily due to them keeping it pretty close to the actual book.
Then there’s Tomb Raider… and Stargate… and of course, The entire line up of Pirates of the Caribbean, with Johnnie Depp. I absolutely love the entire cast of characters in each and every movie of this series.
If I were to list for you, every movie that I’ve watched too many times, we would be here til the cows come home, as they say. I will say this… we have a terabyte drive that holds over 600 movies and most of my favorites are on that drive, so there’s that…
Thought #1 – Maybe my grandbabies will come over in the next few weeks, so we can make homemade waffles with fresh strawberries and real whipping cream.
Thought #2 – I wonder if being ticklish is hereditary? There was never any opportunity to ask my mom if she was ticklish. I know that I am terribly ticklish, especially on my feet. Maisie is also ticklish on her feet. I know it’s only me, but I want to think that maybe I passed that to my girls, and now my daughter has passed it to my grandbaby. I just wonder about it, that’s all.
Thought #3 – Can a person get an ear infection by listening to dirty music?
Thought #4 – I’m so glad somebody invented toothpaste! At least we don’t have to use body wash or good ole Irish spring. Ughhht… I just almost threw up in my mouth, gross!
Thought #5 – What if fresh air always smelled like watermelon, on a rainy day?
Thought #6 – What ever happened to the people that Jesus encountered during his time on earth? Where did they go? How did their lives change? What did they ever make of their lives, once changed by the Son of God?
Thought #7 – How fast would the world tilt off its own axis, after all manner of phones vanished overnight? Would we simply go back to writing letters and employing the Pony Express?
Thought #8 – What is the price of a smile… or the cost of physical touch?
Thought #9 – A human soul isn’t born filled with hatred, being that it’s a learned behavior. On the contrary, it’s rather interesting that each of us are born with an innate sense of love, without ever having to be taught.
Thought #9 – Why is it then so very hard to give love sometimes, but hatred enters the room by such a minute effort.
Thought #10 – It’s kind of funny how minute has two differing definitions. We all know that a minute is 60 seconds, and yet if we change the way we pronounce it, the definition is completely different. According to Mr. McGoogle, minute (pronounced my-NOOT) means very small, tiny, or insignificant, while the time measurement (MIN-it) comes from the same Latin root but refers to a “small part” of an hour, and can also mean detailed or precise.
See? We can learn something new every day! I knew that old adage would ring true, at least in this particular instance it does. Just sayin!
Friday’s almost here, folks, so that aught to give us all some things to have thoughts about, right?!
Well, I think last weeks tinkering session was a total success!
Not that I’ll be winning any academy awards, or anything. I just mean that I challenged myself to do a thing (creating a new character on Tuesday, and then writing a story about it by Friday), and it worked out.
So, it got me to thinking (I know, dangerous pastime)… what if I sought to write a whole series of children’s character books, only employing my tinkering sessions and a two day rest before kicking out a little story, song, or poem to accompany the images. I don’t see why I couldn’t, what with todays insta book mentality flooding across the web.
While I get my jabs in at all the ai created mumbo jumbo being printed out there, currently, I’m not being snarky when I say that I believe it’s possible to actually write imaginative content without my computer telling me how… or worse, doing the writing for me. Not on my watch!
Anyway, getting back to the tinkering plans I’ve set for us, I plan on making a habit of mixing up writing styles, as well as, continuing to expand my illustration skills. My hands on learning is all that can be afforded, at this present moment, so if I wish to become a better writer, more brain stretching work is involved.
I know your probably saying, “Great, now she’s gonna start wearing even bigger hats on her noggin.” Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but if I do then that means my cookies will need to be bigger, as well.
Go big or go home, right?!
For today’s next challenge, I went with another water baby, but on an entirely different patch of sand…
This isn’t the finished character, by the way, but it was the first image offered by the ai. All I typed in was “a photorealistic image of an adorable baby walrus”.
While the little guy seems awful cute and chubby, we’re nowhere near satisfied. He’s got no nostrils, for one thing. So, I used the auto-enhance on the prompt…
“a photorealistic image of an adorable baby walrus, trying to learn to swim along the shore of a beautiful sandy beach”
Getting a better shot of his nose, but now his eyebrows look like they were individually stuck into his little forehead. It made him look too much like a plushie toy.
Again, I returned to the auto-enhance feature, asking it to expand the prompt even more…
“Imagine a photorealistic scene at a picturesque sandy beach where gentle waves lap against the shore. The sun casts a warm, golden glow across the landscape, illuminating the fine grains of sand and sparkling blue waters. In the foreground, an adorable baby walrus, with soft, wrinkled gray skin and big, curious eyes, awkwardly paddles in the shallow surf. Its flippers splash playfully, sending droplets gleaming in the sunlight, while a few sea gulls circle overhead, drawn by the joyous scene. The sandy beach is dotted with tufts of sea grass swaying in the light breeze, enhancing the serene atmosphere of this tender moment.”
At least he has more expression with his eyes, even if he lost his eyebrows. His facial expression seems far more realistic, though his fat rolls look rather like sweatshirt material than skin. I kept at it for nearly a half hour before, coming up with numerous images that were similar to this one, but with differing poses and expressions.
Now that we’ve come this far, let’s give the ai our best 10 images. From there, we’ll generate some possibilities for a solid Avatar.
I’ll be right back! Give me about 10 minutes, or so….
Everyone, meet our newest character…
I’ve decided to name him Booker, though I’ve ne earthly idea why! The ai decided to give him tusks, even with him only being a baby, but I think it makes him super cute.
Norbert gave me several differing shots, but I think he looks most realistic in this one…
… minus the grown up tusks, mind you.
I don’t think Booker took nearly as long to create, as it took me last week, during pumpkin’s creation.
Now that he’s here, I’ve only til Friday to create his story, so I best get moving!
No, that’s not right. I believe the English language rule states that it’s i before e, except after c’s. What I’d like to know is why? If they both sound the same, why on earth are we throwing in a complicated if and or but with these words. Didn’t anybody ever hear of the adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” ? I’ve heard of it!
Before I get myself in an unnecessary bother, maybe we should first ask Mr. McGoogle to try and work out the problem.
Question #1 should be to establish what the actual rule states. No one should go on here say about a thing, but should instead seek the facts. Let’s do this…
According to the AI Overview,
In the English language, a common mnemonic spelling rule is: “I before E, except after C“.
However, the full, more accurate rhyme often includes: “…or when sounded as ‘ay’ as in neighbor or weigh”.
Key Details Regarding the Rule:“Cie” Words: Sometimes ie follows a c anyway, such as in science, glacier, ancient, and sufficient.
The “C” Exception: When the i and e combination follows a c, the order is usually ei (e.g., receive, ceiling, deceive, conceit).
The “Ay” Exception: When the ei combination makes a long “a” sound (like “ay”), e comes before i (e.g., neighbor, weigh, vein, sleigh).
Other Exceptions: There are many words that break this rule, such as weird, seize, leisure, protein, and foreign.
So, ok, I can agree with this ruling as long as it can be clearly determined by the pronunciation of the word. That part makes sense, but what screws everything up is the fact that there are so many varying accents from differing nationalities. What then? Unless one is prepared to pull up a voice modulator every single time one of these words come up, the margin for error is incredibly wide… in my humble antsy opinion.
I suppose if we only had a handful of words that utilized this particular linguistic merry-go-round, it wouldn’t cause me such aggravation. But guess what? The English language is smothered in the ie, ei, except after c, or ay rule. Not just that but we get to also separate words like weird, seize, leisure, protein, and foreign, as these words break all the rules. What’s an ant to do, here?
Well, figure things out is what I need to do, if I’m to make a top-notch journalist! If children can learn it, then so too can an ant… this ant, to be exact!
My thoughts are all over the page this morning, what with all the miracles flying around my little office! Well, maybe not miracles to most, but they are ticking all the boxes on my list.
God has been ever faithful in slowing my weight loss, but let’s face it, I can’t keep this up forever. I didn’t want to ever seek medical care again, but God has other purposes. He desires that I participate in my own care, however he decides… not how I think it should go.
If this week hasn’t been a confirmation of that, I don’t know what is!
It began with a message to my new primary doctor, seeking an appointment for bloodwork and a weight check. I was dreading it! Honestly, I haven’t wanted to go back for medical care. My faith and trust in doctors has been flatlined, of late. But, if I don’t want to starve to death, it needs doing.
Not only did she message me back rather quickly, but before I could even ask anything she suggested we make a video apt for this Thursday, to discuss disability paperwork. What? Where did that come from?
That was Monday. Tuesday morning rolls around and I receive a phone call from the DSHS appeals administrator assigned to my case. She called to say that she’d gone through all our records and found a partial error, in regards to my benefits. While I still would be required to get a form from my doctor, stating I am unable to work, the denial of benefits was being immediately reversed and all benefits restored… as well as, removing all overpayment penalty charges… Hallelujah!
As of yesterday, which was Wednesday, three months of back benefits had been restored to my Snap card… I cried! For over six years we have fallen through every crack, in every system, one might call a helpful service to the public. Never in all that time have I ever had somebody call ME and say they’d made an error, nor have I ever seen such a complete and rapid response to a problem that might fall in my favor! That is, unless you count that time I was nearly crushed by that car, or that night on the highway in the Colorado mountains. Oh, yeah… there was that security guard just inside the building where I was being assaulted, or that night I nearly bled to death in that emergency room.
Oh, heavenly father, how many times have You been the hand that saves me… there are so many memories to recall, it would be far too long a list for just this day!
Now I’m crying again, doggone it!
Ok… let’s finish this out!
It’s now Thursday, and apparently, God’s not done!
We now come to this mornings doctor visit… remember that message?
My new doctor is a lovely young woman, with a wonderful bedside manner, as they say. She spent the time to ask pointed questions, making notes and referring to a number of notes in my medical chart, so I knew she’d previously read them. Long story short… I do indeed have Gastroparesis, on top of my IBS and hernia.
The good part in all this is that she’s attempting to restore my Pantaprazole with the insurance company, based on this new diagnosis. She also thoroughly discussed the new medication that will be needed to improve the delayed digestive issue, which also counters as an anti-nausea reliever… thank you Lord!
Not only did she fill out the disability form, which should reach DSHS by the end of the day, I’m being put into a program that will offer transportation to my visits… and, home delivery for my medications, if I need it. They also have a really good therapist, apparently, and she recommends I meet with them to discuss possible PTSD symptoms that are causing my IBS to rocket off the charts so often.
When all I ever do under pressure is buckle, God steps in every single time! And, he doesn’t just stop by, or pass through. I believe that He stays to complete his own work within my life.
I leave you with a beautiful passage from scripture, found in the book of Philippians chapter 1:5-6…
“because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
I remember the days before technology allowed kids to spend 6 hours straight in an automobile Movie Theatre, laps filled with juice boxes and snack bags. Nope! I don’t even think I ever saw the inside of a car seat! Just our old station wagon, with parents in the front comfortably seated, while we all were stuffed into the back rows.
The only theatre entertainment we saw, was the live action movie of one of the two grown ups in the front, trying rather unsuccessfully to smack us for one reason or another! Our little ears were unceremoniously greeted with the musical threats of the time… some of the greatest hits to listen to were, If I Have To Come Back There, sung by the driver, or Just You Wait Til We Get Home, played by the assistant driver.
What were we to do for entertainment, as well as for our survival? After we tired of picking on each other, as no parent ever stopped the car for the child who cried, Mom, he won’t stop poking me… we looked for games that kept our attentions. We couldn’t play the “That’s who you’re gonna marry”, as we were not stuck in the parking lot of a grocery store, while our parents sought peaceful shelter within the local food mart! When the car is careening down the highway, kids had to get creative!
There were three games we could play for some much needed automobile on-board entertainment…
I’m Going on a Picnic! In this game, since we didn’t have those snacks and drinks, one would call out an item they would take to eat if they could. There was a catch, however, as the next kid had to figure out why that item was chosen, and add an item that matched. It might be the color of the food, or perhaps its shape, flavor or the way it was prepared and packaged. The goal was to figure out the common denominator and add to the picnic.
I Spy With My Little Eye! One child would select something within sight of the car, and then give clues to the others, as to what they were looking at. One could ask about size, color, shape or use… things like that, until someone figured it out.
Punch Bug! This game was usually toward the end of the car ride, as by now we really didn’t like each other very much, there was nothing else to do, and it was a free chance to hit each other. This was a savored game and we saved up all our personal traveling grievances for the opportune DOUBLE PUNCH BUG attack!
So, here ya have it folks… If I were riding in an automobile, my opening sentence would most likely be “Yellow Cloth Top PUNCH BUG!” I’m very talented in using my middle knuckle when I tag your thigh, as it leaves the perfect little round bruise for later.
Yes, I am aware of what the prompt asked us today, but as this is the second attempt at sticking their nose into my business, I chose to write my response the way I wished. If they are so interested in my Autobiography, they can buy the book when it’s released and read the answer there… just sayin.
Perhaps you’ve asked yourselves how I get from an idea, all the way to producing an actual story, here on WordPress. Well, I doubt you were actually wondering that exact thought, but for all intents and purposes, I’m going to act as if you asked. Humor me, if you would.
We will just call today’s tinkering, a tutorial on how to create a brand new story character from scratch. Did you know that I usually develop the character, or Avatar, if you will, before I even create the story that goes with them? While there are some stories that are born in my imagination first, most of the children’s stories are born upon the visual produced for the main character… that first few, rough around the edge images that are produced by Norbert, the OpenArt ai assistant.
So, today I want to create a brand new character, build up a supply of appropriate images, and then on Friday, I’ll hopefully have a cute little story to post. I’m by no means expecting you to anticipate an academy award winning performance, or anything.
I suppose that one could say, it’s an exercise in story development. Hopefully, I will learn a good many things about my own writing style, how accommodating Norbert can be, and how flexible I’m willing to be, when it comes to my own content. While I might need Norbert for producing the right images, I don’t need any assistance in the imagination process, nor in my ability to write a decent story.
For this particular act of literary science and exploration, I randomly selected a baby hippo, as our story subject.
My first query was simply asking for a photorealistic image of an adorable baby hippo, but before finishing the prompt, I selected the auto enhance option for a more complete description. This was my first full query…
A photorealistic image of a baby hippopotamus joyfully playing in a sun-drenched meadow, surrounded by vibrant wildflowers swaying gently in the breeze. The lush green grass glistens with dew drops, catching the soft, warm sunlight that filters through a few wispy clouds in the azure sky. The baby hippo, with its round, cherubic face and big, glistening eyes, frolics playfully, splashing water as it leaps into a small, shimmering puddle. Its skin glistens with a hint of mud, adding a touch of earthy charm to its playful antics. In the background, a gentle stream sparkles, reflecting the peaceful atmosphere of this idyllic setting. This photorealistic scene captures the essence of childhood joy in nature, filled with colors and a warmth that embodies happiness.
These were the first images offered…
So far, so good, though I notice that Norbert wasn’t willing to actually put the hippo in the water, for some odd reason.
Without overthinking it, which I have a tendency to do sometimes, I took the very first three images offered, and then I went straight to character creation.
After only a few moments, Norbert gave us our newest character, and I’ve named her Pumpkin…
She even has a little tuft of hair on her head, like little bangs. I think it will be so fun to put a bow in her hair, and I can even change the color of the ribbon, depending on the day. Don’t ask me why I opted to name her Pumpkin. It just sounded like a sweet term of endearment, I guess.
Anyway, throughout this whole creation process, Norbert did fairly well, and only had to remove an object from one of the images. For some reason, the ai thought a hippo should wear a crown on their head. I’ve no earthly idea where a crown was mentioned in my query…
I told Norbert to get rid of the crown, and he actually did it without changing too much else in the image…
Unfortunately, her bangs disappeared, which I really wanted to keep.
For that reason, I asked for a different image, all together. But, still not enough hair on her head…
I spent nearly fifteen minutes arguing with Norbert over the stack of ridiculous selections I was given…
I even tried putting bows in her hair, to see if that would improve things.
Nope!
Sometimes, you just have to go back to the drawing board, as they say. You simply have to query a new background, and/or positioning of the character, in order to produce a workable image…
See what I mean? Change the background and her hair returns, just as I hoped it would.
Now that we’ve a loveable image to work with, the task at hand is to gather a decent supply of differing images that will aid in the building of her story.
By Friday, I should hopefully have a wonderful tale to share with you about our newest guest, here in the Barnyard.
Yikes! Friday’s only a few days away, so I should probably get started.
Journey With Me! 