Your word of the day

This one apparently coined by D. F. Wallace in Infinite Jest, p. 177:

Formication, n., the condition of being infested with ants, in usage typically of the hallucinatory variety. Did I experience yes some ~ in detox? I did. (ibid)

There are some truly wonderful words in the English language.

On an unrelated thought: Just got back from a very nice Passover seder at the house of some friends of the family. Nice people, good food, and a great deal of singing. I do not know nearly enough of the old folk melodies, mostly since I didn’t grow up in a kibbutz where these things were omnipresent.

High point of the evening: Had gadia, one of the standard songs for the evening, complete with an illustrative shadow puppet show. The puppet representations of God and the angel of death were quite interesting, and the sound effects (added by the audience) just made it all work.

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Published in: on April 16, 2003 at 22:22  Comments (10)  
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10 Comments

  1. On April 17, 2003 at 00:17 moof said:

    Obviously, the best way to get formication is to… smoke crystal meth.
    nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk.

  2. On April 17, 2003 at 00:17 moof said:

    Oh, and did you have an orange on the seder plate?

  3. On April 17, 2003 at 07:57 emilyrose said:

    Physicist Makes Local College Girl Weak In The Knees…
    Every time I read one of your postings I just get smittener and smittener. (Hmm, is that a word? Maybe “smittener” will be my word of the day…) So I’m wondering, is it a faux pas to develop (and voice) a crush on someone with whom you have no contact, and who is not even of the gender you prefer to date? One of these days I’m going to get my nose out of the books and learn some general social rules. Nah, who am I kidding? Then I’d just feel obligated to follow them. 😉

  4. On April 17, 2003 at 08:23 darklingrose said:

    Re: Physicist Makes Local College Girl Weak In The Knees…
    *wicked giggle* you oughtta see him do pushups. It’s enough to make any lesbian consider trying to find his inner woman.

  5. On April 17, 2003 at 09:14 zunger said:

    An orange? What for?

  6. On April 17, 2003 at 09:15 zunger said:

    Re: Physicist Makes Local College Girl Weak In The Knees…
    *l* Well, I suppose as long as one doesn’t mind being flirted with as well, on occasion, it can’t possibly violate any rules too badly… 🙂

  7. On April 17, 2003 at 10:56 moof said:

    There’s an apocryphal quote ascribed to a rabbi who was asked about whether women could/should be rabbis as well: “A woman should be on the bimah like an orange should be on the Seder plate.”
    So a good portion of people I know put an orange on the Seder plate. 🙂

  8. On April 17, 2003 at 11:09 zunger said:

    *rofl* Wow! OK, I’m putting an orange on my seder plate next year. Any idea who the rabbi was?

  9. On April 17, 2003 at 11:22 moof said:

    Sadly, no.

  10. On April 17, 2003 at 16:45 emilyrose said:

    tee-hee


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