after the storm
worm explores
this new world
Monterey
Coastal Word of the Day /
A section of Highway 1 washed out in a landslide yesterday and in today’s Monterey Herald, this description: “The asphalt nearby looked new and no seeping water was seen. Fresh looking rip-rap was spotted mixed with soil that fell from under the roadway.”
Rip-rap! I scurried to my dictionary shelf. I won’t name names, but it took three searches to come up with a dictionary that defined rip-rap. From Webster’s Third International Dictionary, the enormous book that was my Iowa going away present from Kate:
Rip-rap: n 1: a foundation or sustaining wall of stones thrown together without order (as in deep water, on a soft bottom, or on an embankment slope to prevent erosion) 2: stone used for riprap.
In verb form: riprap and riprapping.
Other rip words: rip-roaring, rip-roarious, ripsack, ripsaw, ripsawyer, ripsnorter, riptide, rip track, ripuarian, and yes, it’s in the dictionary: rip van winkle.
Fandango /
Language changes fast in the internet age. The web is no longer simply the sticky home of E.B. White’s Charlotte and twitter and tweet are rarely about bird vocals anymore. Fandango has become synonymous with online movie ticket sales, until today when the word showed up in the Monterey Herald under Fourth of July celebrations.
At the Cooper-Molera adobe there will be historic demonstrations, rope making, leather crafts and fandango.
From Chambers Dictionary:
Fandango an energetic Spanish dance, or music for it, in ¾ time.