January 2008 The stroke of midnight on December 31, 2007 found me in a garden singing in front of a fire as fireworks went off all around me. Happy New Year! The next day I left for Europe, then India

On New Year’s Eve I sought to satiate myself with non-standard definitions of English words, some from the Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce’s admirably cynical lexicon (available now online) and others from elsewhere (a favorite, from George Santayana: “fanaticism: redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.”). I also happened upon a list of words that do not yet exist but should, including stupiphany: “the realization that you have been a complete idiot for way too long.”

Literacy promotes a certain fascination with words, which is why many people today know that the Inuit have 30-odd words for “snow.” But how many people know that Albanians have 27 words for “mustache”—and another 27 for “eyebrows”? I certainly did not, until The Meaning of Tingo, by Adam Jacot de Boinod, provided me a whole list of obscure words with no equivalents in the English language. The list includes:

bakku-shan (Japanese): a girl who when seen from behind looks as though she might be pretty, but when seen from the front is not

desus (Indonesian): the quiet, smooth sound of someone farting, not very loudly

fucha (Portuguese): to use company time and resources for one’s own purposes

koshatnik (Russian): a dealer in stolen cats

kucir (Indonesian): a tuft of hair left to grow atop an otherwise bald head

latah (Indonesian): the uncontrollable habit of saying embarrassing things

nylentik (Indonesian): to flick someone on the ear with the middle finger

o ka la nokonoko (Hawaiian): day spent in nervous anticipation of a coughing spell

pomicione (Italian): a man who seizes any chance of being in close physical contact with a woman

seigneur terrasse (French): someone who spends time, but not money, at a café

torschlusspanik (German): the fear of diminishing opportunities as one gets older

tsui-giri (Japanese, samurai-era): to try out a new sword on a passer-by

zechpreller (German): a person who leaves without paying the bill

The word tingo itself comes from the Pascuense language of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and is particularly evocative. Tingo: borrowing things from a friend’s house, one by one, until he has nothing left.

May we all be protected from that fate, during the year 2008!

December 2007 The first weekend of the month in New Mexico, lecturing at the Ayurvedic Institute; the month’s second weekend in San Francisco, lecturing at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Thereafter to Houston, for a viewing of the skeleton of our 7-million-year-old ancestor Lucy, and of two films: Atonement, and The Golden Compass. Later in the month, two more movies in San Antonio (Charlie Wilson’s War, and Sweeney Todd), and two Japanese DVDs in Floresville, one being the unsettlingly stunning animé flick Paprika.

Celestial events of note: a dazzling moon dog on the night of the winter solstice, December 21, and a close encounter between the just-past-full Moon & the brilliantly coppery Mars two nights later. December 23 in Oaxaca is of course La Noche de los Rábanos; Oaxaca has hosted this formal competition for elaborate radish sculptures every year since 1897.

Over the Texas Christmas holidays, multiple visits with multiple relatives, including my cousin’s son Curtis, who one day brought over his pet Madagascan millipede, named Bam. Bam, who spent a few minutes on my hand, is by far the largest millipede I have ever seen. His kind can live up to seven years, and he is, well, malodorous.

My cousin Stanford Talley & his wife Pam are manufacturers and purveyors of fine “country primitive” furnishings. If you ever find yourself in Wimberley, Texas, on one of Wimberley’s Market Days (usually a Saturday), take a gander at their booth, #182

Stanford’s mother, my Aunt Elenora; his sister Sandra; and Stanford & Pam’s two sons & their families all live near the San Antonio River, and all report regular depredations from javelinas, the local wild boar, who chase the kids and attack anything in sight as they scrounge for acorns, so bold that they will come right up to the doors of the houses. At least the feral hogs (the population of which in Texas is at least a couple of million) haven’t yet made it across the river …

Most of the other animals in the neighborhood have migrated, or gone into hibernation, or have simply disappeared for the winter. Even the grackles & spiders, who appear in higher multiples when the weather is warmer, are now less numerous. While most of the trees have lost their leaves, and most flowers have disappeared, a blood-red rose blooms just outside the window of the front room of the house.

During these final moments of 2007, as I write these words late on the night of December 31, I pray that this coming year will greatly enjoyed by all sentient beings. Have a great ’08!

Link to News of the Past