Catacosmesis

 

Catacosmesis - stacking the tasks at hand in whatever order best suits us.

Originally this word applied to rhetoric, and stacking a speech in such a way that it flows and is easily remembered, a bit like using a mnemonic. But it can be applied to any list of tasks we must work our way through. 

Take a moment to think it through and work out the best order to do things in. Picking off the easy things and leaving the difficult ones until later is not necessarily the best option. Catacosmesis is about organising, and there is more than one way to do that.

This is my last January 'words' post. Taking a break from doing more complex journal pages has been fun, and helped me to bump up out of a rut - a bit of an expergefactor, perhaps? I am looking forward to getting back to a more colourful way of working.

Sockdolager

 

Sockdolager - the winning point in an argument.

It can feel good to win the argument, to have the sockdolager. But do you win the argument at the expense of the relationship? 

Sometimes it is better to seek compromise, common ground, and reconciliation, rather than seeking to win.

Ultracrepidarianism

 

Ultracrepidarianism - giving opinions on subjects you know nothing about.

We all know people who are ultracrepidarians. It doesn't matter what the subject under discussion is, they weigh in as if they are an expert. 

The word in more literal translation from the Latin is 'beyond the shoe'. According to Mark Forsyth in The Horologicon, it comes from a story where a painter made a painting and left it on display, hiding so that he could hear opinions on it. A cobbler made comment on the way a shoe had been wrongly painted. The painter took the painting away and corrected the shoe. The cobbler saw that the painter had changed the shoe, and became so proud of it that he started to comment on how the leg wasn't right. The painter jumped out from where he was hiding and yelled that the cobbler should go no further than the shoe. 

We are allowed opinions, but is it wise to voice them? Let us be careful not to go 'beyond the shoe.'

Pollicitation

 

Pollicitation - an as yet unaccepted invitation.

The unaccepted invitation holds a lot of potential. It could be a wonderful occasion or opportunity, life-changing, fun, educational. 

Or it might be a colossal waste of time, a drain on energy, a trip down a sidetrack that takes you off course.

The pollicitation 'sits on the mantelpiece' until we decide to accept or send our apologies. 

So how do you decide which invitations to accept? What criteria do you apply? And how often are you prepared to take a risk that this may be something that changes your life?

Expergefactors

 

Expergefactor - something that wakes you up.

It could be the birds singing, or your alarm clock, or maybe, or anything that jolts you out of sleep. 

If we stretch it further, we could think of something that kicks you out of a rut or a state where you are drifting along unthinkingly as an expergefactor. 

Are there areas in life where you are sleepwalking along? Are you in need of an expergefactor? 

Scurryfunge

 

We've all done it - a quick scurryfunge when we spot that friend coming up the path. It's the tidying you do on the way to open the door. It's an old-fashioned word that I want to reinstate as it sounds just like what it is. 

Are there any words that have fallen out of favour that you'd like to see make a comeback?

Symmachy

 

Symmachy - joining together in war against a common enemy.

We don't have to think only of war here. We can think of symmachy as providing support for anyone going through a tough time. We can stand beside them and offer the help they need, whether that means being there to listen, taking on some household chores to ease the burden, or holding someone's hand as they receive a diagnosis or grieve a loved-one. 

So when you see someone who needs an ally, be in symmachy with them.

Cultellation

 

Cultellation - the process of cutting something difficult into smaller pieces.

Originally this word was used to refer to measuring difficult things such as the heights of mountains, or distance over rough terrain, where the distance was measured in small, more manageable chunks. Now it is used for anything that is overwhelming or difficult but that can achieved by being broken down to smaller pieces. 

When you're feeling overwhelmed, either by a big problem or lots of things on your plate, break it down and suddenly it becomes more achievable. 

Growlery

 Growlery - the place you go, or the thing you do, when in a mood, to help you feel better.

This word is used by Dickens in reference to a room that Mr. Jarndyce retreats to in Bleak House. It is a safe place to vent and to work through, ponder, and dissipate a bad mood. It might also be used to refer to something you do if you don't have a room to retreat to, such as going for a walk, or painting it out, or taking a nap. 

What are the things you do or the places you go to work through it when you feel down or out of sorts?

Extravagate

 

Extravagate - pushing beyond that which is ordinary or expected.

It is the breaking out of routine. When you feel trapped, in a rut, or lacking a challenge, maybe you need to extravagate, to break out of the box. It could be as simple as walking a different way when you go somewhere familiar. Or using a colour you normally avoid in a painting. 

I guess in a way I'm extravagating through January by doing these simpler pages and learning new words :)

Allaborate

 

Allaborate - to work hard on something.

It can be disheartening to work hard at something and not see much progress. But when you keep going at something, you improve, even if it is a little at a time. Yes, there is some natural ability that can give you an advantage at the start, but even the most talented have to keep practicing to improve on their skill. You can feel like you're going round in circles, but really it's a spiral and you are, slowly but surely, improving, so don't lose heart. That hard work will yield results in the end.

Aphercotropism

 

Aphercotropism - literally 'turning away from an obstruction', it is the movement of a plants roots, shoots, etc. around obstacles such as stones in the soil or fences in the way of new shoots. (From The Cabinet of Calm by Paul Anthony Jones)

I have decided that I will use January to learn new words and record them in my journal. I want to simplify my pages for this month just to shake things up a little. 

So, aphercotropism. Why is this a useful word? It is good to be reminded that just because we hit an obstacle doesn't mean that we have to give up or give in. There is a way round it, even if it takes a long time. If we hit a wall, we can go around, or over, or under, or make a door through it. When you meet roadblocks this year remember that the roots and shoots of the smallest plants find a way, and so can you.

Umwelt

'Umwelt' - the world as it is experienced by a particular organism.

We all experience the world through a lens. There are things we miss because we are not looking for them, or maybe we are incapable of seeing them. If we could see like bees, we would see ultraviolet, and yet other animals don't see any colour. Our biology is the reason for some of our 'unseeing'. But we also don't see the things we don't want to see, or have been trained not to see, hear, or acknowledge.

Let 2024 be the year where we expand our umwelt; where we deliberately try to understand other cultures, other opinions, everything 'other'.