Columbus, Ohio
December 2000
It's 23 degree F (-5 degree C). The small lake behind our place is frozen
solid. The generously sprinkled snow makes a soft cushion to tempt any
laggard leaf that has not yet fallen in tune with nature.
My daughter Ananya and I are getting ready to go out. The peak of winter has
its dress code. "It is too cold out there," I tell her. "Let's wear two pairs
of pants." The mind of a three-year-old has its own ways to interpret our
Centigrades and Fahrenheits. "It's two cold today so we need to wear two
pairs of pants?" she asks.
Clothed for the occasion, we take our make-shift sled -- an empty plastic box
tied to a blue nylon rope -- and head out. Her "friends" and "sister" --
Winnie the Pooh, Chief the Dog, and a doll -- accompany us as we go out onto
the lake. She tugs at the rope and the sled makes a path in the fresh snow.
The friends and sister seem to be enjoying the ride as we cross the frozen
lake, walking, running, and skiing in our boots. Now it's her turn to sit in
the sled and the friends and sister cheerfully make room and welcome her in.
And it's my turn to pull the sled.
"I wonder, where we get zero cold?" she inquires.
"Hmm...," I try to think of an example, one she is familiar with, "In Hawaii."
"And one cold?"
"In Seattle."
She iterates through other possibilities until we reach the extremes.
"How about five cold?"
"That would be the North Pole."
"And six cold?"
"There is no such thing as six cold."
"So can we go to the North Pole?" Her eyes brighten, "I can play with the
polar bears there and meet Santa!"
"Sure, we can," I assure her.
Even with our heavy coats, gloves, mittens, caps, mufflers, socks, boots,
and two pairs of pants, cold is beginning to seep in. Our noses have turned
red and it's time to go back in. I hold the friends and sister while she
eagerly fills the sled with snow for the snowman we'll make in our living
room.
New snow begins falling as if trying to make up for all that we've picked
up. I treasure the moments as I wonder about her future, keenly aware of our
fleeting time together. With unfettered imagination who is to say where a
child can't reach?
* * *
In this week's words we'll see a few uncommon homophones - words that are
pronounced the same but have different meanings or spellings - of common
words.
bight (byt) noun
1. A bend in a coastline; also the body of water along such a curve.
Example: The Bight of Benin in W. Africa.
2. The curved part or the middle of a rope (as contrasted with the ends).
[From Old English byht (bend). Ultimately from Indo-European root bheug-
(to bend) that is also the source of bow, bagel, bee, bog, akimbo, and
buxom (originally one who is obedient or pliant).]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=bight
-Anu Garg
gargATwordsmith.org
"[Hurricane] Wilma's surge proved too much for two houseboats that sank
to the bottom of the bight."
Brian Haas; Hard-hitting Storm Takes Some Bluster Out of Key West;
The Seattle Times; Oct 25, 2005.
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............................................................................
How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude! -Emily
Dickinson, poet (1830-1886)
Discuss this week's theme or words at our online bulletin board:
http://wordsmith.org/board
Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/bight.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/bight.ram
Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/bight.html
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