word loss | The Direction of Intention

Word Play [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on February 28, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Do you know what these are called?” she asked.

The homeowner, smiling that someone was appreciating his garden, replied, “I don’t know but they’ve been there since I was a kid.”

She whispered to me, “I know what they’re called but I can’t remember.” And then, as we continued down the road, she abruptly stopped, arms thrust high as if she’d just kicked the winning goal, “Snowdrops! They’re snowdrops!” The celebration of a thought retrieved from a long lost corner of the mind. “Snowdrops,” she smiled and strutted.

Beyond the strut-and-dance of word retrieval, there’s a great opportunity in this time of lost words. I adore the words we invent to replace a missing word. We stray far beyond the boundary of thing-a-ma-gig. Whos-e-what-see is child’s play compared to the sounds that come out of our mouths. They sometimes sound like remedial German: Schodenhammer. They sometimes sound like dinosaurs: Velocimapper. Shakespeare, the greatest of word inventors, reminds us that language is not a fixed thing. I think he’d be delighted by our spontaneous additions to the English language. “Make it rhyme!” he’d cheer!

And then, when a word goes missing and spontaneous-word-invention fails, there are the delicious descriptions. “Dough with things stuffed inside. You know! You cook them!” Ravioli? Pot Sticker? Gyoza? “That thing you fold and put in your pocket. It has money in it. Sometimes. And credit cards.” Oh, yes, even the most mundane word can hide for a while. The green thing with a big pit inside. Poor lost avocado.

Where do these words go? Vacation? I loved the homeowner’s response: I don’t know but they’ve been there since I was a kid.

read Kerri’s blog about SNOWDROPS

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buymeacoffee is a word…well, three words smashed together to make a clever title for a donation site.

Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Language, Navel Gazing | Tagged: aging, aging brain, artistry, child's play, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, description, invention, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, make it up, shakespeare, snowdrops, story, studio melange, the melange, word drop, word loss, word play, words | 1 Comment »

Forget It! [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on January 13, 2024 by davidrobinsoncreative

Words have become like socks in a dryer. With no reasonable explanation they simply disappear into space. Two socks go in. One sock comes out.

We’ve turned our word loss into a game. “ARGH! I CAN’T THINK OF THE WORD!” she says. “IT BEGINS WITH A THE LETTER C.” And so we commence a hearty round of word-hide-and-seek. And, inevitably, invariably, the lost word does not begin with C but is hiding behind any other of the 25 available letters in the alphabet. We know the game is over when the word jumps out of hiding and we declare, “YES! THAT’S IT!” followed by, “Wait. That doesn’t begin with C…”

The good news? I can’t remember it. But I know it’s here somewhere and begins with the letter “G”.

Read Kerri’s blog about LOST WORDS

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buymeacoffee is the secret potion capable of keeping our vocabulary intact.

Filed under: Language, smack-dab | Tagged: aarp, aging, artistry, cartoon, cartoon about middle age, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, grocery shopping, hide and seek, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, language, mind blank, old record, second chances, smack-dab, story, studio melange, the melange, two artists, word drops, word loss, words | 1 Comment »

Wear One Sock [on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on July 23, 2022 by davidrobinsoncreative

My elders warned me but I scoffed. It will never happen to me! “Words,” they cautioned, “will become like socks in the dryer. Two sock-words will go into the spinning barrel of your mind. Only one will come out.”

What happens to the other sock? Where is that perfect word match? I open the drawer of my brain only to find half the word-socks have gone missing. Poof.

I should never have scoffed. I wander through my days trying to mask the fact that I’m only wearing a single word-sock.

I imagine the satisfied smiles of all the ancestors getting the last laugh. “Told you so,” they smirk, frown, and ask, suddenly snapping their fingers to stimulate their synapses, “And, what’s your name, again?”

I’d tell them (in my imagination) but think it’s good practice to exercise their brains so I smile and quip, “Who’s asking?”

read Kerri’s blogpost about WORD LOSS