a WANNABE: a wallaby that looks enviously at the kangaroo.
WASTE AWAY: unneeded refuse. ln humans this comes out from the waist region.
WATCH: you watch a watch.
WATERFALLS: water that falls. Simple. But, when water falls, does it still flow? And how does water fall without coming apart?
WELCOME: togreetandembrace withwarmthavisitor.Areduced formof the standardized greeting, “Well, Come on in.”
WELFARE: a system of government (the Welfare State) or a governmental
program which aims through the benevolence of its bureaucrats and under the
auspices of politicians to ensure that all citizens are well and treated fair -- really
hoping that they fair well.
WET: I'm stuck on this one. Not dry? Why, tell me why, water is wet?
WHETHER: if, maybe, depends on. The weather is always unpredictable as is common knowledge.
"WHERE THERE lS A WLL, THERE lS A WAY": a very common maxim (often overheard at Maxim's ), especially prevalent in this age of lawyers. Often meant by them as; if there is a will written, there is a way to contest it and get a proper share of papa's pie.
WlNE: from the vine. What comes after vine is wine.
WINDOW: wind + out. Contrary to what might seem at first so obvious, the word “window” doesn't signify to look out onto or at something. The problem with a window in any dwelling,building is not that we needed to see out or even that rain or snow might get inside (there was a roof after all) but rather the wind. The first windows represented a way of both seeing out and keeping the wind out, thus the first exclamation after a hole was put in a wall might have been, “ Wind? Oh!”.
WINDFUCKER: a bird named for the kestrel. lt was named for the graceful way it hovers up and down over the infinite, deep sea. ln most dictionaries the word “fuck” only appears in this context, giving the windfucker the unlikely distinction of being the only word which contains this blasphemous, secret (sacred) word.
WORD PROCESSOR: a machine capable of refining words into edible, non disagreeable, grammatically correct script. lt's principal innovations over the typewriter being the delete button ( usually used without a second thought but begetting the question, why with this device so handy, are writers so long winded, out of shape?) and spelchek. The white bread of literary technology. Form before
function. Writers now don't have a handicap.
WORLD CLASS: 1) life is a learning experience, a classroom. ln knowing this one can be “world class”. 2) homo sapien sapien consumerus.
WRITER: a person who tries to right the world through writing, invoking their own version of potential events. Unfortunately, this kind of writing is very rare and has gone out of vogue. The word has drifted frorn its centre. Most writers have no social conscience, a gear stripped clean they spin and spin words while the world waits to be arighted.
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The Idiot's Dictionary
Non-Fiction"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone. "It means just what I choose it to mean - neither more or less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Hu...
