I’ll drink to that

Dancing Pines Distillery and Grimm Brothers Brewhouse were both mentioned on my blogs (both www.bobsheartbeats.com and www.wordsbybob.com) recently.

While doing a Berthoud Surveyor newspaper  review on the Dancing Pines Distillery, they told me they plan to produce some bourbon or rye whisky.

Coincidentally or due to serendipity, I came across a post today that tells the about whiskey vs. whisky, scotch, Irish whiskey, Tennessee whisky, etc.

Good stuff.   The whiskey vs. whisky website is worth a look.   Through there Broken Secret blog, I l learned that:

• whiskey is Irish and the United States while whisky is the term for other countries.
• whisky is a Gaelic word that means, “water of life”  (go figure)
• Scotch is made in Scotland.  (makes sense)
• Bourbon is named after Bourbon County, Kentucky. 

Thanks to Broken Secrets Editor Chad Upton for the info. See his blog for more detailed data on this topic

Cheers!

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Using ALL CAPS

I hate it when people type messages or email in all capital letters.   Seems someone in the government thinks it is bad to have street signs all capitalized.  

Here is an article from 9News in Denver on the topic.  Sure is costing cities a lot of money.  

Anyone know if Loveland is phasing in the new signs?

Eminent or imminent, which are you?

Eminent or imminent?  This can be tricky since the two words sound very much the same.  Pronunciation and enunciation are important. 

This fact came to mind when I was watching television news last night.  The “talking head” was saying someone was in danger.  I could not really tell which word was used.  (I don’t have closed caption to help me out.)

The correct word in this case would be imminent.

Mompreneur?

Mompreneur is not a word found in the dictionary.  At least, it’s not in the dusty old tome on my bookshelf.  It isn’t even in a couple of the online dictionaries I rely on.

A mompreneur (sometimes spelled momepreneur) is a mother who does a balancing act of being a mother and an entrepreneur.

That makes sense, and I know a few that would fit in this category. 

So, my faithful followers of wordsbybob.com, what are your thoughts on this?

Is a mom who sells from the home in this definition, as well as someone who runs a storefront business?

There is also a term dadpreneur—do you think this should be?

Neologisms abound

Neologism?  Yes — that is a new word meaning, usage or phrase.  In some cases, a neologism is a common word with a new and humorous meaning.

The Washington Post newspaper recently had quite a list of these funny definitions.

Here are a few examples from their article:

• coffee  — a person who is coughed on
• cabbage patch  —  a patch for those trying to stop eating cabbage
• discussion —  a Frisbee-related head injury
• population —  the nice feeling you get when drinking soda

Be sure to check out the full Washington Post article for some others.  I liked racket, gargoyle and flabbergasted too.

Do you have any to add?

Measure it with a Brannock device

Brannock devices have been part of your life, I bet. 

These metal measuring devices are standard fare in any shoe store.  Yes, the funny looking metal tool with adjustable slides and many numbers.  They are accurate at telling the shoe salesperson your true shoe size.

 Its inventor, Charles Brannock, was born in Syracuse, New York in 1903. He grew up in the family retail show business.

How bout them hedge apples

flickr hedge apple Sultry

Call it a hedge apple, hedge ball or osage orange.  They also go by bois d’arc, bodark (in Texas), and bow wood.  Some even call them horse apples, which has a different connotation where I came from.   Its scientific name is Maclura pomifera.

The topic of this inedible (except maybe by livestock) fruit came up at a recent family picnic.

Some of the attendees had an aversion to spiders.  It was mentioned that the hedge apple is a natural way to repel the hairy critters.  Sounds better than fumigation.

In the spirit of exploration and science, we purchased some of the weird-looking orbs. According to lore, you don’t cut them, just place them on a piece of foil or something and leave them in your window sills.  Spiders and other creepy-crawlers do not like the odor they emit. (I couldn’t smell a thing when I inhale near one.)