How's that word grab you? Ten syllables, I think I counted, maybe eleven. Too many, that's for danged sure!
What does it mean? It means "the fear of Friday, the 13th". In doing a Google search for this word - Who in their right minds would have at their memory bank's beck and call a word like this, I want to know?!? - I discovered three different* spellings for it (LOL) and a bunch of interesting stories.
*I just arbitrarily chose one of the three. Figured I couldn't be far off.
So, what am I doing this Friday, the 13th? Not much, I'll tell you that. (So what else is new, right?)
I don't have a 'fear' of Friday, the 13th, per se, but I notice that my conscious self is always aware of when it comes around. Does it seem like it's here way too often to you, or is it just me? I guess I could take the time and do the math on this one, but I just don't feel like it. Too much of a bother.
What I really want to talk about today is the fact that next week is officially Geography Awareness Week, according to my monthly newsletter from National Geographic.
All sorts of specials will be offered on the National Geographic Channel, for those of you who have cable. (It's a cable channel, isn't it? I don't have cable.) Home-schooling mothers (and fathers) will be particularly interested in watching these with their students, I would imagine.
This year's theme is "Get Lost in Mapping", and there's a world map that you can download for free if you visit their website. All you need - according to the article I read - is paper, tape, and a world of imagination. I'm really tempted to do it, but I figure I have way too much paper gathering dust around here as it is!
However, I might change my mind and add to the clutter, anyway. A current world map would be of great interest to me. I wonder how big it is when it's all downloaded and taped together. If anyone does download it, add a comment to this post and tell us how big it is when it's all put together, will you? Just for grins.
Have a happy and safe Friday the 13th, everyone, and I'll catch all y'all later.
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4 comments:
Boy, that IS some word! I have no fear of Friday the 13th - it's Dr. M's birthday today! And he was born on a Friday the 13th too - so it's a good day in my book.
I have no idea whether or not it's the longest word in existence, Bug, but it took me 'forever' to type it as the headline ... had to keep looking back, almost every other letter it seemed, to see what came next. There didn't seem to be any recognizable or familiar pattern until I finally got to 'phobia'.
Hope you and Dr. M had just a great day celebrating his birthday yesterday! What a special day this must be for you. Interesting that he was born on a Friday the 13th, as well. Hmmm.
hi goldenrod - i like firday the thirteenth! my class usually shows up slightly on edge waiting for something weird or strange to happen. so they spend their day waiting and waiting and of course nothing really weird - well nothing weirder than normal - happens in my class so off they go as usual. it's like ladders and black cats. . . all in the mind!!!! stories in your mind!!! have a lovely saturday the fourteenth! steven
Great to hear from you, Steven! Am tickled (relieved?) to hear that 'nothing really weird' happened in your classroom Friday. Yes, a lot of it is in one's mind, but then that's where the imagination often seems to work overtime, isn't it? :)
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