I always love to hear new words or expressions and, although I don’t catch on too quickly to the YOLO, OMG, ROFLMAO kinda acronyms used by the kids of today, it’s interesting to hear another language and try to appreciate what it all means. Even more so when it is actually a real language, with culture and history attached. And although the English language seems to have quite a lot of words to choose from, sometimes you’ll hear a word or expression from another land and think: bingo! That really captures it perfectly – I wish we had a word like that.
In honour of some of those types of words, artist Fuchsia Macaree put together an alphabet of expressive words that are missing from the English language. Here are some examples…
By Fuchsia MacareeBy Fuchsia MacareeBy Fuchsia MacareeBy Fuchsia Macaree
You can check out the rest of this clever collection at the Fast Company magazine Co. Create site here. While you’re enhancing your vocabulary, just remember that you can’t use these words in Scrabble, no matter how tempted you may be…
I love word games. Yes, I’m a dork like that. And of course Scrabble is the daddy (or mummy, in the case of my family) of all word games. It gives you the chance to trot out all of those strange words you’ve read over the years and not really understood, while you try and block your opponent from getting their tiles anywhere near a triple word opportunity. And now there’s Words with Friends, which is sort of like Scrabble with a much higher tolerance for fake words, and you can play on your iphone as you sit on the bus or wait for the Doctor or pretend to work.
But whether you’re playing on the board or on the screen, there comes a time when you’re just staring vacantly, with no clue about what to do with the tiles in your rack. You need a different perspective – a fresh view of your options. Though I don’t think you’d have that same problem with this particular version of Scrabble that I found for sale at Hammacher Schlemmer.
For only $12,000 you could own this giant Scrabble set that’s sure to both impress and frighten your friends. According to the website, it’s the world’s largest wall-mounted Scrabble game – one of only nine that was handmade by artist John Kahn. It even comes with giant racks for your tiles. The product blurb says that it’s “nearly 5x the size of the original” – now, I’m not sure if that man in the photo is a pixie, but it seems a lot bigger than 5x the original to me!
Anyways, you can read more about this interactive work of art at the Hammacher Schlemmer website here. Although if you’re like me – closer to the floor than the ceiling – then you might need to consider a step-ladder to make sure that those triple word scores are still within reach. Cos I reckon it’d be so much sweeter to beat your opponent with a giant triple word than a normal triple word. Game on.
I love movies. From the classics, to quirky arthouse films, to those sort of pathetic teeny flicks where the smart, funny girl gets the dream guy when she removes her spectacles and takes down her ponytail and OMG SHE’S STUNNING. Yep, those ones. So I really like these prints, which I found on Fab.com. Here’s the story: Cooper Blacula, named for the great typeface and even greater movie, is a print series of classic films summed up in one brief and broken sentence and typeset in Cooper Black. These posters, sold exclusively through Fab.com, are museum quality prints on enhanced matte cover stock and printed with archival inks. All posters float in a quarter inch white border. Like so…
So much more than a handyman, Mr Miyagi.And nobody puts baby in a corner.Who ya gonna call?Save Ferris.And little Drew Barrymore screams.Oh Maverick, you’re a goose.
You can check out the range of prints at the Cooper Blacula site here. And the collection makes me realise how many more dodgy films I have yet to see!
I mentioned a little a while ago that I bought some ridiculously bright pink running shoes in an attempt to run faster. After a reasonable testing period, I am thinking of writing to the manufacturer to tell them that THEIR SHOES AREN’T WORKING PROPERLY.
As a bit of background, I am not what you’d call a natural athlete. It is not a genetic gift with which the children in my family were blessed. I mean, you know, we can all walk without bumping into stuff, but we weren’t really runners or netballers or footballers or gymnasts or swimmers. My younger brother and I were t-ball players (and I don’t even know if that version of junior baseball exists anymore) and I played volleyball and a teeny bit of tennis in high school. Where the coach was the same creepy old dude that had coached my mother when she attended the same school some decades earlier, so it wasn’t exactly Wimbledon.
The Bay Run, Canada Bay in Sydney. [Image from NSW Govt Planning & Infrastructure]Anyways, a few years ago I started to run a bit because it seemed like the thing to do. I felt like I was still too young and too dog-less to be going for walks, and running always looked pretty cool. When I watched other people doing it, that is. I was running a few times a week for a while there (the Bay Run in Sydney was my stomping / slumping ground) and my fitness improved and I remember feeling fairly self-righteous after I exercised. But then I fell off the wagon. And the cruel thing about a long break in exercise is that it’s not like riding a bike – your body (well, at least, my body) doesn’t pick up right where it left off and say, ‘oh yeah, we’re running again – I remember this, let’s go’. Not even close.
Path to Mosman Bay. [Image from Sydney Diary Star]So now I’m starting again. Along a beautiful track, with my new shoes, the Pinkies, for motivation. And since I’m a bit older, I don’t want to risk getting injured or collapsing on the side of the road, so I’m following a training program called Couch to 10k. I had started with a Couch to 5k program a few years ago and I liked the gradual increase in intervals, so that the running kind of snuck up on you. And I also liked the way they encouraged you to take a day off every other day.
I found an app called 10K for Pink – it’s a free app that someone somewhere had recommended and it’s pretty good – I’m up to Week 6 of the 14 week program now. It’s great because I can just concentrate on breathing while I play my music and a lady in an upbeat voice interrupts at intervals to tell me what to do – “start running”, “start walking”, “you have one minute left” and my favourite: “start your cool down”.
If the Pinkies aren’t exactly making me faster, at least they’re super-light, which must surely mean that it’s a little easier to lift my feet. And it also means that I have no excuses when I go on a couple of trips later this year – the Pinkies will be coming with me, tucked into my suitcase and ready to run in the northern hemisphere. Since the first trip is in a few weeks, I thought I should introduce the Pinkies as (a) it will help to keep me running, now that you know and (b) they may post from their travels if they run across any everyday sparks. And if you’re thinking of running, you can check out the Couch to 10k program that I’m using here. It did seem like a good idea at the time!
I’m not really a mani-pedi kinda gal. But sometimes I see people with perfectly groomed nails and I wish I could be so dedicated. And if I were so inclined, there are certainly many ways to bring some personality to the tips of your digits through polish or decals or, you know, metallic caviar beads.
Hail the Nails in the UK sells this bizarre look, which would appear equally at home sprinkled on top of cupcakes (though these ones aren’t edible). There are a few steps to the process – painting the nails, then coating the nails, then sprinkling on the beads. This ‘metallic caviar’ is interesting, but I think I’d prefer 100s and 1000s. Maybe there’s a market for a new look: Fairy Bread Fingers. Maybe…
Or perhaps this poodle decal is more your scene. The Fog Shoppe (and yes, I do always pronounce that “Shop-ee” in my head), feature a few different breeds, so you can wear your favourite. And in case you’re a fickle kinda person whose favourite breed changes regularly, I recommend a nail decal instead of a tattoo.
Then there are these fairly creepy black spider and spider web nails from Inspired Nails. I like to think that somewhere there’s a serious, conservative corporate type prepared to don these for a Board meeting, just to see the reaction. Or the coolest paediatrician in town could impress Spiderman fans with this set.
There’s also a huge collection of Hello Kitty nail decals, if they’re your thing. And lots of moustaches, which is a craze that I still don’t quite get. And chess pieces and sporting team logos and South Park characters and spots and stripes and checks. It’s like a whole other world of fashion out there – and they’re cheap and disposable, so you can change your mind daily.
You can check out Hail the Nails here, The Fog Shoppe here and Inspired Nails here. Or just google ‘nail decals’ and prepare to be amazed. And a little bit scared.
everydaysparks 