Words of the day: mulled , barred

Dictionary meaning of the words:

Mulled: think about (a fact, proposal, or request) deeply and at length

Barred: In legal context it means obstructed by a bar; subject to hindrance or obstruction by a bar or barrier which, if interposed, will prevent legal redress or recovery; as, when it is said that a claim or cause of action is “barred by the statute of limitations”. Banned, debarred, disallowed, excluded, precluded, prohibited, proscribed, shut out are some of the synonyms for barred.

Below is my attempt to keep up with the times and also have some fun using the words in sentences!

While Mueller mulled, Barr barred prosecution 🙂
The fallout: Mueller can’t mull going public with his findings, Barr finding speculation can’t be barred 😀
Likely path ahead: Folks dissatisfied with the outcome, who feel Barr should have been debarred from announcing his verdict, are mulling about preparing for the Barr exam 😉
With both sides deeply entrenched in their held positions it promises to be a no-holds-barred battle in the weeks ahead!

“Got Barred” is likely to become a phrase used to indicate obstruction in pursuing obstruction charges and we will all be scratching our head while the lawyers and lawmakers battle it out. This situation is clear as mud to me, so much for a definite answer!

Robin/robin conversation

Robin bird, robin bird, where you been hiding?
Bright is the morning
When you start singing
How you been doing?

Robin man, Robin man, you know it’s now Spring
Flew up north to start nesting
I see that you have been packing
Where are you heading?

Robin bird, robin bird, it’s now Spring
Going south to start nesting
Great day for chatting but I better get going
Before cold winds start blowing!

Robin man, Robin man, this is time for relaxing
Enjoy the now and start tomorrow your planning
A life that’s grounded and spent worrying is quite boring
More fun to let ideas take wing, send your imagination soaring!

Words of the day: Perchance, Penchant and Predilection

P’s to all who visit this page 😉 Below are the words of the day!

perchance : by some chance; perhaps.
penchant : a strong or habitual liking for something or tendency to do something.
predilection : a preference or special liking for something; a bias in favor of something.

Now let’s try to all three words in a sentence.

Perchance you did not know the celebrity lawyer, with a penchant for publicity and predilection for courting controversy, was on TV defending his client charged with POT USE 🙂




Hubris, zugzwang, schadenfreude!

Words are used to convey meaning to one’s utterances and writings. Some words get used more than others depending on the person and the language. There are some words that are used less frequently and it piques your interest when you come across their usage the first time. The words that come to my mind today are: hubris, zugzwang and schadenfreude.
If you are interested in etymology hubris has its roots in Greek, zugzwang and schadenfreude have German roots. When I first came across these words I was naturally interested in knowing what they meant. Below is meaning of those words

Hubris: excessive pride or self-confidence
Zugzwang: a situation in which the obligation to make a move in one’s turn is a serious, often decisive, disadvantage
Schadenfreude: pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune

It’s tempting to say I knew the word hubris from the time I was in kindergarten 😀 but that wouldn’t be true and I don’t remember when I first heard or saw that word. Zugzwang I remember more clearly. One episode in TV series Criminal Minds had that title. Retaining that word in memory was also helped by the fact my son used to play chess at that time and the word is also used to describe a situation in the game which is kind of hopeless for the player who has to make the next move. About 10-15 years ago I must have come across the word schadenfreude. Haven’t seen or heard that word much in recent times. Probably it is not used much now. I set out to see if I could use all those words to describe a situation. Here is my attempt.

Imagine a person who is a congenital liar given to boasting all the time. Assume that person is also supremely confident that someone else will always take a bullet for his/her lies and deceptions. If that person claims he can get away with murder, shooting another person in broad daylight at Times Square, that is HUBRIS!
If the liar gets caught in his/her own web of lies and deceit and not able to come up with a proper explanation for his/her words and actions that is ZUGZWANG!
If people who have been repeatedly mortified or affected by the liar’s words and actions find that person in zugzwang the feeling that they experience is SCHADENFREUDE!

Link to snippet of Criminal Minds episode ‘Zugzwang’ which has ‘Say something’ song playing in background:

It’s poignant.

Link to zugzwang explanation in chess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4zNsJ46MQY

Lost in the mists of time

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/5-years-after-mh370s-disappearance-will-the-search-continue-in-the-greatest-aviation-mystery-of-modern-history/70007647

Happy faces boarded a flight hoping to fly north,
Unbeknownst to them their trip would go south;
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this,
What did the innocents do to deserve this?

Days passed and turned into weeks,
Each day brought more innuendo and unconfirmed leaks;
Anxious faces scanned all news, alternating between hope and dread,
One day came the terse announcement “Everyone on flight 370 is dead”

Now they are lost in the mists of time,
They have departed before it was their time;
Searchers looked in vain collecting just an occasional piece,
Lost forever may all aboard MH370 rest in peace


Forgetfulness + Borderline OCD = ?

If your guess was Raj you are right 😀
You might ask what kind of OCD like tendencies. Below are some that come to mind immediately
1) In my wallet I like the $ bills of each denomination together and all the bills in increasing or decreasing order
2) If there is something closer to the edge of a shelf or kitchen island, especially containers with liquids, my natural instinct will be to move it closer to the center so that they are knocked down by accident
3) In the refrigerator all stuff with earlier expiry date in future will be closer to the front for easier access and use
4) If tissue paper roll has a tissue partially torn the “offending” piece will be torn off to the perforation 😀
5) If there is a spelling mistake by me I like to correct it if I can edit it or add a follow up note with correction. If there is a spelling mistake by others I struggle with how to get it corrected by bringing it to attention without offending the person
6) While tipping at restaurants I prefer the final figure to be a round figure. In recent times I have been weaning off this habit to save the effort of calculation
7) If paying by cash will try to get dollar bills as change instead of coins. It’s becoming more difficult now as current wallet does not have separate pocket for coins
8) Used to keep set of quarters handy in car (in a prescription tablet container no less 😀 ) in case of need for parking when I used to drive longer
9) Symmetry: If there are 3 flowering plants, two of them red and one white, the white one will generally be between the two red flower plants
10) Symmetry: Spacing and placement are important on pieces over mantel and entertainment center. If there are two of a kind and three of another kind normal preference would be to not bunch them together
11) Staircase steps: When I use them (which is very rare nowadays 🙂 ) I always like to count the # of steps. Serves no purpose but it’s a habit
12) Staircase steps: If I take 2 steps at a time first step landed will depend on # of steps on a flight of stairs. If the total is even first step will be on step# 2, if total is odd first step will be on step# 1. The meaningless objective is to make each step kinda uniform
13) While sending Emails all Email addresses will generally be in subject area till the Email is fully composed for fear of clicking Send by mistake before it’s fully written
14) Forgetfulness and OCD like combo: I frequently get out of elevator the first time door opens
15) Forgetfulness and OCD like combo: If I have promised to get something for a person will try to keep it in the car as soon as I remember. Generally in driver seat so that it is visible when I open the car driver side door. It’s a different matter that I may forget the item is in the car when I get off the car as I would have placed in different seat before starting the car 😀
16) Forgetfulness and OCD like combo: If there is an important piece of document I need to carry it generally will be stuffed into the wallet if it fits in or placed right over the wallet or near car key so that it is difficult to miss. Couple of times recently I forgot my wallet and realized why I felt something was missing when I noticed it on reaching the gas station or a shop

When I go on a “Why are the shoes not placed properly in the rack OR Why are things placed on the edge” wife and son laugh, probably thinking the OCD like tendency has kicked in 😀 Can’t blame them, almost all of it is trivial in the bigger picture 🙂