Some weeks ago, the National Scripps spelling bee was broadcast on national TV. Not So you think you can dance?, but my kind of reality programming anyway. Yes, geeky. The penultimate word given was Weltshmerz, a condition from which I have been suffering from my earliest memory without knowing that such a word existed. Ah, the Germans have great words for things.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Weltschmertz \Welt"schmertz`\, n. [G., fr. welt world + schmertz
pain. See World; Smart, v. i.]
Sorrow or sadness over the present or future evils or woes of
the world in general; sentimental pessimism.
So a rep from the Wall Street Journal called yesterday asking me to re-up my subscription. I pleaded Weltschmerz and told him all his news was bad. He didn't even bother with a sales pitch, he just thanked me and hung up. Huh! Well, I learned long ago that acting nutso, or at my age "eccentric", can eliminate a lot of unnecessary personal and public interaction.
Of course when one desires such congress, it it not to be had. It is curious and bizarre that one is constantly barraged with sales pitches everywhere in our society, indeed we are not safe in our own homes anymore, yet when trying to actually purchase an item, competent assistance is nowhere to be found. In the course of our reno, we need to chose many, many, items. We are simple folk, with plain tastes. (Shucks) Logistics and logic send us to Home Depot and Lowe's on a daily basis. We have taken to relying on other bewildered customers for advice and assistance and are ready to share ours. Like the ton of research on toilets, for instance. Many decisions have been reached with kind strangers.
Last night after a particularly long tile search,(floors, walls, backsplashes!) we returned home to find that Caramel ate a hole in the plastic sheeting sealing off the kitchen from the rest of the house, for the dual purposes of poop & pee. It was pretty considerate of her when you think of it, there's no floor to ruin in there. The plastic is a joke, it keeps falling off cause it's too dusty to stick. I feel like I'm living in the Negev ( halevi!) except it's as humid and hot as a jungle. NY in summer! I can mark the workers progress by the color of the dust I wipe up perpetually. The red brick dust is making way for the white dust from sanding the joint compound. I am writing this on the second-floor office. This keyboard is covered in dust. I can see the roof of the kitchen below, covered in red. Outside, the air is thick with pollen and pollutants. Oi vavoi! I am overcome by Schmutzschmerz, a sorrow or sadness over the present or future dust and dirt of my world!
Happily, we are having dinner at a friends house tonight, dustfree!
A joyous solstice to all and to all a late night.
Of course when one desires such congress, it it not to be had. It is curious and bizarre that one is constantly barraged with sales pitches everywhere in our society, indeed we are not safe in our own homes anymore, yet when trying to actually purchase an item, competent assistance is nowhere to be found. In the course of our reno, we need to chose many, many, items. We are simple folk, with plain tastes. (Shucks) Logistics and logic send us to Home Depot and Lowe's on a daily basis. We have taken to relying on other bewildered customers for advice and assistance and are ready to share ours. Like the ton of research on toilets, for instance. Many decisions have been reached with kind strangers.
Last night after a particularly long tile search,(floors, walls, backsplashes!) we returned home to find that Caramel ate a hole in the plastic sheeting sealing off the kitchen from the rest of the house, for the dual purposes of poop & pee. It was pretty considerate of her when you think of it, there's no floor to ruin in there. The plastic is a joke, it keeps falling off cause it's too dusty to stick. I feel like I'm living in the Negev ( halevi!) except it's as humid and hot as a jungle. NY in summer! I can mark the workers progress by the color of the dust I wipe up perpetually. The red brick dust is making way for the white dust from sanding the joint compound. I am writing this on the second-floor office. This keyboard is covered in dust. I can see the roof of the kitchen below, covered in red. Outside, the air is thick with pollen and pollutants. Oi vavoi! I am overcome by Schmutzschmerz, a sorrow or sadness over the present or future dust and dirt of my world!
Happily, we are having dinner at a friends house tonight, dustfree!
A joyous solstice to all and to all a late night.
4 comments:
Only you, my demiurgic wordsmith, would come up with Schmutzschmerz. It's something that all of us asthmatics are forced to embrace.
I watched that national spelling bee! I surprised myself by actually crying! It's that they were all so beautifully supportive of each other, and that they were really competing only against themselves. It was incredible how loving they were. I was rooting for the little brunette, second from the last, but the blonde girl was certainly deserving too. (The first time a girl won since 1996!)
Keep dodging those pollutants.
As I Live and Breathe, City of angles
P.S.
Thought you might like to see what my scrambled Word Verification was:
vhjiina !!!
I have the utmost sympathy for you having actually seen the plastic doorway. Carmelita seems to be as tired of the "work in progress" as you. I have mailed you a package.I thank you again for sharing your life with me. I love you!...the west coast witch
Leftie:
vhjiina I get, but demiurgic? You college kids!
MLF: she ripped the plastic 3 times- the last time, the Roberto had to pick it up and he doesn't even like dogs!!
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