Palindrome Monday: Single words

What's a palindrome? A word, phrase, number or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction (the adjustment of punctuation and spaces between words is generally permitted). Composing literature in palindromes is an example of "constrained writing". The word "palindrome" was coined from the Greek root palin ("again") and dromos ("way, direction") by English writer Ben Jonson in the 17th century.

Palindromes date back at least to 79 AD, as the palindromic Latin word square "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas" (The farmer/sower, Arepo, sows the seeds) was found as a graffito at Herculaneum, buried by ash in that year. This palindrome is remarkable for the fact that it also reproduces itself if one forms a word from the first letters, then the second letters and so forth. Hence, it can be arranged into a word square that reads in four different ways: horizontally or vertically from either top left to bottom right or bottom right to top left.

Palindromic words:
civic, radar, level, rotor, kayak, reviver, racecar, redder

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New posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with an occasional post on other days when the spirit moves me.

What are tenterhooks?

Was driving my Aunt around yesterday when she said something like, "This kind of driving has me on tender hooks." I didn't correct her, of course, but the phrase of course is "Has me on tenterhooks."

And then I got to thinking. What are tenterhooks?

Here's the definition from wikipedia:
Tenterhooks were used as far back as the fourteenth century in the process of making woollen cloth. After the cloth was woven it still contained oil from the fleece and some dirt. A fuller (also called a tucker or walker) cleaned the woollen cloth in a fulling mill, and then had to dry it carefully or the wool would shrink. To prevent this shrinkage, the fuller would place the wet cloth on a large wooden frame, a "tenter", and leave it to dry outside. The lengths of wet cloth were stretched on the tenter (from the Latin "tendere", to stretch) using hooks (nails driven through the wood) all around the perimeter of the frame to which the cloth's edges (selvedges) were fixed so that as it dried the cloth would retain its shape and size. At one time it would have been common in manufacturing areas to see tenter-fields full of these frames.

By the mid-eighteenth century the phrase "on tenterhooks" came into use to mean being in a state of uneasiness, anxiety, or suspense, stretched like the cloth on the tenter.

Cowboys overcome tryptophan for moral victory

It's not often that a sports website uses a word that I've never heard before, but CBS Sportsline's article on the Cowboy's defeat today (in football, vs the New Orleans Saint) did it.

What is a tryptofan?

I'm assuming that trypt = 3 (as in tryptych), so perhaps he's talking about the 3 major errors the Cowboys made that ended up in them losing the game, although really, if Roy Williams hadn't fumbled the ball as he was going into the end zone they would have won...

But, here's the official definition:
Tryptophan is one of the 10 essential amino acids that the body uses to synthesize the proteins it needs. It's well-known for its role in the production of nervous system messengers, especially those related to relaxation, restfulness, and sleep.

Not quite the right one! Let's investigate further!

Well...according to Dictionary.com... there is no other definition for this word...

So presumably the author is saying that the Cowboys ate turkey, which made them tired, but they overcame it for a moral victory.

(Apparently there is an "old wive's tale" that eating turkey will make you sleepy.)

What is Gonzo Journalism?

The "Gonzo fist," characterized by two thumbs and four fingers, was originally used in Hunter S. Thompson's 1970 campaign for sheriff of Aspen, Colorado. It has become a symbol of Thompson and Gonzo journalism as a whole.

I was reading the biography of an author on the web, and it said he was a journalist, "mostly of the gonzo variety."

I'd never heard that before, so of course I looked it up.

According to Wikipedia:
Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written subjectively, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word Gonzo was first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style. The term has since been applied to other subjective artistic endeavors.

Gonzo journalism tends to favor style over accuracy and often uses personal experiences and emotions to provide context for the topic or event being covered. It disregards the 'polished' edited product favored by newspaper media and strives for a more gritty approach. Use of quotations, sarcasm, humor, exaggeration, and profanity is common.

Hunter S. Thompson
Thompson based his style on William Faulkner's idea that "fiction is often the best fact." While the things that Thompson wrote about are basically true, he used satirical devices to drive his points home. He often wrote about recreational drugs and alcohol use which added additional subjective flair to his reporting. The term "Gonzo" has also come into (sometimes pejorative) use to describe journalism that is in the vein of Thompson's style, characterized by a drug-fueled stream of consciousness writing technique.

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Vocabulary: gonzo journalism

Crossword clue: Hunter S. Thompson. (Author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, inventor of Gonzo Journalism)

Manifesto

Words and their meanings, and tips on how to solve them.