Words

Yikes! I just looked at the clock and I only have 64 minutes to get this written and posted to maintain the NaBloPoMo goal. Yikes! Why did I put it off all day?

Probably because I just didn't know what to write about. I spent the day cleaning and ironing. I even straightened a shelf in the bathroom closet. My sisters are coming for a visit and while I don't think they'll even look in the bathroom closet, I thought it was a good opportunity to put all the first aid bandages and creams in one spot. I got the back of the house done today; will shoot for the front tomorrow. By the time sister #1 gets in, we'll both be too tired to care if things are clean or not. But it might not get done again for awhile. And if anyone cuts themselves or gets some other kind of booboo, well I'll know right where the first aid paraphenalia is. How's that for organized.

Can you tell I'm stalling? I'm down to 57 minutes. Damn!

Okay, here it goes. I heard a man on the radio today talking about Ron Paul. I've seen bumper stickers for this guy but have to admit I didn't have a clue as to who he is until today. Seems he's another Texan running for President. [An aside ... are we really ready for another Texan as president?] Apparently he made some huge amount of money for his campaign fund yesterday which probably has Hillary locked in a closet nervously counting her campaign coins, as if anybody could catch her when it comes to funding. That's all I know about it. In the course of the commentary, the radio man used the word juggernaut.

While I have heard of the word before I couldn't have given a definition off the top of my head. And to be honest, I don't think I've ever used "juggernaut" in a sentence. Which got me to thinking about the word, in the same way as when I have a scab, and it itches so I scratch it and it bleeds, and then scabs over again, and itches .... well you get the picture. For about an hour I couldn't stop thinking about the word juggernaut. Which led me to thoughts of cosmonaut, astronaut, and aquanaut.

When I googled all the words I found that the last three have the "naut" suffix in common, which means they have to do with travel. But juggernaut is a word unto itself - no suffix added at all. It is derived from a sanskrit word that has to do with the Jagannath Temple, which is one of India's most famous. It's known for its annual procession of chariots carrying statues of Jagannath.

From what I can tell this was a big ass procession and at times worshipers fell under the wheels of the gigantic chariot or were killed in stampedes. This caused the British colonials who sat back sipping their gin and tonics as the parade went by to use the word "juggernaut" to refer to "other forces of unstoppable, crushing forces."

I guess if you really think about it, since a chariot is a kind of traveling machine, and the "Jagannath" was riding on the chariot a juggernaut could hold its own with the other "naut" words I mentiond. I mean, if you replace the n's in the middle of the word with "uggers" then you'd have jugger-nath which is only two letters shy of juggernaut. The it would only be a short stretch to say that the jugger- and the astro- and the cosmo- all have the "naut" in common.

So now that I know what the word means, I still don't think I would ever use it in a sentence. Would you?

Done with minutes to spare.

Merry ME

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