Definition of the week: Discombobulate

As in: Karen just returned to work from a two-week vacation and she is all discombobulated.

Discombobulate
From m-w.org

Main Entry: dis·com·bob·u·late
Pronunciation: \ˌdis-kəm-ˈbä-b(y)ə-ˌlāt\
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): dis·com·bob·u·lat·ed; dis·com·bob·u·lat·ing
Etymology: probably alteration of discompose
Date: circa 1916

: upset, confuse

— dis·com·bob·u·la·tion \-ˌbä-b(y)ə-ˈlā-shən\ noun

Definition of the week: The early bird catches the worm

Phrases.org
The early bird catches the worm:

Meaning
Success comes to those who prepare well and put in effort.

Origin
This is first recorded in John Ray's A collection of English proverbs 1670, 1678:

"The early bird catcheth the worm."

Clearly, the title of the work indicates that this was considered proverbial even in the 17th century.

Definition of the week: Footloose and Fancy Free

Answers.com definition
FOOTLOOSE AND FANCY FREE: Having no attachments, especially romantic ones, and free to do as one pleases. For example, when I was in my twenties, footloose and fancy-free, I would travel at the drop of a hat. Both of these words have long been used separately; their pairing dates only from the 1900s.

Definition of the week: "The dickens!"

Dickens was — and still is, though people hardly know it any more — a euphemism for the Devil, according to World Wide Words.

It is used in expressions such as "what the dickens," "where the dickens," "the dickens you are!," and "the dickens you say!"

The Phrase Finder Web site

Meaning: A lot; as in 'hurts like the dickens' or 'run like the dickens!'

Origin: Nothing to do with Charles Dickens. Dickens is a euphemism for the word devil, possibly via devilkins. Shakespeare used it in 'the Merry Wives of Windsor: 'I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had him of.'

Definition of the week: Love

One of the teens at work, 17-year-old Cooper Galvin, interviewed some seventh grade girls at Steller Secondary about their definition of love. I just really dig this interview. It is silly. :)

Definition of the week: Rosie

Though my name is not spelled the same, I can relate to this.

urbandictionary.com
Definition: Rosie
A name given to a select few women who are extraordinary! We pride ourselves on doing our best and always being friendly. However there is nothing that we Rosies can't stand more than our ever famous nicknames and phrases that come with the fabulous name: Nosy rosie, rosie palms (and her five friends), rosie posie pudding and pie (kissed the boys and made em cry), Rosie o'donnell, Rosanne!, and ring around the rosie. Nor do we enjoy you telling us that you have a pet named after us. "o rosie! i have a dog named rosie!" But we still stay sweet and cute and that is why you love us! To sum it all up, its the best name in the land!

The world would be a better place if we were all rosie!

P.S. Looks like I am not the only Rosey with an ego. Ha!

Definition of the week: Doppelganger

Urbandictionary.com
1. Doppelganger

Someone that looks the exact same as another person. yet not a twin. ghost identical to living person: an apparition in the form of a double of a living person

Example: yo i saw someone that looked just like u...could have been your doppelganger

LOOK-A-LIKE?

Rich Stromberg and Josh Harty

I knew this lady who had a twin, not by blood, in her own town. Her parents went to the local fast food restaurant and thought there clerk was their own daughter but she wasn't. "Jody! You never told us you got a job!" "I'm not Jody."

Once I was in Atlanta, Georgia and I swore I saw this kid from my brother's baseball team working at a water park. But the kid at the park swore up and down he had never been to Alaska and, for that matter, didn't know anyone who had.

My roommate Mindy has a twin in Fairbanks, they are exactly like each other in every way but looks. They both study infectious diseases, come from military dads and korean moms, have an affinity for local music and guys with guitars, the list goes on.

And then, last night I went to a BBQ/music jam and met this musician who looks like he could be the doppelganger of a friend Rich Stromberg, who I originally met working at the college newspaper at UAA. Josh Harty is a singer/songwriter originally from Fargo, North Dakota who is going to play a show at Humpy's tonight.

You tell me. They long lost brothers or what?

Definition of the week: Power Animal Shirt

So, my roommate Mindy and I stumbled upon greatness this week when she purchased an animal t-shirt downtown at one of the tourist shops. We knew it was hot right off the bat. But she wore it one day while hanging out with her mom and returned to tell the stories of the power the shirt exudes.

Urbandictionary.com (Coming Soon!)
An animal t-shirt often sold at tourist shops in the U.S., most often printed with an airbrush look. Common Alaska prints include wolves howling at the moon, bears showing some teeth and eagles descending. If you take pictures of these shirts in the night, the power glows.

Example: Mindy is getting hit on all the time because she is rockin' the power animal T. And I heard she won a hula hoop contest because of its magic.

B.Meyers, Mindy and Rosey

Now, we all have one. And those of us who do not, get on it! But good luck trying to find one at a thrift store. I tried and came to the conclusion that when people buy a power animal T, they hold on to it. :D


Roland, Rosey, Lee, Mindy, and Alex


Rosey, Paul and Mindy

Also, check out Lee Post's blog on Power Animals.

Definition of the week: Kindred Spirits

Urbandictionary.com
1. Kindred Spirits

Kindred Spirits are two people that make a special connection by sharing a bond that has joined them by the means of an experience that has drawn them together on a higher level of consciousness. This connection can be from the same experience at the same time or two separate experiences similar in nature.

If two people were in a dramatic situation and had to depend on each other in order to get out of the situation or one having to help rescue the other, they would become bonded as kindred spirits...

Classic example: Kim Cattrall and Kurt Russell both have names that start with "K" and end in two "L"s. Coincidence? I think not.

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

Definition of the week: Man Crush

I must clear something up. A certain friend of mine has misused this term, not going to name names, (ehem, Trina) and I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

Urbandictonary.com
Man Crush : When a straight man has a "crush" on another man, not sexual but kind of idolizing him.

Many straight men end up having man crushes on Johnny Depp (I don't blame them).

Classic example: Barry Piser has a man crush on Gary Cohn, a newspaper reporter who has mad Pulitzer-Prize-winner-skills and the ability to talk sports. And I must mention the crush is/was mutual.

Barry Piser
Gary Cohn

Important note: This, in fact, means that females do not have man crushes.