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Crossed the Line: Halfway Through AHD4 (Leda - Levant)

(2022-12-10 16:07:06) 下一个

The following quote

 

    Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

    - Samuel Johnson

 

caught Bill's eye on a Facebook post. In the picture below, the guy was

receiving his blackbelt from a legendary BJJ master. For a moment, Bill was

taken in: Dr. Johnson was legit, his maxim rang deep, and the jiu-jiteiro was

promoted after 10+ years of hard work.

 

But then, he started to ask himself: for one that succeeded, in anything, how

many tried and failed? Geniuses like Da Vinci accomplished one feat after

another throughout life without breaking a sweat. Why there haven't been more

like him? And then there was Niels Bohr, the physicist, who said that the oppostie

of true was false but the opposite of a profound truth another profound truth.

In other words, "Great works are performed not by perseverance but by strength" could be equally true.

 

At length, this internal discussion led nowhere and confused and agitated, Bill

gave up and came back to what he did everyday--copying the dictionary. And soon,

the soothing scratching sound of the pencil on the 32-line college ruled paper

calmed him down.

 

Convinced that he was making progress (after all, he was going forward on paper)

Bill had secretly expected good things to come out of his daily grind. From very

young, he was inspired by stories such as dripping water bored through stone and

the amazing things one would achieve had he only done a small amount of fill-in-

the-blank a day.

 

Three years, however, seemed enough to prove that it was a delusion: no monumental

success looming on the horizon and, except for a few more wrinkles on his face,

nothing was visibly transformed. Often, after being fascinated by its description,

he forgot right away the entry word he had just transcribed. It took him this long

to realize that each word was a mini-story and, all this time, he was only trying

to escape boredom and reality and to entertain himself. He already had fun and it

would be quite ungrateful, let alone missing the point, to ask for anything else.

 

Therefore, after finishing page 1003, the official midway of the AHD4(The American

Heritage Dictionary, 4th Ed), he decided to select a few words and jot them down

regularly, not as a task or obligation to meet but a pleasure to look forward to.

 

- Leda

  Leda the queen of Sparta mothered four kids: Pollux and Helen by Zeus and

  Castor and Clytemnestra by her husband Tyndareus. The poor king seemed the

  least known. At Bill's workplace, two servers were named castor and pollux and

  he planned to name two of his computers after the two most famous daughters.

  

- left bank

  Bill had always referred to the trail he rode bike on "the paved side" of the

  Alameda Creek Trail. And it was a great pleasure to learn that from now on he

  can call it the left side. He learnt it from one definition of the word left:

  

        left: 1c. Located on the left side of a person facing downstream.

 

- leghorn

  This was the name of a street in Mountain View. According to the dictionary,

  it is also

  

        Any of a breed of small hardy domestic fowl of Mediterranean origin,

        noted for prolific production of eggs.

 

  If Bill were to have a big enough garden, he'd definitely raise some leghorns.

 

- leotard

  n. A snugly fitting, stretchable one-piece garment with or without sleeves

  that covers the torso, worn especially by dancers gymnasts, acrobats, and

  those engaging in exercise workouts.

 

- leonine [lion] and leporine [rabbit or hare]

 

- lethe

  n. 1. Lethe Greek Mythology The river of forgetfulness, one of five rivers in

  Hades. 2. A condition of forgetfulness; oblivion. - Lethean adj.

 

- letup

  n. 1. A reduction in pace, force, or intensity; a slowdown. 2. A temporary

  stop; a pause.

 

- leuko or leuk- also leuco- or leuc-

  pref. 1. White; colorless: leukoderma. 2. Leukocyte: leukopenia.

 

- leukocyte

  n. See white blood cell.

 

- levant intr. Chiefly British To leave hurriedly or in secret to avoid unpaid debts.

 

- Levant The countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Egypt.

 

- Levant n. A heavy, coarse-grained morocco leather often used in bookbinding.

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