Word of the Day: Hokum
Hokum (noun): (1) pretentious nonsense; (2) a device found to elicit a display of mirth or sentimental emotion from an audience and therefore deliberately used to impel persons to a desired action.
Fun Fact: hokum is likely a combination of the words hocus-pocus and bunkum.
USING HOKUM IN SENTENCES
The pot-bellied politician jiggled as he spouted nonsensical hokum to the disapproving committee.
Beatrice was a rich, old lady who knew next to nothing, but loved filling the ears of anyone who listened to her with the most absurd hokum.
Jeremy listened to his wife’s irritating hokum with feigned attention.
Poem of the Day
A PSALM OF LIFE
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
“Life is but an empty dream!”
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
“Dust thou art, to dust returnest,”
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Finds us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,–act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing
Learn to labor and to wait.
Thought of the Day
If you wish to be present in each moment, and not live in the shadow of the past or in the glow of the future’s rising sun, remember that life is fleeting and our years all too short. One should always be mindful of one’s own mortality, not because one should wallow in morbidity, but to remain vigilant and aware that each and every moment of one’s life is extraordinarily precious.
30 Blog Posts in 30 Days
My goal is to write thirty blog posts in thirty days. Each post will consist of a Word of the Day, a poem from a famous poet (public domain only), and either a thought or a verse (or two) from yours truly.
First Post: October 11th, 2019
Last Post: November 9th, 2019
Wish me luck!
Every month or so, I’ll send a newsletter via e-mail to my subscribers. More often than not, it will contain a list of my new blog posts. You may find something in it that interests you! Or more likely, you’ll be bored to tears and curse my very existence. In either case, you should sign up. You may unsubscribe at any time!