Onomatopoeia

October 31, 2022

Good morning! Are you a religious person? It’s the Feast of All Hallows’ Eve. If you are without pumpkins on your front stoop does that make you a Scrooge? Not so long ago there were more than 100 cargo ships waiting at sea to unload at the Port of Los Angeles — and some waited for weeks. All better now = close to zero ships waiting. Now we are learning about out-of-work port authority truck drivers. You think getting the economy to work is easy?! You wanna try?

Words, words, words… there are so many of them; we often fail to choose the right words to use in the right way at the right time.
Remember grade #3 economics? We are all re-learning GDP (gross domestic product).
- C’mon, you can say it… what does it mean — and why is it important?
There is no panacea.
- Yet we search for it endlessly and unceasingly as if it existed.
- Taking a page from Ponce de Leon we search and search for the secret sauce.
- Truth is, there are practices and approaches that work better than others — for some people sometimes, but no panacea.
- That’s why, “To thine own self be true…” MIGHT be the best secret sauce of all. (Polonius)
Don’t just bounce back, bounce forward (McKinsey)
There is considerable ballyhoo over the recently-released aggregated student achievement data from the so-called National Report Card. (NAEP)
- What do you think?
- With fifty out of fifty states scoring, on average, lower over the last three years in math and reading, it’s perhaps safe to say, being in school might correlate to higher scores.
- But, that’s just the big picture. We await the disaggregation of the data and a variety of subplots no doubt coming soon.
Did you watch the John Irving interview?
- Why do they say watch instead of listen? Isn’t it equal parts watching and listening?
- Oh wait, maybe not… never mind.
- How many people do you think will read every word of The Last Chair Lift? (921 pages)
- How many will say they did?
- Isn’t it interesting, if it were three separate books, hardly anyone would be deterred, but ONE book, whoa, it’s too long.
Is now the time to purchase an electric vehicle?
- According to Dan Neil, if you’ve got Tesla on your mind, go for it now… if it’s any other brand, wait for a while.
- Tesla has built a pretty good supportive infrastructure across the nation.
I’m sorting through thousands and thousands of hard copy photographs depicting adventures from days gone by; to save or not to save?
Many readers of these Musings serve on boards of one kind or another — businesses and nonprofits alike.
- Over the next several weeks we will feature a short section on board effectiveness as informed by John Carver’s, Boards That Make a Difference, 1997.
  - Consider these familiar dichotomies and oft-repeated aphorisms?
  - “The Board should be more involved.” vs. “The Board should hire a CEO and then stay out of the way.”
  - “The Board is a watchdog.” vs. “The Board is the main cheerleader.”
  - “The Board manages.” vs. “The Board plans.” vs. “The Board communicates.”
  - Which is it? More on this continuing series next week.

Onomatopoeia

We need a descriptor

for the sound of autumn leaves rustling in the wind, kissing your feet.

One word

to capture and communicate the sound, the sight, the smell, the amorous ambience

of the leaves as they rustle, crinkle, eddy, and waft.

Onomatopoeia — plus.

Such joy!

We have fizz, sizzle, buzz, kerplunk –

perfect for soda, steak, a bee, and the rock dropped from the bridge into the center of the pond.