The Dramaturge At Home

Friday Fun: Holy War Dance Party

Where will you Holy War Dance Party - the dance you were never supposed to learn!

Something I learned today ...

"Temperament" is not spelled "temperment" or "tempermant".

There's an extra "a" in that word.

From Merriam-Webster:

temperament

Main Entry:  tem·per·a·ment
Pronunciation:  \ˈtem-p(ə-)rə-mənt, -pər-mənt\
Function:  noun
Etymology:  Middle English, from Latin temperamentum, from temperare to mix, temper
Date: 15th century

1. obsolete a: constitution of a substance, body, or organism with respect to the mixture or balance of its elements, qualities, or parts

2. obsolete a: climate b: temperature

3. a: the peculiar or distinguishing mental or physical character determined by the relative proportions of the humors according to medieval physiology; b: characteristic or habitual inclination or mode of emotional response <a nervous temperament> c: extremely high sensibility; especially : excessive sensitiveness or irritability

4. a: the act or process of tempering or modifying : adjustment, compromise; b: middle course : mean

5. the slight modification of acoustically pure intervals in tuning a musical instrument; especially : modification that produces a set of 12 equally spaced tones to the octave

synonyms see disposition

Why would you list the obsolete definitions first?  Also, is this really such an obscure word.  Do people not say "He has a pleasant temperament" anymore?  Am I old-fashioned?!?  Or have I just *never* used this word correctly - are there only negative connotations to this word?

I headed over to the Oxford Dictionary.

temperament
noun: a person’s nature with regard to the effect it has on their behaviour.
— ORIGIN Latin temperamentum ‘correct mixture’, from temperare ‘mingle’.

OK, this is much more what I expected.  Little more neutral.

This little experiment makes me appreciate Erin McKean even more.  I saw Erin at TED and I love what she's doing for dictionaries.  Until the TED videos are out, check out her talk at Google: Ten Things I Wish Everyone Knew About Dictionaries

On a personal note ..

If you read my other blog, you know that I'm at TED right now.  There's been a ton of great learning here .. heady, intellectual stuff.  It bends my brain in incredible ways and takes months to digest.

But here's my real learning.

Every year at TED, my heart breaks.

No, nothing to do with Roro.  She's fine; we're fine.

But at TED, there is so much passion.  And so much *will*.  And so much intention.  My heart cannot help but rise to the surface and break.  I am awed by the authenticity of compassion and hope.  Individuals who are doing world-transforming work ... persons who will shape the outcome of human history.

I am humbled by their works and am in quiet awe of their spirit.

Every day my emotions soar and plummet a dozen times over.

I'm a marketer.  I do good work.  I believe in what I do and I believe that the technology that underpins my work is transformative.  That it has the potential to radically change our world.  And I am happy, as much as I can,  to help anyone learn to take advantage of that transformative power.  But I have no illusions.  I'm not saving lives.

Oh, I have a part to play in all this, and I will play it to my utmost and its fullest.  And I am prouder that I can say to be a part of this community.

But every year, my heart breaks ... there is so much hope.  But there is so much to be done.  And every presentation at TED throws those two sides of the same coin into sharp relief.

Every year, my heart breaks.  And then heals .. in the hope of being broken again.

Photo Credit: CarbonNYC

Tags: TED2007

Holy Hannah, those are snowflakes!

I might have to go back to bed.  Seriously, snow?  No snow.  Snow on the mountain?  Yes.  Snow in downtown?  No.

Maybe I'm panicking unnecessarily, but those are FLAKES, dammit.

Will keep you posted.