I have a few words to look up, culled from various bits of paper. I use the online dictionary, as I'm sure you do - The Oxford English Dictionary (OED for short) - and it's pretty good. But I love esoteric words so I have a number of esoteric dictionaries that I love to browse through. I'll haul them out and list them, after I go through my present backlog of words:

That is, AFTER I re-charge. A bientôt...

phenotype noun, Biology, the set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment. DERIVATIVES phenotypic adjective, phenotypical, adjective,phenotypically, adverb ORIGIN early 20th cent.: from German Phaenotypus I don't know where I picked this one up.

bricolage noun, [ mass noun), something constructed or created from a diverse range of things. bricolages of painted junk. ORIGIN French.in art or literature) construction or creation from a diverse range of available things. the chaotic 2 Linguistics a group of languages related to each other less closely than those forming a family, especially one in which the relationships are unclear. ORIGIN late 19th cent.: modern Latin from Greek, phulon ‘race’.phylum

phylum noun, 1 Zoology a principal taxonomic category that ranks above class and below kingdom, equivalent to the division in botany. 2 Linguistics a group of languages related to each other less closely than those forming a family, especially one in which the relationships are unclear. ORIGIN late 19th cent.: modern Latin from Greek, phulon ‘race’.

taxonomy noun [ mass noun ] chiefly Biology the branch of science concerned with classification, especially of organisms; systematics.• the classification of something, especially organisms: the taxonomy of these fossils.• [ count noun ] a scheme of classification: a taxonomy of smells. DERIVATIVES adjective, taxonomical, adjective,taxonomically, adverb,taxonomist noun ORIGIN early 19th cent.: coined in French from Greek taxis ‘arrangement’ + -nomia ‘distribution’.

That's enough. I know I' m repeating words. Tomorrow I'll check the odd dictionaries.

It starts here....a long time ago, actually. I've been writing this blog in my head all day, starting with my morning swim. I remembered my son Matthew, who was taking speech therapy, among other things. We were getting close to Christmas and the teacher was asking Matt what Christmas was about - someone's birthday? Yes, it's Jesus's birthday. Jesus who? his teacher asked. That was a tough one. He had to think. Jesus....SUPERSTAR! He shouted triumphantly.

I read just yesterday that some priest (no name; I just read the headline) is petitioning to have people stop bandying about the word (and meaning) of Christmas. I read that there are seven (? ) different festivals being celebrated at this time of year, including Christmas. I couldn't find the list but I can think of Hannukah, Ramedan and Kwanzaa. That makes four. I'll look around. Another thing I read a while ago: that thine percent of Jewish homes have Christmas trees. Oh, and I also read that there have been complaints about calling it a Christmas tree that it should be called a Holiday tree, and I read that if that becomes common, then the tree people in Nova Scotia are going to stop supplying the big tree for Rockefeller Centre. Yes, well, lots to think about.

C is also for compliments of the season.