On worms, apples, and chewiness

There are worms, and there are wyrms. One is small, weak-bodied and blind. The other is a wily and fearsome beast, the ultimate opponent. The two words have wildly opposite meanings – or do they?

Just in case you're wondering...

I'm totally going somewhere with the worm thing. Be patient, my darling denouementees. Be patient. 

Words of the Week

worm:  / wɜːm /

(noun)  1. Any of a number of invertebrates with a long cylindrical or flat soft body, typically annelids, nematodes or flatworms 2. plural worms intestinal or other internal parasites, or any disease or disorder that arises from their presence in the body 3. a contemptible, weak or devious person, especially who has an obsequious manner 4. computing a self-replicating program that propagates across a network.

(noun)  can of worms  colloquial  A difficult or complicated situation, which becomes more complex upon examination or when attempting to resolve it.

worm:  / wɜːm /

(verb)  To move slowly or with difficulty, by creeping, crawling, or slithering.  

(verb)  To obtain something, e.g. information, from someone using deceptive or underhand means.  

(verb)  To ingratiate or insinuate one’s way into the good graces of someone else.

wyrm:  / wɜːm / 

(noun)  poetic  A large snake, a serpent.

(noun)  archaic  A mythological serpent, or dragon.

[Middle English, Old English: wyrm ‘serpent’; cognate with Dutch worm, German Wurm, Icelandic ormr, akin to Latin vermis]

Potent

Words - - - 

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. 

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

Unspeakable

We write to expose the unexposed. If there is one door in the castle you have been told not to go through, you must. Otherwise you’ll just be rearranging furniture in rooms you’ve already been in. Most human beings are dedicated to keeping that one door shut. But the writer’s job is to see what’s behind it, to see the bleak unspeakable stuff, and to turn the unspeakable into words. 

~ Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life 

Word of the week

martinet:  / ˌmɑːtɪˈnɛt  /