Jack’s Winning Words 8/21/07
“Accept the past for what it was. Acknowledge the present for what it is. Anticipate the future for what it can be.” (Unknown) This is a piece of good advice. I wonder where it came from. I’ve found that too much emphasis on one over the other throws things out of whack, or out of kilter. BTW, I wonder why we use words like whack and kilter? I once read a book with a title something like this: Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things. ;-) Jack

GOOGLE SAYS: : OUT OF KILTER - " Many have tried to explain the origins of 'kilter' in this expression meaning to be out of order, out of whack, but no one has succeeded. The best suggestions I think are the 'kilter,' meaning a 'useless hand in cards,' the dialect 'kilt,' to make neat,' and the Dutch 'keelter, 'stomach,' because stomachs are often 'out of order' with digestion problems. We only know that the expression is first recorded in 1643, as 'kelter.'" From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

FROM M.L. IN ILLINOIS: have you ever listened to n.p.r.'s, "a way with words"?those would be good words to send in for origin.

FROM B.G. IN MICHIGAN: These words are appropriate for us, as we prepare to take Kristen to MSU tomorrow...