Yesterday, after appreciating the warmth of the sun on a winter’s day, I learned the definition of the word “apricity” at a taping of the National Public Radio show Says You! in Weston, Massachusetts.
Says You!, according to the show’s official website, is …
…a simple game with words played by two teams in front of live, enthusiastic audiences from coast to coast. For two decades, we’ve offered our listeners the best quips, quotes and questions that public radio has to offer, all scored to the rhythms of our musical guest performers.
One of the segments of Says You! is similar to the game you might know as Dictionary or Balderdash — that is, people try to choose the right definition of a word among phony-baloney, made-up definitions. Yesterday, one of those words was apricity.
I’m not going to make up phony definitions for apricity in this post, but I am going to ask you to guess its meaning. I’ll give you a hint: I’ve already included the definition of apricity, above.
I’m also going to use “apricity” in a real-time, real-world paragraph, as follows:
Up until today, the combination of apricity and the malfunction of a heating system (or any other machine) would cause me significant stress and despair. (For more about that, see this previous post.)
Which of these photos, taken yesterday, are good-enough representations of apricity?
Do you think that the following two photos — which I took earlier this morning before I called for help with our heating system — are visual representations of apricity?
In conclusion, I’d like to express apricity — ooops! I mean appreciation to my son Aaron and my ex-sister-in-law (ESIL) Deborah, who both accompanied me to yesterday’s taping of Says You!; to the witty, wise, and wonderful panel members of Says You!; to the late and greatly missed creator and host of Says You!, Richard Sher; to yesterday’s terrific host, Barry Nolan (who used to be a clinical social worker, like me); to the New England Gilbert and Sullivan Society (who provided the enjoyable musical interludes during the taping of Says You!); to the awesomely responsive and reliable Tom Prendergast of Prendergast Oil Company; to Oscar the laptop cat; and to you — of course! — for any winter warmth you bring here, no matter how you define this post.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 