A mighty big bullet!
Look, I'm just going to admit that my vocabulary isn't as expansive as it could be, but I do chuck out ten dollar words now and again. However, I have never before heard the verb 'emplace'. When reading the plaque, I couldn't help but smile as 'emplace' reminded me of E.C.'s verb for enlarge 'embiggen'. :D
When something is 'emplaced' it has been put into position. Ex.: Missiles were emplaced around the city. A statue was emplaced in the park.
My Mom is a post-war baby, but my Dad was a little boy when these weapons were 'locked and loaded'. It's a trip to think that this city had massive projectiles facing out toward the Pacific, ready to meet our foes 25 miles offshore should the need have arisen. Fortunately, it didn't.
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I drove into SOMA the other day to shop for shoe inserts for a new pair of boots purchased. The store I visited looked like what is shown in the photo below when I drove up. I wasn't sure the place was still in business until I saw a small 'we're open' sign tacked onto the front of the building. I asked the employee who rung up my purchase if the boards were put up in anticipation of possible Election Day shenanigans. He said that the boards were first put up back in March at the beginning of lock-down and that they've simply been left up for the duration. I suppose they could have come in handy had things kicked off here between pro-Biden and anti-democratic forces. However, as far as I know, the only thing that happened here on election night were peaceful revelers congregating in the Castro and Mission Districts. Hopefully, everyone was smart enough to be masked.
Lately I haven't even thought about if places are open. I suppose they're going to shut us down again considering how cases are going up. But that's the great thing about online shopping.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know that we've rolled back with indoor dining here. To be honest, I wasn't keen on eating out to begin with since the pandemic began.
DeleteI purloined embiggen from someone who no longer blogs. I do like emplace though. In a perverse sort of way as it isn't a phrase I can see myself using.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that the shop was open, and hope that the ugliness across your country can be done and dusted. Soon.
Same here.
DeleteHere, we talk of 'gun emplacements' but guns are 'mounted'. Having said that, I saw an advert the other day inviting me to 'architect my house'.
ReplyDelete'Architect my house' has an unattractive ring to it.
DeleteLucky to find it still open. It's satisfying to actually lgo out and buy something and bring it home, but so many things now (like shoe inserts) seem only to be available online unless you are happy to travel miles and miles.
ReplyDeleteI consider myself lucky then. I traveled all of five miles to reach that particular store.
DeleteAll those boards are so desolate looking.
ReplyDeleteDesolate & very unwelcoming as well.
DeleteYes, the boarding up make it look so sad.
ReplyDeleteYes, and one may well just assume that the business is shuttered. :(
DeleteShoe inserts! If you lived a bit closer (several thousand miles), I would have made you some. I spent some time yesterday making some for a girlfriend - I'm getting very crafty with my time :) Embiggen is a cute word, yet sounds so correct. I'm surprised that after many months, those boards haven't been graffitied over. Where are the youths and wastrels?
ReplyDeleteMaybe the youths and such are spoiled for choice? So many boards, so little time... :D
DeleteCool that you are fashioning shoe inserts! They are quite costly, I have since learned. I would imagine that your gal-pal is pleased with her bespoke shoe inserts. :)
I am positive I have never used emplaced in a sentence. Thanks for the lesson. I will try to impress Mrs. Shife with my new vocab word. We just got moved back to stage 2 so I don't think our REI is going to remain open.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wonder if ours will shut back down. I mean, they were limiting the no. of customers in and directing our movement, to a degree, in order to keep us away from each other while perusing.
DeleteYes, if you've any old missile sites kicking around Idaho, then I suppose you could tell the missus about their 'emplacement'. :D
ReplyDeleteDear Bea, born in 1936, I was 5 when the US entered WWII in December 1941 and 9 when the war ended. So I remember a lot about it. It was on everyone's minds all the time--just as COVID is in 2020.
Also, I read a lot of history about the various wars the US has fought. (Right now I'm reading about the Colonial Revolution.) In that reading I have met so many words that were new to me. There truly is a vocabulary for every profession and war is a profession (unfortunately). The first time I met the word "salient" was in a book on WWII and the fighting in Russia.
I hope all is well. Peace.
The word 'du jour' coming out of this pandemic could be 'amid' as we both hear and read it so much in conjunction with Covid.
DeleteMay your reading be a pleasure & may you be safe and well, Dee. x
I remember life during WWIi vividly. I shudder to think what the world would be like had we not fought in that war which my older brother went to. Living in a Great Lakes state we didn't face some of the immediate dangers those living on either coast had. For us it was mostly a matter of rationing. I do recall the rare occasion when a plane flew over, the sound would cause me to think of what it would be like to hear the whistle of a bomb and how horrible it must be for those having that experience.
ReplyDeleteSubsequent wars in which our nation has been involved do give rise to questioning the wisdom of leaders who committed our troops. If only all peoples would talk instead of physically fight, maim, kill.
I periodically encounter words new to me, too, and know there are likely many more i have yet to meet. When I was very young I thought there was a fixed number of words. What a surprise to discover language was fluid, ever-changing and new words were even being added.
Stay well and safe.
I smile to think of you discovering that there were a multitude of words and not just a fixed set. I recall the sort of excited feeling of learning that English was awash in synonyms as a result of our mixed heritage, if you will. 'Kingly' has Germanic roots whereas 'royal' has romance language roots.
DeleteI remember the Vietnam war, but really only tangentially. No one in my family fought, so that war was never brought home to us, if you will.
Be well. x