{"id":406,"date":"2011-03-31T17:50:15","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T17:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fanagrams.net\/blog\/?p=406"},"modified":"2011-03-31T19:37:52","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T19:37:52","slug":"ephemeral-evanescent-and-fugacious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/ephemeral-evanescent-and-fugacious\/","title":{"rendered":"Ephemeral, Evanescent and Fugacious"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>I remember one dinner table conversation years ago when all of us kids were challenged to present and defend our favorite word.\u00a0\u00a0 My father\u2019s favorite word was \u201cmagnolia,\u201d which I thought was a sissy word for a family patriarch, and wondered\"\"<\/a> why he did not choose something more high-minded like peace, justice or equity.\u00a0 His defense was that magnolia was a beautiful word, and he repeated it with great drama with a deep rolling voice.\u00a0 My brother Tim weighed in with the word \u201cbump,\u201d for no particular reason that I can remember, but his presentation was so convincing that the next family dog was named Bump.\u00a0 My word of the moment was \u201ctwig,\u201d like my father, chosen for the sound of the word.\u00a0 There was something pleasing about the soft \u201ctw\u201d sound, followed by the hard \u201cg\u201d at the end.\u00a0 Twig also symbolized the very satisfying concept of great growth from very modest beginnings.\u00a0 I think that I lobbied very hard to name the dog Twig but Tim\u2019s Bump got the nod.\u00a0 Tim was the youngest child\u00a0and had to live with the burden that my parents had run out of family names by the time he came along, and thus selected his name based on a random recommendation from my father\u2019s tennis partner.\u00a0 Therefore, I think that my mother wanted to throw Tim a bone and, as a kindred spirit, let him pick a dog\u2019s name at random.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As much as I still like the word twig, if we played the game today, I would change my vote to the beautiful word \u201cephemeral.\u201d\u00a0 Ephemeral is directly derived from the Greek word, ephemeros, literally meaning \u201clasting only one day,\u201d – describing something that is perfect for the moment\u00a0and then predictably vanishes.\u00a0 The word is often used in science or\"\"<\/a> biology – for example ephemeral ponds exist only\u00a0briefly after a rainstorm or snow melt; the placenta is known as an ephemeral organ, useless and discarded (or potentially recycled) immediately after birth.\u00a0 But part of the word’s beauty\u00a0is that ephemeral can be adapted to any object or concept.\u00a0 A sandcastle or sidewalk drawing is ephemeral art, emotions are notoriously ephemeral, and depending on how cosmic your perspective is, ephemeral can describe\u00a0an entire life, or a childhood, or a day\u2019s experience.\u00a0\u00a0 If you wanted to flex your SAT-honed vocab, you might choose the Latin derived words \u201cevanescent\u201d or even \u201cfugacious\u201d to express the same concept, but it is so much better to luxuriate in the sound of the word ephemeral.\u00a0 Unfortunately these words are a bit pretentious for everyday use, so go with the more pedestrian \u201cfleeting\u201d for conversational purposes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was pondering these thoughts as I strolled through the grocery store, and suddenly realized that I had stumbled on a new category of ephemeralness \u2013 the ephemeral advertisement, those ads that are only apparent for a moment and then disappear.\u00a0 The grocery cart contained an ad at the top part of the basket where you would put a small child; it immediately vanished when I put my purse there.\u00a0 There was another ad pasted along the bottom part of the cart \u2013 bam! that ad instantly vanished, covered up by my leafy green vegetables.\u00a0 As I loaded my groceries on the check-out counter, I noticed that the divider separating my groceries from the next customer also had an ad on it \u2013 instantly obscured by the bag of potatoes.\u00a0 At home, when I opened the refrigerator door, I noticed that the milk jug had an ad for Nestle\u2019s chocolate chips plastered on its side, which\u00a0was quickly obscured as I piled other things into the fridge.\u00a0 These ads are different than the sly product placement ads in movies or TV shows; those ads actually show the product in use \u2013 my ephemeral ads only appear for a moment and thus cannot convey any specific message other than an iconic logo, or something to create product awareness, perhaps to soften me up for a more elaborate ad with a specific message.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These ads are also a bit different than the ads that are embedded in the ice at a hockey game, or plastered along the boards, or the sponsorship of specific segments of an athletic event, such as the \u201cToyota Half Time Show\u201d or \u201cTostito\u2019s\u201d Fiesta bowl.\u00a0 While these also lack a specific message other than product awareness, they are not ephemeral \u2013 whether I notice it or not, I am staring at the Toyota logo for the entire half time show here are the findings<\/a>.\u00a0 Even though my friend Maria works so hard in the marketing department of Allstate, I cannot say that messageless ads have ever had any impact on my purchases, but Allstate probably has astonishing research that proves otherwise.\u00a0 Today, Nick had bought chocolate chips out of the blue, suggesting that the milk jug ad had done its job.<\/p>\n

Now that I have my concept down pat, I spot ephemeral ads everywhere.\u00a0 As I stood in line at airport security, I noticed ads in the bottom of the plastic bins, instantly obscured by my jacket and shoes.\u00a0 I also realized that the ads could be ephemeral based on my movement.\u00a0 As I walked out of the grocery store I passed through some sort of waist-high detectors\u00a0that had been covered with a cardboard sleeve advertising something.\u00a0 This was a complete failure, since only a small child would be eye to eye with the message.\u00a0\u00a0 If we assume that any smooth surface can be adorned with an ad, then perhaps I\u00a0could have\u00a0an alternate career selling ad space to dry cleaners,\u00a0who have vast unadorned counter space that is briefly visible before you plop down your clothes.\u00a0 I have very ample (but cluttered) counter space in our home that would be perfect for ephemeral ads.\u00a0 Ads could include such desperate pleas as, \u201cdon\u2019t leave your dishes in the sink\u201d or \u201cplease fold your laundry.\u201d\u00a0 As a matter of fact my mother did this once, writing all over the washing machine with a magic marker announcing that she had officially quit as the family\u2019s laundress.<\/p>\n

I also don\u2019t see why bankrupt state governments don\u2019t take advantage of the millions of highway miles and start selling ephemeral ad space.\u00a0 Clearly motorists are already distracted by unsightly billboards, so what would be so wrong about embedding ads in the pavement to keep their eyes on the road?\u00a0 My fast food vendor of choice is Arby\u2019s, so why not slap that logo right on the exit ramp to guide me on my way? \u00a0The true meaning of ephemeral \u2013 perfect for the moment and then gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This fall I went to Traverse City to visit my friend Sallie in her new home, just completed after a year of meticulous planning.\u00a0 As I walked in I was enraptured by the thousands of carefully weighed decisions that came together into the perfectly conceived and executed home that exuded Salliness.\u00a0 But then I had to go to the bathroom.\u00a0 In the brief moment between\"\"<\/a> when I flipped up the toiled seat and parked my ass on the porcelain throne I noticed an ad on the underside of the toilet seat extolling the virtues of some super flush bowl.\u00a0 Sallie said, \u201cI don\u2019t know what to do about that, I can\u2019t figure out how to get it off.\u201d\u00a0 I envisioned the creative marketing minds at the toilet company who realized that they were in control of another smooth surface that could multi-task as advertising space.\u00a0 Perhaps they sent their crack research team into the pooh-barn to time the ad exposure time to come up with an \u201cephemeral factor\u201d that would justify the charge for the ad.\u00a0 Of course the exposure time can be measured in milliseconds for women, but should be longer for men, who presumably have nothing better to do than stare at the toilet lid.\u00a0 I sent my husband in and told him to count chimpanzees while he peed, and he came up with about 30, which in the world of ephemeral ads is like a lifetime \u2013 in fact might not even qualify for this status.<\/p>\n

The missing words in the following poem are all anagrams (like post, spot, stop) and the number of dashes indicates the number of letters.\u00a0 One angram will rhyme with either the previous or following line.\u00a0 Your job is to solve the missing words based on the context of the poem.\u00a0 Scroll down for answers.<\/h6>\n

The quest for advertising space will probably never be satisfied<\/p>\n

If there is but one smooth surface that remains ——-.<\/p>\n

Ephemeral ads ——- on my grocery store jaunt\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With carts and the check-out dividers telling me what I should want<\/p>\n

That add on the underside of the toilet lid was the most unexpected spot,\u00a0<\/p>\n

Glimpsed only briefly before – —— around to squat.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

untried, intrude, I turned<\/p>\nFollow Liza Blue on: \"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>Share: \"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I remember one dinner table conversation years ago when all of us kids were challenged to present and defend our favorite word.\u00a0\u00a0 My father\u2019s favorite word was \u201cmagnolia,\u201d which I thought was a sissy word for a family patriarch, and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-such-is-life","category-what-words-mean"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iVc8-6y","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions\/410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}