On his weekly television show, the late, great Groucho Marx had a segment where a card would drop down and he would announce "the word of the day". Of course, Groucho's inflection caused the word 'word' to sound like woid, which was part of his charm and schtick.
My woid of this day is schism. To allow the reader to fully appreciate what schism means, I will quote from the source of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, eleventh edition, page one thousand, one hundred and ten: n. 1. DIVISION, SEPARATION; also : DISCORD, DISHARMONY 2. a: formal division in or separation from a church or religious body b.: the offense of promoting schism
What application could schism have to the content of this blog?
Well, going from the sublime to the ridiculous would go something like this: To split a bagel, to split an ice cream sundae, separating the milk to render cream, to tear fabric, the medical procedure to separate Siamese twins, or to end a friendship or relationship.
There is no gentle application about the word schism. In its simplest form, even the bagel gets separated and the cream gets created. If the word gets applied to human behavior, schism takes on an entirely different meaning - one that is totally undesirable.
I'll take my schism on a bagel with cream, thank you.
Ancora imparo
