The There There Letter: Umwelt, Umgebung, and Usé
Three things from DAH.
DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. "Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world." (Arthur Schopenhauer)
First up this week, Umwelt …
"The small subset of the world that an animal is able to detect" (David Eagleman in Edge.org). It's a German word for one's self-centered world. Humans have perceptual strengths and weaknesses. Dogs, for example, have a better sense of smell than we do. Their umwelt has olfactory elements that are beyond us. Bats have better hearing. Their umwelt has auditory elements that are beyond us. Humans work to stretch and amplify perception to enlarge our umwelt, but most of us live comfortably in our own personal well-defined umwelt, assuming that what we perceive is all.
Beyond one's ken. It's the unknown unknowns that bite.
Second up this week, Umgebung …
"The bigger reality, whatever that might mean" (Eagleman again). Another German word, fun to speak aloud (try it!). An observer unrestricted by self-centered umwelt perceptions would see, well, everything, that bigger reality. And that's the umgebung. Some humans aspire to such greater awareness. Some even believe that they have such greater awareness … mystics and charlatans, I'm afraid. I aspire to humbleness, aware that I'm trapped in my umwelt but also aware that there is, beyond me, the umgebung (which makes me smile because it sounds funny … thinking about it too much hurts my brain).
Top 10 Funny-Sounding & Interesting Words
Third up this week, Usé …
You may never encounter this French word used in evaluating wine. In wine tasting, usé (pronounced oo-zay) means "worn out." Asked, "How long will this wine age?" I reply, "It depends what you like." All wine changes over time. Tannic astringency and high acid will soften. Color will change. Most importantly (for me) fruit character will fade. Eventually, any wine loses structure and typicity -- and there you have usé. Age-worthiness depends upon grape variety, where the grapes were grown, and how the wine was made. Very generally speaking, I prefer white wines within 2-3 years of the vintage and red wines within 5-6 years of the vintage. And there are lots of exceptions. But I prefer wines that show freshness and fruit, as well as some depth of flavor: younger wines from older vines, if possible.
What Really Happens as Wine Ages?
And a bit more:
There is a girl inside, by Lucille Clifton
There is a girl inside.
She is randy as a wolf.
She will not walk away and leave these bones
to an old woman.
She is a green tree in a forest of kindling.
She is a green girl in a used poet.
She has waited patient as a nun
for the second coming,
when she can break through gray hairs
into blossom
and her lovers will harvest
honey and thyme
and the woods will be wild
with the damn wonder of it.
And that's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver’s poem Sometimes …
DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. "Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world." (Arthur Schopenhauer)
First up this week, Umwelt …
"The small subset of the world that an animal is able to detect" (David Eagleman in Edge.org). It's a German word for one's self-centered world. Humans have perceptual strengths and weaknesses. Dogs, for example, have a better sense of smell than we do. Their umwelt has olfactory elements that are beyond us. Bats have better hearing. Their umwelt has auditory elements that are beyond us. Humans work to stretch and amplify perception to enlarge our umwelt, but most of us live comfortably in our own personal well-defined umwelt, assuming that what we perceive is all.
Beyond one's ken. It's the unknown unknowns that bite.
Second up this week, Umgebung …
"The bigger reality, whatever that might mean" (Eagleman again). Another German word, fun to speak aloud (try it!). An observer unrestricted by self-centered umwelt perceptions would see, well, everything, that bigger reality. And that's the umgebung. Some humans aspire to such greater awareness. Some even believe that they have such greater awareness … mystics and charlatans, I'm afraid. I aspire to humbleness, aware that I'm trapped in my umwelt but also aware that there is, beyond me, the umgebung (which makes me smile because it sounds funny … thinking about it too much hurts my brain).
Top 10 Funny-Sounding & Interesting Words
Third up this week, Usé …
You may never encounter this French word used in evaluating wine. In wine tasting, usé (pronounced oo-zay) means "worn out." Asked, "How long will this wine age?" I reply, "It depends what you like." All wine changes over time. Tannic astringency and high acid will soften. Color will change. Most importantly (for me) fruit character will fade. Eventually, any wine loses structure and typicity -- and there you have usé. Age-worthiness depends upon grape variety, where the grapes were grown, and how the wine was made. Very generally speaking, I prefer white wines within 2-3 years of the vintage and red wines within 5-6 years of the vintage. And there are lots of exceptions. But I prefer wines that show freshness and fruit, as well as some depth of flavor: younger wines from older vines, if possible.
What Really Happens as Wine Ages?
And a bit more:
There is a girl inside, by Lucille Clifton
There is a girl inside.
She is randy as a wolf.
She will not walk away and leave these bones
to an old woman.
She is a green tree in a forest of kindling.
She is a green girl in a used poet.
She has waited patient as a nun
for the second coming,
when she can break through gray hairs
into blossom
and her lovers will harvest
honey and thyme
and the woods will be wild
with the damn wonder of it.
And that's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver’s poem Sometimes …
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
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