Z is for zaftig zivet

Z haiku / senryu by M. LaFreniere, Cactus Haikuzany zealot zooms
zephyr zips up the zenith
zonked zaftig zibet

haiku M. LaFreniere, all rights reserved
Zingakon font (letter Z) by Din Studio
mom’s typewriter font (poem) by Christoph Mueller
26th in the A to Z challenge 2019 (Finished! Whoopee! Zing! Zap! Zoom!)

Z was a fun one. I didn’t realize how many comic book verbs start with z.

Do you remember the old b&w Batman Series with Adam West as Batman and Julie Newmar as Catwoman?  Batman doesn’t “hit” the villain’s henchman. He “Zwaps!!!” him. Of course the z’s are interspersed with Pows, Bams and Thwacks. Bat-Mania collected the Batman fighting words here if you want a zing.

Just seeing the z words brought a wave of nostalgia for childhood days when Saturday mornings weekday afternoons were not filled with cereal commercials but rather superheroes and robots.

Zany suprised me when I checked it.  I know the adjective meaning which is what is usually on the SAT tests when it shows up.  However, I didn’t realize you could also use it as a noun and it’s different than I would have guessed. Zany means “toadie”? huh. Who would have guessed it.
#AtoZChallenge 2019 Tenth Anniversary badge

zany :
noun
1 : a subordinate clown or acrobat in old comedies who mimics ludicrously the tricks of the principal : merry-andrew
2 : a slavish follower : toady
3a : one who acts the buffoon to amuse others
b : nut, kook
adjective
1 : being or having the characteristics of a zany
2 : fantastically or absurdly ludicrous a zany movie

General zoology, or Systematic natural history, by George Shaw with plates engraved principally by Mr. Heath. published 1800. image downloaded from Wikipedia

My favorite word today is zaftig.  It means “plump” usually used to describe a woman. I don’t know why but it feels like it has a positive vibe. In an older time, people liked people to have a little around the middle as it made a cozy armful and adjectives reflected that mindset.

Zibet (an Asiatic civet cat) is a new word for me but the rest were familiar words that are very cool — perfect one or two syllables for haikus. Shakes my head. It’s so crazy that I rare use them.

Now that I have finished my ABC’s for the A to Z challenge, the thing I like the best was the mind buzz.  Browsing the dictionary and word lists reminded me of many words that are waiting like overripe fruit ready to drop into my hands.  They’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting, poor things.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the series.

This time I used “zip” which got back a nice variety of stuff including a fitbit. That reminded me I took mine off to do dishes a few days ago so I better go find it and put it back on.

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