Floonergy
Floonergy (floofinition) – 1. The animation, action, and movement demonstrated by animals. Origins: 1974, United States.
In Use: “A pile of puppies’ floonergy can overwhelm many households; having children on hand to watch and play with them is a good counterstrategy.”
In Use: “The cat demonstrated huge levels of floonergy as a kitten, accepting every challenge to climb curtains, take over the ceiling fan, and lounge in a room’s tallest places, and she kept that same floonergy until her middle teens, impressing everyone.”
Recent Use: “Videos of pets demonstrating their floonergy permeate the net, where viewers marvel over animals galloping around a house and leaping over furniture.”
2. Calming influence cast by animals over others.
In Use: “Reaching home, Carmel immediately removed her shoes and sat down. Her cats joined her, spreading their relaxing floonergy over her and extinguishing her work weariness.”
Recent Use: “Although a huge dog, Master G radiated a peaceful floonergy which immediately relaxed those in the same room.”
Flooftuseness
Flooftuseness (floofinition) Individual or organization who struggle to comprehend the importance of treating animals kindly, or human’s loving relationships with animals. Origins: 16th century, Europe
In Use: “One obvious sign of flooftuseness is when a person says to another person worrying about their fur friend, ‘What’s the big deal? It’s just an animal.'”
In Use: “Cementing her decision to separate from Derrick, who was showing himself to be less than the ideal mate than first impressions, was when Derrick refused to stop to help an injured animal because he wanted to reach home to watch an NBA game, a flooftuseness which Karin would not accept.”
Recent Use: “Donald Trump, Jr., proudly and consistently displayed his flooftuseness by going on hunting trips and then proudly showing his ‘trophies’ on social media.”
Flooftrigue
Flooftrigue (floofinition) – Secret or underhanded floofinations done by animals. Origins: 1676, France.
In Use: “Nobody could understand how the kittens were escaping their safe room every day until a camera was installed and caught the flooftrigue as the Retriever sniffed the door and then then opened it, letting the kittens loose before nosing the door closed.”
Recent Use: “People in Texas were intrigued by Cleo the cat burglar and the flooftrigue around his stealing antics that were caught on camera.”
Smooflooing
Smooflooing (floofinition) – Covering an animal with an excessive number of kisses.
In Use: “Barbie loved finding her cat, Hamilton asleep on the bed (which was his favorite place to nap day and night) and smooflooing his belly, which always brought his bright green eyes open and a deep, throbbing purr.”
In Use: “Withng a month of being adopted, Cameron had taught his people to begin smooflooing his face and belly whenever the big lab threw himself, whether it was on a walk, in the house, or in the backyard or driveway.”
Recent Use: “The web has become a repository of videos of people smooflooing their pets, especially cats and dogs.”
New Year’s Day Theme Music
Mood: hopeful
Let’s give a warm welcome to 2024. I’ll do anything to make you happy, 2024. Well, anything legal. And it also can’t be against my principles or unethical. Or anything that will embarass me. Or anything too expensive. Other than those stipulations, I’ll do anything to make you happy, 2024. I figure if we can make you happy, you’ll make us happy. Fingers crossed that you’re a happy year. I know, the odds are against you from the stroke of midnight. But I think you can overcome it.
It’s Monday, January 1, 2024. 2024 looks a lot like its predecessor so far. Blue sky with sunshine and a glowing grand fog bank billowing in across the westward view. 38 F now, prophecies are for a high in the mid fifties. In truth, our hopes would be about receiving some snow on our mountains to build up the snowpack. It remains too thin to sustain us.
Hope you all had a new year celebration that fit your desires. Ours was on the low end, staying home, drinking nothing but water and coffee, eating a healthy Old Year’s Day meal, and then telling one another happy new year before going to bed around 12:30. It was a long way from the years where we’d dance and quaffed a few drinks before running around, doing things after midnight, shouting our accomplishments. It was all significant stuff, like, “First to pee in the new year!” “First to finish a drink in the new year! First to turn off a light in the new year. First to turn on a light in the new year.” Silly fun.
I read my friend’s blog this morning as coffee was firing up The Neurons (first to drink coffee in the new year). Jill Dennison is always a terrific read. This morning, she suggested that we start the new year with some Elton John. She provided “Sad Songs (Say So Much)”. My rascally Neurons injected “Crocodile Rock” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark delayed). Released in 1972, the song became Elton John’s first number one single in the US. Hearing it as high schoolers, we assured each other, this cat is going to be around a while.
The song’s history isn’t pure. Wikipedia notes:
The song was inspired by John’s discovery of leading Australian band Daddy Cool and their hit single “Eagle Rock“, which was the most successful Australian single of the early 1970s (with 1,000,000 sold),[5] remaining at No.1 for a record of 10 weeks.[6][7] John heard the song and the group on his 1972 Australian tour and was greatly impressed by it.[5] A photo included in the album packaging features John’s lyricist, Bernie Taupin, wearing a “Daddy Who?” promotional badge. The song also includes a lyrical reference to the 1950s hit record “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and his Comets (“While the other kids were rocking around the clock…”).
In a 1974 lawsuit filed in the US District Court of Los Angeles by attorney Donald Barnett on behalf of “Speedy Gonzales“‘ composer Buddy Kaye, it was alleged that defendants John and Taupin illegally incorporated chords from “Speedy Gonzales” which produced a falsetto tone into the “Crocodile” song co-written by defendants. The parties reached a settlement between them and the case was then dismissed.
Taupin also stated in an Esquire magazine interview that “Crocodile Rock” was a funny song in that he did not mind creating it, but it would not be something he would listen to;[8] it was simply something fun at the time. John has dismissed criticism of the song that it was “derivative”, quoted in the booklet for the 1995 reissue of Don’t Shoot Me … as saying, “I wanted it to be a record about all the things I grew up with. Of course it’s a rip-off, it’s derivative in every sense of the word.”
Such drama for such a quaint song.
Stay pos, be strong, and have an outstanding 2024. I’m just finishing up with the first cup of 2024 coffee. In with the new, right? Here’s the music. Cheers
Lootching
Lootching (floofinition) – Combined stretching and looking at something by an animal who has been sleeping. Origins: Internet, US, 2023
In Use: “Walking into the bedroom, he awoke his floof, who responded with some intense lootching before curling into another sleeping position and resuming his nap.”
In Use: “The dogs and cats conducted synchronized lootching when Carrie walked in, and then pause, watching to see if she offered food, before returning to their snoozing.”
Recent Use: “An ancient Floofverb states, ‘There’s no lootching among distrustful animals.'”
Flooftective
Flooftective (floofinition) – 1. An animal who enjoys investigating things and resolving mysteries. Origins: first noted in Europe in 1732.
In Use: “Tobias the cat and Josh the dog were both flooftectives, so any household activity drew the pair in to determine what was going on, whether any food was involved, and how they might benefit.
Recent Use: “Monica the dog became an Internet hero when she used her flooftective skills to find a hapless kitten and then encourage the poor flooflet to follow her home.
2. Actions taken to keep or make animals safe. Origins: Public use was originally found in newspaper articles circa 1849.
In Use: “Learning of a cougar prowling the neighborhood, people took the flooftective measures of bringing in their pets and closing pet doors.”
Recent Use: “A newer development to add flooftective elements to a house is catios, often made by adding small cages or kennels to a patio which cats can access directly from the house.”
3. A person who undertakes solving a mystery which involves an animal. Origins: first use was in the early twenty-first century on the world wide web.
In Use: “Determining how dinosaurs died when fossils are found often require people to be flooftectives and examine the evidence for clues.”
Recent Use: “Coming home to find much of the house destroyed, Connie became a flooftective to learn which of the cats and dogs had turned over the plants, tore up pillows, and spread toilet paper in the bathroom and down the hall. All suspects presented innocent visages, so the task was challenging until some paw prints were found.”
Viafloofor
Viafloofor (floofinition) – An animal, especially pet, who enjoys traveling or walking around by themselves. Origins: ancient Rome
In Use: “Charlie, a chunky ginger boi, was a regular viafloofor, walking the sidewalks and visiting homes and businesses as though he followed a schedule, which was useful for being served pets and treats.”
In Use: “Bear was never much of a viafloofor, preferring his bed or a comfortable warm spot of sun-kissed lawn in the backyard, to walking around, unless it was to greet his people or make an acquaintance with something to eat.”
Recent Use: “OMwazeng on YouTube has a video of a cat named Dodger, a viafloofor who takes the bus every day.”
Floogi
Floogi (floofinition) – An especially mystical or reflective animal. Origins: Floofskrit. First known use, 1613.
In Use: “Sienna had owned many cats and dogs, and often thought most of the cats had mystical qualities, but Samuel Jackson was the first dog she had who seemed like a floogi.”
In Use: “Jade often set up in a serene and watchful pose, her emerald eyes partially closed, a floogi contemplating existence.”
Recent Use: “Felines’ propensity to often seem like floogis has given rise on the net to posts with cats looking serene while saying something counter to the moment, such as, ‘I may look sweet but forget to feed me on time and my mittens of death will tear you a new one.'”
Michael Seidel, writer 