To Pie or Not to Pie is that even a question? IWSG, Being Thankful,

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts: Natalie Aguirre, Kim Lajevardi, Debs Carey, Gwen Gardner, Patricia Josephine, and Rebecca Douglass!

This month's question is: The topic of AI writing has been heavily debated across the world. According to various sources, generative AI will assist writers, not replace them. What are your thoughts? I do think there's a danger of AI replacing writers, particularly as AI gets "smarter" with it plagiarizing. Science always moves forward way faster than governments and with governments being slow to respond there have always been problems. 

Plastic was never regulated and look where we are now? We breathe in and ingest plastic every day.

AI is like that. No regulation and it will soon be out of control.

***

Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's word is: Pie

It's that time of year when our minds turn to pies. Pumpkin, apple, mincemeat, chicken pot pie, shephard's pie... The word "pie" goes back to 1300s and is not found outside of English. 

However pies have been around a long time. Savory meat dishes, with a bottom pastry, were known to the Egyptians and Greeks, though the Romans may have been the first to make pies with both a bottom and top crust.

Sing a song of sixpence

A pocket full of rye

Four and twenty blackbirds

Baked in a pie

When the pie was opened the birds began to sing

Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?

YES! there are recipes for making pies with live animals! Something which only royalty or the wealthy could afford as a way to impress their guests.

For the English, a sweet pie made with fruit usually doesn't have a top and is called a tart. It is only for savory meat dishes with a top and bottom crust that the word "pie" is used. In the Cook's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer -- written some time between 1387 and 1400 -- pie is mentioned.

"And he could roast and seethe and broil and fry

And make a good thick soup, and bake a pie"

In the Virgin Islands fruit-filled pastries are always called tarts, a holdover from Colonial times no doubt. In the United States we use the word pie to describe anything with a pastry, with or without a top crust.

Do you have a favorite pie? Mine is pumpkin. I've been making pumpkin pies since I was around 12 and have, over these many years, perfected my recipe to the point where I allow myself to boast just a bit. I think I make the world's best pumpkin pie. Most PPs that I've ever tasted are far too sweet so not only have I cut way back on the sugar, I use more spices than those called for in most recipes. If you would like my recipe email me. I'd be happy to send it out into the world, and I'll even include the last and final secret ingredient.

LoanWord: A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification. Today's loanwords are from Yiddish and Russian. Yiddish: Glitch, Klutz, Spiel, Schmooze, Bagel, Chutzpah, Lox, Maven, Mensch, Nosh, Putz, Schlep, Schmuck, Schnoz. Most of these are so much a part of our vocabulary, it's like English could get bossy and claim them for its own. Russian: Disinformation, Shaman, Bridge (the card game!) sable, Stroganov, Kefir.

A Haiku Pie

No kefir in pie

But pumpkin spread on bagels 

Sounds like fall is near

***

Being Thankful

I have never seen a total eclipse of the sun. Now, within 6 months, I will be seeing two. The small town where I live in the Texas Hill Country, is in the crosshairs. The first, an annular eclipse, will happen this month on the 14th. It's called The Ring of Fire.

The second and more well know, a total solar eclipse with the diamond ring effect, will happen on April 8th, 2024. 

NASA will be here, live streaming both events. Their Chief Scientist, Dr. Katherine Calvin, will be here and is going to be giving a free lecture to the public. For the annular eclipse, an estimated 500,000 people may descend on the Hill Country, with between 50 and 100 thousand coming to my town. For the total eclipse... as many as a million people will be in the area. They are coming from all over the US and the world. The authorities suggest that us natives stay home because the congestion is going to be astronomical. (HA) I10, which runs right next to us is predicted to become a parking lot... Any place that has a bed has been booked for a year.

I am thankful that I'm going to have the experience of (hopefully) seeing two total eclipses. I'm not so thankful about the thousands of people that are coming, though they will dump a ton of money on our town. Hubby and I have stocked up (stores will be depleted) and plan to stay home for the duration which could be several days before and after.

***

Ever seen a total eclipse of the sun? What's your favorite pie? What are you thoughts on AI, does it scare or disturb you? What's a Yiddish word you use a lot? For me it's nosh, or schlep, or schnoz (because I have a fairly prominent one!)