I was asked to define HYPERTHERMIA over at the Waking Ambrose site (check it out, why don'tcha), and this word COOPETITION popped up. I thought that Doug Pascover, the mogul of Waking Ambrose, had made up the word on the spot. Silly me. There are books about this. So how could I resist?

COOPETITION, n. When Old MacDonald's chickens have a grievance. Dancing with concealed weapons.

HYPERTHERMIA, n.

1. A word meaning "sunstroke", used socially to label persons with million-dollar indebtedness from medical schools and separate them from persons with million-dollar indebtedness from other causes.

2. The impossible dream of the Maine resident in January. There's a reason why the entire population of the "The Way Life Should Be" state could be transported to Miami, or Phoenix, or Los Angeles, and disappear without trace.

Hyperthermia! Get yourself to bed,
With cooling fans, and packs upon your head;
An icy drink, and shelter from the sun
That hangs in the sky - or perhaps the one
That's bling bling blinging on the television screen,
Or blooming, artful blooming from the magazine
For which you drained the plastic sunshine
From your wallet; used e-cash to line
The pockets of American Idol's marketers,
Or the nip and tucking, breast enhancing shysters
Who declare that what you have is perfect rot,
They and only they define what's hot.

But perhaps unwitting wisdom's on that screen;
For when you wish too close upon a star,
The wax will melt, and the feathers fling
From your arms while you fall flailing, long and far.

- Kristen G. Nugget

   - O Ceallaigh

Copyright © 2006 Felloffatruck Publications. All wrongs deplored.

All opinions are mine as a private citizen.