Some info on the themes

Cosmologicon on 2010/08/17 00:11
— edited on 2010/08/17 03:00

This post is particularly for non-native English speakers who may not be familiar with all the ways some of these words are used. But also for anyone looking for some inspiration. I hope we see lots of different interpretations, no matter what the theme is.

Election obviously refers to the process of deciding something with a vote, especially to appoint someone to office. Any time you make a decision, you elect to do something. In universities, non-mandatory courses that you may choose to take are electives.

Pop-up can refer to anything that moves upward suddenly, like toast in a toaster or a jack-in-the-box. Devices that are deployed upward include pop-up lawn sprinkler heads and pop-up campers. Browser windows that appear on top are pop-ups. Pop-up books involve elaborate paper folding to make parts pop up as you turn the pages. If something appears or develops suddenly, like a town, building, or weed, it popped up overnight.

Prime means first, as in prime minister. Primed is the past tense and past participle of to prime, which means to prepare. Any device that you ready by charging, loading, or filling can be primed. Weapons or engines might need to be primed. Before being painted, surfaces are primed using a base coat of primer. Someone who is eager for something is primed and ready. If you get drunk on cheap alcohol before going out to a bar, you're primed.

Caught is the past tense and past participle of to catch. You catch things that are thrown to you, like balls and Frisbees. Catch also means to trap or to capture: fish, prey animals, pests, and criminals can be caught. Infectious diseases like colds and fevers can be caught. Catch is used in many idioms. If something fortunate happened to you, you caught a lucky break. If you caught a show, you decided to see it spontaneously. If you caught the bus, you arrived in time to take the bus. Same with trains, airplanes, and taxicabs. If you caught some sun, you sunbathed. If you caught my drift, you understood me. If you caught up, like in a race, you were behind but now you're not.

Wings of course are the flight appendages on birds, insects, bats, airplanes, dragons, angels, etc. Someone who is now licensed to fly has earned their wings. Flanks of a deployed army are wings, parts of the building on the sides are wings, and the backstage areas to the sides of a stage are wings. A wingman is a partner/assistant. In the USA, the two major political ideologies are right wing and left wing. If someone tries something randomly without much preparation or skill, he wings it. Wing can mean protection: if you take care of a protégé, you take them under your wing.

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Comments

richard on 2010/08/17 00:22:

Awesome, Cosmo! Thanks :-)

marciano on 2010/08/17 04:37:

Thank you very much Cosmologicon, your post is really helpful for us, the non-native English speakers! :)

JDruid on 2010/08/17 07:09:

Good idea. When I saw the themes, I had to check the dictionary twice to see if there was any useful meaning for primed. :)

Akake on 2010/08/17 10:56:

Nice post!

I hadn't thought of some of those ideas. (I'm a native English speaker, though)

mmkay on 2010/08/17 11:58:

That's a great post for non-natives, thanks!