Y, y: One of five letters of the alphabet, along with
F, U, V, and
W, derived from the Phoenician
waw “peg,” and the one that most closely resembles its ancestor. In addition to its familiar pronunciations as vowel and consonant, it is also on rare occasions pronounced /th/. Typesetters used
Y in place of a defunct Old English letter, the thorn, (
Þ) which represented the /th/ sound. The “ye” in kitschy signage such as “Ye Olde Gifte Shoppe,” does not mean “your;” it is prosaically and unromantically pronounced “the.”
yoga: Vulgarly meaning a system of exercise, but more accurately, “discipline.” From the Sanskrit for “union” from
yogu, “yoke” or “harness.” The three types of yoga as revealed by Krishna to Arjuna before the battle of Kurukshetra, are
Karma Yoga, discipline of action without attachment to results,
Jnana Yoga, discipline of understanding what is Real and Unreal, Permanent and Temporary, and
Bhakti Yoga, discipline of loving devotion to the Cosmos.
TOMORROW! RETURN OF THE STOOPID CONTEST!
