As late as Sunday, I had no idea what my subject for the letter U would be.
Then a distinguished looking weekend weatherman on our local Bakersfield TV station said something about the weather being ubiquitous across the San Joaquin Valley. This made me sit up and pay attention because ubiquitous is a word I never fully understood. I meant to look it up, but never did.
Then I thought, it begins with U, so why not write a a post about this word, maybe I will remember what it means next time I come across it.
Having no idea where this would take me, I cleared my little side table of stuff so I could open my huge Webster's Third New International Dictionary, published in 1981 and not very up-to-date. But going that route made my learning process much more interesting.
ubiquitous: existing or being everywhere at the same time; occurring or capable of being everywhere; omnipresent.
Then what stood above it, caught my eye:
ubiquitism: the doctrine that Christ's body is omnipresent.
and
ubiquitarian: one of a school of Lutheran clergymen holding that as Christ is omnipresent, his body is everywhere.
Then, modern woman that I am, I went to Google Images and found all this, and the modern meaning of the word became clear to me:
On the screen was a plethora of stuff, mostly related to computing, social media, and networking:
So ubiquitous is the word for what's happening now. And I had no idea. Now that I know, I'm glad to have lived most of my life without all this ubiquitous, networking, connectivity, social media, all over the place stuff. As Greta Garbo, my fellow country woman, so famously said: "I want to be alone." Amen to that.
The good thing is though that I now have one more word of the English language to add to my vocabulary.
Thank you for your patience with this post and I hope I didn't bore you too much with all this.
Well I honestly can say I never paid much attention to the word ubiquitous but now I know. It seems to be a bit like me these days or at least I am trying. Being everywhere all the time. Take care. Hug B
ReplyDeleteUbiquitous seems to have changed with the times. I, not so much.
ReplyDeleteI love this post :) Brilliant! Now I too have another word in my arsenal. And like B says it's a bit like me too, trying to be everywhere at once .
ReplyDeleteFil at Fil's Place - Old Songs and Memories
A perfect "U"!
ReplyDeleteI ran into Ubiquitous a few years ago as I was invited to attend a conference on "Ubiquitous Computing"
I had no clue what they were talking about, even though I was doing it!
Thanks for sharing the other meanings. I had no clue about those, either!
Inger, you could be an excellent school teacher because you have the knack of making things interesting. And this is a good example. No fear of being boring at all.
ReplyDeleteUbiquitous....I used to be this way, not so much now. And that is just fine by me!
Great post, Ingerdoodle!! (just HAD to call you that!)
Interesting! Just the word itself makes me tired for some reason!
ReplyDeleteLike you, I wasn't sure of the meaning. Thanks, think I have it now. Can't wait to use it.
ReplyDeleteAs for finding that post: In the upper left hand corner of your blog page is a white box with a magnifying glass in it. Type in a word from the post you are searching--doesn't have to be in the title-and it will bring up every post with that word in it. I find it useful if I think I am repeating myself.
Ubiquitous is a fun word and a mind-bending concept when you think of the Father like that.
ReplyDeleteI use that concept for the person of Death in my books, but I use the phrase "AllTimes, AllWheres Simultaneously" instead of ubiquitous -- because that word sounds like an insult, and you really do not want to insult Death!
I learned something new, have seen the word in a book but never looked it up or knew what it meant. so the meaning changes all the time... thanks for the info... although i doubt i will use the word, at least now i will know what it means when i see it....
ReplyDeletei would not have defined that word correctly. thank you for the lesson!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great word! I knew what the initial meaning was but had no idea of its application in a religious sense nor in connection with computers. Very interesting post...and I agree you are an ex teacher!
ReplyDeleteYou will never bore us, Inger, with your delightful wit.
ReplyDeleteI love using the word ubiquitous, and I originally did have to look it up, too. I wanted to use it to refer to the stanchions which line the border, calling them ubiquitous (to a specific area).
U was tough for me too, 'til I remembered Utrillo. . .
Love that gorgeous header! I will be reading back posts to catch up.
ReplyDeleteThere are many interesting words, and you explain very well the meaning of ubiquitous. Well done! And I agree that "ubiquitous" is the word of the momment, with the internet.
ReplyDeleteNo way, you will never bore us! I always love reading your posts. :)
Being everywhere at the same time, a little like the internet. Always learn so many things during the challenge. U was tricky, but so will X and Z be:)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know what it meant either so thanks for that. For a person who lived so log without social media, you're doing a great job with the A-Z!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started trying to create a professional internet presence for my writing, I was told to atomise myself, get a little of me in as many social media places as possible, so I suppose I am attempting ubiquity :)
ReplyDeleteSophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles - A to Z Ghosts
Fantasy Boys XXX - A to Z Drabblerotic
Being ubiquitous has to be part of God's being. I didn't know about it being a name for a computer function.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the lesson on the word obiquitous. I never knew what it meant either. I usually chose the simpler words to express myself.
ReplyDeleteA great choice for your U post.
Hugs,
JB
Always enjoy your posts.
ReplyDeleteMy mother told me that she learned about the word ubiquitous when a carpeting company used it in an ad campaign to describe their carpeting. Always stuck with me.
ReplyDeleteInteresting conjugations too. :)
I love this word. And I love to say it! I just read another post where they used the same word. Go check it out....made me howl!
ReplyDeletehttp://2020hines-sight.com/2014/04/24/day-21-the-letter-u/comment-page-1/#comment-776
I never knew the official meaning of the word -- just had a general sense of it. Thanks for the interesting lesson. I learned something too. :) (and I completely agree with Greta Garbo).
ReplyDeleteV was the letter I couldn't come up with for the challenge - I looked up SAT words that begin with V - it was fun learning a couple of new words and finally truly understanding a couple of other V word definitions. Fun post and wonderful word!
ReplyDeleteThis is just fascinating, Inger! I love the word ubiquitous…and only use it one way. I had no idea it had so many different theological meanings! And as for modern usage relating to technology, how about that? I am really going to have to study this post and take in the new information. I love having a reason to use this wonderful word in multiple ways. How clever of you to look it up and study it as you did. :-)
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