Posted on 03/06/2014 4:53:16 AM PST by secret garden
In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
zeitgeber \TSYTE-gay-ber\ noun
an environmental agent or event that provides the stimulus setting or resetting a biological clock of an organism.
Example sentences:
"Food availability seems to be a weaker zeitgeber than light. Although food is more essential than light for an animal's survival, light exerts a finer control than food availability over the activity rhythm."
— From Roberto Refinetti's 2006 book Circadian Physiology, Second Edition
"Night-shift workers also struggle, he says, because they don't get the environmental and social cues that help adjust the circadian clock. The most important of these cues, called zeitgebers … is sunlight. But a zeitgeber could also be a scrambled-egg breakfast or children coming home from school in the afternoon."
— From an article by Tara Parker-Pope in New York Times Magazine, November 20, 2011
Etymology:
Zeitgebers are nature's alarm clocks—both biologically and etymologically. The word "zeitgeber" derives from a combination of two German terms, "Zeit," which means "time," and "Geber," which means "giver"—so a "zeitgeber" is literally a "time giver." In nature, zeitgebers tend to be cyclic or recurring patterns that help keep the body's circadian rhythms operating in an orderly way. For plants and animals, the daily pattern of light and darkness and the warmer and colder temperatures between day and night serve as zeitgebers, cues that keep organisms functioning on a regular schedule. For humans, societally imposed cycles, such as the schedule of the work or school day and regular mealtimes, can become zeitgebers as well.
The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-)
Practice makes perfect.....post on....
Review Thread One: Word For The Day, Thursday 11/14/02: Raffish
Review Thread Two: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/14/03: Roister
Review Thread Three: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/28/03: Obdurate
WFB's attempt to emulate us ; ) No pushing at the door please!
first
Rise and shine!
My zeitgeber wakes me at 5 AM, whether I want to, or not.
Our daily dose of time is a gift; that’s why it’s called “the present”.
Time Is Given
Here my last day before I cross, a magic, mystic river,
You want more time? Here, have some more,
Time rolls by so lazily, so generous a giver.
Take all that you may choose, and care not for,
The ways that you may use. It is a gift.
It’s yours to do with as you may,
No green-eyeshaded clerk will sift,
And sort reports about your day.
Time is given, like sunshine, unending in its glory,
Expanding all around you everywhere.
As you work to write your story,
Be sure to contemplate your words with care.
An ocean of time has flowed by me,
The source seems just as fresh.
I’ve loved the dance and company,
And other pleasures of the flesh.
I have enjoyed the quiet times.
I’ve read ten thousand books,
And music that’s wrapped up in rhymes,
And treasured sultry looks.
The gift of time that I have had,
Is like a tool of sorts,
So carefully the good and bad,
I put in my reports.
I know you’ve read them, and enjoyed,
My childlike glee to write them.
Despite the skill I have employed,
Don’t ask me to recite them.
They stretch back like the days gone past,
In all the varied ways I trod,
I did not think they long would last,
But I have marked the trail I plod.
Tomorrow starts another trail,
Adventure waits once more.
I think I’ll find myself a sail,
When I reach the final shore.
NicknamedBob . . . . February 26, 2005
What’s this about a German gay bar?
Government, in its zeitgeber authority over every detail of human life, seeks to control our circadian rhythms through the application of daylight savings time, thereby gilding nature’s lily with bureaucratic superior wisdom.
Sprockets?
Would you like to pet my monkey?
Mine too! But at 5:30. Makes me mad on the weekends!
I was like that in college. I would wake up on Sunday by 1 PM for the Steeler game no matter what.
Honestly I cannot recall sleeping until noon ever. My zeitgeber clock is set to early no matter what time I go to bed.
When I was in the army there was a guy who, in an effort to improve his vocabulary, would randomly pick a word from the dictionary and use it all day long........he was a little weird.
Not that there’s anything wrong with it.
And it makes no sense. All it does is irk me every single time. A for you.
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