Omni

This is a prefix that begins many fascinating words – omnibus, omnidirectional, omnifarious, omnificent, omnipresent, omnirange, and omniumgatherum.

Omni itself comes from the Latin omnis, meaning ‘all.’

Omni magazine (a popular science magazine) was published from 1978 to 1995 (online until 1998). I still have a number of copies (I wonder if they’re valuable?)

A homonym for omnigatherum is hodge podge, meaning a miscellaneous collection of a variety of things or persons. A good name, it seems to me for this blog.

I suspect that most humans are omnigatherers (not sure if that’s a word) because we collect all kinds of things both deliberately and by accident. Think of the last time you moved and the odds and ends you discovered in your house and apartment that made you say, “What on earth am I keeping this for?”

Much of my omnigatherum includes books – mystery, SF, non fiction, poetry, Canadian authors, classics, and so on. I do try to cull this collection periodically because I don’t have room for more bookcases in my house and I don’t like to hide books behind each other.

I have less trouble getting rid of clothes than I do books. I’m not one of those people who can pull out something she wore in 1967 that might actually be considered interesting in 2012.

When I was a teenager still living at home my mother’s collection of knickknacks (there’s another good word – meaning ornament; can also be spelled nicknacks) used to bug me. I vowed that I would not fill the top of a piano or TV or various shelves with what I considered useless odds and ends. Well, I have to confess that I do have a few knickknacks now.

I was never a collector in the sense of stamps or match books or license plates; though for a short time I did collect reproductions of old paper dolls. I still have a few paper dolls to this day.

There are several boxes of my son’s stuff in my basement – as long as there’s room I don’t mind.

And of course, now that I have a grandson, I have to have a few toys about.

I have files of stuff I think might be useful or interesting from some future writing project. My basement holds a few tools and odds and ends of paint, along with old year books from high school and university as well as a couple of bound Sheaf newspapers from the time when I wrote for it. Recently I actually had reason to go back and at the latter for an article for The Sheaf centennial.

I don’t consider myself a pack rat (my possessions don’t feel as if they are taking over my house or my life) though I do like to keep what interests me. Probably it’s time to do a cull, however.