Pansy

On the Merriam-Webster dictionary site the definition for pansy has a noun and adjective entry. What made me look this up was the two tough pots of pansies that I took pictures of after the hail storm, mid afternoon yesterday.
We had just about every type of weather in the course of a few hours: rain, sleet, hail (twice), snow, and high winds.
Temperatures were in the mid 50's and down into the 30's. There was thunder, and then at about 2:00PM it cleared, and we got a rainbow that lasted as long as it took this gray cloud to snuff it out.

I got home, and one of the flower pots, that also hold my solar light, was blown over. I straightened it up and admired the fact that the blooms were still vibrant, if not a bit wind swept. Its December and I have color on my kitchen step. These plants are tough.

It made me think of the derogatory way pansy is used to call a man weak or gay. I don't know how this plant became that adjective. They are strong, not weak. Their colors are strong. I don't know how being a pansy became an insult, but its wrong. Call me naive, but I can think of worse names. But name calling does hurt, and that's a whole other blog!

But next time I hear the pansy "insult", I'll just be shaking my head.

Main Entry: 1pan·sy
Pronunciation: \ˈpan-zē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English pancy, pensee, from Middle French pensée, from pensée thought, from feminine of pensé, past participle of penser to think, from Latin pensare to ponder — more at pensive
Date: 15th century

1 : a garden plant (Viola wittrockiana) derived chiefly from the hybridization of the European Johnny-jump-up (Viola tricolor) with other wild violets; also : its flower

2: a. usually disparaging : a weak or effeminate man or boy

b. usually disparaging : a male homosexual

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pansy

Sorry this is a slow post. Blogger had a technical problem here last night.