TODAY KICKS OFF THE WOULD-BE novelists’ annual motivational event, NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write 1,667 words a day for a total of 50,000 by November 30. (I participated one year, and have a fairly mediocre…
Tag: creating
Making stuff: up, real, and nicely.
Words To Bring Back: “Patois”
– Definition: n. A type of local dialect. – Used in a sentence: His discourse was punctuated by a patois rich in “I know, right?” “Wait. What?” and “Yeah, no…” – Why: It’s a better (and more elegant and less…
Words to Bring Back: “Probity”
– Definition: n. Virtue or integrity tested and confirmed. – Used in a sentence: If our elected officials had more probity, there would be less Congressional probing. – Why: Actually, I’m not sure whether it’s the word or the concept…
Words to Bring Back: “Pink”
– Definition (per SubGenius usage): adj. Happily and/or militantly vapid and mediocre; commercially soulless n. One who or that which exhibits these traits. – Used in a sentence: adj. “I’m surprised to see the otherwise excellently talented Tom Hanks in…
Words to Bring Back: “Contretemps”
– Definition: n. a minor dispute or disagreement. – Used in a sentence: The current Administration* is one big contretemps after another. – Why: Because “kerfuffle” could use a bit of adulting.
Words To Bring Back: “Reverie”
– Definition: n. Abstracted musing; dreaming. – Used in a sentence: Since late 2016, my reveries have been somewhat disturbed. – Why: Although it comes from an Old French word meaning “dream,” it also reminds one of “revere” or “reverent.”…
Words to Bring Back: “Pellucid”
– Definition: adj. Permitting to a certain extent the passage of light. – Used in a sentence: O, for a more perfectly pellucid presidency*! – Why: I’m in favor of this one strictly for the sound of it; the feeling…
Words to Bring Back: “Concatenation”
– Definition: n. The act of linking together. – Used in a sentence: One positive effect of the 2016 election was the concatenation of disparate progressives, some actually lucid. – Why: Who could argue with a pentasyllabic synonym for “gathering?”
Words to Bring Back: “Adduce”
– Definition: v.t. To present for proof or consideration, as an example; cite; allege. – Used in a sentence: Rod Serling could have saved himself a couple of seconds per episode if he had only prefaced his Twilight Zone introductions…
We’re trapped in linguistic constructs… all that is, is metaphor.”
—Robert Anton Wilson
Words to Bring Back: “Chary”
– Definition: adj. cautiously or suspiciously reluctant to do something. – Used in a sentence: Due to long experience, my cat is no longer chary of taking his arthritis medicine. – Why: I suppose you could always use the synonymic…
Words To Bring Back: “Redolent”
– Definition: adj. 1. strongly reminiscent or suggestive of 2. fragrant or sweet-smelling – Used in a sentence: This halvah is redolent of faded rose-petals. – Why: One can never have too many adjectives for describing the senses.