Tag: Words

Words

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 11 Comments

We were in the city today, so I’m very late posting this. Bob and I attended our monthly Christian writers get-together and one of the subjects we touched on was book reviews. How some reviewers go the extra mile to really slam a book. Which fits in with today’s Ragtag Daily Prompt: WORDS

Writers – especially poets – will deliberate for hours on which is the best word to describe what they want to convey. Thus was the thesaurus born.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw the prompt was that old BeeGees’ song, “It’s only words, and words are all I have to take your heart away.” Words can win a heart, and words can break a heart.

words enlighten – and confuse
words conceal – and reveal
words compliment – and censure
words can inspire – and shatter

Concerned, you ask a family member or friend, “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay.”
“So-so.”
“I’m getting by.”
Evasive words. Avoiding the elephant in the room – because the elephant, if examined closely, may jab you with a painful tusk.

The Bible talks about words and speech. In Proverbs 31 Solomon describes a virtuous woman, one of her qualities being “in her tongue is the law of kindness.”
The same would be true of a good man: kindness is their guiding light. Even when repeating the truth, careful not to censure, ready to give the benefit of the doubt. Discreetly silent about things that need not be revealed. Not blind but not blabbing.

Some people rather make honesty their rule of life. “I don’t mince words. I tell it just like I see it. If you don’t like it, that’s your problem.” However, honesty tends to come mixed with the grit of opinion and feeling. Sorting the golden truth from all the sand is almost impossible for us mortals.

Jesus warns his hearers about name-calling. In Matthew 5:22 He tells the crowd, “…whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” A serious thought!
The Apostle Peter comes in on the up-side. “Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.”
To me that means, “Show respect to all people — even when critiquing their attitudes or behaviour.”

Up the Mountain

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 16 Comments

The Ragtag Daily Prompt today was LUSH. And just for fun I’m going to throw in a few humongous — but interesting — words I’ve come across in my reading recently:
Vertiginous – related to vertigo. Causing dizziness; marked by turning or sudden changes.
Temerarious – foolishly adventurous or bold
Fulminate – to issue censures, railing accusations, or vehement denunciations

Up The Mountain

My wife and I met my old friend Pete at a restaurant, enjoyed a meal together, and planned to spend the night at his place near the summit of a nearby mountain. When we got back to our cars he told me, “You’ll love the view tomorrow morning but I’ll admit the road to my place loops around some.”

My wife and I exchanged looks. Twilight was settling in. How would we manage unfamiliar turns at night? She was nervous about traveling after dark at the best of times, never mind on winding roads. I wanted to ask Pete to lead us gently but he was already in his car.

At first the county highway was fairly straightforward with deep woods on either side. I could easily keep Pete’s tail lights in view. However, we were soon on a fairly steep grade negotiating ess curves. Pete was moving at a good speed but I swallowed my fears and trusted he’s had enough experience driving on this mountain.

Dusk gave way to darkness. The lush growth thinned out and we started seeing chunks of rock at the roadsides – with hairpin bends in the road around them. I desperately tried to keep up with Pete as he zipped around the vertiginous curves on this rapidly narrowing road.

Not as temerarious as Pete, I slowed down when my headlights lit up a rock wall on one side and the blackness of space on the other. At one point I unconsciously edged away from the precipice on my left and got too far to the right. With a clunk the car bounced through a deep pothole. I prayed for my suspension and each of my four tires!

By now my wife was fulminating about this crazy ride. As we approached another hairpin curve with a huge slice of rock rising straight up on our right and a flimsy guard rail on our left, we spotted a sign: “Watch for falling rock.” At the very edge of the pavement lay several shadowy lumps: small boulders that had already tumbled down.

My wife squawked and clutched the door handle. “This is crazy. What are we supposed to do if we see rocks falling on us – drive off the edge?”

“You’ll have to do the watching,” I shot back at her as I slowed down to negotiate the curve. “It’s all I can do to watch Pete’s tail lights.”

As we went around this hairpin curve I found myself squeezing the steering wheel so tight my fingers were going numb. Pete’s lights had disappeared. But he must have realized we’d dropped behind; a moment later I saw brake lights far ahead. Then we passed through a relatively straight stretch and caught up with his vehicle. I relaxed my grip on the wheel. My shoulders ached. It felt like we’d been driving for hours!

After a couple more loops, Pete came to a stop and signaled for a right turn. He headed down a narrow lane and I followed. Finally we came to a stop in a clearing and saw the most heartening sight: a rustic log cabin, lit up invitingly.

“Welcome here,” said Pete. “I hope you didn’t find the road up too bad?”

I shook my head. “How can you do that every day?”

“There were a few times I was sure we’d go over the edge,” my wife chimed in. “Or that my heart would stop. But then I imagined myself lying in the back of an ambulance as it raced down the mountain. My heart skipped a beat or two and started pumping frantically again.”

“But you’ll love the view in the morning,” Pete promised again. “And I promise the road will be easier going down in daylight.”

Telephone & Saxophone

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 2 Comments

THE NEW FILING CLERK

One of the first things Sam noticed when he walked into the CEO’s office was a young girl at a desk, off to one side. She looked up briefly then went back to filing her long fingernails.

Approaching the main receptionist, an efficient-looking woman, Sam gave his name and informed her that he had an appointment with Mr Winsett.

“Oh, yes. Follow me, sir.” Shooting an annoyed glance in the nail-filer’s direction, she led him into the CEO’s office.

“Hey, Sam,” His friend Vic rose and shook his hand. “Glad to see you. Sit down. I have the reports and data I wanted to show you right here.”

“Great.” Same took a chair. “Say, I see you have a second office worker now.” He kept the remark lightly curious, watching for Vic’s reaction. It wasn’t like his friend to hire superfluous staff, especially if they so obviously look bored. Also, her dress didn’t look like the kind of professional business attire Vic expected of his secretaries.

“You mean Melody.” Bill grinned. “She’s our filing clerk – when there’s something to file.”

“She’s doing a good job on her nails right now.”

Vic shrugged. “Guess you’d call it a sinecure. She’s my brother’s niece and needs a job – or rather, needs the paycheque – for the summer. Doesn’t have much idea about office work, but filing and some follow-up calls she can handle. Evenings and weekends she plays in a band, whenever they can get a gig.”

Sam pictured the young lady strumming a guitar. “With those nails? What instrument does she play?”

“Saxophone, if you can believe it.”

“Ah.”

“So here she is, until university starts again in fall. I’ll talk to her again about office protocol. Now about these reports…”

The Ragtag Daily Prompt for today is SINECURE. A new word for me.

According to M-W, this word has an interesting meaning and goes way back.A SINECURE is a job or position more-or-less in name only. That is, you get paid for barely working. Great position for an in-law or someone the boss wants to have around without expecting much productivity.

This word is derived from sine cura, meaning “without cure.” Apparently the non-cure pertained to souls. From M-W: “The original sinecure was a church position that didn’t involve the spiritual care or instruction of church members. These days the positions are more likely to be board or academic appointments that require no teaching.

Neurodiversity

~ Christine Goodnough ~ Leave a comment

The two writing prompts I’ve been following at NaPoWriMo and the Writer’s Digest are really inspiring — and now I’ve discovered a third source of inspiration: the Write Practice has posted some articles, too. Here’s an interesting one. My muse is in a tizzy as she fills notebooks with half-baked verses. 🙂

This morning’s Writer’s Digest April PAD prompt this morning — write something completely different from your usual verses — reminds me of a verse I started two weeks ago, upon discovering a new word. Does a fascination with new and unusual words count as a diversity?

NEURODIVERSITY*

Carefully, minutely
she explores
her neurodiversity,
dividing its aspects into
five very neat
spiral-bound notebooks,
each plus and minus
analyzed to the nth degree.

*individual differences in brain functioning regarded as normal variations within the human population. For example, OCD or Autism

New Words And Old

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 5 Comments

Writing Difficult Topics

My internet ramble started with reading an article on the Writer’s Digest site: Writing Cozies With An Edge. Harper Kincaid writes about incorporating unusual or difficult subjects into a cozy.

One of her main characters is “a neurodivergent nun.” Eh? Where’s my dictionary? I couldn’t find it in a quick check with M-W, but they define neurodiversity as individual differences in brain functioning regarded as normal variations within the human population. Variations like ADHD, OCD, or Autism.

Her nun has some level of ADHD and her cousin in this story is an undiagnosed autistic. Agatha Christie had this one, too: remember Hercule Poirot’s personal fussiness and how he was always straightening things? He was definitely OCD.

Kincaid mentions other difficulties the MC may deal with: loss of vision or mobility, ethnicity or foreign origins – Hercule Poirot again – or age, like Miss Marple. Her thought is to work the topic in lightly and deal with it compassionately. “No subject is taboo if you have empathy.”

The Ragtag Daily Prompt yesterday was FRACTAL, another word that sent me to the dictionary. I did best with M-W’s definition for juniors. Fractal is an irregular shape that looks the same at any scale on which it is examined.

Fractal Image: Gordon Johnson — Pixabay

Today’s RDP word is CONSEQUENCES. An old and familiar word packed with deep meaning. Aren’t most stories built on people meeting the consequences of their actions, for better or for worse?

We’re inclined to expect wrong actions will receive just consequences, even if we hope to dodge them ourselves. (We always have noble reasons, right?) Scammers try hard to escape detection, but I suspect if someone would drain their bank account, they’d soon cry foul. Shoplifters would likely be furious if someone came to their house and raided their purse or carted off their precious things.

Cozy mystery readers expect the baddie to lose, they want challenging clues so they can help figure out whodunit, and they prefer low levels of angst. Murder and mayhem, but no horror or gory details. They like a neat wrap-up: the bad guy gets caught; the good guy wins the girl; the female sleuth impresses the handsome detective. So much the better if he falls for her even if she’s bipolar, an amputee, over the hill, or damaged by a trauma in her past?

On the other hand, I’ve noticed that the male main character – the love interest – is always smart, incredibly handsome, and physically fit. Hunks only need apply for this role. 😉

Growing A Vocab

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 9 Comments

The Ragtag Daily Prompt word yesterday was EMBIGGEN. Though I’m a day late for posting the response that came to mind when I first saw it, my mind is still on that word.

It was a new one on me so I looked it up in M-W and found that it’s a new word added because of a ’90s TV comic series. Normally I think that words added to a person’s vocabulary and/or the dictionary indicates an increase in knowledge. As we learn, we usually expand our repertoire of useful words. EMBIGGEN, on the other hand, seems like a dumbing-down of vocab. Lacking words like enlarge, expand, extend, increase, the inventor tacked an iffy prefix and suffix onto BIG and send it out into the world.

Rather like calling scrambled eggs an eggbeat. “My eggbeat was too enrunable”

Re: EXPANDING. One of the things I did when we were in the city yesterday is exchange jigsaw puzzles with a friend. She lives in a small seniors’ block with a number of others who enjoy puzzling, as do the seniors living at our nearby Villa, so every blue moon we do an exchange. I filled two boxes with about 15 puzzles I had here; she in exchange gave me a HUGE black garbage bag plus a smaller bag. Counting them later I found a total of 26 — and one was a multi-pack of seven! So instead of decreasing my puzzle stash, I’ve embiggened it. All lovely–and almost all 1000-piece puzzles. (Villa folks prefer 500-piece ones, but they’ll tackle these lovely scenes, I’m sure.)

Embiggened is a good word to describe my upper lip right now, too. As in swelled or puffed up. I felt a small cold sore — or fever blister — arising at the corner of my mouth. By evening my whole upper lip was burning. Now I’m sporting FOUR large bumps spread across my top lip, each doing its bit to fatten the whole. As in the old song, I’ll be “sipping cider through a straw” today.

Doing a quick exchange with another blogger about translation programmes. I wonder if embiggen has been added — or will it be too transient to bother with? What about RETWEET, another new word? Constantly being improved, these programmes are still limited — you still need a proofreader — because English words have so many different applications. I recall one Spanish ESL student laughing about the idea of a nose running! Or consider telling a doctor that your elbow joint isn’t running fast, when you should be saying it isn’t functioning properly.

When we lived in Quebec, some journalist did articles about English companies using translation programmes and the hilarity that resulted at times. For example: gloves with stretch fabric “for a snug fit” became “for a comfortable seizure.” The words mind and spirit — the one word ESPRIT in French — so easily get mixed up, too. In one case, “It doesn’t violate the spirit of the author” with a dictionary’s help became “It doesn’t rape the mind of the author.”

Using the precise word is essential to good communication — and we are so blessed to have such a range of precise words. 🙂

Pixabay image