MEANINGLESS WORDS
Meaningless words are so absurd.
The most absurd I’ve ever heard.
Now, I don’t mean to be a nerd;
And insult I have not inferred.
But, really, when I’m quite unstirred
By words whose meanings are deferred,
My reading seems like riding herd
On crazy cattle who’ve been spurred.
All sanity and sense are slurred
By meaningless words that are absurd.
You can take part in today’s prompt by visiting Daily Post
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IRKSOME ASSIGNMENT
I must write a post using “panoply.”
But I’m stuck and a little confused.
For it isn’t a world I use commonly,
For with snobb’ry I feel it’s infused.
I did look up its definition
Just to make sure I wasn’t quite wrong.
Now I’m even more sure it’s pretentious,
For it’s synonym list is quite long.
Now, I’m likely to use the word “trappings,”
Or “collection,” or even “array.”
And in reference to a suit of armor,
Well – “armor” is just what I’d say.
I find this prompt most aggravating.
It offers no useful rewards.
To describe just how irksome I find it
Takes a literal panoply of words.
To take part in the prompt, visit Daily Post.
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Check out the challenge: NaPoWriMo.net.
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I’ve always insisted that words have great power. They can move people to action; they can stop people dead in their tracks; they can hurt and destroy; they can give life and health. Words have power.
That truth came home to me anew when I had lunch in a Mexican restaurant today. Another friend and I were giving a treat to a lady whom we love dearly — and who has been dealing with dementia problems for the past couple of years. It was our small way of letting her know how much we love her and of giving her one more opportunity to feel normal again. My focus was on her, of course, and seeing her delight and enjoyment of the experience was all the return I needed.
However, something else happened that gave me an added lift, and it came from a direction that I would never have expected. Our waiter — a young man who was very intense about getting our orders exactly right — especially since our friend had to have specific kinds of food — came back to our table several times to check on us. Every time he did so, he addressed us a “Senoritas.” Now, on the surface, that may not seem so very unusual. But when you consider that I have eaten in lots of Mexican restaurants during my lifetime — in a number of different states — many of which were staffed by Mexican people who could barely speak English — yet not one time in all those experiences have I ever been addressed as a “Senorita” — then the event is unusual. But the most unusual thing about it was that every time this young waiter called me “Senorita,” it made me light up inside because it made me feel young and pretty.
Why? I’m not sure. But you know something? I don’t care why! All I care about is that he used that title for me very naturally — and repeatedly — and it resulted in giving my personal outlook on myself a happy lift that lasted all day and is still with me as I write these words late tonight.
So — tomorrow — I’m going to make an extra effort to say some happy, positive, lifting words to the people I come in contact with. I usually try to speak to people in a positive manner anyway, but now I’m going to work even harder at it. This Senorita is going to pass on the happiness.
~~~
Senorita clip art: courtesy hyspanicclipart.blogspot.com
I got to thinking about the word “neck” yesterday, and I suddenly realized – for the first time in my life – what a useful little word it is. One would think that, as a writer, I should have realized the worth of this particular four-letter word before now, considering the fact that so many of our English words and phrases owe their existence to it. However, better late than never I’d say. So here is my belated tribute to an oh so common, but extraordinarily accommodating little word.
NECK: The Word & It’s Family
neck and neck
pain in the neck
necking like teenagers
don’t get your neck out of joint
don’t stick your neck out
I want to hug your neck
in this neck of the woods
hung by the neck until dead
traveling at break-neck speed
necklace
necktie
neck scarf
redneck
leathernecks
bottleneck
Great Neck, NY
~~~
I sat thinking today about how some words are more enjoyable to say than others. The majority of the words we use are simply tools that get the job done and don’t actually affect us in any kind of personal way. But then there are those wonderful words that literally tingle on our tongue when we speak them. And sometimes – well, if you’re a little quirky, as I am – they give us so much pleasure when we say them that we look for more opportunities – even create opportunities – to speak them out of our mouths.
I’m that way about writing as well. If a word sounds delightful to me in its spoken form, then I will often use it in a story so that my characters can “say” those words.
And certainly the lists of words that give us pleasure are probably too numerous to count. Each of us has a unique palate that determines which words taste delicious on our tongue and which ones are less than satisfying. So as I was meditating on this fact today, I decided that I would just start jotting down the first 25 words that I could think of that I particularly enjoy saying out loud.
There are myriads more, I’m sure, but these 25 are words that I feel I could roll around on my tongue and repeat multiple times a day and never tire of their sound. Some of them are enjoyable because they are melodious and soothing – others because they have a brisk, crisp sound that sharpens my word palate the way a sip of tangy sweet lemonade does my food palate.
And, naturally, once my list was made, I felt it was only right that I share it with my blogging family. Remember that the meanings of these words have nothing to do with their inclusion in the list. It’s just the sound that they make that gives me pleasure. I’ve listed these 25 words in alphabetical order, but that does not mean that some are more enjoyable than others. They all fall just about the same place on my satisfaction meter – which is at the top – or very close to it.
25 Words That I Find Particularly Delightful To Speak Aloud
Algonquin
Beatrice
Cacophony
Chattanooga
Delineate
Ecclesiastical
Epiphany
Ethereal
Extraordinarily
Finite
Hadassah
Indelibly
Juliet
Kamikaze
Kate
Ludicrous
Monumental
Porcupine
Quagmire
Simeon
Succulent
Symposium
Terrestrial
Unilateral
Zaire
I looked over the list to see if I could find any patterns, but I saw only two. The first has to do with the letter “L.” Twelve of the 25 words have the “L” sound as a primary sound. Then I also noticed that eight of the words have a hard “K” sound. Don’t know if that means anything in particular. I was aware that I am fond of the hard “K” sound, but I had no idea at all that I was partial to “L.” Hmmm.
Anyway, after you read my list, maybe you’d like to examine your own appetite for particular words and make out your own personal list. If you do, please feel free to come back here and post a link to your list in the “Comments” section of this article.
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The prompt this week: “… the points were sharp …”
The Written Word
The quills were ancient. She’d found them locked in a closet of the abby. But the points were sharp, the monks having taken great care of them.
Mara sighed. “Remember, Robert? … Computers and photocopiers? It was all so easy?”
“Yeah … life before the E-bombs. Who would have dreamed our electronic infrastructure was so unprotected!”
“If the new dictator hadn’t confiscated all the manual typewriters and pencils as well, we could at least communicate to some extent!”
Picking up a quill, Robert replied: “Well, this is how our ancestors printed letters and books. We come from the same stock. So –” dipping his quill into the ink – “let’s get started.”
~
Julia’s 100-Word Challenge For Grown Ups is a lot of fun. Hop over to her site to get the instructions for how to take part:
http://jfb57.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/100-word-challenge-for-grown-ups-week84/
Just in case we have new readers who are not familiar withNaPoWriMo, perhaps I should explain again. It’s been a couple weeks since we talked about it in detail. April is National Poetry Month, and Maureen Thorson, in Washington, D. C. hosts a blogsite that invites all poets to participate in a special challenge in celebration of that fact by writing a poem a day for the 30 days of April. Thus NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month). Maureen gives us a new prompt for each day, but the prompts are totally voluntary. We can follow them or write some other kind of poem entirely. We are only halfway through the month, so anyone can still join in the fun. Just hop over to this link and get started: http://www.napowrimo.net
Day 15: Pantun is a Malay form of poetry. Although it has been changed and adapted into a slightly different form by the French and English, our challenge today is to write a poem following the exact formula of the original Malay Pantun. That formula consists of a quatrain with 8-12 syllables per line and a rhyme scheme of abab. Furthermore, although there is no formal logical connection required between the two halves of each quatrain, there is supposed to be some degree of “imaginative or imagistic connection” between the two.
I decided, in the interest of time, to limit myself to one quatrain. The following has 10 syllables per line, and I think I’ve met the other requirements as well. Moreover, I’ve shared a powerful truth.
WEAPONS
One man may wield with ease a sharp-honed sword,
And drawing blood, strike death with that long knife.
Another for his weapon chooses words,
Yet with dead aim, he too destroys a life.
~~~
Okay the challenge for day 12 is to write a poem “saying only things you’d never say” to some people in your life: parents, lovers, teachers, employers, presidents, corporate execs, etc. Well, here’s what happened when I tried it:
THINGS I’D NEVER SAY
I’ve often thought if telling certain people off.
Imagined speaking my mind loud and clear.
But all the things I’d like to say I’d never say,
So I’ve been challenged just to say them here.
Well, one guy needs to have his head examined,
And this is what I’d like to say to him:
No — wait — I’d never say those words in real life;
They’re just too cold and mean and even grim.
Well, I could put one boss I had in her place,
And make her feel so bad that she would cry
If I just told her — no — I’d never say that,
And I can’t say it even when I try.
This challenge calls on me to say in meter
The things I’d never say in speaking prose.
It asks me to go straight against my conscience
And verbally attack all of my foes.
But if these words that I am contemplating
Are words I’d “never say,” then you can see
That since I’d “never say them,” I can’t say them,
If I’m to go on being true to me.
~~~
Join the fun for the rest of April at this link: http://www.napowrimo.net/
Words have power. They can inflict wounds that last a lifetime or heal a broken heart. They can soothe a troubled child or ignite a revolution. They can destroy a friendship or kindle the flame of love. In fact, God’s Word says that the very power of life and death is in the words that we speak. (Proverbs 18:21). He also says that we will be justified or condemned by our words. (Matthew 12:37). As we move forward into this new year, one of the wisest things we can do is be extremely — extremely — careful what words we speak out of our mouths.
The Happy Wordcrafter 