esrosedotblog

Jou·is·sance ZHo͞oēˈsäns/ noun formal: physical or intellectual pleasure, delight, or ecstasy.

Nice word. I can't see myself saying it very often as it seems to be reserved for special occasions.

I am in a state of jouissance.

Nah.

A definite "nope".

I don't think I will use it.

It sounds a little too much like drugs were somehow involved.

How about "I am happy today".

Also, it is said, in French of course, to mean the state of orgasm.

It sounds right for that too. I was even supplied a drawing for this which is almost x-rated for this blog. Sorry. I enjoyed looking at it.

Labels: words

I was 65 years old before I ever heard the word "homeland" except in a connection with immigrants.

As in "my great grand parents' homeland was Germany".

In that sense, I have never thought about the United States as "my homeland". But now, more and more, people are saying this. I think that it reeks of xenophobia. The hatred of other countries. Inappropriate national pride.

But, I guess, I am in a minority.

I thought that I was the only one who noticed this sudden use of the H word. But I guess not.

How ‘Homeland’ Became Part of Our American Lexicon

Well, not my lexicon. I don't and won't ever use this word.

Maybe because it seems that it started with George W. Bush. But, more than that, it is the sort of old fashioned "my country right or wrong" thinking.

To me it connotes bullying. I know. It is what I am putting on it.

I am glad someone wrote this article. I felt alone.

I always associated this word with dictatorships and oppression.

Since Georgie boy started it the word has become a department which makes the kind of nationalistic flourish a formal reality.

I guess I just see it as a way of flaunting our power in the world. More penis waving. Which is definitely not needed if it ever was.

Labels: language, words

There are these acronyms all the time. I have to GLTU (go look them up).

Take MRW. OK. Right now I know this means "my reaction when".

But in about two minutes I will forget and will have to run to the UD. Urban Dictionary.

Then there is MFW (my face when). Huh?

Isn't it tiresome for these people to remember ATS (all this shit)?

It is WMT (wasting my time).

Now, you are going to say that these things are so around so all the time that I should be learning them.

Well, I am SFN (so fucking not)!

I know that BITD (back in the day) I probably had the same thing going. The double talk. The codes.

MIASS (man I am so sorry)!

MB (my bad).

I don't like cliche expressions like that. So lame. Substitutes for actual talking and writing.

LLL (lazy lazy lazy)you guys. Another one "you guys". OK (that is an oldie. It doesn't mean anything! Okie Dokie. Oook). So I know. This is NN (nothing new).

JS (just sayin').

Labels: bullshit, fun, words

ON WRITING

Since I write a lot I am, by implication, very interested in writing itself.

Or should be.

I really liked this article on the dictionary, the meaning of words and the utility of being able to write beyond the dictionary meanings.

The Role of a Dictionary Today

Mundanity is the curse of an interesting blog or, for that matter, a food label or a line of copy in an ad. A come hither look is needed for the reader's attention.

What is needed is a stick. Something to stiffen the line, the copy.

To bring interest to the page.

I try for that but it is difficult. Trying makes it a labor. Better not to try and let it fly.

First, my writing history is quasi-academic. I wrote training manuals for years. No allowance for poetry. Literally thousands of people would read these things and take explicit action in their lives based on what they read. It had to be taken seriously.

It also had to be taken readably. We lived by the Fogg, the readablity measures.

Every day was a day of conflict with a copy editor and the copy editor's questions.

I sometimes write from a crouch position.

Check that sentence. It just came out. Is "crouch" the write / right word?

I will not look it up. I am just happy to have had it come through my own editor, through my fingers and on to the page.

My mind's editor wants to modify it now. To put in the word "defensive" so the reader will not have to work to get the picture. But then it would be wrong because that kind of crouch is not the only kind of crouch I have in mind.

I want a picture to form. The more explicit I become the less evocative.

I like to, on occasion, invent a word. Some normal usage twisted.

No example leaps to mind. It is usually a "found" word. Another through the brain into the fingers out to the keyboard event. A surprise.

Fancy words. Out. That is not what we are talking about here. If I have to look it up it is probably too fancy although I do have a rather wide vocabulary. But it is possible to make a common every day word dance a bit. Used slightly out of rhythm. A bounce. A chance mis-spelling.

There is the inhibition of performance. This is not improv. I can take what comes out of my fingers and just let it go. Like throwing mud up on the wall and watching it slide off. But that is something else entirely and is probably a matter of poetry.

I am currently reading a kind of text book by Phillip Lopate on essay writing. He doesn't spend much time, so far, on word choice. Maybe before I am done.

I mention it to illustrate that somewhere, somehow, there is always a reading, a thought, a consideration of style in my life. A book, an article like this one. Words. How to use them more effectively.

The worst hurdle of all is being self conscious about my writing. And this blog post is not helping.

Time to quit. Point made. Move on.

Oh. Dictionaries. I rarely use them to find a word for my writing. I use them a lot to understand others' writing. I keep finding new things. The actual meaning of "penultimate" for example. A recent discovery that I have been using the word incorrectly all my writing or reading life. Not that it comes up that often. But it is a rare bird and fun to use. If I can, actually, understand it correctly.

Labels: blogging, words