Category: Write Away

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Write Away: “Milquetoast”

This week, I’m sort of – maybe – interested in the word, “Milquetoast.” What does it mean?

  • Adjective: lacking in character or vigor : WISHY-WASHY
  • Noun: A timid, meek, or unassertive person

It’s a strangely spelled word, introduced in 1924 by cartoonist Harold T. Webster in a comic strip called, “The Timid Soul,” published in the New York Herald Tribune. Webster claimed the character, Caspar Milquetoast, was a “man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick.” It slipped into use as a synonym beginning in the mid-30’s.

The word sounds like, “milk toast,” doesn’t it? This dish, popular in the late 19th and early 20th century, consists of toasted bread served in warm milk, sugar and butter…eesh. Seems like the bread would get all mushy. On the other hand, french toast, which is bread soaked in eggs and maybe a little milk, that’s completely different.

Here’s a sentence from Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary: Do we really want a someone who is a milquetoast halfhearted candidate or someone who will defend the Constitution with every fiber of her being?
— Dana B. Orr

Here’s mine: I refuse to order a milquetoast breakfast of bread soaked in anything but eggs!

Now you try!

Read about other words and more at JD-Sullivan.com.

Today’s word suggestion and history comes from Workman Publishing and the editors of Merriam-Webster, 365 New Words-A-Year 2021. The definitions are from Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary.

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Musings Write Away

Write Away: “Panoptic”

Write Away Cat - ReducedThis week, a dear friend of mine, Donna Conrad, gave me one of those “word-a-day” desk calendars. She knows I’m obsessed with words. She’d also enjoyed my Write Away posts and hoped I’d get back to them one day. Maybe the calendar could help?

Well, it seems to have worked! Today, I’m enjoying the word, “Panoptic.” What does it mean?

– being or presenting a comprehensive or panoramic view (derived from the Greek panoptés, meaning “all seeing”) 

How cool is that? Panoptic kind of rolls off the tongue. You can imagine it spoken in a deep voice, maybe by James Early Jones. “Luke, I am your father. And the universe is panoptic.”

How cool is that? The word is somewhat fluid. It rolls off the tongue (panoptic…panoptic…). You can also imagine it spoken in a deep voice, perhaps by James Earl Jones. (“Luke, I am your father. And the universe is panoptic.“)

Here’s the sentence from the desk calendar: Loaded with careful details and telling imagery, the documentary is a panoptic portrayal of the lives of traveling circus workings.

Here’s mine: Loaded with books that tell stories from the time of Christ, to modern days, and through an envisioned future, my Kindle account is a panoptic experience of the real and imagined world.

Now you try!

Read about other words and more at JD-Sullivan.com.

Today’s word comes from Workman Publishing and the editors of Merriam-Webster, 365 New Words-A-Year 2021

 

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Musings Write Away

Write Away: “Kakistocracy”

This week, I’m obsessing about, “Kakistocracy,” thanks to a suggestion from Amy Forsberg in early August.  It’s not an easy word to twist in fun, or even to say just once (I had to practice), but considering the 2016 presidential race, it’s timely.  What does it mean?  Let’s see:

– Government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power (from Dictionary.com),  

The origin of the noun is Greek from ~1829.  It’s thought to have been “coined on analogy of its opposite, aristocracy, from Greek kakistos “worst,” a superlative of kakos “bad.”    

Come on, admit it.  With all the cow pies that both presidential candidates keep stepping in, doesn’t this word sound like it might describe our political future?  Maybe you’ve shut off the TV news or finished a Sunday article recounting each of the candidate’s failings and thought to yourself, “Oh crap.  In some ways both of them stink.”

I know I have.

Here’s a fun fact.  According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, kakos may be related to the general word for, “defecate.”  Like it feels as if these politicians are going to poop on us, no matter who we elect.  

~*~

Note:  Amy found the word while reading this opinion piece by Peggy Noonan in the Wall St. Journal.  In it, Ms. Noonan highlights her opinion that Trumps tends to be the one dumping caca on his own campaign, and that his antics steal the public attention away from the on-going Clinton email scandal.  Noonan closed by introducing the word, with the following assertion:

“We’re on our way there, aren’t we? We’re going to have to make our way through it together.”

Shit.  I hope not.

#amwriting, #amediting

~*~

Officially citing:

kakistocracy. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.http://www.dictionary.com/browse/kakistocracy (accessed: August 21, 2016).

kakistocracy. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian.http://www.dictionary.com/browse/kakistocracy (accessed: August 21, 2016)

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Musings Write Away

Write Away: “Moil”

This week, I’m obsessing about, “Moil,” thanks to a suggestion from Chris St. Clair. Here are some of the many definitions:

 – To work hard : drudge

 – To whirl or churn ceaselessly; twist; eddy.

 – Glassmaking. a superfluous piece of glass formed during blowing and removed in the finishing operation.

– Origin 1350 – 1400

It’s actually a derivative of the Latin word, mollis, or soft.

Find the full definition for moil at Dictionary.com.  (I’ve been trying to use a variety of sources for fun, and had hoped to use Miriam-Webster this time, but Dictionary.com was more complete.)

~*~

Trivia note:  Chris found the word on a website about the Johnstown, PA flood (which has been referred to as the Great Flood of 1889.)  I’m not sure if I have the same website, but I found a related site here on wikipedia:  “Before hitting the main part of Johnstown, the flood surge hit the Cambria Iron Works at the town of Woodvale, sweeping up railroad cars and barbed wire in its moil.”

Railroad cars!  It’s an interesting read and a bit terrifying!

~*~

…Bubble, Bubble, Moil and Trouble (hmm, might work).

#amwriting, #amediting

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Musings Write Away

Write Away – “Petrichor”

Natural parks and blue sky with cloud

This week, I’m thinking about, “Petrichor.”  (#amwriting)

Write Away Cat - Reduced

– A pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.

– Find this definition at oxforddictionaries.com.

– Coined in the 1960’s.

Do you remember that wonderful smell of freshly cut grass from childhood?  I do.  Sunday mornings after Dad mowed the lawn.  Monday at recess, kicking a ball around.  Eating barbecue and throwing frisbees at a place we called, “Hart Park.”  (It’s technically, William S. Hart Ranch and Museum.)  Living in the city of Seattle today, I don’t often catch the hint of Petrochors, but the thought of the fragrance still evokes memories of warm and innocent youth.

I wanted to convey that feeling in a section of my current book, so I did some research.  It turns out Petrichors come from trauma.  A Mental Floss article notes that, “It’s the smell of chemical defenses and first aid. The fresh, “green” scent of a just-mowed lawn is the lawn trying to save itself from the injury you just inflicted.”  This release of what’s actually naturally chemicals helps to “close the wounds” and prevent infection!

Shocker, huh?  I never would have guessed.

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Musings Write Away

Write Away – “Canting”

Gotta love those interesting words.

This week, I’m obsessing about, “Canting” (No, not catting).  Here are 3 of the many definitions:

Write Away Cat - Reduced

– To bevel; form an oblique surface upon.

– To put in an oblique position; tilt; tip.

– To throw with a sudden jerk.

– Origin 1560-1570

Find the full set of definitions for canting at Dictionary.com.

I especially like the verb when used to describe a head toss by a human.  It’s different from a jerk or a nod, and the word, “nod” shows up way too often in my current manuscript!

~*~

Her:  “I’m buying a new dress, so there!”  She cants her head in defiance.

Him:  Seeing the head toss… “Hmm, I see you cant.”

Her:   “Yes, I can!”

Him:  “I didn’t say you couldn’t.”

~*~

I saw this word used much more cleverly in a blogpost called, “Sin on a Plate,” from one of my favorite sites for writers, thrillwriting.blogspot.com, by Fionna Quinn.  Check it out!

#amwriting