This is one of those often-used words that we think we know what it means. I think maybe Inigo Montoya disapproves when we use it too much.
“The deadpan delivery did nothing to soften the blow of the bad news.”
Deadpan – adjective
1) showing no feeling or emotion
2) marked by an impassive matter-of-fact manner, style, or expression.
~per Merriam-Webster
Dues ex machina! Only, you know, less godly…
“The evil principal ultimately fell victim to the machinations of his clever senior students and their determination for a day off.”
Machinate- verb
Today’s word I’ve only heard about on the internet as a friend’s username. So I’m going to completely botch my effort at an intelligent use of the word in a complete sentence. I’m okay with this because this is a weird word but very fun. (It is such a fun word that auto-correct wants me to change it to rafting!) It certainly falls under the category of “Learn something new every day!” because I never would have thought this word was referring to women specifically.
“My friend is a zaftig geek and proud of it!”
Zaftig – adjective
1) of a woman: having a full rounded figure : pleasingly plump
Interesting Origins of the word:
Yiddish zaftik juicy, succulent, from zaft juice, sap, from Middle High German saf, saft, from Old High German saf
~per Merriam-Webster
This word is just plain fun to say. It even sounds mysterious, really. I think it is entirely underused. I know it is in my own work.
“The den was forfeited to the cabal of teenagers for their D&D afternoon.”
Cabal – noun
1: the artifices and intrigues of a group of persons secretly united in a plot (as to overturn a government); also : a group engaged in such artifices and intrigues.
2: club, group.
~per Merriam-Webster
It’s the word of the day. I had to use this one at some point! Just getting it out of the way… 🙂
“Not feeling particularly verbose, she replied with only a nod of her head.”
Verbose – adjective
1): containing more words than necessary : wordy ; also : impaired by wordiness
2): given to wordiness
~ per Merriam-Webster
I learned this week that there are different levels to the dreaded Writer’s Block.
Somehow or another, after a solid six months of writing non-stop, I finally hit my burn-out stage this weekend. No, really, when I say non-stop, I mean it. I’m either asleep, at work, or writing since last September. Sometimes I’m all three at once, which is disturbing, but cellphone notepad apps are really useful and portable. This time, though, even the coffee has failed me. I have been working on this project for half a year. I’m at the end of it now and the home-stretch is in sight and… every idea I had for it just flew out the window. I’ve been working at it all weekend anyway, mostly doing editing. I want to write, but the ideas just aren’t there and I end up with disjointed words on the page. I can’t walk away from the project when it could be literally one scene away from being complete.
There’s just that one, tiny, miniscule little detail: I can’t figure out what comes next.
My usual response to this is to put the project down and go do something completely unrelated to writing. Clear the mind. Pull in some new creative inspiration. Catch up on some TV. But this is the last section of the project. I want it done. I want the little bird to fly and leave the nest. I’m impatient to move on to the next big idea. Self-imposed pressure to finish the project is conflicting with the ideas for the new project. But it’s like in gaming and I can’t level up to the next idea until I beat this boss-fight.
Multitasking on projects is a very important skill, the ability to be flexible and to “diversify” the project load and everything. This would be the exact scenario to illustrate that argument. It is obviously a skill I have yet to learn and will continue to work on. So I’m just going to keep throwing words at the page until something sticks.
This word is ridiculously poetic and it caught my attention. I’m sure I must have heard it before, but I didn’t remember it. According to the Google graphic on the word, it was at its heyday around the year 1900, which sounds about right to me.
“Who would have expected a chance meeting in an adult bookstore could be the dayspring of a new career.”
Dayspring – noun
1) archaic : the beginning of day : Dawn
2) the beginning of a new era or order of things
~per Merriam-Webster
Yup, that’s right folks. Veridical. That isn’t a misspelling, despite how angrily my auto-correct is trying to fix it. Personally, I think it falls under the category of “Words Not to Use” because it will very easily throw a reader out of a sentence if they’re any good at spelling.
The origins of the words are, of course, Latin: verus (true) and dicere (to say.) I would truthfully say this word should be used with caution in any non-scientific work.
“The second witness seemed veridical and forthcoming with his retelling of events.”
Veridical – adjective
1) truthful, veracious
~ per Merriam-Webster
Vocabulary is a writer’s best friend. Mine is sadly lacking. (My grammar is worse, but my vocab list is pretty short.)
So! Here’s a word to think about today, maybe use it somewhere if it’s useful.
“The cadence of her footsteps on the marble flooring heralded trouble on the way.”
Cadence: noun
1)
a : a rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds in language.
b : the beat, time, or measure of rhythmical motion or activity
2)
a : a falling inflection of the voice
b : a concluding and usually falling strain; specifically : a musical chord sequence moving to a harmonic close or point of rest and giving the sense of harmonic completion.
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember and still find writing letters that begin “To whom it may concern” very tedious. It’s not very engaging wordplay. It’s boring. It’s a business-world casualty hit to the writing voice. But there it is, because formula is sometimes important.
However, this is the emerging world of new media. Rules are changing. So If I get a vote, I vote that one’s the first to go.
The Coffee Writer 