Nouns

I was given a writing exercise that involved counting the concrete and abstract nouns. The idea was that concrete nouns make more compelling writing. First, I discovered that I use abstract nouns more frequently than I’d suspected. Upon further analysis, I decided they made my passage stronger. Here are some of the abstract nouns I used and the reasons why I kept them. 

Everything: This word suffers from a lack of specificity, but my story is written for teens in (hopefully) the voice of a teen. High school students tend to think they are the center of their universe. When my character says, “Everything changed,” she means it. 

Energy: This is a concrete noun when it equals mass times the square of the speed of light, but is an abstract noun when referring to a person’s work ethic or personality. To me, the sentence, “Only Matt was immune to her energy,” communicates important ideas about two characters. 

Unease, Mystery & Magic: These abstract nouns are essential for the hook. I used them to stimulate curiosity in the reader. 

My conclusions are:

1. Voice trumps all. 
2. Be specific. 
3. Use powerful words.  
4. Don’t neglect the hook.

Asymptote Anecdote

During a discussion of science jokes with a group of friends, I mentioned that the asymptote is the mathematical model for my writing career. It’s a joke many people don’t get. 

Merriam Webster’s definition of asymptote is "a straight line associated with a curve such that as a point moves along an infinite branch of the curve the distance from the point to the line approaches zero and the slope of the curve at the point approaches the slope of the line," 

In other words, the curve approaches the line, gets infinitely close to it, yet never crosses it.  

One person asked about the origin of the word. Asymptote likely comes from Greek asymptōtos not meeting, from a- + sympiptein to meet.” (also Merriam Webster) 

To my surprise, I discovered Merriam Webster lists rhyming words. I don’t write in rhyme, but consider the possibilities of billy goat, sticky note, or even quarter note. Here’s Merriam Webster’s list: 

anecdote, antidote, assault boat, billy goat, Capriote, cashmere goat, casting vote, Corfiote, creosote, dead man's float, entrecôte, ferryboat, flying boat, get one's goat, Huhehot, locomote, matelote, miss the boat, morning coat, motorboat, mountain goat, nanny goat, overcoat, paddleboat, papillote, passing note, pedal-note, petticoat, picketboat, polo coat, powerboat, quarter note, redingote, riverboat, rock the boat, rubythroat, Shabuoth, Sialkot, sixteenth note, sticky note, sugarcoat, symbiote, table d'hôte, undercoat, yellowthroat

Baba Ghanoush

After buying a large, lumpy eggplant at the farmers’ market, we decided to turn it into dip. The process was as much an arts and crafts project as a recipe. First, we stabbed the eggplant repeatedly with a fork and roasted it on the barbecue until the skin was blackened and the insides mushy. After it cooled, we tossed the eggplant flesh into the food processor with tahini, roasted garlic, red pepper, lemon juice and cumin. (The web is full of recipes, and the amounts of ingredients vary with personal taste.) Garnishing the dip with hot or sweet paprika and chopped parsley adds color and enhances the flavor. It’s delicious with toasted pita bread or rice chips.

You’re probably wondering why I’m posting this on a writing and photography blog. In my internet search for a recipe, I learned baba is the Arabic word for papa, and ghanoush means spoiled. This is “spoiled papa” dip, or the treat you make for dad. Isn’t that fantastic?

The Right Word

In Diamonds and Rust, Joan Baez wrote:

“Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague”

Perhaps there is a time for vagueness and a time for specificity.

When wandering around the Web, I learned that the Arabic language has over one thousand ways to refer to a camel. The names may denote the age or sex of the camel, whether a female camel has been bred, how fast the camel runs, or how much water the camel wants to drink.

Think of how many expressions we have for our vehicles. We have slang terms like gas-guzzler, specific expressions like ’56 Chevy Biscayne, and general acronyms like SUV. We have hot rods and clunkers, Vespas and H.O.Gs (Harley Owners’ Group), mopeds and monster trucks.   

It all comes down to using the right word at the right time in the right place.

SPAM

I was cleaning out my spam folder, and I noticed the gmail advertisement was for spicy spam kabobs to serve with rice. That got me thinking about spam.

When I was a kid, my dad would tell dog stories about Spam, a German Shepherd-Collie mix, he owned during WWII. When I asked what the meat spam was, he suggested my mom cook some for dinner. Once was enough. SPAM is an acronym for “Shoulder Pork and Ham,” and it tastes about how you’d expect – and sort of slimy.

Then I wondered why electronic garbage was called spam. According to Wikipedia, the term originated with the Monty Python Spam sketch. Go ahead, click the link, and sing the spam song along with the Vikings.

For Want of an E

While proofreading my WIP, I discovered:

We cut through the ally.

Ouch. Apparently, I’ve been reading too much historical fiction involving swordplay. While I’m typing random letters:

allay
alley
ally
aloe
alloy
allow

aloha

Curmudgeonly Rant on Spelling

Why is it okay to spell some words in more than one way? Just decide already. Don’t tell me that ocher is just as good as ochre. How can gallivant, galivant and galavant all be correct? One spelling should be enough for any word.

In a fit of pique, I looked up ocher and gallivant.

Merriam-Webster prefers ocher to ochre. The Free Dictionary also likes the ER spelling and suggests ochery and ocherous are real words. Cute Writing tells me ochre is the British spelling. Microsoft Word shows no preference.

Merriam-Webster likes gallivant better than galavant and doesn’t even mention galivant. The Free Dictionary prefers two Ls and an I, but lists galivant before galavant. Microsoft Word only accepts gallivant.

Take a Liking to a Viking

I admit I like Vikings. Their behavior was often unacceptable by today’s standards, but still, they have a certain romantic appeal. Plus, Vikings are the local high school’s mascot, and my maternal grandparents were Danish.

I’ve been reading the Saxon Tales by Bernard Cornwell and picked up some Viking trivia.

Horned helmets: I already knew the horns were a myth. No warrior involved in hand-to-hand combat would wear a hat with handles that could be grabbed by the enemy.

Longboats: The fanciful beasts carved on the prows could be removed when the ship was used for trading. Many of these trade missions were reconnaissance designed to identify the richest villages to plunder later.

Vikings: Back in the day, these folks were known as Danes or Norsemen. The word viking was a verb. To go viking was to go plundering, pillaging and burning.

Gender Guesser

One of my facebook friends mentioned a website that analyzes word choice to predict if a text sample was written by a man or a woman. Since my WIP has a male protagonist, I was eager to try. I pasted the first 300 words into the box and got weak female. Okay, that was disappointing, but the project still needs work, so I checked the first 300 words of TAoCBS (male protagonist) and got weak male. Better. Third time’s the charm. I pasted in 300 words of CBL (female protagonist) and again got weak female. Phooey.

As a former scientist I felt compelled to test the system. I tried a couple posts from this blog and got male. Uh oh. Then I pasted in several posts from other people’s blogs, and they all came out male – no matter who wrote them.

Fiction is different than blogging, so I have a favor to ask. Will you test 300 or so words of your fiction here and post the results in comments? Just say whether your protagonist is male or female and if the gender guesser agreed. Thanks.

(I’m secretly hoping the results will be meaningless.)

Salutations

When my sons were beginning Tae Kwon Do students, they had to learn Korean vocabulary, including how to say hello in a respectful manner. I started thinking about the different ways we say hello. Greetings can show characters’ relationships, how they feel about one another, their social status, and sometimes the time and place. Here’s a list of salutations with different connotations.

Hello
Hi
Hey
Hey you
Yo
Hello there
Hi there
Hey there
How do you do?
Howdy
How are you?
HRU
How are you doing?
How’s it going?
Good day
G’day
What’s up?
ZUP
Ahoy
Good evening
Good morning
Greetings
Salutations
Welcome
Do you read me?
Come in
Dear (name)
Dear Sir or Madam
To Whom It May Concern

Palindromes

Earlier this week, I had a Facebook conversation with Ruth McNally-Barshaw that reminded me of my favorite palindrome, REVILE LIVER. It comes from a book by Jon Agee. His books on wordplay are terrific for reluctant readers. Not only do they have few words and wonderful cartoons, they demonstrate the fun of fooling around with language.

Biochemists and molecular biologists are fond of palindromes because short palindromic DNA sequences are the targets for restriction enzymes (the proteins that cut DNA), and long palindromic sequences determine RNA structure. If you’re really interested, click here.

I googled palindromes and learned that the longest palindromic word in common usage is saippuakivikauppias which means "soapstone vendor" in Finnish. (How else could I possibly use that word in this blog?)

The first recorded palindrome is the Latin word square "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas" from 79 AD, but my husband says everyone in the Garden of Eden spoke in palindromes:

“Madam, I’m Adam.”
“Eve.”
“Ssssssss.”

A Few Definitions

meshugas (meh-shi-gaas): A Yiddish word meaning craziness or madness

Michigander (mish-i-gan-der): a native or inhabitant of Michigan, also Michiganian

Michigoslings/Meshugaslings (mish-i-goz-lings): how we refer to our sons who were born and raised in Michigan

Six emails, five administrators, one secure website and two phone calls: what is required to convince a premier Michigan university that one of said Michigoslings deserves in-state tuition

Meshugas!


References:
http://www.yiddishdictionaryonline.com/
http://dictionary.reference.com/

What Did You Mean, Exactly?

Have you ever noticed how some phases in the English language are intended to be untruthful?

Yeah, right
With all due respect
Fine
Don’t worry about it
Pretty good
Leave it to me
It’s easy
No, really
Just follow the instructions
You’ll be done in no time
Trust me on this
It’s not that bad

Fa La La La La

I just learned the origin of Fa La La La La in Deck the Halls. The song began as a tavern song with some off-color words and phrases. When it was performed for the king, singers had to delete those parts, so they substituted Fa La La La La. Wasn't that a dainty song to sing before the king!

(Like the king didn't know those words already.)

Oxymoron?

City Forester

In the town where my mom used to live, there is a government official with this title. He or she oversees the trimming of trees that belong to the city.

Another Colorful Expression

My dad was a great storyteller who often began with the phrase, "back in the olden days." I just checked. Olden is a real word.

Colorful Expression

Today at a Tae Kwon Do tournament, one of the elder black belts said, "I remember how little your boys were when they started. Now they're big drinks of water."

Out in the Toolies

I was caught speaking Californian again. I left the Golden State a long time ago, but old habits and speech patterns die hard. In an email to The World’s Greatest Critique Group, I referred to the rural suburb where I live as “the toolies.” I was unsure of the spelling so I asked Tim Bogar, our resident spelling bee champ, to help me out. He looked it up and sent me this link.

Tules or toolies refers to bulrushes or the swampy area where they grow – in California. I took these photos 2.5 miles from my house.

Is this not a swamp?

Are these not bulrushes? Okay, the plants aren’t the same species that grow in California, let’s not split cattails.

I feel compelled to mention the tule fog. Once as a foolish young college student, I tried to drive from UC Davis to Los Angeles through a tule fog. I survived, but that was pure dumb luck.

Tule Fog photo from flickr.com