AWAD serial - part 8: misoneism, magna carta, king's ransom

A.Word.A.Day serial – 7/10:  misoneism, 7/14/08:  magna carta, 7/17/08:  king’s ransom.

 

A WordA Day, by Anu Garg

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misoneism

PRONUNCIATION: (mis-uh-NEE-izm)

MEANING:  noun: A hatred or fear of change or innovation.

ETYMOLOGY:  From Italian misoneismo, from Greek miso- (hate) + neos (new). Ultimately from Indo-European root newo- (new) that also gave us new, neo-, neon, novice, novel, novelty, innovate, and renovate.

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magna carta

PRONUNCIATION:  (MAG-nuh KAHR-tuh)

MEANING:  noun: A document or a law recognizing basic rights and privileges.

ETYMOLOGY:  From Latin magna carta (great charter). After Magna Carta, a charter of political and civil liberties that King John of England was forced to sign on June 15, 1215. It was revised several times over the years, and it became an important symbol, establishing for future generations that there were limits to the royal powers.

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king's ransom

PRONUNCIATION:  (kingz RAN-suhm)

MEANING:  noun: A very large sum of money.

ETYMOLOGY:  From the reference to the large sum required to secure the release of a king from captivity. 

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Eric wanted to stay home, sprawled on the sofa, watching ESPN for the next week, or the next month, or the rest of his life, but HR had left him two voicemails on Friday, asking when he’d be back at work, so he figured he’d better get his ass to the office.  And he’d better start letting people know that Trudi had left him, otherwise they might start calling the police to look into where she’d gone.

But god, he knew what was coming:  the pathetic, pitying looks, the trite words of sympathy, and then the offers to set him up with any and all available women.  He’d have to get it over with so he could move on to the next stage of his life where things would be settled, where he could have his comfortable routine again.  It wasn’t misoneism to have things the way you liked them and not in constant upheaval.

He wasn’t even looking forward to fucking his way through all those women that would come flocking to a newly divorced man.  He’d had his share of pussy when Trudi first left him, because, hell, why not take advantage of  his new-found freedom?  He was a man, after all, and straight, and that’s what straight, unattached men did.  But now he’d started thinking that all those women would just cause more upheaval in his life.  They'd want his time, his money, promises of love, everything he didn’t want to give just then.  Wasn’t there some “Divorced Man’s Magna Carta” that he could use as a shield to stave off the ravening hordes of unmarried spin class instructors and co-workers’ wives’ divorced second cousins?

He just wanted to be left alone for awhile, or maybe to hang out with the guys, but all of the men he knew were half of couples, friends of “Trudi and Eric”, not “Eric’s buddies”.  He thought about Armand and his offer of a drink and a willing ear, but he pushed that option away.  Far, far away.  He would give a king’s ransom to never have met the guy, so he sure as hell wasn’t going to seek him out.  That would be as good as admitting that he really was gay.  Which he wasn’t.

AWAD serial, part 7: costive, atrabilious, linctus

A.Word.A.Day drabble – 6/30/08:  costive, 7/3/08:  atrabilious, 7/4/08:  linctus.

 

A WordA Day, by Anu Garg 

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costive

PRONUNCIATION:  (KOS-tiv)

MEANING:  adjective: 1. Slow to act or speak. 2. Stingy. 3. Constipated.

ETYMOLOGY:  Via French from Latin constipare (to cram together), from com- (together) + stipare (to pack or crowd).

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atrabilious

PRONUNCIATION:  (at-ruh-BIL-yuhs)

MEANING: adjective: 1. Gloomy. 2. Ill-tempered.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin atra bilis (black bile), translation of Greek melankholia.

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linctus

PRONUNCIATION:  (LINGK-tuhs)

MEANING:  A syrupy liquid medicine, especially for treating coughs.

ETYMOLOGY:   From Latin lingere (to lick). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leigh- (lick) that is also the source of lichen (apparently from the way it licks its way around a surface), and lecher, but not lingerie (which is from the root lino: flax).

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But why was it so important that he set things right with this guy?  Why did it matter so much what a total stranger thought of him?  Except he wasn’t a total stranger anymore; he was the guy Eric had called a fag.  And it wasn’t impossible, in a city the size of theirs, that their paths would never cross again.  Better to deal with it now than take the chance of running into him somewhere that it would matter.

Eric examined the packages of sunflower seeds, tubes of toothpaste, packets of aspirin.  The good stuff, like condoms and cough linctus, were locked up behind the cashier, so anyone wanting those was SOL until Daisy got back...but there she was, following close behind waving-hands guy, her mouth set in a hard, don’t-fuck-with-my-friends line.  The guy saw Eric and walked right up to him, stopping a few feet away.  He crossed his arms over his chest, and stuck one hip out as he shifted his weight to one leg. 

“Okay, I’m here.  Say what you have to say.”

The voice, the posture, even the guy’s hair – dark with blond tips -- made Eric’s mind scream the f-word again, over and over.  He didn’t dare open his mouth, just in case it jumped out, so he waited, trying to bite back the word and willing his mind to shut up.

But the silence had gone on too long.  He knew he was being costive, knew that every second that passed made it harder for him to get out that apology.  So he sucked in a breath, blew it out, then said, “I’m sorry.”

Waving-hands looked less than impressed.  “Why are you sorry?”

“What?”

“Why.  Are.  You.  Sorry?” he enunciated, as if Eric were deaf or stupid or both.  “Are you sorry I’m offended?  Or are you sorry because a pretty girl told you off, or because you couldn’t buy your beer, or what?”

“I’m sorry because…because no one should be called that.  I’ve, um.”  Jesus, his heart was racing.  “I was in a bad mood and I took it out on you, and that was wrong.  So I’m sorry.”  A bad mood.  Hardly an accurate description of the atrabilious prick he’d turned into over the past few weeks.

Waving-hands seemed to be on the fence, but then he shrugged one shoulder.  “Okay.  Apology accepted.”  He stuck out his hand, not like a normal handshake, but with the palm down, like he expected Eric to kiss it.

Eric hesitated, then took it, turning it so he could shake it properly and withdrawing his hand as soon as he could. 

Waving-hands made a “humph” sound.  “I’m Armand, by the way.”

“Um.  Eric.”

“Nice to meet you, Eric.  You want to go get a drink and tell me why you were in such a bad mood?”

Hell, no.  “Um, thanks, but I gotta, you know, I gotta go home.”

“Of course you do.  Wouldn’t want to be seen out in public with a fag.”

Blood pounding in brain.  “Look, I apologized for that!  It doesn’t mean I want to go out on a date with you!  I’m not like that, I’m not like you!”

“I wasn’t asking you out on a date, you arrogant little shit!” Armand shouted, and god, could his voice have been any louder or higher?  “I just thought you might want to talk about whatever bug’s crawled up your ass, but never mind!”

Eric cringed, hoping to God that the store was still empty.  “Sorry,” he mumbled.  He headed towards the door but didn’t make it outside before he heard Armand say, “Daisy, sweetie, I know you meant well, but next time, tell him to go fuck himself.”

AWAD serial, part 6: sisyphean, Munich, brummagem

A.Word.A.Day drabble – 4/22/10: “sisyphean” , 4/13/10: “Munich”. 6/17/08: “brummagem”.
(turns out I missed some from even before June of 2010. Clearin’ out the ol’ inbox….)

A Word A Day by Anu Garg
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Sisyphean
PRONUNCIATION: (sis-ee-FEE-uhn)
MEANING: adjective: Endlessly laborious and fruitless.
ETYMOLOGY: After Sisyphus, a king in Greek mythology who was cursed to push a huge boulder to the top of a hill, only to watch it roll back down and to repeat this forever. Roll, rinse, repeat.
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Munich
PRONUNCIATION: (MYOO-nik)
MEANING: noun: A shortsighted or dishonorable appeasement.
ETYMOLOGY: After Munich, Germany, the site of a pact signed by Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany on Sep 29, 1938 that permitted annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland by Nazi Germany. WWII began a year later; Sudetenland was restored to Czechoslovakia after the war.

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brummagem
PRONUNCIATION: (BRUM-uh-juhm) adjective
MEANING: noun: Cheap and showy. Something that is counterfeit or of inferior quality.

ETYMOLOGY: After Brummagem, a dialectal form of Birmingham, UK, where counterfeit coins were produced in the 17th century. Brummie is a nickname for someone from Birmingham.
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While the cashier (Daisy, according to her nametag, and wasn’t that just too cute) went to call her friend, Eric ran through possible scenarios in his head. Waving-hands dude could show up, listen to Eric’s apology, accept it, and leave. That was the best way it could go and also the most unlikely.

Maybe he’d want proof of Eric’s sincerity, and maybe Eric would agree to make whatever grand gesture required to be forgiven. He’d never needed anyone to approve of him before, but his life had just made a tire-screeching one-eighty and the look the guy had given him after he’d said the f-word had been like a knife plunging into his gut. Right now Eric was willing to say anything, to enter into a Munich, even, just to get the guilt off his own shoulders.

So if the guy accepted his apology today, then showed up tomorrow with new demands? Whatever. Eric would do his best to comply, even if the guy came back again and again, until Eric’s life became some Sisyphean cycle of apologies leading to bribes and possibly even blackmail, and holy hell, where had that come from? Surely waving-hands guy wouldn’t be that petty. As far as Eric could remember, the guy had been dressed fairly well, no gold lamé track suits. Maybe he was an antiques dealer or owned an art gallery, someone who could distinguish fake from genuine, someone who would recognize a real apology and would know that what Eric was offering up wasn’t mere brummagem.

AWAD serial, part 5: nescient, bromidic, esurient

A.Word.A.Day drabble – 6/23/10: “nescient” , 6/24: bromidic, 6/25: esurient

A Word A Day by Anu Garg
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nescient
PRONUNCIATION: (NESH-uhnt, NESH-ee-uhnt, NES-ee-uhnt)
MEANING: adjective: Lacking knowledge or awareness.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin ne- (not) + scire (to know). Ultimately from the Indo-European root skei- (to cut or split) that has also given us schism, ski, shin, science, conscience, nice, scienter, adscititious, and sciolist.
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bromidic
PRONUNCIATION:(broh-MID-ik)
MEANING: adjective: Commonplace; trite.
ETYMOLOGY: From the former use of bromide compounds as sedatives. Bromine got its name from the Greek bromos (stench) due to its strong smell.
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esurient
PRONUNCIATION: (i-SOOR-ee-uhnt)
MEANING: adjective: Hungry; greedy.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin esurire (to be hungry), from edere (to eat). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ed- (to eat, to bite) that has also given us edible, comestible, obese, etch, fret, edacious, prandial, and postprandial.
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Eric walked home, his pride stinging from being kicked out of a convenience store. A gas station convenience store. Now he had a) no beer, and b) a face burning from humiliation.

So he’d called that guy a fag, so what. That’s what the guy was. What’s the big deal? All Eric had done was tell the truth.

So why was his face burning and his heart racing, and why did that word keep ricocheting around in his head like an accusation?

“Bullshit,” he said preemptively, as his wife’s words came back to him.

“Face it. You’re gay. In total denial, or maybe truly nescient,” she’d added, calmly packing a suitcase, and God, he hated it when she threw her Ph.D.-in-Literature vocabulary into their arguments. “But you are, and the sooner you admit it to yourself, the sooner you can get on with the life you’re supposed to have.”

Then she'd put the children into the car and drove to her friend Jackie’s house. After one week, she announced she had gotten a job in Phoenix and just up and left, taking their kids – his kids – with her. No trial separation. No tears or accusations. No, that would be too bromidic for someone as unique as Trudi.

Somehow they heard about it at work and told him to take a few days off, but that just made it worse. Without something to occupy his mind, he brooded, lay about the house, and drank way too much.

Which reminded him that he was out of beer. He'd have to get some at the grocery store, since the convenience store was dead to him now. He couldn’t go back there, wouldn’t go back, not if there was a chance he’d run into that guy again.

The shame of that word burned him up. That wasn’t who he was. Or, fuck, maybe it was. But it didn’t have to be.

He could apologize.

He would apologize. He needed to apologize.

He got up off the sofa and grabbed his keys – the buzz from the last of his beer almost gone – and drove to the convenience store to apologize...or maybe the esurient need in him was for forgiveness. Either way, he was prepared to grovel.

Of course the guy was gone by the time he got back, and he had to look into the stony face of the cashier. Medusa’s stare could not have been more deadly, and Eric didn’t even bother trying to charm her. “I need to talk to him.”

“Why? So you can verbally abuse him some more? Or are you looking to make it physical? After all, what’s a little fag bashing?”

He winced but didn’t look away. “I want to apologize.”

She didn’t look impressed. “Yeah, right. One of those ‘I’m sorry if you were offended’ apologies that you can shove right—”

“—No, no, no, I’m sorry I said it. I was wrong to say it, and stupid, and I didn’t mean it. Fuck.” He winced again. “I know you don’t believe me, but I feel bad about it.”

“You don’t even know him.”

“I know.”

She eyed him, her expression not softening one whit. “Wait there.”

blogging, and serial

I know I haven't been keeping up with this blog, but that was partly due to my various computer woes in January. And partly due to being lazy and forgetful, and partly due to working on actual stories.

But starting now, I'm going to to better, especially because I'm envious that Bryonna got invited to join Petit Fours and Hot Tamales. I'm thrilled for her, or course, but still, harumph. :P

I'm going to continue emptying my inbox of A Word A Day emails that have been backing up because, like the title says, I procrastinate. But instead of writing a random drabble using one word, I've decided to hit two or three words per post and not worry about word count.

I kept coming back to one character in some of the previous drabbles, so I've decided to write his story and post it here as a serial. And in case anyone wants to read the story in order, the links are at this page.

AWAD serial, part 4: nimbus (warning for f-word)

A.Word.A.Day drabble – 6/18/10: “nimbus”

A Word A Day by Anu Garg
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nimbus

PRONUNCIATION: (NIM-buhs), plural: nimbi or nimbuses
MEANING:
noun:
1. A rain cloud.
2. A halo or aura around the head of a person depicted in a piece of art.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin nimbus (cloud). Ultimately from the Indo-European root nebh- (cloud) that is also the source of nebula, nephometer (a device used in measuring the amount of cloud cover), and Sanskrit nabh (sky).
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He’d put his kids on the plane back to their mother an hour ago. Now he was home again, alone, a dark nimbus of self-pity hanging overhead. And he was out of beer.

The cashier at the convenience store smiled and flashed her cleavage when he came in. He nodded and wandered towards the cooler.

When he went to pay, she was talking to some swishy guy who was telling a story about “Michael and Tommy and Nigel.”

The word just slipped out.

“Excuse me?” the guy said.

“Did you just call him a fag?” asked the cashier. “Get out.”

AWAD serial, part 3: El Niño

A.Word.A.Day drabble – 6/16/10: “El Niño”

A Word A Day by Anu Garg
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El Niño or El Nino

PRONUNCIATION: (el NEEN-yo)
MEANING:
noun: A weather phenomenon characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Spanish El Niño, literally "The Boy Child", referring to Baby Jesus as El Niño phenomenon is noticed near Christmas.
NOTES:
El Niño, which occurs every three to seven years, is marked by warm sea surface temperature along the coast of Ecuador and Peru in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Its effects on weather are observed around the globe. A counter part is La Niña "The Girl Child" in which unusually cold ocean temperatures are observed in the Equatorial Pacific.
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Even the weather hated him. He was alone and depressed, and normally at this time of year the weather would have justified that mood. But El Niño had to go and wreck it by giving him sun, blue skies, and a soft breeze instead of clouds and drizzle.

Well, he sure as hell wasn’t going to enjoy it. He grabbed a beer out of the fridge, popped the cap off, and went to sit on the porch. If Miss Rhonda across the street didn’t want to see him drinking at eleven in the morning, she could shut her damn curtains.

AWAD serial, part 2: shambles (warning: F-word)

A.Word.A.Day drabble – 6/10/10: “shambles”

A Word A Day by Anu Garg
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shambles
PRONUNCIATION: (SHAM-buhls)
MEANING:
noun:
1. A state of great disorder.
2. A scene of carnage.
3. A slaughterhouse.
ETYMOLOGY:
From oak to acorn, from a little piece of furniture to a slaughterhouse. The word known today as shambles started out as scamnum (stool, bench). Over time the word's sense evolved to "a vendor's table", more specifically, a butcher's table. Eventually, the word came to be applied to a meat market or a slaughterhouse. From the state of disarray of such a place, today we use the word metaphorically to denote a place of complete disorder. That's the story of a slaughterhouse. To know what became of a fish market, see billingsgate.
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A little continuation of a previous drabble.
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The house was a shambles, even though the kids didn’t live there anymore. His wife—no, ex-wife—had taken them with her to Phoenix when she’d gotten transferred there. He supposed he was filling up the house with crap now so that it didn’t feel so empty. If you recognized the insanity, that meant you were still sane, right?

His life was also a shambles. In an attempt to prove his wife—ex-wife—wrong about his being gay, he’d started dating a lot of women. Dating them, fucking them, because getting off with women that meant you weren’t gay. Right?

AWAD serial, part 1: guillotine

A.Word.A.Day drabble – 6/4/10: “guillotine”

A Word A Day by Anu Garg
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guillotine
PRONUNCIATION: (GIL-uh-teen, GEE-uh-teen)
MEANING:
noun: A device with a heavy blade that drops between two posts to behead someone.
verb: To execute by guillotine or to cut as if with a guillotine.
ETYMOLOGY:
After French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814) who recommended its use. Ironically the instrument designed as a humane device has come to symbolize tyranny. Dr. Guillotin realized that hanging by rope or beheading by a sword were cruel and urged a more humane method of execution, one that was swift and relatively painless. Dr. Antoine Louis, secretary of the College of Surgeons, designed a device that was called a Louisette or Louison in the beginning, but eventually became known as a guillotine.
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“I want a divorce.”

And just like that, his quiet, comfortable, normal life ended. Now there was only “before and after”, his life divided as cleanly and sharply as if it had been split by a guillotine.

They say the wife is always the last to know, but it counts for husbands, too, apparently. She had to be seeing somebody, even though she’d denied it. That’s why she wanted the divorce, not that bullshit about him being gay. He wanted to erase her words, go back to a whole life, but he knew, somehow, that “before and after” was permanent.