Lovely Words

***Parsimonious, which means frugal, sounds like persimmons to me. I don’t like either one. I mean being frugal is fine, and I suppose persimmons have their place in the world, but both words make my mouth want to pucker.
A crazy cat lady, with dozens and dozens of cats, used to have a persimmon tree in her yard. The fruit always looked rotten and highly suspicious to me. I found out I was not the only one. When a woman brought some persimmon cookies to church, a friend of mine took a bite of one and asked where the persimmons came from. “Myrtles!” was the reply. She spit it into a napkin and ran for the restroom.
The house stank like cat pee clear out from the sidewalk. I always think of cat pee when I see persimmons now. Parsimonious also sounds like a cousin to ‘sanctimonious’ to have both of these traits would be like having a cat-pee-persimmon-tree in your yard…Not good! People would avoid you and find reasons to spit anything you offered into their napkins.

  ***Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents. For instance, the word Hiss sounds exactly like the sound that it makes. Also, ZIP, when you ‘zip up’ you really hear ”Ziiiiiiiiiiip!” I never knew about this word when I was in school! I must have been absent the day they taught it!
When I was teaching independent study for my son we discovered it. Isn’t it delicious? Besides what it actually is, it makes me think of an ancient city. Like archaeologists would dig it up thousands of years later out of the sands. I think of the word Utopia when I say Onomatopoeia. But I also think it would be excavated like Pompeii.
It would have met its end; intact and taken out in one fell swoop by something they didn’t believe could really happen. If the end came from a CRASH or a BOOM or a Deluge…The echoes of doom for this amazing city would have sounded exactly like their names. They would have reverberated down through time until someone heard them, until someone unearthed this wild yet harmonious civilization. I would love to walk those ruins.

  ***Nostalgia is a yearning for the past. It is looking back to what we think of as “the good old days” because we forget all of the bad parts of the good old days. Nostalgia ought to be an onomatopoeic word, because it sounds like a disease.
“Doctor, what is it? What did my test show?” “Well, since you have been listless and sad and a bit depressed, we tested you for Nostalgia….Your results have come back positive Mrs. Weemer. I’m afraid it is the worst case I have seen since 1942. Ahh 1942, now that was a great year!”
I first heard this word bandied about in the 1970’s (a decade I am definitely not nostalgic about!) when the Waltons came on television. It debuted in 1972 when I was twelve. The Waltons really just made me sad. John-Boy always writing melancholy drivel in his room about Jim Bob’s accident, or Mary Ellen’s coming of age, or Elizabeth’s doll that went a-missin’. Plus Grandpa & Grandma Walton were just worrisome.
Whose house was it really? Momma & Daddy ran the place like they paid hard cash, but Grandma and Grandpa seemed like they’d been there before the dirt formed. Also, the kids never wore shoes. Come on people! I know it was about the depression, but if they could come up with foot wear for the adults, I just question their priorities. It seems more than a little suspicious to me. I suspect someone secretly drank. Probably Grandma….Just saying.

  ***Genre meaning; a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style. I really didn’t learn this word until I was grown either. I began working at the Public Library as an assistant. The word began popping up.
Oh I ignored it at first. I do that with new words sometimes. Or at least I did when I was young. Now I am almost OCD about it. I just have to know. But then, I was ….busy. But when I did get around to exploring its meanings I was intrigued. At first I thought; do you pronounce it ‘Jen-ree’ or huh? But When I worked out the pronunciation, I fell in love! It is pronounced softly like velvet and is from Middle French, (first used in 1770, Just FYI.) Of course it is French. How could it be anything else? Zhän-rə…..soft and enticing.
What is your favorite genre of books or music or art? Oh sure, you could say; type, sort or category…but how dull is that? Where is the heart-pounding excitement and exploration in such common words? Oh, merci beaucoup France! Thank you for this rich and silken definition for what each person loves best.

    These are just the tip of the iceberg (sorry, now all I see is Titanic…) of all of the words that enchant, or annoy or puzzle me. I love words like I love bright shiny objects. I love names too. Sometimes I dream them. I collect them. Seriously, I have a list I keep on my computer. It is an excellent collection and I don’t even have to dust it, or pack it away at Christmas for the junk I hall out of the attic. Words; lovely, prosaic, eclectic and sometimes exotic. The endless possibilities of them….Excellent!

Tonya Willman ©2010