Tony Deyal Tony Deyal
AS A flagrant heterosexual, I flinch any time I hear the word mandate, yet it is one beloved by politicians throughout the Carib-bean. Interestingly, many of our female politicians avoid the word almost as much as the men favour it.
Perhaps, out of sympathy, they prefer to eschew man dates than blow their chances for promotion to higher positions in the political hierarchy.
One hears of female political groupies who did their best work under this, that, or the other Prime Minister but to interpret this literally would leave you more prone to salivation than salvation.
Words and my love of them have been my personal salvation. Last week, I got into Trinidad and in my rented car braved the dangerous, crime-ridden, kidnap-driven streets where a policeman might just as easily give you a ticket as offer to drive your drugs home. It was danger vu all over again. I am pleased with that one.
Almost as happy as John M. Morse, President and Publisher of the lexicography company (which, according to Webster, means that it produces lexicons or dictionaries), Merriam-Webster. His company conducted an on-line or Internet-based survey to find out our Top Ten favourite words.
LIKE SERVING UP A MEAL
"Projects like this remind us once again of the deep level of interest that people attach to the words in their language," said John M. Morse Merriam-Webster, president and publisher. "Using language can be a little like serving up a meal, with words as the ingredients.
"I think people were sharing with us their favourite ingredients the ingredients that add spice and flavour and a personal touch to their everyday use of language." It is said that his ancestor, Noah Webster, whose interest in words started up this famous firm was one day caught in the act of adding spice and flavour to his personal life by dallying with the housekeeper. His wife walked in unexpectedly and exclaimed, "Noah! I am surprised!" As an expert on language, Webster could not let that pass. "No," he said. "I am surprised. You are astonished."
I was more than surprised, astonished, discombobulated, or even astounded, flabbergasted and overwhelmed not just by the response to the survey, but by the fact that the all-time favourite word and clear winner was defenestration.
It comes from the Latin word fenestra (window) and means throwing a thing or person out of a window. While the act itself can be a pane in the glass, the word is the most popular in our language (at least by American standards which might, in itself, be an oxymoron). Had Noah defenestrated his spouse before he could be castrated instead of being merely castigated, his namesake Daniel (of Daniel Webster and the Devil fame) might have come to his defence, a word which has a history of its own.
When asked to make a sentence using defence, one little boy said, "When the cat tried to jump de fence, de tail went below de feat." Fortunately, Daniel Webster was so good at defence that he never experienced defeat. However, history does not record where he stood on detail specifically, devices generally or mandates.
DEFENESTRATION
Following defenestration as second favourite was serendipity which means luck or the
faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for. The ability to find disagreeable things not sought for, is neither serenity nor serendipity. The opposite of valuable is not invaluable although flammable and inflammable have the same meaning.
Number Three in the word stakes was a buzzword onomatopoeia which means the use of words whose sound suggests the sense, like buzz. It is a word to make you purr rather than crash or clang. Following onomatopoeia was discombobulate which means upset or confused. Discombobuearly is not a word. If you don't get upset or confused the word for you is inhuman although it might be inhumane to say that to your face.
SHAPELY BUTTOCKS
If you believe that nothing exceeds like excess, then word number five is your word plethora, which means there are plenty of you and you constitute a superfluity, profusion, or abundance, unlike those who are considered callipygian (having shapely buttocks). They are a rarity.
Number seven is juxtaposed (number 7) which is what I would like to be with callipygian damsels who are not pernickety (fussy) or easily kefuffled (number 9).
Give me a flibbertigibbet for a flight of fancy or fantasy, someone who is in for a good time, unlike a mandate who is only out only for a gay old time, like the Flintstones. Yabba dabba doo!!
Tony Deyal was last seen describing an incident involving a truck carrying cases of a brand new Thesaurus published by Mirriam-Webster which was hijacked, commandeered, captured, seized, stopped, ambushed, trapped, snared, confiscated, annexed, grabbed, taken and snatched. It was also robbed, burglarised, held up, raided and broken into.
