The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: words

  • Better Words for Women

    One of my regular readers challenged me recently after reading my post, All in a Huff over Vocabulary Reserved for Women. She asked me to come up with alternate vocabulary—words that weren’t disparaging or downright insulting. I think that’s an excellent idea. Challenge accepted! For example: How about passionate instead of easy, asking for it,…

  • Sphallolalia

    I learned a new word today. I enjoy enriching my word power. But I fear that in this case my opportunity to use this term is rapidly diminishing. sphallolalia     “sfa-lO-‘la-lE-a Noun Flirtatious talk that leads nowhere. Origin From the Ancient Greek σφάλλω (sphallō, “to stumble”) and λαλιά (lalia, “talking”). I do love to flirt. There…

  • Verbal Manipulation

    I was speaking to someone in a position of authority the other day, and he said, “Wouldn’t you agree that…” and then he went on to push his poorly thought out agenda for policy change. So I responded, “Actually, no, I don’t agree. And here’s why.” He wasn’t expecting that. You could see it in…

  • The Word Art of Michael Volpicelli

    I always get very excited when I come across a prolific artist that I didn’t even know existed up to that point. Suddenly, I’m introduced to a veritable smorgasbord of creativity, whether it be music or textiles or art or books. My world instantly becomes richer and more varied. Such was the case the other…

  • Smile Means Chisel in Greek

    As someone who majored in a foreign language in college (I wasn’t thinking at all about how I’d pay the bills upon graduation), I have spent a lot of time thinking about the things that get lost in translation. Words are not mathematical equations. The word for something in French does not “equal” the word…

  • Be Nicer to Yourself

    I made some offhanded self-deprecating remark the other day, probably about my weight, and it brought tears to a friend’s eyes. That stunned me. I don’t always think about the impact my words have. These were tears of frustration that I don’t see myself the way that she sees me. I tend not to take…

  • Meaning What You Say

    “Let go of him, or I’m going to hit you,” I said to my boyfriend, who was playing a little too roughly with his much younger brother. The kid was choking. My words didn’t seem to sink in. “P, I swear to God, I’ll hit you if you don’t let him go!” Nothing. So I…

  • Bridgetender [sic]

    Recently someone quoted my WordPress blog tag line like so: “The random musings of a bridgetender [sic] with entirely too much time on her hands.” For the uninitiated, “sic” is basically latin for “Okay, I’m writing it this way because it’s a direct quote, dude, but it’s WRONG.” I wanted to scream when I saw…

  • My 50,000th View

    By the time this gets posted, I will most likely have achieved a great landmark on this blog by receiving my 50,000th view. I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around that concept. People have been interested in what I have to say 50,000 times. That doesn’t mean 50,000 different people have had that…

  • Figments and Smithereens

    As a writer I spend a lot of time thinking about words. I pride myself on having a fairly large vocabulary. But some words, even I have to admit, have limited use. Take figment, for example. Have you ever heard this word used in any other context than as a figment of your imagination? If…