Words on words
Lately I’ve been reading a thesaurus. Yes, I know how that makes me sound, but the Oxford Writer’s Thesaurus contains hundreds of facinating short essays by various writers. Remember a few years back when a teacher came under-fire from ignorant do-gooders for using the word niggardly? I do. One of the essays in the aforementioned thesaurus tackles this oft-misunderstood word that has no racist basis whatsoever and points out that it actually comes from a Middle English word meaning miserly. The author then encourages other writers to use the word niggardly as often as possible, if for no other reason than to piss off ignorant do-gooders. Am I the only person who thinks it awesome that a mission statement like that made it into an Oxford publication?
As I’m in a literary mood at the moment I would also like to say that I don’t generally write poetry. I lack the patience needed to really do it right. However, I do occasionally write haikus focusing on banal topics. For some reason, I find it extremely funny, in a dry sort of way, to use the simplicity and resulting understated beauty of such an ancient art to express my feelings for random and moreover common “stuff.”
Golden delicious
You are not my favorite
I prefer Fuji
Comments
If there's one thing I like, it's a haiku about apples.
Posted by: 5K | February 15, 2006 10:51 PM
You should see my earlier work on fishsticks.
Posted by: Johnny Rockstar | February 16, 2006 08:00 AM
oo do share
Posted by: Kelly | February 16, 2006 01:19 PM