Mega Drabble Series!
A combination of being busy and having reduced Internet access has left me with a backlog of drabbles. I'm going to tie all of these words together into a series--should be interesting, given some of the words! We'll see how I do :)
gewgaw \G(Y)OO-gaw\, noun:
A showy trifle; a trinket; a bauble.
Examples
"Bidders paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for worthless gewgaws--fake pearls, ashtrays, golf clubs--merely, one supposes, because they were touched by the hand of this celebrity of celebrities."
-Lawrence M. Friedman, The Horizontal Society
"At least, you're tempted until you discover that the price of this gewgaw is $175."
-Walter Shapiro, "Earn exciting prizes from the Republicans!" USA Today, March 27, 2002
"Walk into almost any department store, and there it is -- along with mounds of other gimmicky gadgets and garish gewgaws that (no offense, Vanna) the world can live without."
-James A. Russell, "What the World Needs Now... Is Not Another Gimmicky Gadget or Worthless Doohickey," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 9, 1995
Etymology
The origin of gewgaw is uncertain.
palpable \PAL-puh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Capable of being touched and felt; perceptible by the
touch; as, "a palpable form."
2. Easily perceptible; plain; distinct; obvious; readily
detected; as, "palpable imposture; palpable absurdity;
palpable errors."
Examples
"A sense of devastation from the attacks remains palpable, but so too is a sense of rejuvenation."
-"Onwards and upwards," The Economist, May 23, 2002
"Crowds at Kennedy-related sites around Washington were no larger than usual yesterday, but the emotion was palpable."
-"Grieving Public Seeks Ways to Say Goodbye to the JFK They Knew," Washington Post, July 22, 1999
"The loss of potential donors because of tattoos has been palpable if not drastic, blood-center officials said."
-"Tattoo surprise: Many find body art bars them as blood donors," San Francisco Chronicle, July 19, 1999
"The movie's emotional potential, lying in wait for two hours, will sneak up on viewers, hitting them with a palpable thud."
-"Crime tale told with restraint," Dallas Morning News, May 10, 1999
"Andre Garner and Dan Sklar... have clarion voices and the kind of palpable emotional heat and fiery commitment that can transform a song into a full-fledged little drama."
-Review of "Songs for a New World," Chicago Sun-Times, December 8, 1998
Etymology
Palpable derives ultimately from Latin palpabilis, from palpare, "to touch gently."
laconic \luh-KON-ik\, adjective:
Using or marked by the use of a minimum of words; brief and pithy; brusque.
Examples
"Readers' reports range from the laconic to the verbose."
-Bernard Stamler, "A Brooklyncentric View of Life," New York Times, February 28, 1999
"In the laconic language of the sheriff department's report, there was 'no visible sign of life.'"
-David Wise, Cassidy's Run
"There was one tiny photograph of him at a YMCA camp plus a few laconic and uninformative entries in a soldier's log from the war year, 1917-18."
-Edward W. Said, Out of Place: A Memoir
Etymology
Laconic comes, via Latin, from Greek Lakonikos, "of or relating to a Laconian or Spartan," hence "terse," in the manner of the Laconians.
Trivia
Laconia was an ancient region of southern Greece in the southeastern Peloponnesus; Sparta was the capital. Its people were noted for being warlike and disciplined, and also for the brevity of their speech.
Synonyms
concise, succinct, pithy
cant \KANT\, noun:
1. The idioms and peculiarities of speech in any sect, class, or occupation; jargon.
2. The use of pious words without sincerity.
3. Empty, solemn speech, implying what is not felt; insincere talk; hypocrisy.
4. A whining manner of speaking, especially of beggars.
Examples
"Don Juan delighted London gossipmongers with plentiful allusions to the scandal surrounding the poet's divorce from his young wife of one year and his subsequent flight from English 'hypocrisy and cant.'"
-Banite Eisler, Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame
"Underneath all the grime there was as much sentimental piety and conformist cant."
-Andrew Sarris, "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet"
"...the English major from a working-class family who now and then asks a forthright question that cuts through the literary cant."
-Theodore Solotaroff, "Memoirs for Memorial Day," New York Times, May 29, 1977
Etymology
Cant ultimately derives from Latin cantus, "singing, chanting."
abstemious \ab-STEE-mee-uhs\, adjective:
1. Sparing in eating and drinking; temperate; abstinent.
2. Sparingly used or consumed; used with temperance or moderation.
3. Marked by or spent in abstinence.
Examples
"They were healthy and abstemious; their chief pleasure was reading and Oliver was a life member of the London Library."
-Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Music at Long Verney
"For a man who trafficked in excess, he was surprisingly abstemious."
-Ralph Blumenthal, Stork Club
"When the 1796 outbreak of yellow fever turned into an epidemic, the frightened citizens followed each preventive vogue: herb tea, cold baths, cream of tartar, vinegar, camphor and abstemious diets."
-Christina Vella, Intimate Enemies
"In the clubby world of the Senate, the elder Gore was an aloof figure whose 'divinity student blue" suits and abstemious habits (no cigarettes, little alcohol, and a daily swim in the Senate pool) created the aura "of a man just come from a powerful hell-and-brimstone sermon.'"
-Bill Turque, Inventing Al Gore: A Biography
Etymology
Abstemious comes from Latin abstemius, from ab-, abs-, "away from" + the root of temetum, "intoxicating drink."
Synonyms
abstinent, teetotal, temperate.
I've yet to write Curufin outside of "The Election Farce of Nargothrond," so today's drabbles trace the life of Feanor's fifth son until the Oath.
Of Few Words
I.
My father had forbidden me from entering the forge. Knowing my impetuous curiosity absent of was Mother called “common sense, he set the doors with locks and threatened me with vague punishments.
Of course, the clever, brave-foolish fifth son of Fëanaro was not deterred by mere metal. No, I knelt and picked open the locks and invented my own version of gemcraft.
In the morning, he found me asleep on the worktable, treasure in hand.
He placed my gewgaw carefully on the mantle, between his fledging palantiri. He grinned: whether at my “skill” or my disobedience, I’m still not sure.
II.
“He never talks.”
That would be Tyelkormo. Blond, blue-eyed, the perfect complement to dark Carnistir, turning maidens’ heads in Tirion. The two were best of friends at my expense.
Neither understands my abstemious lifestyle, wondering how my life is rich without wine and celebrations and silk-clad maidens. I stare harder at the words that will unlock the secret Father and I have been pursuing.
“He’s weird.”
Perhaps. But it will also unlock a far more elusive secret, and I will win Father’s pride and affection, while they waste their lives being uselessly handsome.
I smile at them until they leave.
III.
I did not see her as I came out of the shop, arms full of fresh parchment until we collided, and I scattered her apples across the street.
“Oh.”
I stood, knowing that I should bend to help her, but with a palpable unease: heart racing, breath suddenly tight in my chest at the sight of her glistening black hair and a knee bared for just a moment, as she lifted her gown to kneel. The parchment slid from my arms and fluttered to the street.
I bent to help her, if only to determine the color of her eyes.
IV.
From the parlor in Formenos, we could hear my father and Melkor on the steps. When Melkor began his saccharine cant, I took my wife’s trembling hands in mine.
“Think not that the Silmarils will lie safe….”
I bent over her pregnant belly, kissing her, feeling my son moving beneath my lips, as though he sought to kiss me back. Her hands plunged into my hair, as though she sought to hold me there, in submission to her and our unborn child.
“Get thee gone--!”
She began to weep, and her tears pattered upon my hair like sudden rain.
V.
I was studying a ring I had made my wife when Father began to speak the Oath.
I had noticed that the setting was not secure, and that she would eventually lose the stone. I was devising a solution.
My brothers murmured among themselves. Tyelkormo was already straining to leap to Father’s side; Maitimo’s hand was on his arm.
Always the laconic one, I said nothing and studied the ring. Until my brothers stopped whispering.
I looked up. Their eyes, Father’s eyes were on me. Would I swear beside him?
It was only a short step…and not so many words.
~oOo~
The quotes in section IV, of course, are not mine. They come from The Silmarillion, "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor."
gewgaw \G(Y)OO-gaw\, noun:
A showy trifle; a trinket; a bauble.
Examples
"Bidders paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for worthless gewgaws--fake pearls, ashtrays, golf clubs--merely, one supposes, because they were touched by the hand of this celebrity of celebrities."
-Lawrence M. Friedman, The Horizontal Society
"At least, you're tempted until you discover that the price of this gewgaw is $175."
-Walter Shapiro, "Earn exciting prizes from the Republicans!" USA Today, March 27, 2002
"Walk into almost any department store, and there it is -- along with mounds of other gimmicky gadgets and garish gewgaws that (no offense, Vanna) the world can live without."
-James A. Russell, "What the World Needs Now... Is Not Another Gimmicky Gadget or Worthless Doohickey," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 9, 1995
Etymology
The origin of gewgaw is uncertain.
palpable \PAL-puh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Capable of being touched and felt; perceptible by the
touch; as, "a palpable form."
2. Easily perceptible; plain; distinct; obvious; readily
detected; as, "palpable imposture; palpable absurdity;
palpable errors."
Examples
"A sense of devastation from the attacks remains palpable, but so too is a sense of rejuvenation."
-"Onwards and upwards," The Economist, May 23, 2002
"Crowds at Kennedy-related sites around Washington were no larger than usual yesterday, but the emotion was palpable."
-"Grieving Public Seeks Ways to Say Goodbye to the JFK They Knew," Washington Post, July 22, 1999
"The loss of potential donors because of tattoos has been palpable if not drastic, blood-center officials said."
-"Tattoo surprise: Many find body art bars them as blood donors," San Francisco Chronicle, July 19, 1999
"The movie's emotional potential, lying in wait for two hours, will sneak up on viewers, hitting them with a palpable thud."
-"Crime tale told with restraint," Dallas Morning News, May 10, 1999
"Andre Garner and Dan Sklar... have clarion voices and the kind of palpable emotional heat and fiery commitment that can transform a song into a full-fledged little drama."
-Review of "Songs for a New World," Chicago Sun-Times, December 8, 1998
Etymology
Palpable derives ultimately from Latin palpabilis, from palpare, "to touch gently."
laconic \luh-KON-ik\, adjective:
Using or marked by the use of a minimum of words; brief and pithy; brusque.
Examples
"Readers' reports range from the laconic to the verbose."
-Bernard Stamler, "A Brooklyncentric View of Life," New York Times, February 28, 1999
"In the laconic language of the sheriff department's report, there was 'no visible sign of life.'"
-David Wise, Cassidy's Run
"There was one tiny photograph of him at a YMCA camp plus a few laconic and uninformative entries in a soldier's log from the war year, 1917-18."
-Edward W. Said, Out of Place: A Memoir
Etymology
Laconic comes, via Latin, from Greek Lakonikos, "of or relating to a Laconian or Spartan," hence "terse," in the manner of the Laconians.
Trivia
Laconia was an ancient region of southern Greece in the southeastern Peloponnesus; Sparta was the capital. Its people were noted for being warlike and disciplined, and also for the brevity of their speech.
Synonyms
concise, succinct, pithy
cant \KANT\, noun:
1. The idioms and peculiarities of speech in any sect, class, or occupation; jargon.
2. The use of pious words without sincerity.
3. Empty, solemn speech, implying what is not felt; insincere talk; hypocrisy.
4. A whining manner of speaking, especially of beggars.
Examples
"Don Juan delighted London gossipmongers with plentiful allusions to the scandal surrounding the poet's divorce from his young wife of one year and his subsequent flight from English 'hypocrisy and cant.'"
-Banite Eisler, Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame
"Underneath all the grime there was as much sentimental piety and conformist cant."
-Andrew Sarris, "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet"
"...the English major from a working-class family who now and then asks a forthright question that cuts through the literary cant."
-Theodore Solotaroff, "Memoirs for Memorial Day," New York Times, May 29, 1977
Etymology
Cant ultimately derives from Latin cantus, "singing, chanting."
abstemious \ab-STEE-mee-uhs\, adjective:
1. Sparing in eating and drinking; temperate; abstinent.
2. Sparingly used or consumed; used with temperance or moderation.
3. Marked by or spent in abstinence.
Examples
"They were healthy and abstemious; their chief pleasure was reading and Oliver was a life member of the London Library."
-Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Music at Long Verney
"For a man who trafficked in excess, he was surprisingly abstemious."
-Ralph Blumenthal, Stork Club
"When the 1796 outbreak of yellow fever turned into an epidemic, the frightened citizens followed each preventive vogue: herb tea, cold baths, cream of tartar, vinegar, camphor and abstemious diets."
-Christina Vella, Intimate Enemies
"In the clubby world of the Senate, the elder Gore was an aloof figure whose 'divinity student blue" suits and abstemious habits (no cigarettes, little alcohol, and a daily swim in the Senate pool) created the aura "of a man just come from a powerful hell-and-brimstone sermon.'"
-Bill Turque, Inventing Al Gore: A Biography
Etymology
Abstemious comes from Latin abstemius, from ab-, abs-, "away from" + the root of temetum, "intoxicating drink."
Synonyms
abstinent, teetotal, temperate.
I've yet to write Curufin outside of "The Election Farce of Nargothrond," so today's drabbles trace the life of Feanor's fifth son until the Oath.
Of Few Words
I.
My father had forbidden me from entering the forge. Knowing my impetuous curiosity absent of was Mother called “common sense, he set the doors with locks and threatened me with vague punishments.
Of course, the clever, brave-foolish fifth son of Fëanaro was not deterred by mere metal. No, I knelt and picked open the locks and invented my own version of gemcraft.
In the morning, he found me asleep on the worktable, treasure in hand.
He placed my gewgaw carefully on the mantle, between his fledging palantiri. He grinned: whether at my “skill” or my disobedience, I’m still not sure.
II.
“He never talks.”
That would be Tyelkormo. Blond, blue-eyed, the perfect complement to dark Carnistir, turning maidens’ heads in Tirion. The two were best of friends at my expense.
Neither understands my abstemious lifestyle, wondering how my life is rich without wine and celebrations and silk-clad maidens. I stare harder at the words that will unlock the secret Father and I have been pursuing.
“He’s weird.”
Perhaps. But it will also unlock a far more elusive secret, and I will win Father’s pride and affection, while they waste their lives being uselessly handsome.
I smile at them until they leave.
III.
I did not see her as I came out of the shop, arms full of fresh parchment until we collided, and I scattered her apples across the street.
“Oh.”
I stood, knowing that I should bend to help her, but with a palpable unease: heart racing, breath suddenly tight in my chest at the sight of her glistening black hair and a knee bared for just a moment, as she lifted her gown to kneel. The parchment slid from my arms and fluttered to the street.
I bent to help her, if only to determine the color of her eyes.
IV.
From the parlor in Formenos, we could hear my father and Melkor on the steps. When Melkor began his saccharine cant, I took my wife’s trembling hands in mine.
“Think not that the Silmarils will lie safe….”
I bent over her pregnant belly, kissing her, feeling my son moving beneath my lips, as though he sought to kiss me back. Her hands plunged into my hair, as though she sought to hold me there, in submission to her and our unborn child.
“Get thee gone--!”
She began to weep, and her tears pattered upon my hair like sudden rain.
V.
I was studying a ring I had made my wife when Father began to speak the Oath.
I had noticed that the setting was not secure, and that she would eventually lose the stone. I was devising a solution.
My brothers murmured among themselves. Tyelkormo was already straining to leap to Father’s side; Maitimo’s hand was on his arm.
Always the laconic one, I said nothing and studied the ring. Until my brothers stopped whispering.
I looked up. Their eyes, Father’s eyes were on me. Would I swear beside him?
It was only a short step…and not so many words.
~oOo~
The quotes in section IV, of course, are not mine. They come from The Silmarillion, "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor."