Lackadaisical Afternoons

Are you Lazy or Lackadaisical?

Lackadaisical means lacking life, spirit, or zest. The dictionary lists a "folk etymology," that the word comes from an archaic word, "lackaday," which is from the expression, "Alack, the day!"

People don’t speak like that any more. Alas!

Lazy means disinclined to activity or exertion, encouraging indolence or inactivity; sluggish; or droopy. It comes from MLG, which is Middle Lower German.

Alack is used to express regret or sorrow. From Middle English, curiously enough, since the following is from Latin:
Alas is used to express concern or unhappiness.

Alack! I have been lazy about updating my blogs, but I promise that is soon to change!

Pedantic Sophistry

A Pedant is someone who likes to show off their knowledge. The dictionary says it is from Middle French, and lists 3 definitions: a male school teacher, one who parades his learning, or one who emphasizes trivial points in the presentation or use of knowledge. I think the description we might use for the last one is anal retentive, a psychological term that is found in popular usage today.

A Sophist is an ancient Greek teacher of pholosophy, or a thinker, or a fallacious reasoner. Although, S-O-P-H indicates wise or expert, it also carries the meaning of deceptively clever.

Sophisticated means cultured, knowledgeable or disillusioned, or something which has become more complex or developed.

Sophomore which comes from the words for Wise and Moron in Greek, means a second year student, and sophomoric means foolish, or overconfident, but immature.

I suspect these words all come from Sophicles, not Sophia as I originally thought. Must be a gender bias. Great Dictionary!

Tall, dark and aloof

There's something about someone tall, dark, and aloof. That is my type!

Aloof. What an interesting sound! It must be germanic or scandinavian. It sounds like alley-oop. It lifts you up and then lets you float down. But aloof means standoffish.

Maybe it is French. I wanted to put some words from French origins here. I had a discussion at the convention and we spoke about workd taken from other languages and inserted into the English dictionary. I asserted that many Greek words have done just that, but was informed that 100,000 words have come to us directly from French, with the same spelling and usually the same pronunciation. With Greek words the spelling is usually altered and the pronunciation murdered. Of course, the Greek do use a different alphabet, so that might have something to do with the spelling, anyway.

I had to go to the Huge Unabridged Dictionary (HUD), since my constant companion did not list an etymology for aloof. It just left it out, without any explanation or apology. But my HUD says it is from a Dutch origin. And it doesn't say standoffish, it says distant in sympathy, reserved.
Standoffish is, however, in my HUD and the definition for it includes the word, aloof.

With regard to tall, dark and handsome men, aloofness can be very alluring. A-llooour-ing. There's another interesting sounding word...

Deep

I was conversing with some colleagues of mine the other day. The topic of conversation included books we were currently reading, and turned to one of my favorite authors, Deepak Chopra. Someone said Doesn't he use all those big words? I replied, he does have a predilection for multisyllabic terminology!

Sage Advice

I found a wonderful word to substitute for the verb, "age." Why don't we "sage" instead?! Sage is a word, but not a verb, and I think it sounds pretty cool.

For example: How to stay healthy and active as you sage. She is 49 years of sage. She is saging gracefully. (Watch out you don't spell it with 2 Gs. That will ruin it!)

Let me know if you have a better alternative!

Cracking Up

"Cracking up" has two meanings. It can mean laughter or insanity. What is the relationship between these 2? If you are cracked, you are nuts or lacking common sense.
If you crack a smile, it's a spontaneous movement you can't suppress, and cracking up is indulging in hearty laughter that can't be denied.
But cracking under pressure is not good.
Cracking up is not good, even if it is laughter, because it is often used for inappropriate laughter. If you crack up in a church or in class, you get in trouble. And if you crack up laughing repeatedly, people will think you are really cracking up (going crazy).

Crack up also means a crash. So, here's hoping all your crack-ups are the laughing kind!

No, Sir!

One of the surest signs of aging is when people start calling you "ma'am." What is "ma'am?" It is short for Madame, which is French, but I guess we have no true equivalent in English.
A few days ago, I was at the supermarket thinking how this teenage cashier was probably going to call me “ma’am,” so I braced myself. What came out was much, much worse! He had been well-trained for his position. He was taught to look at the name on the credit or debit card, so that he could use the customer’s first name.
He said “Have a nice day, Gloria!” I was so surprised I started laughing. Here I was thinking, “What could be worse than “ma’am,” and he found it. The only thing worse than being called Ma’am, is being called by your first name by a stranger, and a teenager at that!

We need a better word to show respect for women we don’t know. I’m okay with Miss, but that seems only to be used for young women under the age of 25. “Ms.” was supposed to fill the void, but it doesn’t work without a last name, and you can’t say “Hey, Mrs.” either.
I do not think children and teenagers should call unfamiliar adults by their first names. I think there should be a more respectful and courteous way. It’s pretty informal here in Florida, but what kids and even adults here do is to put Miss or Ms. in front of a first name. It used to remind me of Miss Scarlett in Gone with the Wind, not being from the South, but now I’ve almost gotten used to it. Miss Gloria is better than other epitaphs.
As a matter of fact, since ma’am comes from another language anyway, I’d like to suggest Doňa. It is a title of respect for adults borrowed from Spanish. It is sort of like “aunt” but indicates a family friend. Just call me…Doňa Gloria!