Cacography – Wordplay Wednesday™ 11/04/2020

Witch One is Spelled Rite?

Back into the “C’s” we go! Like the demonic word, cacodemon, offered up during October’s Halloween extravaganza, this week’s word has its own literary “bad” moon rising …

CACOGRAPHY (ka-ʹkä-grɘ-fē; 1580) n. –1) bad spelling – compare orthography; 2) bad handwriting – compare calligraphy.  [WW #293]

Now, although my primary word source is Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (series), I often refer to more than one authority for a more comprehensive understanding of a word or term.

Usually, they’re all saying the same thing in a different way. But searching cacography was rather like this sample sentence, “The doctor’s cacography left the nurse squinting, trying to make heads or tails of his medical instructions for the patient.” Like the nurse, you just want to go, “Huh?”

Wikipedia’s definition of this word defied all others by adding a whole different dimension: “Cacography is deliberate comic misspelling, a type of humour similar to malapropism.” Sure, sure, that’s the ticket!

Hmmm, so when you’re chastised for your careless cacography, you can dismiss it by claiming it was meant to be funny. Haha. Uh-huh.

Word Challenge: CACOGRAPHY. While there aren’t as many references to handwriting as there once was, you can aptly apply it to descriptive results from more digital typing than script, as you fit cacography into your week of perfectly formed writings and clever conversations.

Learning knows no prejudices or boundaries, and it isn’t fattening! Expanding your mind is a no-cost, simple joy. Do you feel that way too? What’s your inspiration? Share your creative genius and Wordplay Wednesday comments below.

Write first for yourself … only then can you write for others. (L.Rochelle) 

Cheers to learning a new word today!

@PenchantForPen
@Irishwriter

[LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and an author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books in her Blast from Your Past series (of three) about pioneering R&R Radio DJs. True behind-the-mic tales make GREAT Holiday and anytime Gifts available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!]

*LR Notes: 1) Dictionary definitions are quoted from Webster’s New World College Dictionary. Yes, we sometimes present them out of “official” context—but that’s half the fun! Think of it as “creative context.” 2) a] Recent dictionary additions to definitions include a date of first use, if known; b] words in small caps indicate “see also.” 3) Neither I (LinDee Rochelle) nor Penchant for Penning are responsible for how you use information found here, that may result in legal action.

E-N-Dzzzzzzzz  

 

DEVILRY – Wordplay Wednesday™ 10/28/2020

The Devil You Say!  

Over the centuries, Halloween trick-or-treating has had more than its fair share of devils roaming the streets—both harmless and harmful. Not to ignore its obvious connotation of evil, let’s add a little levity to life and explore the devil’s role with playful tongue in cheek …

DEVILRY (‘de-v^ɘl-rē; 14c.) [or deviltry] n. – 1a) action performed with the help of the devil: witchcraft; b) wickedness; c) mischief; 2) an act of devilry. [WW #292]

Throw in a little devilment, a devil-may-care attitude, and a devilish rogue, for a hyper-mischievous Halloween! Don’t forget, you’ll have the devil to pay if you go too far, but a fun night of devilry in the lightest sense of the word can add an impish charm to your All Hallows Eve.

This Halloween falls on a Blue Moon and a Saturday so devilry is apt to describe the prevailing mystic atmosphere. The day is host to several lottery draws, will  you become a lucky devil? Or if you’re stuck at home, you might practice a new recipe of deviled eggs, and chase the dust devils around, to prep for Thanksgiving!

From ancient centuries, Halloween has meant a Celtic celebration of summer’s end, the harvest, and a lifting of the veil between the living and dead, in a festival to honor saints and martyrs. As History.com tells its modern day evolution, “All Souls’ Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain [Celtic festival], with big bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints’ Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain [SOW-in] in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.”

Is there a correlation to November 3^rd’s Election Day? You be the judge … to take you into November and the next week of final elections, try not to stress as you struggle to cast your ballot between the devil and the deep blue sea (faced with two equally objectionable devilry alternatives).

Whatever your relationship with the devil and his devilry (if any or none) there is a cute little devil with a trick-or-treat bag full of references for your writings and chats. To some, he is more heinous than hilarious; so keep that in mind, or you may indeed, have the devil to pay.

Word Challenge: DEVILRY. For the Irish or Irish at heart, enjoy a little “Cleas nó cóir”! (class noh koh-ir)! (“Trick or Treat” in Gaelic), as you fit devilry into your week of delightfully wicked writings and creepy conversations.

Learning knows no prejudices or boundaries, and it isn’t fattening! Expanding your mind is a no-cost, simple joy. Do you feel that way too? What’s your inspiration? Share your creative genius and Wordplay Wednesday comments below.

Write first for yourself … only then can you write for others. (L.Rochelle) 

Cheers to learning a new word today!

Happy Halloween!

Wicked Witch of the West
@PenchantForPen
@Irishwriter

[LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and an author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books in her Blast from Your Past series (of three) about pioneering R&R Radio DJs. True behind-the-mic tales make GREAT Holiday and anytime Gifts available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!]

*LR Notes: 1) Dictionary definitions are quoted from Webster’s New World College Dictionary. Yes, we sometimes present them out of “official” context—but that’s half the fun! Think of it as “creative context.” 2) a] Recent dictionary additions to definitions include a date of first use, if known; b] words in small caps indicate “see also.” 3) Neither I (LinDee Rochelle) nor Penchant for Penning are responsible for how you use information found here, that may result in legal action.

E-N-Dzzzzzzzz  

 

Tenebrific – Wordplay Wednesday™ 10/21/2020

Darkness there and nothing more …* 

Only ten days until our “once in a Blue Moon” full moon Halloween! Are you already beginning to nervously whip around corners, seeing nothing, but left with a feeling of spinetingling spookiness?

Our third week of weird Halloween Wordplay lurks in the shadows to make your days eerie and your nights …

TENEBRIFIC (,te-nɘ-ʹbri-fik; 1785) adj. – 1) gloomy; 2) causing gloom or darkness. [WW #291]

What a great word for your horrific fiction or even discussing the tenebrific horrors of our election! Sorry, couldn’t resist.

As we slip-slide through pumpkin pulp into the latter half of October, we run around the corner headlong toward the tenebrific shadows of All Hallows Eve.

Create your own creepy story with an ominous character … “Quick! Turn away! Its tenebrific stare will turn you to stone!” Or into a bat … or a donkey … heehee.

Tenebrific need not be associated only with Halloween or evil monsters. Everyday writing can benefit from its dark connotation.

“He stepped from tenebrific murkiness to bright sunlight and cheers, after two weeks lost in the cave.”

My thought is to leave the tenebrific mood of the past several months at Halloween’s doorstep. Let Samhain swallow the last of our gloom-and-doom. Rejoice in the light and love of Thanksgiving and Christmas … and a New Year that represents (and may even celebrate) the many changes in all our lives.

Word Challenge: TENEBRIFIC. Be it gloomy or just dark, wrest your mind from the shadows as you fit tenebrific into your week of transformative writings and creepy conversations.

*From Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (1845)

Learning knows no prejudices or boundaries, and it isn’t fattening! Expanding your mind is a no-cost, simple joy. Do you feel that way too? What’s your inspiration? Share your creative genius and Wordplay Wednesday comments below.

Write first for yourself … only then can you write for others. (L.Rochelle) 

Cheers to learning a new word today!

Wicked Witch of the West
@PenchantForPen
@Irishwriter

[LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and an author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books in her Blast from Your Past series (of three) about pioneering R&R Radio DJs. True behind-the-mic tales make GREAT Holiday and anytime Gifts available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!]

LR Notes: 1) Dictionary definitions are quoted from Webster’s New World College Dictionary. Yes, we sometimes present them out of “official” context—but that’s half the fun! Think of it as “creative context.” 2) a] Recent dictionary additions to definitions include a date of first use, if known; b] words in small caps indicate “see also.” 3) Neither I (LinDee Rochelle) nor Penchant for Penning are responsible for how you use information found here, that may result in legal action.

E-N-Dzzzzzzzz