The Crafting of Words

Yesterday’s post was in jest, the coining of what I think would be a fun word… douché (look it up).  Yes, it is a rude(-ish) word.  Still, the world is full of rude people that deserve that particular rejoinder.

But today on NPR (yes, NPR -all my truck radio gets is FM and most stations I get suck) I was driving home and heard an interview with Roseanne Cash, Johnny Cash’s daughter.  It was a serious interview, just like this is kind of a serious posting.

In the course of the interview it came out that in her memoir she told a story that would wreck a person if they had even a shred of heart and experienced it.  A story of  “a haunting roadside encounter on a cold night”… I will always remember the turn of phrase she used to end that story:

This is how the heart sounds when it’s broken open.

Ok, first off, that is first-class wordcrafting in my opinion, but you kind of need to hear the story that leads up to it.  (warning, might even be a two-hanky story for some)  It is certainly enough to cause you to think.

The NPR page with the link to the audio is here.

As a rule, I hate memoirs, but darned if she didn’t captivate me with her insights, and I’ll probably pick it up.

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Ok, to offset the seriousness, I managed to get my daughter to grimace in a way that I just LIVE FOR.

I asked Girlhead as she was getting ready for bed if she had brushed her teeth yet.

“No, not yet,” she says as she turns around to head to the bathroom.

“Well you better brush ’em before they fall out!”

Few things offend a seven-year-old girl’s sensibilities quite like a father’s statements of the absurd.

As she trudged to the bathroom she was heard by Cruel Wife to have muttered quietly “They won’t fall out until I’m TWELVE…”

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Coining of Words

Through the course of today’s work, a word has emerged.

If it is not already  a word, I submit for your approval

dou·ché  (dyoo-shay’)

interj.

Used to acknowledge, to an asshole who may or may not be a total idiot, a successful criticism or an effective point in argument.

[derived from French, from past participle of toucher, to hit or wound in fencing, from Old French touchier & the noun douchebag]

Note:  h/t to co-workers Black Lab on Amphetamines and ByteGobbler on the word coinage

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While statements that use words like “may be as big” are horribly vague and nearly impossible to verify when used in a context/article like this, certainly a certain sentiment is captured.

In his new book, Scott Rasmussen says, “The gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18^th century.”

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