by Roseanna White | Feb 28, 2011 | Word of the Week
Perhaps I ought to start with a pronunciation guide of this one, eh? 😉
Schadenfreude (SHAHD-en-FROY-de) is something we’ve all probably felt, and felt the sting of. Loosely defined, it’s a noun meaning ‘malicious satisfaction taken at the misfortune of others.’
When I discovered this word, I got quite a kick out of it, because a joke between David (then fiance) and my family was “It’s funny when it happens to somebody else.” Though schadenfreude is on the negative side of that, it was nevertheless a perfect one-word way to say the same thing. =)
There, see, you learned a fun new word today. (Unless you already knew it, but . . .)
Happy Monday, everyone!
by Roseanna White | Feb 21, 2011 | Word of the Week
Okay, so this week’s word isn’t so much a simple word as the explanation of a name. And maybe I’m the only nerd in the world to get excited about realizing the reason for this one, but just in case . . .
Remember in Disney’s Cinderella, when the alert her that a new mouse has been caught, and she picks out some clothes and goes to free him from the trap? She says something like, “Now for a name. I know! Octavius. But for short, we’ll call you Gus.”
I watched Cinderella so often as a child that I had it memorized. This name never made sense to me but . . . well, whatever.
Then as a Freshman in high school, we were studying ancient history and got to the unit about Ancient Rome. When my teacher, Mr. Harvey, said, “Then there was Octavius, who was called Augustus when he became emperor,” I actually went, “Oh!”
The whole class looked at me, probably wondering what the silly smart girl was thinking now. Mr. Harvey was the indulgent sort, so he asked me what got me so excited. I explained, “In Cinderella! She names the mouse Octavius, but then calls him Gus. I always wondered how Gus was short for Octavius–but it’s not! It’s short for Augustus!”
My classmates all got quite a kick out of that, and Mr. Harvey expressed his appreciation for Disney’s joke that no kid would ever get–and said he was impressed I remembered that, LOL.
Is this earth-shattering? No. But if you’re like me, you like to find the explanation behind those little details that never made sense, and just in case you haven’t watched Cinderella since studying Roman history . . . 😉
by Roseanna White | Feb 7, 2011 | Word of the Week
I maintain that “cleave” is one of the most bizarre words in the English language. Why? Because it means two exactly opposite things.
Cleave, definition 1 – to stick, cling, adhere to something closely.
Cleave, definition 2 – to divide, to split, to cut
Um . . . riiiiiiight. Isn’t that just bizarre? Yes, they’re listed as separate entries. But still. When I realized that “to cleave to someone” and “to cleave something” were so very, well, opposite, I sat and stared at these words for a good long while and laughed.
See, my hubby had a game back in school. He would open a digital thesaurus and click on synonyms for words until they led him to an antonym for the original word. (Oh yes, he’s a nerd after my own heart!) Sometimes he could manage it with one or two transition words. But this one . . . sheesh, no clicking is even required to find its antonym!
This dichotomy brought to you by the glories of Monday morning, and a writer who needs to get seriously into revision mode on her Annapolis story, which has just been officially moved from the Work in Progress folder to the Completes Manuscripts folder. =)
by Roseanna White | Jan 31, 2011 | Word of the Week
Yes, you read the title right. Today I’m bringing to you an enlightening treatise on the word “macaroni.” =)
Now, in my house “macaroni” is synonymous with “the most common food to be found, because it’s the only thing my kids are 100% guaranteed to eat.” But as with all things we take for granted, there was once a day when it was new. Rare. Fashionable, even.
Back in the 18th century, Italian foods were just beginning to make their way into British society, and they were all the rage. One of the most loved was macaroni–and it was so stylish a dish that an entire club was formed around the it. The Macaroni Club was quickly known for their dedication to fashion and style . . . a dedication which soon went into dandy-ism (which is to say, over the top).
At that point, “macaroni” became an adjective meaning something like “a style befitting a dandy.”
And so Yankee Doodle finally, FINALLY makes sense! Ever wonder why the dude in the song “stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni”? Well, there you go. He wasn’t calling the feather pasta, which was what I thought at age 6 when I learned the song (yes, I thought we were singing about some delusional guy, LOL), he was calling the hat stylish. Even dandy.
Only took me 22 years to figure THAT one out! =)
So enjoy your macaroni, folks. And know that back in the day, it was not just kids’ food.
by Roseanna White | Jan 24, 2011 | Word of the Week
While I’m far, far away from working on modern books, I thought I’d introduce a new feature on Mondays for now. Actually, I owe the idea to two Facebook friends, who responded to one of my word-nerd moments with the thought that I should do a word-a-day on my blog. The concept stuck with me and turned into once a week in my little brain.
So my first word of the week is . . .
Pedestrian.
Why, you ask? We all know what pedestrian means. We all know both its meanings. Sure.
But here’s the curiosity. Did you know (which you obviously do if you saw my Facebook status last Tuesday) that the meaning of pedestrian that means dull, prosaic predates the meaning of walking on foot/one who travels on foot?
I had no idea. I would have thought the walker definition came first, given that “pedestrian” is from peds, which means foot. But no. Apparently it came into being first in 1716 in reference to literature, which, if it was “of the foot” was therefore as opposite “of the mind” as a piece of writing could get, LOL. It was also well contrasted with “equestrian,” and we all know horses were considered a noble pursuit at the time. Hence why, by 1791, it took a literal turn.
See, you learned something. =) Come back next week for a fascinating look into the history of “macaroni.” 😉
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.