Saturday, November 23, 2013

the new treaty with Iran makes me think of the word meretricious

A first in diplomacy with Iran seems to be welcomed and heartily applauded by the President of the United States and the many foreign ministers who had set their signatures to this first accord to, as the President said, keep the world safe, yet is this not a meretricious agreement, as words can phrase something to please, and yet lack the substance necessary but allow Iran to claim what were frozen funds perhaps to continue what they are doing, and Europe will lift their sanctions as they had no other alternative with no funds to advance to keep the world safe.

This meretricious treaty is perhaps superficially significant, for the meaning of this word is applied to the falsely attractive, and to what seems to be yet isn't.

Time will tell, as will history, but then the beginning of what turned out to be the German advance on a clueless world that had believed in diplomacy as a solution to a country's ambition to dominate the world had come out of yet one more meretricious treaty aimed to keep the world safe.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

another emotionless unfathomable word, ineffable

The word, ineffable seems so benign, like someone who hides who they are by putting on another cloak, a blanket of sorts that will cover the truth.

Yet, ineffable, is a description of something that we are not capable of expressing in words. 

Something not to be uttered, perhaps a Judeo-Christian Biblical admonition about what can be said and referred to, in other religions
ineffable is what an interpreter determines is permissible to speak of and about.

And then another meaning of this word, ineffable, refers to something too great, powerful or beautiful to be expressed.  So why is this a word? 

There is no doubt that ineffable is used to note that what it refers to must not or cannot be told to others—so here is a word that puts a gag on verbal or written communication, and when you use ineffable you have to make sure that whatever you want to say cannot be said. 

Ineffable is also a word that lends itself to a charade. 

This word ineffable is a good word to use in this 21st century of too much discourse and too much communication.  What do you think?  Is this a word that you would never when you "tweet" or "text"?   Perhaps this is a word that needs to be used to get some silence, then we can hear ourselves think about the issues that need thinking about.   

please visit my website

Monday, November 4, 2013

Inchoate is more than a word that lacks emotion...

I don't know about you, but I find words that I am not familiar with when I read The New York Times newspaper—it doesn't matter which section, but the journalists writing in this newspaper can be erudite and acquaint me with words that I'd like to use, but I don't. 

When I write something for public consumption, I want to communicate facts plus emotions.  As a writer, my need to communicate is the same whether I am communicating with fiction or about a non-fiction subject like travel, and when I'm speaking to someone, I'm not out to show them that I have a BA in English summa cum laude and my vocabulary is better than theirs. 

But then I'm not a journalist employed by a major newspaper that doesn't have to dumb down articles—yet I think it's a good idea to treat readers as if all of them are highly intelligent with substantial vocabularies, rather than stupid dummies who aren't ready to tax their minds. 

Though when writing a book, it's different, since a writer of books wants to sell them, and the audience pool has to be considered. 

And sadly, in this 21st century the secondary collages that lack the student pool of the Ivy League Universities have to teach basic reading and math skills since the standard high school education in the US of A is no longer considered world class.  But to get back to the word, inchoate, this is a word without the sounds that form an emotional punch, it's a matter-of-fact kind of word.

One meaning refers to something factually stated—imperfectly formed—yet another meaning has a sinister connotation—the suspicion that all is not well could refer to what is being said by a governmental authority, and is not the full truth.

What do you think about this word, is it a word you would use to describe someones behavior, or a way of telling someone that the real truth is being kept from you?? 

Let me hear from about other words you know of that lack emotion but have a deep descriptive meaning.