I was goofing off (bad writer, but I wrote until well after midnight last night, so stale to start this morning) and ran across the latest show-offy & disgusting post by Trump about his upcoming visit to the Fulton County Jail to get “arrested for having the audacity to challenge a rigged and stollen (his spelling) election ….”
My backbrain sat up straight and waved its hand for my attention. “Teacher, teacher he misspelled stolen and stollen is a real word and it means–”
“Yes, I know,” I said mentally. ‘A kind of holiday bread in Germany.”
“Yes, teacher but he also used audacity like he thought it meant only ‘bold’ from the Latin ‘audax’ and there are other usages–”
I sortakinda remembered that, outside of my backbrain, but not all the specifics. “See you at the OED,” I said, with great cheeriness and backbrain sank back into his assigned seat and put his head on his desk.
Audacity is, of course in Volume 1, A-B. I’m getting smoother at removing a volume and flipping it open to the approximate location, but the Au bunch is large and it took several exploratory page flips to find it. And there was the jewel I sought. 3. Open disregard of the restraints of decorum or morality: effrontery, impudence, shamelessness. The first use in print citation is from 1545. Perfect. Trump hoisting himself on his own petard, BOOM! Self-description accurate beyond, no doubt his intention. Not bold, not brave, not admirable. Open disregard of the restraints of decorum or morality. Check. Effrontery, impudence, shamelessness. Check.
Backbrain has received a + for today and a ticket to join in the day’s half hour of rabbit-holing in the OED in the evening. Backbrain is happy. I am happy. I am SO happy that I overcame my “But you don’t deserve that because somebody else needs something more than you” impulse to not buy this OED. No. I needed it. I’m using it. I’m waking up the word-finding part of my brain just by rabbit-hole exploration. Just having it over there, leaking words into the atmosphere, is helpful.
And finding out that usage 3. turned Trump’s brag about himself into a self-revelation of the nekkid kingpin…? THAT was landing the complicated many-flip floor exercise perfectly, jumping the cross-country course clear and inside the time, singing that string of 16th notes at the start of Bach’s Magnificat and the whole choir snapping the final T exactly together. Like that. Now back to fiction. In another post, later. I’m doing something I’ve never done before.
Words, words, words, words….
Yay for words, and I am so glad you are enjoying as well as being fed by your OED.
A lot of Americans further to the left seem to be using an apposite phrase – “every accusation is a confession”. It is of course one of those glib phrases that tri off the tongue or fingers, but there is a kernel of truth as well.
Wow – although I would also remark that the liar in chief is not a well read individual. This does no lessen his behavior but it does explain his rhetoric.
A post by Elizabeth brings joy to the day. Your research in your OED has led you to state exactly what I’ve been thinking!
I’ve been reading the Bible chronologically, there are several different plans out there, and they don’t agree on where each of the prophets fit with Kings and Chronicles but it’s interesting. The reason I’m bringing this up now is because I’m on in the midst of the attacks by the kings of Assyria on Israel and Judah. Will start on Babylon and those guys next week. They had much audacity back then too. Wonder if any of the current crop of wanna be presidents have ever read the history of the time between 1000 and 500 BCE.
Mom wanted to watch the debate the other night. I’m fascinated watching this 90 year old long time Republican considering changing her political stance at this point in her life. She doesn’t say much but she’s pretty disgusted with all of them! She can’t see well, and can’t hear well either but she did say “who is that guy? he needs to sit down, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about at all!” I don’t know where this country is headed but we are in for a ride.
came back to say that I’m very excited and looking forward to reading whatever it is you are writing now!
Woke Husband up from his nap to share this post with him. Still chuckling.
So glad the OED is helping the brain heal. You DO need this OED. It’s helping the brain work through all those concussion issues.
Coming to this late, due to many distractions, I am enchanted by the idea of a stollen election. Stollen is/are (not sure about that) delicious, and a vote for the best stollen would invoke all the best passions along with a thoroughly satisfactory post-election stollen-binge. Kind of like having (here in Canada) a poutine or bannock election. And so much more beneficial than anything your or our conservative politicians are offering.
You’re right…though having once seen a savage firestorm in a butterfly news list because of someone taking offense at something (to me) beyond trivial, that immediately erupted across newslists to infect two other nature lists run by the same person, I’m not sure a stollen election would be free of accusations of inaccuracy, recipe copyright violations, whiny people saying they didn’t like stollen at all, other whiny people saying stollen was being made wrong in the US because…. And so on. Right now, the national mood is so raw that if butterfly people could go feral than, I can only imagine how stollen people might react to any disagreements NOW. I still think it might be a useful diversionary suggestion, except I didn’t think of that in time.
Hello, anybody here?? Getting a little worried.
Hello Jace. We are all over on paksworld.com/blog
PS Latest from Elizabeth there: “It’s raining and the north barn door is up (was hot and stuffy this afternoon) . It’s raining hard. There’s some thunder. It’s almost 2 am. I am not going out to the barn NOW. I’m going to bed.”