Monthly Archives: April 2015

C is for Circumlocution


CIRCUMLOCUTION: 
elaborate, roundabout, or indirect speech or writing. 
Also known as Periphrasis.


He was dispatched to his Final Reward somehow sounds nicer than The Feds shot him away. (this is also known as a euphemism)

The fact that we are taking a muscular stance does not require that we must ride that horse to the bitter end and go down with it. (I did a blog post on this one, uttered in a meeting, which had me so delighted, I had to write it down before I forgot it.  It would have been better if he had said, “We have taken this stand, but we don’t have to die for it.”)
 

Circumlocution is often used in order to avoid saying outright something that might be painful.  “My cat crossed the Rainbow Bridge“ seems somehow less tear-making than “I had to have my cat euthanized.”  

Damon Runyon’s stories about the seamier side of New York City involved a lot of circumlocution:

If I have all the tears that are shed on Broadway by guys in love, I will have enough salt water to start an opposition ocean to the Atlantic and Pacific, with enough left over to run the Great Salt Lake out of business. But I wish to say I never shed any of these tears personally, because I am never in love, and furthermore, barring a bad break, I never expect to be in love, for the way I look at it love is strictly the old phedinkus, and I tell the little guy as much.

 In Runyon’s case, the circumlocution serves to illuminate a certain sort of character.  And here, for a wonder, is a scene from the movie Guys and Dolls with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, where their words are drawn out and ornate and the speech (Brando’s, I mean) is one of my favorite in literature.  He speaks of advice from his father:
 

“Son, you are now going out into the wide, wide, world to make your own way, and it is a very good thing to do, as there are no more opportunities for you in this burg. I am only sorry that I am not able to bankroll you to a very large start, but not having any potatoes to give you, I am now going to stake you to some very valuable advice, which I personally collect in my years of experience around and about, and I hope and trust you will always bear this advice in mind. Son, no matter how far you travel, or how smart you get always remember this: Some day, somewhere, a guy is going to come to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is never broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that the jack of spades will jump out of this deck and squirt cider in your ear. But son, do not bet him, for as sure as you do you are going to get an ear full of cider.

B = Beasts of Battle


The ‘Beasts of battle’ is a motif found in old Norse and old English literature. It involves three creatures, the Wolf, the Raven and the Eagle. In legend, these accompany warriors and feast on the bodies of the slain. You will find them in the old Norse Poetic Edda as well as several Old English poems.
Eagle
Wolf

 


Crow
Such concepts are fascinating to know.  If you are reading, say the Edda, or an old English poem (if you can understand them) You can san “ah=HAH!! Lookee there!  A crow, an eagle and a wolf!  Battle’s coming!”  Usually you’ll be right and you can either impress everyone or have them rolling their eyes, depending on where you are.  Personally, I seldom have people hanging over me when I’m reading old poetry.
 
Jeremy the Crow
…But what if you throw in some details?  How does that change things?  What if you have, say, Jeremy the Crow from The Secret of Nimh , Akela the Chief Wolf from The Jungle Book and Sam the Eagle from The Muppet Show? 



You could have a lot of fun, that’s what.  Just imagine the three of them moving along down a road.  Strasbourg (Alsace – France) is behind them and they’re heading east into Germany.  They are chatting pleasantly: Akela runs a tight ship and Sam the Eagle believes in correctness. 

Akela the Wolf

Two of the three companions are moving slowly along the winding lane.  Jeremy has been flying forward, performing reconnaissance.  “France is behind us now,” says Akela.  How strange: this looks so much like the mountains where the Seeonee Wolf Pack hunted in India. …I wonder how Mowgli is.” 
 

 


“I wonder if there’s a place we can get some food!” Sam grumbles.
 
Akela nods thoughtfully.  “There is always that concern…” 

Jeremy comes gliding in.  “I just saw a crowd of people heading this way!” he squawks.  “They look festive!”

Akela lifts his head.  “We can ask about watering holes,” he says.

The road straightens just then and they face a crowd of people carrying noisemakers and flowers, singing…  “Germans,” Akela says.  “Either that or they have indigestion from the noise they are making…”  He steps forward, his head raised, and speaks with the voice he used at the Pack Councils.  “My friends, if you could, of your goodness, direct us-“

The crowd scrambles to a halt.  Jaws drop, eyes move over the three creatures in the road. 

“Verdammte scheiße!”

“I beg your pardon?” Akela says.

Round eyes, screams,  “Führen Sie für Ihr Leben!” the people turn and run, their forms growing smaller and indistinct through the dust in the road.

Sam shakes  his wing at them.  “You’re all a pack of weirdos!” he shouts.

Akela turns away with a sigh.  “You would think they expected us to eat them!” he says.  “Let’s turn and go back to France.  The thought of Biftek tartare  appeals to me…

Click here to Go to the A to Z Challenge







 

 



A = Alarums and Excursions


If you have not had your head in the sand during the past two months, you will know that this is the eve of the A to Z blog fest, held annually during the month of April. Hundreds (literally) of bloggers all participate in the alphabet-themed blog, posting weekdays and Saturdays in alphabetical order. One poster I really enjoyed was a master crocheter. Her contribution was a blog of crocheted flower patterns from a to z. The flowers were delightful, beautiful, charming. Another had a collection of legendary creatures, from basilisks to … well, I forget what Z was. It is great fun and exhausting if, like me, you don’t have the sense to sit down a couple months ahead of time and plan things out. 

I signed up but ultimately bowed out, since I have a major project that I am working on and simply can’t commit to the level of activity that comes with this wonderful hop.

I can post, as much as I can, with the letter of the day, and send folks over to the A to Z site to check the list of bloggers and their themes. It’s fun, informative, enjoyable, delicious. Do check them out, read, comment, maybe start following. There is lots to see and enjoy.
 

Click here to Go to the A to Z Challenge


A =Alarums and Excursions

I remember reading Shakespeare in college (a dangerous activity, actually, since prolongued reading will have you thinking in Iambic Pentameter) and running across that term.  I knew what it meant from the context: martial goings-on, lords coming and going and a lot of literal sabre-rattling. 

Alarums and Excursions, by golly!

We don’t all live in Elizabethan times, but I’m sure we’ve all experienced the sort of clamor and hoo-haw that I, at least, would give that name to.  Having lived on a military base for a stretch of times, I saw a lot of it.

Another meaning is clamor, excitement and feverish or disordered activity.  Rather like the Black Friday sales at Wal-Mart in the US. 

The older version was more fun.

DEFINITION:
1:martial sounds and the movement of soldiers across the stage —used as a stage direction in Elizabethan drama

2: clamor, excitement, and feverish or disordered activity

Example: 

Alarums and excursions was first used in 1605