Lies, Damn lies, and Carthagians

Perfidious 

This word is an old fashioned word meaning not able to be trusted, not true to promises, deceitful or treacherous.  Or my personal favorite deliberately faithless. The etymology of the word goes back to good 'ol Latin. If you break it down per can mean destruction of and fide is faith. What a loaded word. The word faith is one that people have much emotional investment around so to be without it is a grave character flaw bordering on soulless (I take literary license for usage of hyperbole here).

One of the definitions for this word I found enlightening was - "tending  to betray; especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans"

HISTORY LESSON ALERT: 

Back in ~200-100 B.C. Carthage was a major world power and Rome was an up and coming one.  In a series of three massive wars called the Punic Wars Rome took Carthage . It was so ravaged that most of any history from Carthage's point of view was destroyed. Therefore all that remains is the Roman's bashing of the Carthagians. They portrayed them as treacherous. 

I thought that this falls in line perfectly with many world powers when they went to war would make their opponents seem as abhorrent as possible in order to rally the troops and gain support for the war effort.

For those of you that truly know me, you know that I'm not the worlds most historically knowledgable gal. But to say the least, this peaked my interest. 

So remember kiddies, keep the faith full not less!   

Quixotic: Chivalry is dead ladies

I love this word.  First a little history lesson, this word was coined after the story of Don Quixote was published.  The story tells of a hero, Don Quixote, dreams up a romantic ideal world which he believes to be real. For example he winds up getting into imaginary fights with windmills that he regards as giants.

There are two main definitions for this word

1)extravagantly chivalrous or romantic

OR....

2) Exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical. 

I could not help but chuckle when I saw the parallel here.  After the chuckle came the fear. One little word telling me that all my fantasies about romance are "exceedingly idealistic.  One little word pointing, laughing, mocking my girlish notions of my white knight coming to rescue me.

One little word that says, "Hey just because your boyfriend smacks you on the ass, doesn't make him Christian Grey." 

What will women do if this word enters popular circulation?  Would it be the end of the chick flick? One more unrealistic than the next. Come to think of it, it is more our perception of the chick flick than the chick flick itself that is quixotic.  No matter what they create, we buy it, we want it, and we believe we can attain i.t

I guess when they coined the term "hopeless romantic" rather than meaning a person who is in love with love, it means that romance is hopeless.

All the of the doom and gloom being said, I think the word itself sounds romantic and whimsical.  Just saying quixotic gives me little flutter in my cockles of my heart and makes me want to go watch the Notebook and wash it down with a Sex in the City Marathon.  Maybe we will live happily ever after, after all.

Stunning

I was thinking about wanting to be swept off my feet.  What compliments would cause me to melt in a man’s hand.  Then I thought of the word for today –STUNNING. When I typically think of the word stunning, I think of the most informal of its definitions.          1) Striking beautiful; attractive; enticing. However, the second thing that came to my mind was a cattle prod or a stun gun.  This intrigued me enough to try and make the connection, which surprisingly wasn’t too difficult when you read the definitions below. 2) Commanding attention 3) Causing great astonishment and consternation; 4) or a. causing or capable of causing bewilderment or shock or insensibility; b. causing loss of physical or intellectual bearings; c. causing, capable of causing, or liable to cause astonishment, bewilderment, or a loss of consciousness or strength So obviously one can be rendered unconscious or lose strength with either a zap of the stun gun or by be taken with a great beauty.   This made me think, which came first the chicken or the bombshell? The best I could do was to find the following: 1250–1300; Middle English stonen, stunen (v.) < Old French estoner to shake, make resound; So I still can’t figure out whether the action or the adjective came first.  I like to think it was used to for good and then someone was so taken with a woman that they developed a stun gun to render her stunning in two senses of the word~

Evasive: The real slim shady

Evasive:

Tending to avoid commitment or self-revelation, esp. by responding only indirectly. Directed toward avoidance or escape; tending to evade grasp or pursuit    Hard to comprehend or define; clear perception or complete mental grasp; hard to express or define Preferring or living in solitude and anonymity   Difficult to remember

My favorite synonym: SHADY

This week’s word EVASIVE I chose for two reasons:

1) There are some similar words that I thought it would be cool to delve into then and find out what would be the proper usage for each.

2) I think that most people nowadays are evasive.  And I am so tired of needing a cryptogram to have a conversation.

Evasive versus Elusive, Illusory, Allusive: These are all different flavors having very similar meaning with subtle variations in usage. 

The word Evasive is used when what is being avoided is direct or relevant response to a verbal challenge and Elusive used when what is being avoided is physical capture or apprehension

Illusory AKA illusive means based on or having the nature of an illusion while Elusive means difficult to describe or skillful at eluding capture

Allusive is used as a way to say, “in reference to” the act of alluding or an indirect reference; casual mention

There are several slight variations on this word and each holds a particular significance for me right now.

When you meet someone or have a relationship with someone whether it is a friend, an acquaintance, a co-worker, or a lover, you meet them in a particular context.  Most of the time people are a certain versions of themselves depending on who they are near.  Not really their true 100% self.  Of course depending on the person, some people are more open than others.  But for the most part, people are hiders, or are elusive.  

Why are people elusive? Is it fear or cowardice perhaps laziness? Most likely it’s ALL of the above or some combination.

People may be afraid of rejection.  They may be afraid to look stupid or be wrong.  Maybe they just aren’t strong enough to put themselves out there.  Self discovery is HARD but sharing that revelation of self discovery with other people is takes monster strength. Hence along with elusiveness comes fear or avoidance of bearing your mind and soul to other people. Borderline cowardice.

The last two definitions I think go hand in hand.  Along with those folks that deiced to go ahead and have a safer elusive existence, who prefer to live in anonymity and solitude have to deal with one really sever consequence which is the last definition here: They wind up alone and forgotten.

Adore and Adoration. Sayer of things versus Doer of things

It has been a while since my last blog post and I have missed it.  I love words and their origins, their history, and how they have been sculpted over time.  Today's word is not a difficult or obscure word.  Just means something to me and spoke to me.  This is only my interpretation of it as well and I know is not 100% literally accurate. 

I love the words adore and adoration. Someone once said to me, "I adore you." However, what does that really mean.  

There are several definitions for this word.

1. to regard with the utmost esteem, love, and respect; honor.

2. to pay divine honor to; worship:

3. to like or admire very much:

So the first two definitions are very intense and are full of meaning and intent. The third definition is luke warm and almost ambivalent at best.  So when someone says, "I adore you!", how are you supposed to interpret that. I say that you have to look at the actions.  Adore itself is a verb which in its very nature imply action.  So to say the WORD adore means that there should be some action behind it. 

Adoration on the other hand is a noun, a thing. 

1. the act of paying honor, as to a divine being; worship.

2. reverent homage.

3.fervent and devoted love.

I have felt adoration before.  When a person hears you.  Really hears you and incorporates that almost seamlessly into their life and yours.  Just seeing you happy and wanting so badly to see your smile (which to them lights up the entire room) is enough to motivate them to do anything to replicate that happiness that smile over and over and over again.  You aren't ever inconvenient or a burden.  But a treasure, a gift.  That is adoration.

Although I have heard the words, I adore you, the act of feeling adoration from someone feels much more like an action verb than the word of action itself.  So being a DOER of adoration is far more meaningful that being a sayer of supposed adoring action.

Cluster Fuck

Ok, I was thinking about my life and how I have completely turned a great life template into a major CLUSTER FUCK. Then I thought about it, where the HELL did that turn of phrase originate. I did a little searching and here is what I came up with. I am not certain that it is accurate, but interesting none-the-less.

Synonyms: Charlie Foxtrot, goat-rope

First:
What does cluster fuck mean?
1)A chaotic mess that might be compared to group sex, in which participants are so intertwined and intermingled that they might penetrate each other rather than their intended target.
2)Its more precise usage describes a particular kind of Catch-22 , in which multiple complicated problems mutually interfere with each other's solution. The looser usage, referring to any chaotic situation, probably prevails
3)A confusing or chaotic situation or event, often caused by a failure of communication, an excessive amount of people attempting to accomplish a given task, or complex environment.

Second: Why is cluster fuck my WOTD?
Well, it's a cool sounding dirty word first off. But mostly, I just feel like when people have a pessimistic world view, life is a Catch-22. You are always presented at forks in the road, with many choices, both important and trivial. For an optimist, these are opportunities for growth and success. But for the pessimists these forks are more chances for cruel fate, bad judgment or karma to come back and bite them in the ass.
So as I sit here having my pity party, I think of how I have complicated things for myself and those around me creating a cluster fuck of a scenario. I always feel that I pick the wrong side of the fork, but my dad always reminds me that we NEVER know what the other side would have been like as we did not take that road.
I know that our reality is just how we perceive our lives and our feelings come directly from our actions and what we choose to think about and with whom and what we surround ourselves.


Third: Where does the term cluster fuck originate?
It is widely used in the American military, going at least back to the Vietnam War, and some say was coined by a 1960's "hippie" poet Ed sanders as he used the term Mongolian cluster fuck.

So when you break it down, there are three pieces to this word puzzle:

1) Mongolian: This one I am just guessing at, but the Mongols were some MESSED UP DUDES. So this qualifier, I believe, is utilized to underscore the brutality and "fucked-up-ness" of the whole situation

2) Cluster: Here are a few possibilities that I did not know that come from military origins, which, of course, made me immediately interested in the word.

"One possibility is that it refers to the fucking which is perpetrated upon the target of a cluster: a large group of fragmentation or incendiary bombs dropped at once.

It may also refer to an alternate definition of "cluster," involving groups of mines deployed in a single area to be effective against both tanks and humans

This phrase was also used by Marines during the Vietnam War to refer to a cluster of people large enough to get severely screwed or a group of marines large enough to draw enemy fire, or to all be injured by a single explosive. "

3) And FUCK!!! There have been many definitions and usages for this word, but it's pretty self-explanitory, at least I think it is!!!! For those of you who don't know about the versatility of this word: FUCK YOU


Mongolian cluster fuck has also been used as a term to describe an orgy. Maybe because of one of the above definitions.

Not to plagiarize. Here's where I obtained this information Some of it I did copy verbatim, He did a good job so I kept it that way:
http://www.capmarine.com/cap/glossary/glossary.htm.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clusterfuck
http://everything2.com/title/cluster+fuck

Friday's Word of the Day: Seize

The Formalities: Seize: to take by force; to grab. Synonyms: domineer; comendeer; to take hold of

The Dirt: I think this 5 letter word packs a major punch. I know it's not a 50 cent word, but think of the power of such a small seemingly simple word. It has such a variety of meanings, but mostly I see it as an empowering word for my life right now. And here's how :

1) to take hold of suddenly or forcibly: In life you need to be an aggressor, no one ever got anything worth having my sitting around waiting for it. I have worked exceedingly hard and have aggressively gone towards all of my goals.

2) to understand clearly and completely: My schooling right now is causing me to stretch my mind to its capacity. I want to understand both my discipline and myself clearly and completely.

3) to take possession of by force or at will: Many powerful, intelligent women still feel the urge to be taken possession of force. It demonstrates that you are not only powerful and intelligent, but desirable and exciting as well.

4)To have a sudden overwhelming effect on: I think that we all want to connect with people. Knowing that we have an effect on people, especially an overwhelming effect, is a good ego boost as well as makes you feel stronger and able to conquer LIFE!

5) carpe diem or to seize the day: This speaks for itself. Life is to FUCKING short not to grab onto what you want and TAKE IT!!!