September 2024 – Richmond Writing

Word of the Week! Ennui

Some time back, I picked up a copy of Thomas Jefferson: Travels, Anthony Brandt’s edited collection of Jefferson’s correspondence from 1784-1789, his years working in Paris. I find the “American Sphinx,” to use Joseph Ellis’ term, endlessly fascinating in all his complexities, obscurities, and patent hypocrisy. In some ways, his is the story of the state of Virginia, even the entire South. Partly my interest stems from Deism, a spiritual path I share with the Founding Father, partly the long shadow cast by my alma mater, The University of Virginia.

Jefferson, with his many flaws, lacked one: idleness. That brings us to our word, one he saw as the emotional outcome of doing nothing. Here, in a letter to Martha Jefferson from 1787, “guard you at all times against ennui, the most dangerous poison of life. A mind always employed is alway happy. . . .it is our own fault if we ever know what ennui is. . .” In an earlier letter from the same month, he finds the cause of such poison to be “want of industry which I had begun to fear would be the rock on which you would split.”

Ennui, as befits Jefferson’s experience, come to us from French. In its modern sense, it only dates to 1758, during Jefferson’s own lifetime. Thus, we have a ‘Modern Problem”! On the other hand, The OED dates an older sense to the 13th century, meaning “weariness.” Often the word “annoy” got employed in the same sense.

The modern loan word implies an annoyance or torpor of the soul, a lassitude. it’s that waiting-for-Godot state of mind. I’ve covered the words malaise and doldrum here before. They both can be used as near synonyms for our week’s word.

I fear we turn to dopamine-dispensers called smart phones and social media for quick bandages to slap over ennui, when instead we might find uses for our time that leave us with something tangible. If you experience ennui, get some exercise. Do some useful work. Improve your mind (and yes, you can find such content via a phone). As Jefferson advises Martha, “it is wonderful how much can be done, if we are always doing.”

Spend your time well! Send us a word or metaphor and I will feature it here. Let me know by e-mail (jessid -at- richmond -dot- edu) or by leaving a comment below. Also let us know if you would like to write a guest column.

See all of our Metaphors of the Month here and Words of the Week here.

Image Source: Ennui by Robert Seymour, courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Word of the Week! Shenanigans

Thanks to Kim Chiarchiaro, of the Modlin Center For the Arts, who nominated this wonderful word. We see the word in names of bars, unusually, and not the sort where I want to order a Martini (somewhat dry, Hendricks Gin, dash of bitters, clean not dirty, olive not lemon, shaken and VERY cold, thank you). Try that on a server or bartender in a bar named Shenanigans. You might get punched out.

Yet beyond that dark vision, the word has a Gaelic sound. I asked the robotic brain at the OED, and found “unknown origin.” Now we have a mystery. The definitions are also delightful, including “Trickery, skulduggery, machination, intrigue; teasing, ‘kidding’, nonsense; (usually plural) a plot, a trick, a prank, an exhibition of high spirits, a carry-on.” The OED records first usage as 1855.

The word might be a bit informal for student work, but I’m thinking that it could be of use to scholars describing several rascals, past or present, who influenced public events. Have shenanigans increased in the past century? I am not certain, but the usage of the term has skyrocketed, from 0 instances in 1870 to just under .05 instances per million words in 1930 to .25 per million in 2010.

Shenanigans may also be on the rise.

This blog will continue all year, so send words and metaphors of interest by e-mail (jessid -at- richmond -dot- edu) or by leaving a comment below. Also let us know if you would like to write a guest column.

See all of our Metaphors of the Month here and Words of the Week here.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia, from the University of Tulsa’s alumni who placed a memorial stone to celebrate “wonderful memories of their college days, including their participation in many shenanigans.”

Word of the Week! Patois

I have quite a pile of ideas from readers currently. Thank you! We will begin to work through the backlog soon, but first, student Leo Barnes has a really strong entry on a loan-word from French that I often hear in academic settings.

In terms of definition, we have “regional dialect” from The OED entry. Now I’ll turn things over to Leo:

The term ‘patois’ refers to the language of the common people of a region. A patois can vary greatly from the standardized language and is usually only spoken within communities and passed down orally. It differs from pidgin which is a simplified version of a language spoken between people without a common vernacular.

In French, ‘patois’ means dialect though in Old French, it means clumsy or uncultivated speech. Thus, the use of the word can have a condescending overtone. Writing on the fickleness of dialectical hierarchy, linguist Jean Jaurès notes, “The language of a vanquished people is called patois.” In other words, it isn’t linguistic merit but pure might that decides who’s dialect is cultivated and who’s is crass.

Having seen patois before in Charles Elster’s weighty tome, Word Workout, I was already aware of its first meaning. This past week, though, while working at Long Wind Organic Tomato Farm in Thetford, Vermont, I learned its second.

Patois (also called Patwa) is the native language of almost three million Jamaicans including five who worked alongside me at Long Wind Farm. Patois is a Creole language derived from the English colonists who ruled Jamaica, African word borrowings, and French, Spanish, and Portuguese influences.

No doubt aided by its condescending namesake, The New York Times reports that Patois is “stigmatized with second-class status and often mischaracterized as a poorly structured form of English.” One balmy summer evening, while enjoying a beer and jerk chicken, I had the chance to learn some. Here are highlights:

Patois: Wah Gwan
Meaning: Hello

Patois: De olda de moon, de brighter it shines
Meaning: The older the person, the wiser, more beautiful, and vibrant they are

Patois: Ya so bad luck even an empty gun would still shoot ya
Meaning: You’re so unlucky even a gun without bullets would harm you.

While talks are afoot on changing Jamaica’s official language to Patois, for the foreseeable future, it will remain English. Unfortunately, like many small languages, Patois isn’t available on mainstream language learning platforms. For those interested, here’s a good resource to start: Jamaican Patois.

See all of our Metaphors of the Month here and Words of the Week here.

Image Source: Jamaican Flag & Jerk Chicken courtesy of Leo Barnes. I’m hungry now!