Friday, April 28, 2006
Heligobalism
I am away for three days, surfing the South-West coast of Sardinia, the "Hawaii of the Med". Since we just reached one trillion one billion English words, here are some Words of the Day to mull over during the long weekend:Heliogabaline, which appears to be a David Foster Wallace neologism, taken from an Harper's essay on English usage. It refers to this painting, in which Emperor Heliogabalus is observed trying to smother his guests in rose petals. Foster Wallace uses it to refer to stiflingly flowery writing: Sphenisciform which according to Martha Barnette (and the EB) is the correct word for all penguin species. Orchesography, the depiction of a sequence of dance steps using diagrams. Originally it meant something like this, but I think it can also refer to the comedic footsteps, that were apocryphally printed on the floor of 50s dance schools.(via) Hicatee, a kind of freshwater turtle from Belize, which is beloved of pro Scrabble players, and hungry Belizeans.
"The truth is that most US academic prose is appalling - pompous, abstruse, claustral, inflated, euphuistic, pleonastic, solecistic, sesquipidelian, Heliogabaline, occluded, obscure, jargon-ridden, empty: resplendently dead."[sic]See how the pomo irony never ceases with DFW? I've [sic]ed it, because euphuistic, ought to be capitalised.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]