English speakers historically have made a practice of turning nouns, and sometimes verbs, into adjectives by adding either the suffix “-less” or its opposite “-ful” (the suffix version of the word full) to their word of choice. This has left us with some rather odd remnant words.
For instance, ruthless is commonly understood to imply savagery or a disregard for consequences. No one questions this. But what is the root word? Ruth is no longer used, except as a person’s name. I wonder how many people can even define it. The opposite version, ruthful, has not been in use since the 17th century.
In a contrary instance, rueful’s root word rue is frequently found as a convenient three-letter word in crossword puzzles if not often in everyday speech. But rueless does not exist, may not ever have existed. Also interesting to note, rueful might be used as an antonym for ruthless.
Continuing on with R words, consider reckless with a meaning not unlike that of ruthless above. At first glance, you might think the root of reckless is “reck” (a verb) which is no longer an English word. Is it related to the word reckon? Could be. To reckon is to count up or render an accounting while reckless could not care less about making an accounting of its behavior.
But do be careful. Do not confuse the “reck” in reckless with the spelling of a separate and unrelated word, wreck. I know it is tempting, but it is not correct. By the way, to be thorough, reckful did exist but is now archaic.
A near-rhyme for reckless is feckless, meaning ineffectual or weak. There is a feckful, but it also is archaic. The work feckless is related to effect and the ancient Scots are the ones you can blame for the “feck” spelling.
Here’s a great one to ponder, gormless. It’s a rather goofy looking, goofy sounded word, right? How appropriate as it means wanting sense or stupid. This is a particularly British word with its origin vaguely from a Norse word meaning alert and heedful. And need you ask? There is no gormful, nor evidence that it ever existed. The opposite of gormless, though rarely used, is gaumy!
For those who might care, words like these are referred to as “unpaired” or called nonce words.
#EnglishLanguage #ESL
Author’s Notes
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
“JACK O’LANTERN NIGHT” was published in The American Bard in 1969 and later The Pen Woman. This selection was composed in the month of October near Halloween, hence the title. The author wrote this at a time of emotional upheaval due to the hormonal changes of menopause, and when she was realizing what she missed when the Depression of the 1930s kept her from attending college.
REFRACTIONS
“HALLOWEEN CHASE” by Robert Roxby describes a real occurrence in 1927 when he was 13 years old. Though he mentions a “friend”, he may well have been talking about one of his many brothers. He often used “friend” to make a poem seem less like a family story. This poem was included in his anthology, “Reflections on a Lifetime.”
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“SMOLDERING FLAME” appears in the series the author began and later titled “A Singular Prism”. The writer searched for something positive she could say about a color which for her holds no allure and this is the result.
SPECIAL FEATURE–The Artist’s Revenge
The following is an idea searching for an author. It came to me as a dream, a “story dream.” When these occur to me, I recognize the possibilities for a novel, but it is a novel I do not want to write. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to offer the idea to any writer who wants to develop it.
THE BASICS
Note: in the dream, the heroine discovers that the dead artist’s painting was the source of the fire—it self-combusted.
Feel free to use/change any of the above if you decide to accept this challenge. If, by chance my subconscious gave me the story of an existing novel, I bow to that author. But no plot is unique, so there is still room for a new vision using these basics.
There will be more of these “story dream” ideas in the future, keep watching.
Meanwhile, happy writing—
K. Roxby
Splinters for October 2020
Explore the subject of synesthesia which is a neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate a single sense, instead stimulates several. For examples, see this month’s poem “A Singular Prism” in this month’s Through the Looking Glass Here are a couple of examples.
You could write a scene where the main character experiences sensations while in conversation. For example, when the character sees the color red, that character might hear a sound of a door closing or a car motor. This would recur every time the color red appears or is mentioned.
Write about your own reactions to color. What is your least favorite or your favorite and why? What does a certain color always remind you of?
Write on Halloween theme
BURNT UMBER
Burnt umber lurks
In the alley depths,
In the broken places
Of tenement streets,
In the corners
And cracks of buildings
Long abandoned.
A flat death is raw umber,
A color for shadows,
And cold moonless nights.
Cut from mulched earth
Near black,
Burnt umber is a color
To bury joy
THERE IS ALWAYS A LOCKED DOOR
There is always that locked door
and something,
or someone
waiting
And then there is the sound
of running feet
a glimpse of jeweled slipper
and pointed toe
running, running
down the long corridor
There is always that locked door
and the long, long corridor
If the key should turn
grinding, screaming
with rust and decay
If, say, the old old bar
of the old old bolt
should lift?
But there the nightmare folds
the echoes of running
jewel-shod feet recedes
There is always that locked door
a racing heartbeat
and breathless flight
. in the middle
. of the dream-stopped night.
#Mystery #NightmareandPoetry #Nightmare
THE FULLNESS, OR NOT, OF CERTAIN WORDS
English speakers historically have made a practice of turning nouns, and sometimes verbs, into adjectives by adding either the suffix “-less” or its opposite “-ful” (the suffix version of the word full) to their word of choice. This has left us with some rather odd remnant words.
For instance, ruthless is commonly understood to imply savagery or a disregard for consequences. No one questions this. But what is the root word? Ruth is no longer used, except as a person’s name. I wonder how many people can even define it. The opposite version, ruthful, has not been in use since the 17th century.
In a contrary instance, rueful’s root word rue is frequently found as a convenient three-letter word in crossword puzzles if not often in everyday speech. But rueless does not exist, may not ever have existed. Also interesting to note, rueful might be used as an antonym for ruthless.
Continuing on with R words, consider reckless with a meaning not unlike that of ruthless above. At first glance, you might think the root of reckless is “reck” (a verb) which is no longer an English word. Is it related to the word reckon? Could be. To reckon is to count up or render an accounting while reckless could not care less about making an accounting of its behavior.
But do be careful. Do not confuse the “reck” in reckless with the spelling of a separate and unrelated word, wreck. I know it is tempting, but it is not correct. By the way, to be thorough, reckful did exist but is now archaic.
A near-rhyme for reckless is feckless, meaning ineffectual or weak. There is a feckful, but it also is archaic. The work feckless is related to effect and the ancient Scots are the ones you can blame for the “feck” spelling.
Here’s a great one to ponder, gormless. It’s a rather goofy looking, goofy sounded word, right? How appropriate as it means wanting sense or stupid. This is a particularly British word with its origin vaguely from a Norse word meaning alert and heedful. And need you ask? There is no gormful, nor evidence that it ever existed. The opposite of gormless, though rarely used, is gaumy!
For those who might care, words like these are referred to as “unpaired” or called nonce words.
#EnglishLanguage #ESL
Author’s Notes
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
“THERE IS ALWAYS A LOCKED DOOR” was published in Weird Tales and is featured this month as an eerie entry for October. Margaret had a strong sense of curiosity which made her question why any door must be kept locked. Two of her favorite stories from childhood, the tale of Bluebeard and The Lady and the Tiger, featured this concept though in the latter case, the doors were not locked. A memory from childhood may have also contributed to the poem. At one time her bedroom had three doors, the entry, the closet, and the door to the attic. She would sometimes lie awake in the night wondering about those doors. What was on the other side, could someone or something be behind the door? She was quite young at the time and this was much like the common childhood fear of monsters under the bed. Finally, a third virtual door could have been in her mind as she wrote–that door which we all carry within which seals away the part of ourselves we do not want to share with others.
KALEIDOSCOPE—a series by Kathleen Roxby
“THE FULLNESS, OR NOT, OF CERTAIN WORDS”. Sources consulted: www.etymonline.com and www.merriam-webster.com.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“BURNT UMBER” is another poem from Kathleen Roxby’s collection titled “A Singular Prism” which focuses on color. Burn umber caught the author’s attention in childhood when she encountered the color in of her box of 64 crayons. She always thought it was an ugly color but liked the name. She thought “umber” was a word that should be in a poem by Poe, and as such is appropriate for the month of October.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Readers who write in response to one of the prompts listed each month in Splintered Glass, may see their work presented here on the last week of that month. Though poems are preferred, short prose work will also be considered for publication.
Guidelines for submission:
Splinters for October 2020
Explore the subject of synesthesia which is a neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate a single sense, instead stimulates several. For examples, see this month’s poem “A Singular Prism” in this month’s Through the Looking Glass Here are a couple of examples.
You could write a scene where the main character experiences sensations while in conversation. For example, when the character sees the color red, that character might hear a sound of a door closing or a car motor. This would recur every time the color red appears or is mentioned.
Write about your own reactions to color. What is your least favorite or your favorite and why? What does a certain color always remind you of?
Write on Halloween theme
A MEMORY OF ARIZONA
Sun
Red earth
Sun
Turquoise sky
Sun
Flowers of desert flame
Sun Sun Sun
When evening comes
Long shadows and silences
Fill canyons
Fall on mountains
And purple hills.
#Arizona #ArizonaandPoetry