Welcome to Word Buds. This site is dedicated to word aficionados the world over. If you’re always ready to learn a new word and see it used, or delve into the origins and relationships of old familiars, I think you’ll enjoy this site.
I’m also quite fond of poetry and plan to include a verse now and then. You’ll find earlier posts of poetry, anecdotes and nature notes in my Archives, too.
Ragtag Daily Prompt: YADA YADA YADA
One-word Challenge: ONLY
“I see here, Mr Tonkin, that you’re a qualified machinist, and were employed at AeroHead Industries for just over a year.” Ms Jones, the Human Resources manager, held up Tonkin’s resume. “But you left that post last month. Can you tell me why?”
“Oh, sure. It’s like, the foreman on our shift was impossible to please. One day he called me into the office and spent a whole half hour yammering. I was doing my job, but he said I was late so often, took too many coffee breaks, spent company time on my phone…yada yada yada. You know how some foremen like to play the heavy? I couldn’t handle all the negative vibes so I told him to stuff it and I walked out. Any one would do the same.”
“I see. And before that you worked at FinTack, but only for eight months. Why did you leave that employment.”
“At first it was a great place to work, but then they fired the manager we all got along with so well. The one the company hired to replace him was a tyrant. I think he learned his people skills from Caligula. Squawked if we were late, ordered us to shut it when we were on the phone, kvetched about our lunch breaks taking so long. Yada yada yada.”
“And only eighteen months at Blastaway Inc?”
“That’s correct. But I don’t think you should use the word ONLY, ma’am. It has a distinctly negative connotation.”
“I’ll make a note of that, Mr Tonkins. And before Blastaway that you worked twenty months at Smelter Parts Assembly?”
“I need to tell you, Ms Jones, that I have a great work ethic and I always do a top-notch job. But I just couldn’t stick it at SPA. The supervisor was such a bear! I was breaking up with my girlfriend right then, so of course I had to talk to her. I explained it to him, but he still griped every time he saw me on my phone. What a hassle! I don’t know why so many companies hire such short-tempered foremen. I mean, a bit of compromise will go a long way toward keeping employees happy and productive, right?”
“Well, Mr Tonkins, foremen and supervisors do have to answer to production managers and corporate managers. They have to please the higher-ups, too – not just the workers.”
“Yeah. The whole industry needs a shake-up. You know, maybe I should get a Human resources job like yours. Then I could hire decent supervisors and clue in the higher-ups as well. Straighten out their employee expectations – we’re not slaves, after all. I’m thinking a few years in University should get me a degree in Business Management or whatever. How much does an HR manager get paid?”
“I think that’s an excellent idea, Mr Tonkins. I can definitely see that you’re much more suited to study than to manual labor. Here’s your resumé. Good luck, young man.”
As soon as Tonkins left her office Ms Jones asked her secretary to bring her the folder of resumés and a strong black coffee. “I’m suffering from trichotillomania,” she told her when the secretary set the folder on her desk.
She looked at her boss sharply. “What kind of mania is that? Have you had it long?”
“NO, only about ten minutes this time. Mr Tonkins brought it on. Trichotillomania is the abnormal urge to tear our your hair.”
The secretary laughed. “We can’t have that. One cup of strong black coffee coming right up.”
I’m going to kill two birds with one stone today: I’ll give you this new word to digest and I’ll respond to the Friday Fictioneers writing prompt. It was such an inviting one! Rochelle Wisoff-Fields has been hosting Friday Fictioneers and doing a great job of it, for a number of years now.
And the word MINAUDIERE caught my eye. This is a small box-like container or clutch bag that ladies these days use as a fashion accessory, like a purse or evening bag. The origin, according to Lexico, isn’t very flattering. It comes from French, literally ‘coquettish woman’, from minauder ‘to simper’.
Here’s the picture that inspires FF bloggers this week:
And here’s my 100-word story…
“They’ll be in an ivory minaudière, three-leaf design on the side,” he said. “I’ll be watching. No games.”
I paused at the door to steady my nerves, glance around. Any Scotland Yard types hovering? Assuming an “innocent browsing” persona, I stepped inside.
“Grab the gems, get them to the jeweller in Westmount, pick up my envelope, disappear. Easy money.” Still, my knees shook as I slipped the box into my shopping bag. I noticed a shadow in the back room, nodded quickly and left.
It happened so fast! Kid on roller blades came from nowhere. Then my bag was gone.
ACRID
— a sharp or harsh or unpleasantly pungent in taste or odor . Pungent
— deeply or violently bitter
ACRIMONY
anger and bitterness : harsh or biting sharpness especially of words, manner, or feelings
ACRIMONIOUS
The adjective form: angry and bitter, biting, caustic in feeling., language or manner
John sat in the café, nursing his coffee, needing someone to talk to. I was wiping tables nearby so I was the designated listener, and glad to let him spill it in his soft-spoken way. I knew him as a sensitive man, perhaps somewhat inclined to melancholy, and I gathered that John had been broken by the acrimony of his divorce.
He was a farmer, as a young husband he’d been trying to get ahead in an occupation which demands long hours in the fields at times. That was one thing his ex-wife apparently complained about. Yes, he’d probably neglected the family at times, trusting in that “someday” when he’d have more time for the important people in our lives. Don’t we all?
He told me how much he’d loved her when they were newlyweds, but times had gotten tough. He couldn’t always give her all the money she wanted to spend. She evidently became bitter; in court she’d torn him apart, building her case on an acrid exaggeration of all his faults.
I listened and sympathized. He seemed like a decent man. But I realized I was only getting his side.
Origin:
borrowed from Middle French acrimonie, from Latin ācrimōnia, a word formed from ācr-, ācer meaning “sharp, biting, keen” + –mōnia, the suffix for abstract nouns.
TINSEL, usually associated with Christmas decor, can be seen in three forms. Here are Merriam-Webster’s definitions:
As a NOUN:
1 : threads, strips, or sheets of metal, paper, or plastic used to produce a glittering and sparkling appearance in fabrics, yarns, or decorations
2 : something superficially attractive or glamorous but of little real worth
The tinsel on the tree may sparkle, but it’s only silver-sprayed paper. You dare not put it close to a lit candle.
As an ADJECTIVE:
cheap, gaudy, or superficial
done for a sparkly look rather than for quality
He gave her a tinsel necklace that he claimed was sterling silver. It may have looked genuine, but a jeweler friend later told her it was made of some worthless metal. She had no hope of getting anything for it, supposing she ever wanted to sell it.
As a VERB:
1 : to interweave, overlay, or adorn with or as if with tinsel
2 : to impart a specious brightness to something
Wanting to do something special, we put up balloons and even tinseled her Norfolk Island Pine to welcome her home after her long hospital stay.
The word TINSEL, a cousin to STENCIL, comes from the Middle English word tyneseyle, which was a cloth interwoven with metallic thread. It is thought that this word probably descended from the Anglo-French verb tenceler or estenceler, which meant to sparkle. This came originally from the Latin word scintilla, to spark, source of our word SCINTILLATE.
It still carries the original sense; however, over time TINSEL started to take on the connotation of a cheap or gaudy glamor.
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