Neo-Victorian Poetry
  • Steampunk Poems
  • Romantic Poems
  • Christian Poems
  • Other Poems
  • Blog
  • Home

Now ... where is my Onomasticon?

7/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
During one of his standup routines, Steven Wright - comedian, actor, writer, and Oscar-winning film producer - asked rhetorically, “What’s another word for Thesaurus?”  I love his keen sense of irony.

Thesaurus: the book one turns to when one needs to know, “What’s another word for …”    

When I finally stopped laughing I looked up thesaurus in my Thesaurus.  What I found was: onomasticon!  If I had heard this word out of context I probably would have envisioned dinosaur.

One of the things I love about the English language is how wieldable and pliable it is, especially so regarding irony.  Some of my darkest works have benefited from the inclusion of an ironic ending.  

So, what exactly is irony?  According to dictionary.com it is "an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have, happened."  It’s that humorous ending of  a joke known as the punchline.

As to the Thesaurus, I relied heavily on mine when I began to write poetry at age eleven in order to boost my eloquence, but as my vocabulary grew I found myself referring to it less and less often.   

Now, if I sit with an idea long enough, specific words rise up to meet it, to commune with my thoughts, working together, ferreting out exactly what I want to say, as my eyes begin to glaze, entranced.

I keep my Onomasticon handy for those events when I want to be sure that the word I’ve chosen is what I think it is in its broadest sense.  It is still easier than I’d like to admit to be mistaken.  

Oh, but I do so love words!  They are my favorite toys.







Image: http://exilebibliophile.blogspot.com ... 'Bookworm' painting by Carl Spitzweg
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About the author:

    I've written many poems over the years.  This blog is a preview of my books: Echoes, Neo-Victorian Poetry (April 2013), Echoes ll, More Neo-Victorian Poetry (May 2014), Echoes lll, Even More Neo-Victorian Poetry, (August 2016), A Compilation of Echoes. (September 2016), and When None Command (April 13, 2019)

    Archives

    December 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly