Frazz by Jef Mallett for February 01, 2023

They’re not exactly redundant. They carry nuance and maybe a bit of local color.

Calling someone’s medical problems “drama” is wrong. I’ve had more than a few migraines, and they are not “drama.”

Redundancy lives!

On the Rockford Files, Jim Rockford got beat up regularly.

You say I drama I say recycled clichés. (Not Fraz but the hero)

English has twice as many words that most languages.

English may have the biggest vocabulary of any language in the world. That’s what comes from having several sources.

Well, I doubt the god from space has to take an ibuprofen after a fight.

Manly men that can endure all types of dangerous rugged conditions yet need to be babied with a comforter on the couch, and a Hot Toddy or three, when they have a cold. Drama?

There used to be more words. There was a much wider, richer, more colorful world of words, and really fine writers used them as easily as the rest of us used ballpoint pens and manual keyboards. Now we are reduced to 4×6 implements with tiny keyboards and emojis that substitute for something vague because we just can’t take time for the real thing. Sad

I read that The Cruiskeen Lawn was so popular because Irish is so nuanced and has 6 (or so) as many words for each English word.

That’s “drama”.

Methinks Frazz misses the point of the “redundant” words. English actually has a relatively large lexicon, and the seemingly redundant words are most of the reason. These words aren’t exact synonyms, however. They have subtle shades of meaning. That said, repurposing words and granting additional definitions happens all the time for exactly this sort of reason — and if that doesn’t get you the use you want, you can always borrow one from another language. Which, of course, is how English got its huge lexicon to begin with.

Especially if they’re repeatedly redundant

Spanish is a very descriptive language. No one doubts the meaning.

Maybe it’s not what you say, but how you say it. Shakespeare had attitude that people today should take note of.

Tom Robbins tells us THERE ARE NO SIMILIES!

Try using this one actions + attitude= actitude. If enough people use it it will make it into the dictionary!

“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whōre. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” —James Nicoll, 1990

This week’s theme on A.Word.A.Day is words with multiple meanings. Today’s entry is “dingbat”:

 noun:

1. An eccentric or crazy person.

2. An ornamental typographical symbol, such as ✲, ❏, ☛, ♥.

3. An object, such as a brick, used as a missile.

4. A gadget or an object whose name is unknown or forgotten. Aka, thingamajig, gizmo, etc.

5. A two- to three-story boxy apartment building with parking spaces directly under it.

 adjective:

Eccentric or crazy.

You can subscribe to the service here: wordsmith.org

Way off base. As someone who has suffered with migraines and watched my wife suffer with them when she was younger, it is not drama. I am fortunate that my migraines last less than a day. Hers lasted for several days and she mostly soldiered through, but sometimes she was down for the count.

“Of what use is a word that means only one thing?”—Ael t’Rllaillieu

Slang repurposes words. No, there are words there to use.