Today’s Wordy Rabbit Trail:
Wordy Rabbit Trail
What’s this?
Today’s wordy rabbit trail exists because occasionally, I find something interesting in a podcast.
I listened to a recent one by Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl, which focuses on “ghost words,” entries in dictionaries that result from misunderstandings, or are deliberate choices by publishers to provide proof of plagiarism.
The word I found there ought to still be in a dictionary, because it’s completely appropriate for describing political shenanigans. She said:
“The word was ‘esquivalience,’ defined as: ‘the willful avoidance of one’s official responsibilities.’”
They even gave it a made-up etymology, saying it arose in the late 19th century, perhaps from the French word “esquiver” meaning “dodge” or “slink away.”
I’m not certain this word will appear in my future novels. The Readability function algorithm used for this blog isn’t fond of it, claiming it raises reading difficulty too far. That’s just tough.
Wrestling with search engine optimization requirements expected for excellent blog posts, including this one, turns me esquivalient. Because I’m certain I’m supposed to write stories.
I won’t hold political discussions here. More than enough happens elsewhere about those. If you want to see more posts like this about words, let me know in the comments, and I’ll add more occasionally.
Ruth
Heidi Kortman
Tom Neely
Heidi Kortman