It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life."
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The Super Bowl party is a fun tradition with friends, yet it makes me feel trapped. It is challenging to walk out early. I found a nook in the back of the room, surrounded by the lesser fans. I whispered to one that I’d rather be home in bed reading a book. Of course, the game went into overtime. Oh no..I was fried. Finally, the game ended and the celebratory hoopla began. I got up to collect our dishes, pack up our things.
“Wow! Isn’t that graffiti gorgeous?”
I looked back at the television and agreed – “Yes! Look at the colors!”
“I don’t know when I have seen so much pretty graffiti”, she continued.
“It is so thick, just amazing,” I agreed, joking, “They are celebrating that the game has finally ended.”
We looked at each other, puzzled. A glimmer of reality:
Hello.
The word is not graffiti.
What was the word?
malapropism – the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one
lethologica – the inability to remember a particular word or name
This was a whole new level of my elusive language skills, my inability to recall a word. Now I am in cahoots with someone else on the use of the wrong word? Oh my! Let’s call this a case of “magnanimous malapropism” or “legendary lethologica.”
Imagine a world where all of us of a certain age are replacing nouns and verbs with new ones, and all of us get along fabulously, enjoying the new tangents these displacements take us.
Here’s to a world where we hold each other with tenderness and joy.
P.S. Yes, I know the word was ‘confetti.‘ We figured it out before we had our coats on, leaving the party.
I have been giggling ever since, and wrote a humorous poem to celebrate the verbal confusion.
I’ve got a poem here about graffiti
oh my! look! such gorgeous graffiti!
toss in the air! celebrate! so dreamy!
jubilant sparkly paper sleeting
wait
not so
it ain’t that neaty
fibrous
colorful
scrappy
streaming
noodly
wiggly
shredded
chippies
this word
eludes
confounds
perplexy
what the heck is wild paper spaghetti?
macaroni
bucatini
linguine
rotini
ziti
how did my mind get so cobwebby
I am feeling a wee bit sweaty
you know - scribbly dithery unsteady
ah! sparkly lively flashy confetti
this poem is squirmy springy seedy
stretching me in new ways, sweetie
Thank you for visiting my blog. Clicking the title of any post will open a comment box at the bottom of the page. I love hearing from you.
Wow, I just love both the small moment and the poem. I appreciate your line about holding each other with tenderness and joy (especially as we lose those words!) Funny how your friend knew immediately what you meant and it took awhile for it to dawn on the two of you that you had the wrong word. I also really love the visual playfulness in the form of your poem, and how the words trail down. Love the pasta verse, and how your “sweetie” at the end takes us back to your plea for love and understanding!
Thank you, Fran! I adored that “it took awhile for it to dawn on the two of us” – I think this is what keeps me in giggles. Here’s to aging!
This slice is all too familiar to me. My husband and I have many such moments anymore and most of the time, between the two of us, we can cobble together the name of an actor, author or old friend. You did a lovely job describing your feelings and the setting. This poem is filled with visual images and made me laugh. Just another “senior moment” which, it seems we’ve both discovered ultimately leads to laughter. Thanks for sharing.
I know this ‘word dance’ so well with my own husband; sometimes it feels as if we are playing charades, with all these gesticulations , as we search for words. So funny!
Love this! I have found that when in a group of people around my age that the wrong word is often used, but still we all know what was trying to be said. Besides, as we all know, the wrong word is used just to see if others are paying attention to what we are saying. 🙂
Love that so much! Yes, I sometimes use the wrong word to see if my friends are paying attention, lol. That is great!
Maureen,
Your poem is delightful. It could be a picture book. I can see all that pasta trickling from stadiums! When I started reading I scratched my head. I’ve seen Vegas graffiti and it ain’t pretty! I can’t help but think about that quote about the right word being the difference between lightening and the lightening but. I’m sure you know the one. Fun poem. It’s definitely one of my favorite Maureen poems.
Thank you, Glenda! It was a joyous write. I am laughing at you imagining we were really excited about Vegas graffiti. lol!
Oh my, Maureen, you have created a brilliant post and fantastic poem. I love the joy, movement, and humor throughout it. I feel that cobwebby feeling often. All of a sudden a word I know will not formulate on my tongue. Thanks for sharing such a fun moment and creating a poem from the exchange! Brilliant!
More and more, I have that feeling of a word being right at the tip of my tongue – and I simply cannot release it. Ah, aging! Thank you, Barb!
I love both the post and the poem! This drives me crazy – I just said to Greg this morning that I better understand my dad’s ongoing frustration with the word that was too often on the tip of his tongue, and not in his memory. I appreciate the visual in the poem – and yes, it sounds like a book!
Thank you! I remember being surprised at my parents’ inability to find a word – or, especially, my Dad’s ‘mislabeling’ of something, using the wrong word entirely. Now, time for the comeuppance! lol.
Maureen – I love your poem! It IS a word dance. All those little word mistakes lead to a wonderfully imaginative poem, sweetie! Bravo!
Thank you, Joanne! I was trying to capture the mental dance of finding that one elusive word. Glad you enjoyed!
I wrote about the Super Bowl, too, Maureen, and remember how I felt looking at the dejected 49ers sitting on the bench as the confetti storm swirled around them. (I also thought about the clean-up. Totally LOVE: “What the heck is wild paper spaghetti?…confetti.” I will never look at that sparkly, lively, flashy display quite the same way—thanks to your poem.
Thank you, Trish! Sorry for your loss. I didn’t have a favorite team – just along for the ride. The confetti was pretty extraordinary – and, yes, I wondered, too, about the clean up.
Maureen, I’m with you – – I’d want to be over in the corner. In the quiet recesses of the room, away from the noise and festivity. Your raining word parade is fabulous – – the rhyming and the synonyms and channels of thinking along lines are felt and heard. In Asheville, they have a bookstore called Malaprops, and it usually makes the list of the top bookstores in the country. I only knew malaprop because of that store……now for the other new word……Lethologica…..hope I can remember that one! 🙂
Oh, I want to visit this bookstore! What a fun name! Thank you, Kim.
Maureen, I’d be over in the corner with the quiet folks. I, too, don’t care for festivities – – especially ones past my bedtime. I like what you have done here with the synonyms and channels of thinking. There is a bookstore in Asheville, NC called Malaprops, so I knew that word, but the other new one that defines forgetting words, I’ll try to remember…..wonderfully rhyming poem that brings a smile inside, a chuckle of knowingness.
What a sweet compliment, Kim! “wonderfully rhyming poem that brings a smile inside, a chuckle of knowingness.” I know a ‘double comment’ is probably an accident – but fun to receive, all the same.