Blashfemmy - new season - Starting NOW...

Okay! I am trying to do something new with this blog … its an experiment and it might fail, so all the smug people (or ‘discrete’…whatever you like to call yourself!) do not smirk or bring this up in conversations (even jokingly!).

Here is some background:

I realise as I grow in my profession of rehashing content from one deplorable state to another that my writing skills are not as good as I would like them to be. Bad vocabulary is just one of the things…even when I talk…I am fumbling for words and I end up using ‘street language’ish language. (<- there…you have an example of the bad vocabulary). I don’t think it is acceptable to invent your own words in professional documents.

But quite contradictory to this fact is another fact about myself that I discovered recently. I love playing all the ‘word games’. I began with playing crossword with dad as a kid, but again, I am not even close to good at it. My knowledge about most of the subjects is always 2 decades behind the current time and on a lot of subjects doesn’t exist at all, so cryptic clues or no cryptic clues, I am always ‘clueless’.

In the pre-Google days, I would ceremoniously and optimistically sit with a pencil, eraser, sharpener (this is the optimistic part), and the crossword section of the newspaper. I would very confidently make a few words down and across, but soon realised, those were incorrect words and then there would be vigorous erasing. It would sometimes tear the paper or spread the newspaper ink all over and leave it a messy square. Then, I would just give up and feel miserable for another hour or so because I did not know what was ‘Simon Legree’ an example of or what was short for ‘Rodeo Steed’!

It would worry me endlessly that everyday out of 69 down and 69 across; I know hardly 6 or 9 (on a really lucky day)! There was no way of finding out until the next day and by then there was no way I would remember the previous day’s clues.

However, all these harrowing experiences have not demotivated me to try out different word games.

As children, my sister and I also loved playing ‘Boggle’ – I more than my sister (she was more of a Chess person! – which I was obviously terrible at). I could play Boggle for hours (for those who are too intellectual or sporty to play word games, this was a simple game of creating maximum words from 16 alphabets under a minute.) I was the undisputed champion (also, because I would create my own words – for a very long time my sister believed ‘dan’ was a kind of a medallion and ‘nad’ is another word for nudge.)

Then, one day on a mind numbingly boring day at work, I discovered Crossword puzzle on Merriam-Webster online and I got just what I wanted – HINTS! Now, this is just a more sophisticated word for ‘cheating’ but at least you are not left stranded.

So, although, I still cannot finish the crossword all by myself. But I like to play it still. At least I know that clues I crack are correct! And once in a while, I can ask it to ‘solve a word’ for me.

Anyhow, this is one day I also discovered a Word Jumble and then many more (http://www.merriam-webster.com/game/more.htm) [Bloody Blogger is not letting me format! :-(]

Err… wait, I am getting to the “something new” part. Basically, being a regular visitor of Merriam-Webster online, I am also getting used to the ‘word of the day’!

So, here it is… the blog will from now on have a word of the day and its usage (according to me). That is how, my teacher said you learn new words - learn it, use it, never forget it.

So, here is the first one:

The word of the day is…..

**DRUMROLL**

corvée • \KOR-vay\
1 : unpaid labor (as toward constructing roads) due from a feudal vassal to his lord
2 : labor exacted in lieu of taxes by public authorities especially for highway construction or repair

Usage 1 (for meaning number 1): I was so pissed at my boss the other day for not giving me my long overdue promotion that I wanted to tell him ‘Do you think, I am a fuckin’ corvée?’.

OR
Usage 2 (for meaning number 2): Where the fuck is all the corvée in Bangalore going?

OR
Usage 3: (my own meaning + for usage with bong friends): Tui ki corvée? (hidden meaning “Are u a corvée (as in meaning number 1)?”)


You are free to improvise the usage and suggest some of your own.

Till next Word!