manque

Sunday, August 10, 2008

manque

Never heard this word in my life.

Definition of manqué:
adj. (män-kā´)

Unfulfilled or frustrated in the realization of one's ambitions or capabilities: an artist manqué; a writer manqué. Synonym: would-be.” (answers.com).

Where I ran across it:
8/10/08 NYT op-ed piece by Maureen Dowd, “Keeping it Rielle,” a spot-on assessment of Democratic candidate John Edwards and his recently revealed sexual misconduct.

“…The president manqué gives Rielle Hunter, formerly Lisa Druck, more than $114,000 to shoot vain little videos for his Web site …”

My two cents:
Once again, Maureen Dowd brings it on: a new word for my vocabulary, and a fabulous article to boot.

I’m so sick of politicians who cheat on their wives. The latest stupid political man-pig is John Edwards. I don’t even know where to start with him. I'm so exasperated, I'm positively speechless. I need a chill pill.

Fortunately, Maureen Dowd’s column says it all so perfectly that I need not even try to gild the lily here.

So, go read. It’s just too good to miss.

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Why Do Words Matter? To Me They Just Do.

In June, 2007, at the age of 57, I graduated from college -- summa cum laude -- proud, and totally exhausted. As a full-time co-ed aging exponentially, I feared at times over the previous 4 years that I would not survive to see graduation day. And if I did, I wondered if I would have the energy to flip the tassel over my mortar board. But ultimately, I persevered and emerged victorious - bad knees, fried synapses and a serious caffeine addiction notwithstanding. After graduation, I gave thanks for my education, framed my diploma, had knee surgery, and went horizontal / virtually comatose for 6 months.

Now semi-recovered and caffeine-free, I must be missing the stimulation of note-taking and constant study. Or something. Go figure. I do not miss the stress, the long days, the all-nighters, and the white-knuckled, hour-and-a-half rush hour commutes. I get to go to bed now when I want and wake up without an alarm. But here I am, firing up the synapses, catching up on my reading, and studying again. Can’t help it. Some habits should never be broken...

I love words, especially in the hands of talented writers. Something well-written is a beautiful thing. I love learning new words, especially from talented writers. Some time last fall, when I stopped drooling and began speaking in complete sentences, I started reading again. I decided to keep a list of words I encountered, the meanings of which were either vague or totally foreign to me. Most of the time I suspected they would be familiar words that I could easily recognize, pronounce, and almost always spell, but if the truth be told, couldn’t use properly in a sentence. This list required me to finally confess the need to clearly define them. I really looked forward to finding and listing words that were totally foreign to me. What? A word exists that I’ve never, ever heard before? You bet. Bring it.

I kept copious, hand-scribbled lists like this when I went back to school. I can’t remember now what I’ve done with them. Frankly, the mere thought of searching through all of my old notebooks and papers wears me out. Shades of post traumatic stress... But I promise if I am struck with a sudden maniacal energy to dive into my old academic stacks and succeed in finding any of my lists, I’ll include them here. Otherwise, consider this list a fresh start.

So, I begin my little 2008 project with the words I started keeping last fall. And I'll continue as the year and my renewed energy unfold. Maybe you'll get something out of reading it.

Because words matter. They just do.

Susie's Year of Words - 2008

Sunday, August 10, 2008

manque

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Why Do Words Matter? To Me They Just Do.

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