Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Solemnity

If anyone is still stopping by here, I bid you greetings!

Hi!

I've been absorped first in a school project which took a couple months (because it was interesting to me and a fun diversion and because I could) and now I'm absorped in a different sort of project, which is still kid-centered, but not as fun.

My showing up here today has to do with vocabulary.

Does this sound right to any of you?

"We all solemnly dislike her."

My immediate reaction is no, that's not right. It sounds like you regret not liking her. It sounds like the act of disliking her is a sad, mournful thing you are not exactly enthused about. In other words, it sounds like you dislike that you dislike her.

But I just looked up "solemn" and basically it means serious, mirthless. So, maybe "We solemnly dislike her" is equivalent to "We gravely dislike her" or "We take it very seriously that we dislike her."

And just so you know, the "her" is nobody I've taked about before. And the "we" is nobody you know. And my paranoia knows no bounds. Hence my solemn attempt to keep things anonymous and vague and irrelevant to anything of substance in my real life, leading to many months of silence here.

We solemnly dislike the need to watch what we say while blogging. Solemnly, dude. No kidding.

5 comments:

As Cape Cod Turns said...

Here, here.
Glad that you popped up to say hi! Happy Thanksgiving!

Amanda said...

Hellooooo!

I couldn't believe my eyes when my Google Reader told me you posted :)

I think it's grammatically correct, but it's an odd thing to say.

Hope you're doing well!
PS - my blog moved! I'm teasinglydiverse.blogspot.com now!

Lawyer Mom said...

I think it's bugging you because it's creating a new word, really, and turning solemn into an adverb.

Sort of like "We forbiddenly criticized him." It doesn't work.

Yours in all solemnity,

LM

; )

Lawyer Mom said...

Nope. I was wrong.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solemn

Somberly yours,

LM

gudnuff said...

LM - Doesn't the courtroom pledge for witnesses start out with "I solemnly swear...(to tell the truth, the whole truth" blah blah blah? I forgot about that until now.

Amanda - Hi! You might be the first person I've "met" to switch from wordpress to blogger. Very interesting transition. Glad you didn't drop me from your reader (feeling guiltier about my absence, too). Your picture makes me smile!

Sue - Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for the sentiment. Glad to see you again too. Your picture makes me want to take a walk along a windswept beach somewhere. You look so carefree and relaxed!