COMMENTARY
A discussion with a
reader prompts this posting. Commentaries are often conducted as
dialogues on weblogs, using the commentary box. Sometimes necessity
makes them monologues, as this one is. Commentary
will appear randomly as needed.
The essay 'Le Bon Mot'
was written to explicate a point I made regarding words and language.
The point was that writing (or speaking) should be entertaining. I
used 'entertain' in a broad sense. My 1934 Webster's defined the word
this way: To keep, hold, or maintain in the mind with favor; to
receive and take into consideration. I also suggested that to be
entertaining words and language should be aesthetically and/or
intellectually pleasing (more on this in CwHD5).
The style of language
used in the essay is also important. Martin Joos in his weighty
little book The Five Clocks
identifies five basic styles. For the sake of argument, only three
are needed. These three I label formal, mixed, and colloquial
(formal, consultative, and casual in Joos). One writes a formal essay
for one's English 101 assignment. IM chatter, tweets, talkin' to the
neighbor over the back fence are probably goin' to be laid-back,
slangy thangs. Mixing the two styles often creates confusion; but
just as often might communicate a complex notion more effectively
than either one of the other two styles alone.
Poetic-prose
is essentially poetry. Mixed style is common. I call this slapstick
prose (Joyce often referred to Finnegan's Wake
as a 600 page joke).
Wordgames are the order of the day. Sometimes I omit a word or say
... (an ellipsis helps to understand the vacancy; but sometimes even
the dots get in the way)
Additionally, the essay
utilizes three modes of expression: words themselves (often causing
something of a meaning bind [thanks, Ludwig]); numbers (as in
calculating lunars for navigation (often leading to the depths of
despair); and representational images (totems, for example, although
dog insists on the lascivious redhead, the beast).
Reading 'Le Bon Mot' as
though it were a poem (think ee cummings; who he? worth a look) might
benefit the reader. Outloud might help. Otherwise ...
For your entertainment,
the first and last lines from Finnegan's Wake:
riverrun,
past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us
by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and
Environs.
Finn,
again. Take. Bussofttlhee, mememormee! Till thousend sthee. Lps. The
keys to. Given! A way a lone a last a loved a long time
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