That Word

It does not mean what they think it means:

Click to embiggen.
 

I've seen all kinds of passion, but "unrequited"? That's a new one. And so very sad in so many ways. Poor Mother, the lonely little brand agency. No one's returning your calls?

On the bright side: they spelled genealogy right. Not as easy as you might think.

Elsewhere in the That Word files: Sophistry.

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P.S. Yes, that's a watermark on the stock photo. I'm happy to see that Mother L.A. paid up before launching the website. Their passion, alas, remains unrequited.

P.P.S. Where the title of this post comes from.

Comments

[Molly Walker]

Yikes, how embarrassing, and your P.P.S., a true LOL.

[Jessica]

Not to mention a fastball over the plate in terms of offering dissatisfied clients a name to call them when they f**k up . . .

Thanks for the Princess Bride clip. As you well know, I often find myself paying blog homage to Inigo Montoya's famous line.

[Matthew Stibbe]

Yes, it's really one of those words that seems to crop up more and more.

The one that's bothering me a lot at the moment is 'heuristic' which people think is a synonym for 'holistic' (which is a problem word in its own right).

The moral of the story is: stop trying to sound big and clever. The more immediate lesson, though, is to use a dictionary.

[Duchesse]

Maybe they mean that they feel it for you, but you do not return it?

[mike]

The contemporary singer-songwriter Jason Mraz had a hit last year with a catchy number named "I'm Yours." Without fail, I yell at the radio when this verse comes along:

Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
Listen to the music of the moment baby sing with me
I love peace for melody
And It's our God-forsaken right to be loved love loved love loved

As you (and William Goldman) say, I don't think that "God-forsaken" means what he thinks it means ...