vagary

[Jonathan Lighter]

When I was in high school I, like millions of others, occasionally saw this
word in print and assumed it meant "vagueness."  Since I never had occasion
to use the word myself, especially once I looked up the actual meaning, I
can't provide any 1960s exx.

However, Inglish  ("tomorrow's language today") has vindicated me and all
of us:

1998 Douglas E. Winter, in Stephen Jones & Kim Newman, eds. _Horror: The
100 Best Books_ (ed. 2) (N.Y,: Carroll & Graf] 80: The genius of _Heart of
Darkness_ lies not only in its insistent atmospherics, deft symbolism, and
almost infuriating vagary, but also in the inherent untrustworthiness of
the narrative.

(Note too "atmospherics," possibly early.)

Attorney Douglas E. Winter (b. 1950) has written, among many other things,
the study _Stephen King: The Art of Darkness_ (1984).

JL


--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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