(in)communicado

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/7/2009 11:00 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>If you like "communicado", you'll love these others...

I've just had a little fun checking some of these against the
OED.  Of the first ten (through "array"), only the first, "chalant",
doesn't make the grade.  Yet the other nine are amusing as
well.  Perhaps that's the consequence of the first being
unauthorized, so all the others seem so too.  (Although of course
that their negations are much more common adds to the humor.)

Joel

>How I met my wife
>Jack Winter
>published 25 July 1994 in _The New Yorker_
>
>It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very
>chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate.
>
>I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check when I saw her
>standing alone in a corner.  She was a descript person, a woman in a
>state of total array.  Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled,
>and she moved in a gainly way.
>
>I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew I'd have to make bones
>about it since I was travelling cognito.  Beknownst to me, the
>hostess, whom I could see both hide and hair of, was very proper, so
>it would be skin off my nose if anything bad happened.  And even
>though I had only swerving loyalty to her, my manners couldn't be
>peccable.  Only toward and heard-of behavior would do.
>
>Fortunately, the embarrassment that my maculate appearance might
>cause was evitable.  There were two ways about it, but the chances
>that someone as flappable as I would be ept enough to become persona
>grata or a sung hero were slim.  I was, after all, something to
>sneeze at, someone you could easily hold a candle to, someone who
>usually aroused bridled passion.
>
>So I decided not to risk it.  But then, all at once, for some
>apparent reason, she looked in my direction and smiled in a way that
>I could make heads and tails of.
>
>I was plussed.  It was concerting to see that she was communicado,
>and it nerved me that she was interested in a pareil like me, sight
>seen. Normally, I had a domitable spirit, but, being corrigible, I
>felt capacitated-as if this were something I was great shakes at-and
>forgot that I had succeeded in situations like this only a told
>number of times.  So, after a terminable delay, I acted with
>mitigated gall and made my way through the ruly crowd with strong
>givings.
>
>Nevertheless, since this was all new hat to me and I had no time to
>prepare a promptu speech, I was petuous.  Wanting to make only
>called-for remarks, I started talking about the hors d'oeuvres,
>trying to abuse her of the notion that I was sipid, and perhaps even
>bunk a few myths about myself.
>
>She responded well, and I was mayed that she considered me a savory
>character who was up to some good.  She told me who she was.  "What a
>perfect nomer," I said, advertently.  The conversation became more
>and more choate, and we spoke at length to much avail.  But I was
>defatigable, so I had to leave at a godly hour.  I asked if she
>wanted to come with me.  To my delight, she was committal.  We left
>the party together and have been together ever since.  I have given
>her my love, and she has requited it.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org