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Stephen Pickering

Category: Words and Phrases

  • Literary Writer’s Word of the Day: Forecourt

    I just realized that in the example I just read it’s mostly a British English usage. “Garage forecourt” is simply the area in front of a gas station where the pumps are. Of course it sounds better in the British version. I was going to try and use it in something I’m working on now, and maybe I will force it in somewhere just for fun, but I realized most of what I was visualizing in my own story are areas we refer to simply as “courtyards.” Still, if the area is large enough, such as the areas in front of government or university buildings, it’s tough to refer to those places as courtyards. “Courtyard” has a more intimate connotation, and really more of an inside the building feel to it than out front.

    The second time was a bunch of posies—pink carnations—from the garage forecourt, a spontaneous gesture after a cheap but fun restaurant date.”

    ‘Floriography: The Meaning of Flowers’ by Sarah McPherson

    The ‘forecourt’ hashtag on Instagram

  • Writer’s Word of the Day: Owlish

    I settled into it until I was certain, then upped the tempo and went on by her in a long sprint finish, was clinging to the ladder when she arrived, feeling less like a beached blowfish than on other days. “Well now!” she gasped, looking startled and owlish.”

    John D. MacDonald, “Bright Orange for the Shroud: A Travis McGee Novel” page 66 of 288 on Kindle, first paragraph of Chapter 5.

    I don’t think the dictionary definition does this one justice. “Wise and solemn” is not the sense of it here nor in a way you may want to use it literarily. To me it’s the subtle widening of the whole circle of the eyes yet simultaneously keeping the rest of the face frozen. I feel like I’ve gotten and given spontaneously without thinking this subtle yet powerful expression a million times in my life without ever having been able to put it into words. I don’t think I would have gotten it here if John hadn’t added the world “startled.” When the expression of surprise comes only through the eyes, ironically, because the expression is trying to be hidden, it’s more powerfully and deeply felt. Normally when people are trying to woo or flatter you, they consciously add in the facial expressions. Ironically it loses effect. You know it’s not emergent from the heart in a spontaneous way. It’s when they really do feel surprise (I think mostly in the positive sense at something you’ve done or how you look) that you could describe their face as “looking owlish.” It’s a neat and fun word to use. And a very common experience. It’s power comes from its spontaneity, and “owlish” is a great way to describe it.

  • Uses of the Word Wry and Wryly

    “To her friends in law or medical school she would declare wryly: I’m downwardly mobile.” – Best American Short Stories 2016, “Gifted” by Sharon Solwitz, p. 241

    “She applied and was admitted to art school and earned not only her degree in design but the love of her department head, twelve years older than she was, but trim and sweet-natured with a warm, wry delivery.” – ibid, pg. 241