Category Archives: words

noun:

Frivolous or bantering talk; a frivolous manner of treating any subject, whether serious or otherwise; light raillery.

Persiflage comes from French, from persifler, “to banter,” from per-, “thoroughly” (from Latin) + siffler, “to hiss, to whistle,” ultimately from Latin sibilare, “to hiss (at), to whistle.”

Good name for a blog, eh? www.persiflage.com Yep. You’re welcome.

I like the Latin root of this word, “to hiss (at)” — that’s what we’re doing blogging, isn’t it? Or, are we being hissed at??

That’s when living a little kid is good practice. Hissing at what you read here?

I can’t heeeeaaaaaaarrrrr you!

Just having to write an argumentative comment against someone’s post civilizes the whole process. To a certain degree. Hissing goes out the moment your reader has to spell. I mean, they can’t throw garbage at your face or launch a stink bomb online. The web has limitations. So far.

Have you been hissed at online when you meant mere persiflage? Or done the hissing? What’s a touchy topic?

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adjective:

Wise; sage; discerning.

By actual measurement they are the brainiest of birds, and on subjective evidence they seem more sapient than most other living creatures.
– David Quammen, “Bird Brains”, New York Times, August 1, 1999

Sapient comes from Latin sapiens, sapient-, present participle of sapere, “to taste, to have sense, to know.”

You think you’re sapient until you have a talking child who twists everything you say against you.

Case in point: Kid wouldn’t carry out something she brought to a friend’s house and five minutes later wanted to go to McDonalds (we DO frequent the evil empire, but I didn’t start the habit). I said, “No, when I asked you to do something, you didn’t do it, so now we’re not doing what you’re asking.”

Seemed logical.

That night, she asked me to bring her a glass of milk instead of getting it herself. I said she could do it because she was closer to the glass, not me.

Seemed logical.

Until she said, “Mommy, if you won’t do something for me now, then I’m not going to do something for you later.”

Now who’s SAPIENT? HINT: not the one with the grey hair.

Final note: see the origins on this word from Latin? I like how knowing is also the word for tasting. So maybe homo sapien is not this higher life form, but just one that is known for putting things in his mouth.

I could see that.

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noun:

1. A group hired to applaud at a performance.
2. A group of fawning admirers.

Charles Bukowski suffers from too good a press– a small but loudly enthusiastic claque.
– Kenneth Rexroth, “There’s Poetry in a Ragged Hitch-Hiker”, New York Times, July 5, 1964

Claque comes from French, from claquer, “to clap,” ultimately of imitative origin.

Yes, you know what I’m thinking. This is what parents are to their kids, except without the payment part.

It starts off small enough.
Peed on the potty? Yay! Wrote your name? Yay! Cooked scrambled eggs? Yay!

Later, it turns….
Got a job at the mall? Yay! Met some loser at work? Yay. Quitting school to be a carny (no offense, Jenn)? Yay?

I want my OWN claque, which could be way more rewarding than having your own clique.
Walked the dog? Yay! Washed the sheets? Yay! Put the gun down before any postal worker was hurt? Yay!

Do you have a clique or a claque? [Clique? Claque? Clique? Claque? Oh, horseback riding is fun, too!]

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