Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Epicaricacian

Normally I like Mary Schmich. I don't always agree with her columns, but her columns are fun to read.

But I'm irritated by today's column. She characterized all the different reactions to our current recession, such as the Masochist or the Scrooge. However, with all her influence, couldn't she have called it The Epicaricacian, instead of the Schadenfreudian? That might have been the trigger for getting it used more and then into the OED. That's what we need...a simple trigger. One person reads it, and says, "What does that word mean?" Then another. And another. Heck, someone might even come to my Blog to read about it! We'd start a rush on the word. Suddenly we'd see columns about it, and people would stop using the German word, preferring our own English word. The AHD and MW would be forced to define it because it was all over the place. Then...then...maybe John Simpson and Erin McKean and Jessie Scheidlower would listen and put it in the OED.

We'd be home free, and I could put this Blog to bed!

1 comment:

Cat Herself said...

You tell her, N! Write to the woman and see if she'll listen!