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Dec 19, 2005

This week's theme
Words related to words, writing, and language

This week's words
mogigraphia
sprachgefuhl
verso
epos
curlicue

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I thought they enjoyed it but the real test came at the end. I told them artists worked with paints, musicians worked with notes, and I, as a writer, worked with words. Then I asked who would want to be a writer. About half the class raised their hands.

* * *

As an exception to shoemakers' children having no shoes, the English language has ample words to describe itself, its words, writing, speech, and other modes of expression. This week's AWAD features five of them.

mogigraphia

(moj-i-GRAF-ee-uh) noun

Writer's cramp.

[From Greek mogis (with difficulty) + graph (writing).]

Tennis players have their elbows, athletes have their feet, so what do writers get? They get their cramps. Mogigraphia is a fancy name for a writer's cramp. Advanced writers go for a block. For the ultimate, we recommend carpal tunnel syndrome. A synonym of mogigraphia is graphospasm.

"Some could barely put down their name. Eventually, they improved. Mogigraphia can be stubborn. Its cause is not always easily ascertained."
Chronicle Telegram (Elyria, Ohio); Feb 22, 1971.

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