GRAMMAR GRINCH By: Sarah M. Booher OEB Law, PLLC
MOIRA SAYS: REVIVING ARCANE LANGUAGE IN SITCOM HUMOR If, like me, you are a huge fan of the Canadian series “Schitt’s Creek,” then you were sorry to see it air its final episode in April of this year. It received a glorious send-off, however, when it broke Emmy records last month for the most wins for a comedy in a single season. It swept the categories with nine wins, including actress Catherine O’Hara’s first Emmy for best lead actress in a comedy. O’Hara was always a fan favorite. Viewers loved her over the top portrayal of Moira Rose, a former soap opera star with strange diction, elocution, and syntax, not to mention her even stranger collection of wigs. Watching the show also proved educational. Armed with Foyle’s Philavery: A Treasure of Unusual Words and Mrs Byrne’s Dictionary, creator and writer Daniel Levy allowed O’Hara to elevate the script and her eccentric character with more arcane, difficult, and colorful dialogue. The result was unforgettable. So while we focused on Latin legal words in the August’s column, this month we will behold some of Moira’s most memorable and sagacious moments over the show’s six season span.
Pablum: bland, intellectual sustenance “Oh, I won’t be pitied, John! Or fed your pacifying pablum like some kind of soft-headed infant.” Peccadillo: slight offense “In a room this tiny, you’ve just got to ignore the little irritants of the other, or you’d go insane…peccadilloes, cloying habits.” Pettifogging: arguing over trivial things “Alexis, now is not the time for pettifogging!” Pique: to arouse anger or resentment “I’m sorry, this has worked you up in to some kind of fit of pique.” Prestidigitator: sleight of hand artist or magician “The fact that my own world was ripped out from under me by someone like this…prestidigitator?” Reticence: not revealing one’s thoughts or feeling readily “David, could you just once embrace joy? Perhaps it’s this nay-saying reticence that caused your past relationships to oxidize.”
Bolus: single dose of a drug or other medicinal preparation given all at once “This is what my life has come to, David – killing a man over a complimentary bolus.” Churlish: lacking civility or graciousness “Well, how very churlish of them!” Confabulate: engage in conversation; talk “Oh, Ronnie, Ronnie, might you and I confabulate for a moment in the back room?” Dew-Dropper: a slacker, a lazy person who sleeps all day with no ambition “Aw say, don’t be a dew-dropper. Throw some concealer under those peepers, make like a swell and go put on the ritz.”
Spanandry: an extreme scarcity of males in a population “Darling, I realize the pickings are slim in this rural spanandry…” Squire: escort Peregrination: long and meandering journey “Sadly, I won’t be able to squire you for today’s wedding venue peregrination.”
Disabuse: to free from misconception
Throng: a large, densely packed crowd of people or animals “Alexis, if I had known you didn’t like the attention, I would have chosen to be alone with you and not out in public among the throngs of fans.”
Patrician: aristocratic or noble “I’m a trained actor. A humble backstory would disabuse this man of any notion that we’re too patrician.”
Toggery: clothing “I’m sure he’d agree this toggery is the perfect tribute to the common woman.”
Epistle: formal or elegant letter
Unasinous: stupid
Inamorata: woman with whom one is in love or intimate “Easier said than done, John, when your only husband is longing for his epistle-writing inamorata.”
Bombilating: buzzing “After a glut of unasinous ideas put forth today, the room is suddenly bombilating with anticipation; can you feel that?”
Habilimented: clothed “I promise to keep my husband habilimented from now on.”
Vivacity: quality of being attractively lively and animated “Vivacity aside, our children’s safety is no laughing matter.”
Juvanescence: state of being youthful “The last traces of my juvenescence vanished into thin air.”
Fellow Schitt’s Creek lovers can keep up with the fun on Instagram with @moirarosewordoftheday. O’Hara also did a 35-minute takeover of the show’s social media account in April to discuss her character’s bizarre word choices. It can be viewed at a. Seasons 1 – 6 are currently streaming on Netflix. For a little fun, gentle readers, give Moira a little adulation in the coming days by being a word rapscallion with your most favored compeer. Even if you are inadvertently clangorous in your efforts, do so vociferously!
Mercurial: subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind Balatron: jester or buffoon “How mercurial is life…we all imagine being carried from the ashes by the goddess Artemis, and here I get a balatron from Barnum & Bailey.”
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DICTA
November 2020
