Celebrating Constitution Day

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 Pablum: bland, intellectual sustenance Creek,” then you were sorry to see it air its final episode in April of “Oh, I won’t be pitied, John! Or fed your pacifying pablum like some kind this year. It received a glorious send-off, however, when it broke Emmy of soft-headed infant.” 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 Peccadillo: slight offense first Emmy for best lead actress in a comedy. “In a room this tiny, you’ve just got to ignore the little irritants of the

O’Hara was always a fan favorite. Viewers loved her over the top other, or you’d go insane…peccadilloes, cloying habits.” portrayal of Moira Rose, a former soap opera star with strange diction, elocution, and syntax, not to mention Pettifogging: arguing over trivial things her even stranger collection of wigs. Watching the “Alexis, now is not the time for pettifogging!” show also proved educational. Armed with Foyle’s Philavery: A Treasure of Unusual Words and Mrs Byrne’s Pique: to arouse anger or resentment Dictionary, creator and writer Daniel Levy allowed “I’m sorry, this has worked you up in to some kind of O’Hara to elevate the script and her eccentric character fit of pique.” with more arcane, difficult, and colorful dialogue. The result was unforgettable. So while we focused on Latin Prestidigitator: sleight of hand artist or magician legal words in the August’s column, this month we will “The fact that my own world was ripped out from behold some of Moira’s most memorable and sagacious under me by someone like this…prestidigitator?” moments over the show’s six season span. Bolus: single dose of a drug or other medicinal readily preparation given all at once “David, could you just once embrace joy? Perhaps “This is what my life has come to, David – killing a it’s this nay-saying reticence that caused your past man over a complimentary bolus.” relationships to oxidize.”

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.”

Disabuse: to free from misconception Patrician: aristocratic or noble “I’m a trained actor. A humble backstory would disabuse this man of any notion that we’re too patrician.” Epistle: formal or elegant letter 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.” Habilimented: clothed “I promise to keep my husband habilimented from now on.” Juvanescence: state of being youthful “The last traces of my juvenescence vanished into thin air.” 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.” Reticence: not revealing one’s thoughts or feeling 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.”

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.” Toggery: clothing “I’m sure he’d agree this toggery is the perfect tribute to the common

woman.” Unasinous: stupid Bombilating: buzzing “After a glut of unasinous ideas put forth today, the room is suddenly

bombilating with anticipation; can you feel that?” Vivacity: quality of being attractively lively and animated

“Vivacity aside, our children’s safety is no laughing matter.”

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!