Friday, January 26, 2007

Words: logorrhea [MW]

Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin
: excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness

(I just introduced this word to JS, an accomplished editor, so maybe others would like it too. It comes from the Greek for word + flow -- like diarrhea comes from the Greek for through + flow -- and aside from that unpleasant juxtaposition, logorrhea to me suggests the plash and splay of words in a cascade of foolishness or mindlessness -- sort of a verbal train wreck that takes too teeth-gratingly long to lurch to a stop.)

1 Comments:

At 11:40 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hi, Steve, wanted to ask your professional help on something. could you drop me a note, please?
Pam
wordsatwork.blogspot.com
pam.robinson@newsday.com

 

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