Zeugma

Zeugma: Using a single verb or a single adjective to refer to two unrelated nouns; one with which the adjective or verb makes logical sense and one with which it is a stretch or completely illogical. For example, His foot stepped down, snapping a twig and his attention. Another example: A diva of the highest order, she ate red caviar and rubies.

An Example from Literature: Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

Miss Bolo rose from the table considerably agitated, and went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan-chair.

My Try: Hortel Merriweather reached into the mailbox and retrieved the pink envelope. No return address she noted. Gently she released the flap from its seal and removed the folded sheet from inside. It read:

Dear Ladies of the United Daughters of the Confederacy,
An urgent matter pertaining to one of your members has recently come to my attention and my cause. Evidence was uncovered revealing that Mrs. Lou Ellen Sallywhite Whitmore's family lineage is not at all what she has reported on her official documents. She must be required to re-apply at once, supplying accurate information.

Records of the Tuscaloosa Riverbranch Memorial Hospital, formerly, Tuscaloosa General Medical Center show that Lou Ellen Sallywhite was mistakenly misidentified and sent home with the wrong family and destiny. You will also want include Charlie Duggan in your investigation of this matter, as he has intimate knowledge of this case.

Sincerely,
Netty Duggan

Hortel no sooner folded the letter than she was on the phone with the presidents of Junior League, Daughters of the American Revolution, and Garden Club. Gossip boiled.

And Netty, well, she stared out the window riding down Interstate 40, her inheritance claimed.
And so it is done. I don't know that I like this ending. Netty got the truth and gave Lou Ellen the payback she'd always desired to, but quite possibly she ruined her chances of ever going home. Can you think of a better ending? If not, try out your zeugma on me.

(This blog post is brought to you as a part of the April A to Z Challenge.)

Now I know my ABCs, next time won't you write with me.

Yarn

Yarn: A long rambling tale that frequently deals with adventure or tall-tales and is told in colloquial or idiomatic English.

An Example from Literature: Lincoln's Yarns and Stories: A Complete Collection of the Funny and Witty Anecdotes by Alexander K. McClure - Abe Lincoln is known as the story telling president. He used his tales to communicate and teach lessons.

My Try: Begin at April 1st and read back through the My Try section of each post and you will read a yarn.

My favorite yarn is the one about the three legged pig. It's in my book If Mama Don't Laugh, It Ain't Funny. I also had an uncle who loved to weave stories for us kids. Usually he tried to scare us at the end. I both loved and hated when he would tell us one of his yarns. What's your favorite yarn? Who told it to you? What did you get from it?

(This blog post is brought to you as a part of the April A to Z Challenge.)

April 30th - Zeugma

Xenia

Xenia: In Greek, the laws of hospitality. It is the act of showing generosity and courtesy to people far from home. Travelers and visitors to strange places may ask for food, shelter, and assistance to continue their journey. It was expected in ancient times that the person asked would graciously provide whatever the traveler needed or else endure the wrath of Zeus. Both guest and host must show respect to one another and the host must give the guest a departing gift.

An Example from Literature: Homer's The Odyssey - The Phaeacians applied the tenets of xenia, as the princess and her maids offered to bathe Odysseus and then led him to the palace to be fed and entertained.

My Try: Welcome to Lizards Thicket, Home of the Muscadine Maidens read the sign at the four-way intersection. A two-pump gas station with a plastic sign that said BUS STOP propped in the window welcomed the dust from journeymen's shoes for the past 60 years. When her Greyhound pulled in, Netty decided this was as good a place as any to use the restroom and buy a Hershey bar.

A small Christmas bell attached to the top of the door announced her entry. "What can I do for you today, young lady?" a weathered man wearing faded tattoos on both forearms cheerfully asked. His fingernails were black with engine grease, though Netty, from the bare landscape, couldn't figure whose cars "Jimmy," the embroidered oval on his shirt read, had fixed. "Yeah, not much left of Lizards Thicket," he continued, as if reading her mind. "Just me and the Muscadine Maidens." He pointed to six bobblehead figurines holding baskets of grapes. "My uncle brought 'em home from the war."

The only folks through Lizards Thicket anymore used it as a portal to whatever they thought lay at the end of the crossroads. "If you can get here," Jimmy said, "you can get anywhere in the world. Yep, you're standing at one of the centers of the Universe."

"Can you mail a letter for me?" Netty asked.

"Sure can. Be happy to. How 'bout a Co-cola? On me." Netty nodded and gave him the pretty pink envelope. "Like I said, you can get anywhere if you can get to Lizards Thicket. You can even get back to whatever it is you're running from."

The bus driver waved, indicating time to go. Jimmy handed Netty a map, plus some salted peanuts for her Coke. He shrugged off her dollar bills. "Always remember where you came from. It'll help you to know where you're going."

How do you show hospitality to others? Does it come naturally to you or do you have to work at it?

(This blog post is brought to you as a part of the April A to Z Challenge.)

April 29th - Yarn

P.S. I'm in panic mode. Two days remaining to wrap up this story. If I chewed 'em, my fingernails would be nubs. If I smoked 'em, my ashtray would be full of cigarette butts. Right about now would be a great time to take up a vice so I could relieve some stress.

Wanderjahr

Wanderjahr: Refers to taking time out from one's normal routine. Many American college students travel out west, or go backpacking across Europe, in search of themselves before getting on with the rest of their lives. This is a wanderjahr. I went on a three month wanderjahr to the ski slopes of Utah when I was a senior in college. Myself and I had a good time. A character' wanderjahr can also be  period during which he or she engages in deep thought or seeks personal insight. 


An Example from Literature: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert recounts her personal wanderjahr.

My Try: "I won't be coming to visit anymore, Mama. I'm done," Netty said, not sure if it mattered, saying it. "You had me all these years thinking I was someone I'm not. It wasn't me you couldn't bear to see everyday. You hardly saw me at all. And instead of telling me or daddy the truth you crawl in the church freezer during Lou Ellen's bridal brunch."
 
AnnaBelle Mae had helped Netty pack her suitcases, nattering on about how Netty needed to stay home and take care of those chillun. Netty promised she would write and that she would be back before anyone hardly missed her. But she had to go. She had denied the world its chance at her and this was her time to face it. "Yo daddy's heart is breaking double-over," AnnaBelle Mae told her.

"Daddy's heart cain't break," Netty answered. "It's dried up."

AnnaBelle Mae shook her head at Netty. "You go on then. When you find yo' self, bring her on back here with you, 'cause I sure want to meet who you really is, if'n this ain't you I'm looking at."
Have you ever gone on a Wanderjahr? Where did you go? Why? What did you do? How did it broaden your understanding of self and the world?

(This blog post is brought to you as a part of the April A to Z Challenge.)

April 28th - Xenia

Verbal Irony

Down to the final week of the April A to Z Challenge and I'm pressured to both complete my dictionary of literary devices with examples from literature as well as complete Netty's story to my readers' satisfaction.

Verbal Irony: Irony is saying one thing and meaning another. Verbal irony is the same thing as sarcasm and may be applied to the dialogue of characters or a book's narrator. Often the reader understands the irony of the statement, but the other character or characters do not. Sarcasm, along with chocolate, is my guilty pleasure.

An Example from Literature: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

My Try: Netty wished those nursing home doors weren't automated to silently slide open. It took the gusto out of her entrance which would have been so much better if she could have swung them wide and marched through in one complete motion. Instead she stutter-stepped in front of them then passed through, thoroughly unnoticed by the nursing staff and the residents.

She made an extra effort to click her heels across the floor for dramatic effect, but she was wearing rubber soled sandals that only succeeded in making a slap-slap sound.

"Mama," she sharply spoke to a woman parked in a wheelchair near, but not facing, the television. Her mouth hung open beneath vacant eyes and one palsied arm bent up on her chest. "Mama," Netty spoke again, "you were so smart knowing everything would turn out this way. I'm so proud to say you're my mama. I must be the luckiest girl in the world to have a mama who cares about me so much she would crawl into a deep freeze and crystallize her brains to make things all better. Look at you now. Better than ever."

Netty took a tissue and wiped a strand of drool from her unresponsive mother's chin.

Do you use sarcasm or avoid it? What's your favorite sarcastic remark? When do you use it?

(This blog post is brought to you as a part of the April A to Z Challenge.)

April 27th - Wanderjahr

Understatement

And so begins the last week of the A to Z Challenge. My alphabetical dictionary of literary devices is almost complete, as is Netty's story. Keep visiting to see how it all turns out. For anyone just joining the thread, start at the April 1st post and read forward through the My Try section to catch up with Netty.

Understatement: Succinctly, it is the opposite of hyperbole (exaggeration). Understatement allows the writer to show appreciation for his readers' intellect and works most effectively where tension has been built so that there is something to understate. To say that the April A to Z Challenge was child's play is an understatement ( as well as a cliche).

An Example from Literature: C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

And you, who have told me a hundred times how deeply you pitied me for the sorceries by which I was bound, will doubtless hear with joy that they are now ended for ever. There was, it seems, some small error in your Ladyship's way of treating them.

My Try: After hearing Netty's piece, Lou Ellen stood and straightened her skirt. Then her back stiffened at the sound of the front door slamming. She'd forgotten all about Roy coming home for lunch.
 
"Well, hey girls," he waltzed into the room, oblivious to the wire about to snap. "What y'all up to on this fine afternoon. Sakes, you'd never know by today what a whirl last night was." He looked Netty up and down, appraising her slender figure handsomly set atop tan legs and noticed for the first her hollow eyes. Lord almighty, he mumbled under his breath, she is here about that Junior League mess.
 
Lou Ellen dropped her chin, then lifted her face, softened, to her husband. She bubbled, "Hey Roy, Netty here was just telling me the cutest story about a couple of babies mixed up at birth." Gushing, Lou Ellen continued, "But I think she forgot the punchline of her little joke. When you remembah it you call me, now, Netty, you heah," escorting Netty steadily out the door.
 
May as well have been whispering in a pig's ear, Netty told no one as she reentered the day, her distaste for Lou Ellen invigorated. Oh, but she had something; something her mother couldn't find in the ice at the bottom of a highball glass or in the bed of deceit. Something that, nonetheless, her mother had gifted without even intending to; an inheritance of sorts.

Why does understatement work to advance a story? Do you have any good examples of understatement? What "inheritance" did Netty's mother leave her?

(This blog post is brought to you as a part of the April A to Z Challenge.)

April 26th - Verbal Irony

Tactile Imagery

Tactile Imagery: A description that involves the sense of touch. It tells how something physically feels to the skin.

An Example from Literature: H.G. Wells, The Time Machine

At once, like a lash across the face, came the possibility of losing my own age, of being left helpless in this strange new world.

My Try: The scratch of the sofa on the backs of her legs reminded Netty of the synthetic scrub of that shag carpet all those many years ago. In the same way that she had been abandoned there by indifference, she was again today. She wanted to feel the warm grasp of saving hands taking her by the shoulders and relieving her of this burden, but only an invisible cold palm pressed against her back, turning her toward, or maybe away from - she couldn't tell - a sharp corner. The nubs of the Berber carpet jutted up under her feet. Odd, she thought, to notice that now.

Lou Ellen waited.

"My mama, before she crawled into that freezer at the church, she left a letter. For me. For us." Netty felt the palms of her hands moisten. "It explains some things."

What do you think the letter from Netty's mama says?

(This blog post is brought to you as a part of the April A to Z Challenge.)

April 25th - Understatement