Friday, January 20, 2006

Zany

Zany, n. A popular character in old Italian plays, who imitated with ludicrous incompetence the buffone, or clown, and was therefore the ape of an ape; for the clown himself imitated the serious characters of the play. The zany was progenitor to the specialist in humor, as we to-day have the unhappiness to know him. In the zany we see an example of creation; in the humorist, of transmission. Another excellent specimen of the modern zany is the curate, who apes the rector, who apes the bishop, who apes the archbishop, who apes the devil.

2006 Update: adj. Of or pertaining to gravity, nobility or eloquence plus a sniffle.

25 comments:

~Daydreamer~ said...

WOW!! I'm the first one to go! Will have to think of something to say about that word later. Hi everyone!

Sar said...

Zealots
And their
Nonsensical
Yelling

(see Zel Miller)

TLP said...

Z'any. Common contraction for there ain't any. Also see someone ate all the chocolate marshmallows yesterday.

Unknown said...

wit at its best. no relative of zorro

Omnipotent Poobah said...

For some reason this word sets my teeth on edge like Cher. I also intensily dislike zippy (unless accompanied by Pinhead) zesty (especially with respect to food), and awesome (used in any sense of the word).

Oooo, I feel woozie.

Come to think of it, I don't like that word much either.

Jamie Dawn said...

Oh, this is easy.

Zany: Jamie Dawn

Anonymous said...

I wish I was zany but I fear I'm just nuts.

GABRIEL C. ZOLMAN said...

Zany, adj. Intoxicatingly ADHD; unmedicated.


)+(

dddragon said...

"... plus a sniffle"?

Hand me another box of tissues, please.

Zany: The youngest child of the Baileys, after Peter, Tommy and Zuzu.

Anonymous said...

Sar's getting too zany for me

I used to want to be a member of the Round Table at the Alqonquin so that I could be zany like Dorothy Parker

Oh I still do.

Zany is as zany does

Anonymous said...

Hang on,
sniffling is zany?
All the money I've wasted on cold and allergy meds...
when we could have just been ZANY!

Minka said...

Never heard this word before. Seems I didn´t miss much. Have to agree with omnipotent, I think awesome is the most annoying word ever!

Doug The Una said...

Marwa, it's enough you were first.

Alien Guy I can only imagine. I live in cyberspace.

Sar, the master of zany acronyms. Don't blame me for Zell, I voted for the Republican.

TLP, Zounds!

Karma, it actually surprises me if you think so. I kind of pictured you as a sophisticate like Jerry Lewis.

Poobah, totally.

Jamie Dawn, I thought I recognized the picture in my dictionary.

Jenna, I say you're zany.

Gabriel, "intoxicatingly ADHD" is a keeper.

Is that true, Ddd? I remember Zusu but the other names escape me.

Pia, you're zanier.

Logo, Zany is the alternative to Zantac.

Monika, nothing you've ever said surprised me as much as that you don't know zany. I'll wager some of the synonyms are familiar to you.

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, Zany…I’m quite certain I know that him!

Absurdly Eccentric

Jamie Dawn said...

If you've been told that you are like "Lucy" of "I Love Lucy," and if you've been told that you are like a cartoon character, and if you get genuinely excited over small things, such as dinner out or reading a good blog post, then you are zany.

Doug The Una said...

AE, I'm quite certain I know her.

Well, sure, Jamie Dawn. Or if you're Jamie Dawn.

Actonbell, that was funny and zanier than I'd yet seen you.

TLP said...

Actonbell: not sayin' who.

Anybody seen the Three Stooges around here? It's zany, but they've gone missing.

Cooper said...

The shorter the words the more difficult to redefine.

You all here pretty much define it for me though.


Cheers and peace out.

mireille said...

heh. I like the refinement of zipper yanking that Actonbell brought to the party. heh. It's zany! xoxo

Doug The Una said...

Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck, TLP.

Alice, this is a good place to come for slapstick.

I agree, Mireille. Refined goofiness is almost a lost art.

SCP, Willie says thank you.

a4g, you mean The Onion, right?

Miz BoheMia said...

Ooooh! The bohemian was going to call y'all zany (moi included I believe... after all, I am a bohemian) but it looks like after Lady A's declarations of lust things are turnin' raunchy in the land of dawg!

Ooooweeee! Keep them words a flyin' and the raunch a raunchin'!

Boom chi ka boom boom!

Hmmm.... tried to be zany but things are taking a turn towards "porno-y"... Wha?!?!?

*bohemian system overload*

Doug The Una said...

Yep, Miz B, It was a day for zany.

ninjapoodles said...

Me, I hope, because I loved and emulated my dad, Zane, so much. There used to be a pair of ducks at Choctaw Marina who never migrated when the others did. They were named after him: Zane and Inzane.

Unknown said...

One of a series of registered adjectives that may be used only by members of the Musical Comedy Critics of America. To all others - beware!

Anonymous said...

Pia--you too?
Here's a zany anecdote from the Algonquin: One day the manager met William Faulkner, who was staying there and said he felt very sick to his stomach.
"Oh," said the manager. "Something you wrote, perhaps?"