Redefining misanthropy for a fresh generation. Standard posts begin with a definition from Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary followed by a modern adjustment. Miscellany on Wednesday and storytelling on Saturday.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Sentiment
SENTIMENT, n. A sickly half-brother of thought.
2006 Update: A property of women that prompted the first men to leave the forest and which calls us now to return.
Sentiment: a jalopy buffed to a high shine in emotional wax.
"Gonna take a Sentimental Journey, Gonna set my heart at ease. Gonna make a Sentimental Journey, to renew old memories." ~ Bud Green, Les Brown and Ben Homer (in 1944)
I agree, Doug. Sentiment seems feminine--half-sister. Dr. Weirsdo's Dobson-loving sister gave us the 19th century MCGUFFEY READERS for our kids. They are good for teaching reading and spelling, but our usual shorthand adjective for the extremely sentimental is now "McGuffey." And she is definitely "Mrs. McGuffey." Toyplayer's favorite story involves a lad toiling in a turnip field, who, when asked what he plays with, responds, "Playthings? What are those?"
Sentiment...I'm feeling dyslexic this morning because my first thought was "The dredge at the bottom of a wine bottle" before I went ooooh Sediment.
Enh...it's Stampede time now. I'm not required to think, just admire all the cowboys. Yeehaw. I love me some denim clad derrieres. They make me all sentimental and sh...stuff.
SENTIMENT, n. Your two cents' worth. Especially if I think you're not on the money.
Gee Doug, it's almost as if you knew that there was a Stone Age (pre-Betty Friedan) feminist Declaration of Sentiments.
Maybe this laptop will actually let me finish its laptop. My sentiment is that these machines are entirely too fragile and live lives that are way too short. Very convenient for charitable endowments larger than the annual gross domestic product of Africa.
Vive la difference, Logo. What you call views I call sounds. Your expansion on Bierce's definition is very clever. And yes, the penguin part of the menagerie is missed.
Right, Indie, An actor's sympathy for a screenwriter's ambition.
Joel, especially not the kind ones.
Puppybrose, I love your definition. Well, I admire it. "Teh Penguin" made me smile.
Weirsdo, I'm going to use "McGuffey" but "Dobson-loving sister" also has a ring to it.
Brian we never left the caves.
Jenna, you are one tender trollop.
Good, O Ceallaigh. Another man's science.
Cry me a river, Minx.
Haha, Jake. The stick.
Wow, Puppybrose. You should take this joint over.
G, absolutely right.
Don't think twice, TLP. S'OK. Especially when puns work that right.
Puppybrose, the leavings at the bottom of the wine bottle is about perfect, isn't it?
Sentiment: often found in romance novels... you know the kind where the hero is all caught up in his lover/mistress and her many many many problems. :)
Sentiment: something I feel too much because I'm convinced that my fifteen minutes came and went without me noticing, and now it's everybody elses turn
It will be interesting to perhaps see the corollary evidenced by the sentiments provided in comments inspired by yesterday's word versus today's, even in sheer numbers. Nu?
Logo, I appreciate the sentiment. See you guys always thought it was a bother when I annoyingly took first place. Now that I am away and you have to come and make the first comment-which sets the tone for the entire day- you remember and wish Minka back.... It isn't easy to be first, everybody is gonna read you, it is not like being comment nr. 30! Ups... it seems like I am still stuck in yesterday's word :)
Let me see if I understand: men, on the run from women's sentiment, left the forest, in order to -- hopefully -- eventually drill Anwar. But now, having seen Gore's new movie, and moved by its Save the Earth sentiment, they feel bestirred to return to the forest, where they've cleared a patch and are raising corn for ethanol. Is that it, is that it??!! xoxo
My sentiment holds true - every day is an education here at Ambrose. Licking your hand. That might have been helpful on all of those crowded subway rides to work - people might have made way for me. Just the same, thanks.
Nonexistent. Watching the brother-in-law force feed his screaming baby daughter at the Christmas dinner table aroused sentiments of revulsion that could not be overcome.
Sentiment: is what you call something that someone said that is just too deep heavy or thought provoking for you to really deal with...just call it sentiment and run off hurry before it makes you feel stuff!
sentiment- views,or ideas based on emotion rather than reason.
ReplyDeleteTo expand on Ambrose...
The now celebrated fratricidal sibling of thought who has replaced his brother on the throne.
I miss Minka.
ReplyDeletesigh
Hope you're having fun, Ice Queen.
Doncha hate it when people misuse
your and you're?
Sentiment: An ingredient often written into speeches, public addresses and soap operas by professional script writers.
ReplyDeleteDisclaimer: The sentiments expressed in the comment section of this blog are not necessarily those of Waking Ambrose.
ReplyDeleteSentiment: a jalopy buffed to a high shine in emotional wax.
ReplyDelete"Gonna take a Sentimental Journey,
Gonna set my heart at ease.
Gonna make a Sentimental Journey,
to renew old memories." ~ Bud Green, Les Brown and Ben Homer (in 1944)
those were the good old days...
oh, and Logophile, i like to echo your sentiment... i miss teh Penguin, too!
ReplyDeletei *would* like to echo your sentiment, that is.
ReplyDeletesigh... seems like only yesterday that i was proof reading my comments before hitting "publish"...
I agree, Doug. Sentiment seems feminine--half-sister.
ReplyDeleteDr. Weirsdo's Dobson-loving sister gave us the 19th century MCGUFFEY READERS for our kids. They are good for teaching reading and spelling, but our usual shorthand adjective for the extremely sentimental is now "McGuffey." And she is definitely "Mrs. McGuffey." Toyplayer's favorite story involves a lad toiling in a turnip field, who, when asked what he plays with, responds, "Playthings? What are those?"
Sentiment...I'm feeling dyslexic this morning because my first thought was "The dredge at the bottom of a wine bottle" before I went ooooh Sediment.
ReplyDeleteEnh...it's Stampede time now. I'm not required to think, just admire all the cowboys. Yeehaw. I love me some denim clad derrieres. They make me all sentimental and sh...stuff.
SENTIMENT, n. Your two cents' worth. Especially if I think you're not on the money.
ReplyDeleteGee Doug, it's almost as if you knew that there was a Stone Age (pre-Betty Friedan) feminist Declaration of Sentiments.
Maybe this laptop will actually let me finish its laptop. My sentiment is that these machines are entirely too fragile and live lives that are way too short. Very convenient for charitable endowments larger than the annual gross domestic product of Africa.
... finish this comment. Brain? What brain? Must be linked to this machine's calcified CPU.
ReplyDeleteargh.
Sentimnet: the thing most overused in order to increase the sale of buckets.
ReplyDeleteSentiment: the slayer of good reason... A human female's second best weapon in her quest to conquer the male.
ReplyDeleteSentiment: fodder for greeting cards and bad parenting.
ReplyDeleteJenna - that would have been a perfect definition in and of itself, of course, that's my personal sentiment.
ReplyDeleteYou sent her a mint, but she wanted chocolate. Also see, "I gave you my heart, but you wanted my soul."
ReplyDeleteG: i totally agree, "emotional dredge" is an excellent definition for sentiment!
ReplyDeleteTLP: punny! (love it)
Vive la difference, Logo. What you call views I call sounds. Your expansion on Bierce's definition is very clever. And yes, the penguin part of the menagerie is missed.
ReplyDeleteRight, Indie, An actor's sympathy for a screenwriter's ambition.
Joel, especially not the kind ones.
Puppybrose, I love your definition. Well, I admire it. "Teh Penguin" made me smile.
Weirsdo, I'm going to use "McGuffey" but "Dobson-loving sister" also has a ring to it.
Brian we never left the caves.
Jenna, you are one tender trollop.
Good, O Ceallaigh. Another man's science.
Cry me a river, Minx.
Haha, Jake. The stick.
Wow, Puppybrose. You should take this joint over.
G, absolutely right.
Don't think twice, TLP. S'OK. Especially when puns work that right.
Puppybrose, the leavings at the bottom of the wine bottle is about perfect, isn't it?
Scentiment: the art of pleasuring the senses with fragrance.
ReplyDelete(O'C-loved your women's suffrage link!)
Sentiment: often found in romance novels... you know the kind where the hero is all caught up in his lover/mistress and her many many many problems. :)
ReplyDeletewell it appears that Kyah has taken my scent...and I can no longer offer my sentiments on the subject.
ReplyDeletenow all I am left with is the detritus to sift through and try to come up with something.
Maybe after coffee
VI:detritus = sediment, nice try though. Have more coffee.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I wouldn't dream of taking your scent! Perfumistas give scents!
Sentiment: something I feel too much because I'm convinced that my fifteen minutes came and went without me noticing, and now it's everybody elses turn
ReplyDeletefunny you should mention sediment Kyah. I am currently staring into to the bottom of my coffee cup trying to read the grounds( who made this crap?)
ReplyDeleteWait, thats a sentiment isn't it?
It will be interesting to perhaps see the corollary evidenced by the sentiments provided in comments inspired by yesterday's word versus today's, even in sheer numbers. Nu?
ReplyDeleteLogo, I appreciate the sentiment. See you guys always thought it was a bother when I annoyingly took first place. Now that I am away and you have to come and make the first comment-which sets the tone for the entire day- you remember and wish Minka back....
ReplyDeleteIt isn't easy to be first, everybody is gonna read you, it is not like being comment nr. 30!
Ups...
it seems like I am still stuck in yesterday's word :)
Minka...the sentimental favorite for the top spot.
ReplyDeletepenguin-you come by your conceit honestly.
ReplyDeleteNice to see you :-)
right back at ye, Kyahgirl :)
ReplyDeleteLet me see if I understand: men, on the run from women's sentiment, left the forest, in order to -- hopefully -- eventually drill Anwar. But now, having seen Gore's new movie, and moved by its Save the Earth sentiment, they feel bestirred to return to the forest, where they've cleared a patch and are raising corn for ethanol. Is that it, is that it??!! xoxo
ReplyDeleteKyahgirl, I should have expected that from you.
ReplyDeleteRight, CJ. You mean the ones with Fabio expressionless on the cover?
VI, I'm pretty sure that wasn't your scent Kyahgirl took.
Haha, Kyahgirl. You taking his sliderule?
It will, G. I think.
Haha, Minka. As you see, you were missed by the sentimental and the stony.
You got it, Mireille. We care for the Earth.
a4g, Sphinxish. I hope you're right about infirmity. I'd hate to miss the whole thing.
Sentiment huh? Nope, don't know about it.
ReplyDeleteMenfolk care for the earth? Huh! Methinks Bushie boy needs to be introduced to the word that BAST&^^%^%DDDD!!!!!
sentiment-the crazy idea of men that they could actually survive in the forest on their own.
ReplyDeleteHa, ha, ha, haaaa! I like you Masil! Yes I do!
ReplyDeletezfzsx~ I mean seriously now! You really want me to tackle this? Doug, I try to behave but your word verif prefers me naughty!
Doug! you were right. It wasnt my scent, it was my marble.
ReplyDeleteNow I have no marbles
Cent-a-Mint: Give me the money
ReplyDeleteRe Dobson-loving sister: That family is the model for Mitchell Grout and family in the novella.
ReplyDelete"Sentimental irony is a dog that bays at the moon while pissing on graves” ~ Karl Kraus
ReplyDeleteKyahgirl: This word is PERFECT for you! SCENTament. I'm wearing White Shoulders today. I hope that passes your smell test. It's a lovely fragrance.
ReplyDeleteSentiment: Sounds like a breath freshener to me.
Do you breathe into your cupped hand to check if you have bad breath? I bet Kyahgirl does!! :)
Of course we do, Miz B. Without the soil and the climate we wouldn't have meat.
ReplyDeleteHahahahahahaha, Masil. I applaud even as I look for an exit.
Miz B, I don't pick'em.
VI, I saw that on Headline News.
Dddragon, you got it and something for your breath?
True, Actonbell and great definition. Tell me it isn't too far to the other side.
Weirsdo, I had no idea. How are the reunions?
Good quote, Puppybrose.
Jamie Dawn, I'm told its more effective to lick your hand. I mean, if no-one's looking.
My sentiment holds true - every day is an education here at Ambrose. Licking your hand. That might have been helpful on all of those crowded subway rides to work - people might have made way for me. Just the same, thanks.
ReplyDeletePS: In the name of science - it works.
Nonexistent. Watching the brother-in-law force feed his screaming baby daughter at the Christmas dinner table aroused sentiments of revulsion that could not be overcome.
ReplyDeleteAhhh holidays.
ReplyDeleteDouglas, I reciprocate your exact same feelings for me regardless of what they are
ReplyDeleteAm I a sentimental fool? No, just a regular one :P
bakyqklx: quick, gimme a barf bag and kleenex
:) Exactly Doug... bad books with even worse cover art! Literary Sentiment.... scary stuff.
ReplyDeleteBad books! What the!!!
ReplyDeletethe romance writer sighs sadly
That which makes us think we miss things we are only too lucky to be rid of.
ReplyDeleteSentiment: is what you call something that someone said that is just too deep heavy or thought provoking for you to really deal with...just call it sentiment and run off hurry before it makes you feel stuff!
ReplyDeleteOh Jenna, I meant the bad books with Fabio on the cover. :) Certainly not yours.
ReplyDeleteG, thank you for testing the theory. All that is done here is done for science's sake.
ReplyDeleteWeirsdo, was he planning to make paté?
Haha, G.
Karma, that's nice for both of us, then.
CJ, sentiment doesn't belong in text, in my opinion. It should be shrieked.
Jenna, Werewolf sex, on the other hand is a rich part of every medium.
Cooper, your definitions are starting to sound more and more like Bierce. So young. So cynical.
Barefoot Mistress, howdy! I'm pleased to report that I'm immune to the provocation of though.
CJ, Jenna's just mad because she has 10,000 words of sentiment due by Monday.